Chapter 174: Do You Feel The Difference in Power? (13)

“Anis Sefira, and his opponent: Regan, knight commander of Zepirus!”

The crowd roared as the match was announced.

“Pay him back for what happened in the battle royale, Regan!”

“You’re not a man if you don’t respond to someone calling you weak in the legs!”

“Hahahaha!”

Anis and Regan had already fought once during the battle royale. At that time, Anis had the upper hand when he brought Regan down with martial arts, but he wasn’t able to finish the job due to interference from other knights, and the fight ended in a draw.

“You were lucky Sir Rajis saved you back then, but you won’t be so fortunate this time.”

Regan was the first to provoke him, but Anis scoffed.

“Surely, your shamelessness is leagues ahead of mine.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. Even without the other knights, you were never a match for me.”

“A knight who only talks with his mouth is hardly worth the title.”

Deciding Regan wasn’t worth talking to, Anis glanced at the referee, signaling him to start the match. The referee nodded and raised his hand. The two took their positions, facing each other from across the ring.

“Fight!”

The moment the referee’s hand came down, Regan flinched.

“Hup!”

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

All he could see were arrows flying at him. He didn’t dodge by reflex; his body moved on pure instinct. Had he hesitated even a fraction, he would have become a human pincushion.

Were Anis’ arrows always this fast?!

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Regan had fought him before. His arrows had been fast, sure, but nothing like this.

“Agh...”

To beat an archer, one must close the distance, but he couldn’t. Dodging the arrows alone required everything he had. He would be hit if he mistimed a single movement, and if he was hit, the next arrow would follow immediately. He couldn’t even rely on Aura Armor.

These arrows will pierce through Aura Armor without fail. I can’t block them.

It was absurd, but every arrow Anis fired carried overwhelming power, was incredibly fast, and there were so many of them.

Still, it wasn’t all hopeless. Right now, he was just desperately dodging like a dog with its tail on fire, but Regan believed Anis’ barrage wouldn’t last long.

No one can fire Aura Arrows with this kind of power endlessly.

In other words, Anis was overextending himself. If he held out a little longer, the tide would turn.

I’m getting used to the speed. I can start moving forward.

Once he started to track the arrows visually, Regan began to advance carefully, one step at a time. But that decision was a mistake made out of pure arrogance.

Squelch!

As Regan took another step, searing pain shot through his side. Even without looking, he knew the arrow had pierced clean through. Blood spurted out from the wound.

“Guh!”

Before he could process what had happened, Regan tightened his muscles to stop the bleeding.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Another volley of arrows came flying that was as strong but faster than before.

Thud!

Until now, Regan had been dodging with the bare minimum of movement, but this time the arrows were so fast he had to dive out of the way.

Damn it.

When he regretted it, it was too late; though diving saved him for the moment, it left him completely exposed. His posture crumbled, and the arrows kept coming. Anis kept firing those fast, deadly arrows without pauses, as if he had infinite aura.

“Damn it!!”

Regan had originally hoped to conserve aura for the next match, but now there was no room for restraint. He cloaked himself in full Aura Armor and swung his Aura Sword to deflect the incoming arrows. However, he was swinging with unstable footing, so there was no way he could block all of the arrows from Anis, who had grown tremendously.

Clang clang clang!

Regan managed to deflect a few arrows out of sheer luck, but...

Squelch! Splatter!

...more of them pierced through his Aura Armor and struck his body.

“...”

Regan couldn’t believe it. He was already a wreck, and he hadn’t even reached Anis. At best, he had advanced three meters. To strike with his sword, he still needed to cover at least twenty more. It felt impossibly far—farther than anything he had experienced in his life.

Crack... Crack...

Regan forced his body to move, but each motion sent jagged pain rippling through his nerves as arrows embedded in his body scraped against them.

“Urghh...”

Even for a knight with great mental fortitude, the pain was dizzying. But there was no time to process it, as Anis didn’t give him even a single second of rest.

Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!

Arrows rained down nonstop. In his daze, Regan had one question:

How many damn arrows did he bring?

It felt like Anis had shot hundreds of arrows, but they just kept coming. That was because Anis had indeed brought ninety arrows, but he mixed physical arrows with Aura Arrows, making it feel like he had an infinite supply.

Finally, the moment Regan had been waiting for arrived. Anis’ arrows began to slow, and their power dropped.

Whoosh... Clang!!

Regan deflected one arrow with his sword. His sword trembled, and that vibration traveled down to the hilt, into his hand, his wrist, then his whole body.

“Ugh...”

He staggered. Anis’ arrows were weaker now, but so was he.

Just one breath... if I can just fix my stance...

Regan didn’t give up. Though he was heavily wounded, he had at least stopped the bleeding and held onto his focus. He was still dodging and blocking what he could. But he saw no opening, as Anis hadn’t stopped firing for even a second. Regan couldn’t recover from the single misstep when he rolled.

At this rate, I’ll just get worn down and lose.

Losing to an archer he looked down upon was shameful enough, but to lose without doing anything was worse than death. However, there was nothing else Regan could do. Charging blindly wouldn’t solve it. Sure, he could take a few hits and get closer, but if Anis simply retreated, it would all be for nothing.

To turn this around... I have no choice but to use it.

He had prepared this secret weapon for Keter, not someone like Anis. But now, he had no choice. Galahind would never forgive me if he lost here.

I’ll use the Rage Potion.

Using potions or elixirs mid-match was strictly prohibited, so how could he do it? It was because it was hidden under his molar.

I’ll extract the capsule and swallow it.

It was a condensed version of the Rage Elixir. It was weaker than the real thing, but easy to use and hard to detect.

To think someone like Anis forced me to use this. Even your arm wouldn’t be enough compensation.

Gulp.

The Rage Elixir had severe side effects—enough to potentially end a knight’s career. But Regan thought it was better than losing here. That was why he risked it and took the potion, but...

“I figured as much.”

“...!”

Only two seconds had passed since Regan prepared and swallowed the pill, but Anis noticed the difference. He didn’t know exactly what Regan had done, but he read his intent through his eyes and body language. This was all thanks to Keter’s lessons.

If you want to know your opponent’s intent, look into their eyes.

Anis didn’t know what trick Regan was pulling, but he was sure of one thing: he couldn’t give him time. So instead of retreating, Anis closed the distance. Then, he nocked three Aura Arrows at once. It was Zodiac Archery, Second Form: Taurus, and Zodiac Style, Sixth Form: Yaksha Archery.

Taurus Archery, which released three arrows in a triangular formation, and Yaksha Archery, the fastest firing technique, targeted Regan’s entire body.

Regan jumped back with force, even if it broke his legs. He activated Aura Armor with all the energy he had left. The Rage Elixir needed time to kick in, so he just had to survive for five seconds.

However, Anis smirked.

“I knew you’d retreat.”

“...!”

Crash!

Anis had predicted he would retreat and shot his arrows accordingly. As such, Regan ended up leaping right into them. Even though he formed thick Aura Armor, the arrows arrived before it had fully stabilized and shattered it like glass.

“Gahhh!”

Three arrows pierced his shoulder and both legs. That alone should’ve ended it, but Anis didn’t let his guard down. Out of arrows and out of aura, he still had one last thing to throw.

Whirl! Smack!

Anis hurled his bow like a boomerang. It struck Regan square in the forehead. He staggered like a drunk, eyes rolling back, then collapsed backward.

“...”

He twitched. A huge bump swelled on his forehead, but he didn’t rise for over five seconds. The referee stepped into the ring, checked Regan’s condition, and shook his head.

“Participant Regan is unconscious. The winner is Anis!”

The crowd, which had been holding its breath, erupted into cheers.

“Anis! Anis!”

“Sefira’s master archer!”

Anis didn’t hear them, as he was still caught in the heat of battle. But he already knew he had won.

Watching Regan being carried off by the medics, he murmured quietly, “Don’t pretend to be my rival ever again. My only rival... is Keter.”

* * *

Anis and Regan’s match had drawn a lot of attention from the crowd, but it didn’t match the level of excitement for the next match.

“Henya, the Sword Witch! And her opponent: Jordic, the Spear Dragon!”

The reason the crowd was interested in this match was that Henya and Jordic had shown similar performances so far. Henya had been thoroughly defeated by Keter, and though she held her own against Rajis, she lost once again in the end.

Losing to Keter and Rajis didn’t mean that Henya was weak, but the crowd didn’t see it that way. Some even began to think that Henya could be the weakest among the Masters.

Rumors began to spread that her title, earned by slaying named monsters under the prestigious guise of being Eslow’s only daughter, didn’t actually amount to much when it came to fighting real knights.

On the other hand, Jordic hadn't done anything particularly flashy and wasn't considered a contender for the title, but he consistently dominated over four-star knights like him.

Maybe Jordic’s actually a five-star Master. In that case, he might be able to beat Henya, the supposed weakest Master.

The crowd was eager to see if the theory held true. Many were just as curious to watch Henya fall—after all, seeing a noble suffer defeat was always a thrilling spectacle. And if that noble happened to be the lord’s only child, all the better, especially with Eslow himself watching from the stands.

And so, amid rising expectations and excitement, Henya and Jordic stepped into the ring. Jordic was tall for a man, but Henya stood even taller.

True to her title as the Sword Witch, Henya’s expression as she let her swords hang loosely was not that of a warrior bracing for combat, but more like someone settling down to read a book.

“...”

“...”

They had no ties to each other and weren’t particularly sociable, so neither bothered to greet or provoke the other. They simply observed one another’s stance, focused entirely on analysis.

Seeing no tension or pre-fight posturing, the referee promptly raised and dropped his hand.

“Fight!”

The distance between them vanished in an instant. To Henya, who used Agile Footwork, fifty meters was practically within arm’s reach.

Jordic, already aware of this technique, didn’t panic. Just as he had trained, he thrust his spear. He didn’t care that Henya was a Master or the daughter of the lord. He simply focused on executing the best spearwork he could.

The match ended in a blink: it was Henya’s overwhelming victory. Jordic hadn’t made a mistake or anything like that; there was just a massive difference between the Henya the crowd saw in the team tournament, and the Henya now standing in the ring.

Even Keter, watching from the stands, was impressed.

So she finally managed to integrate her twin swordsmanship style and Agile Footwork into a single system. Did someone give her advice?

Henya’s twin sword and movement techniques were undoubtedly powerful, but up until now, they had worked separately. Now that they were in sync, the resulting technique wasn’t just twice as powerful—it was at least five times more so.

It’s still rough around the edges, but the important thing is she had the idea to combine them and actually used it in a real match.

In short, Henya had awakened. If this had happened just a bit earlier, she might’ve stood a chance against Rajis.

Jordic wasn’t bad either. To have lost by going out of the fight ring with no major injuries against a newly awakened Henya was a wise loss.

It’s not like one loss knocks you out. He’s probably aiming to climb back up from the losers’ bracket.

In other words, Jordic’s defeat was a strategic one.

But Henya... you haven’t given up, have you?

Henya’s chances of becoming the Sword of the South were now extremely slim. Keter, Rajis, and Norman—all three would have to place fourth or lower for Henya to have a shot. Of course, it was highly unlikely, yet Henya hadn’t let go of that faint sliver of hope.

As Henya’s match ended, the tournament continued. Myle, Anis, and Keter all won their next matches without much trouble.

The crowd’s excitement had cooled considerably compared to the beginning of the match. There were too many mediocre knights facing off, and none of the powerful warriors were being matched against each other.

Then, midway through the tournament, the brackets were updated.

“Huh?”

“Wait, I’m not seeing things, right?”

“The next match is...!”

The crowd’s mood brightened. The bracket had produced a match-up too intriguing to ignore.

—Keter vs. Taragon.

As energy filled the crowd, it drained from one person in particular.

“Th-this can’t be real...”

Taragon paled as he looked to his side.

Standing up, Keter replied, “Let’s see how strong my big brother’s gotten, shall we?”

As Taragon walked toward the ring with Keter, he came to a strange realization—that it was possible to smile and cry at the same time.