Chapter 205: Everyone’s Enemy (4)

The Milky Way was Keter’s signature move. At first glance, it seemed to be nothing more than a majestic explosion with no special properties, but it was exactly that; the Milky Way was a technique focused solely on explosion.

The logic behind the explosion was the caster’s will. Others might be able to wield aura, but they couldn’t make it explode like Keter. Even if someone could, they could never match the destructive force of the Milky Way because they lacked an understanding of its principles.

But Keter was different. He was a student of Ragnon the Bomber and had experience crafting explosives through gunpowder. He understood, on a technical level, how an explosion occurred and how to make it stronger.

The secret lay in fission. He gave aura, which was intangible, a mass and formed it into a core. Then, he split this core: one core became two, two became four, and so on. Repeated over and over, the cores shrank to a size that no longer yielded to willpower.

Though from this point, he didn’t even need to force the split, as the cores divided on their own. From a single nucleus of aura, he created dozens, then hundreds. Those multiplied further, until thousands of miniature cores pressed against one another in the confined space of the arrow. It took less than a second for one aura core to become thousands. The heat and friction born of that collapse was the explosion itself.

Had this happened in an open space, nothing would have happened. However, all of this was occurring inside a small confined space: the Milky Way, an arrow with layers and layers of aura and mana.

The beginning of the explosion began as soon as the Milky Way’s form took shape, independent of Keter’s control. This was because the fission started when the outer shell compressed the aura core. The decisive chain of explosion began the instant the bowstring was released, and the strength of the Milky Way’s blast depended entirely on how many cores Keter had compressed into it.

Keter’s first demonstration of the Milky Way had been in Sefira, when he shot Burgundy. He had used it a few times in Eslow’s fief, but never in a way that fully revealed its destructive potential. The sight of an arrow turning into a starry carpet of explosions had left witnesses spellbound.

Yet he had never decisively crushed an enemy with it. This was inevitable, as there were always allies nearby. Other times, the targets weren’t worth killing, or there were facilities that couldn’t be destroyed. But here, in Liqueur, on the roof of Infinite Bank, they were surrounded only by enemies. There was nothing to hold him back.

“Milky Way.”

The first arrow against Burgundy had carried a hundred cores. The one he fired in the tournament contained three hundred. And now, the Milky Way nocked on at Amaranth contained...

Rumble...

...Eight thousand.

The sheer presence of it rippled across the battlefield. The strokes of lightning and strong gusts of wind spread in all directions, as if a typhoon had been summoned.l Amaranth, the indestructible artifact, trembled as if about to shatter. Blood vessels burst in Keter’s eyes from the pressure alone, but he only drew the bow tighter.

Milky Way... You’ve been frustrated, haven’t you? You were never meant to make mere craters. You could wipe out a fortress. Isn’t that what you longed for?

At last, he released the string.

“I’ve been frustrated too.”

Kaboom!!!

The Milky Way roared with a deafening boom, completely opposite of White Cloud, which was silent. Its target was where two of the strongest foes stood. But they proved exactly why Keter had called them formidable. The instant the Milky Way came their way, they cast aside pride and fled in terror.

It certainly boasted an overwhelming roar and presence, but at the end of the day, it was still an arrow. Yes, it was as thick as Keter’s arm, but it was slower and less discreet than White Cloud. Yet they ran, as though they knew it would explode.

They couldn’t possibly know that the Milky Way could explode. They couldn’t even comprehend that aura could explode. However, this instinct was what kept them alive for so long. It told them that there was no blocking or dodging this, and running was the best option.

Unfortunately, the Liqueurians caught in the line of fire were ignorant. Few realized they were already dead men walking. Even those who did could barely move, as they had been overwhelmed by the aura. Even others outside its radius halted their charge, shaken by the presence alone.

A moment later, the Milky Way reached its target and detonated. Though slower than White Cloud, arrows were naturally fast.

Thump. Beep...

The blue explosion devoured hundreds in an instant. However, there was no ear-splitting noise at first; instead, there was only the sound of something being crushed and a ringing.

Then, belatedly...

Rumble! Boom!

A thunderous shockwave ripped across the city. Windows shattered. Run-down buildings collapsed in a chain reaction. The scene was not grotesque at all since everything in a hundred-meter radius of the blast disappeared without a trace. Those just beyond fared no better, seared and broken by heat and pressure alone.

One arrow: a single shot annihilated hundreds of two and five-star Masters, and more became incapacitated. An entire branch of a great organization was wiped out. No defense mattered. The explosion swallowed space itself. It would be rude to not be mesmerized.

“...Holy shit.”

“Oh my Lillian...”

“This is just a dream. This is just a dream...”

The ones who barely survived stared, broken. Allies reacted no differently.

“Uh... Uh... Big Brother?”

“K-Keter... how could you possibly...”

“You’ve been hiding this power?”

Only Decameron seemed unfazed, yet even he trembled faintly.

So great was the true power of Keter’s Milky Way that even a Homunculus, bound only by memory and command, showed signs of shock.

* * *

No matter how insane Liqueurians were, no matter how much they lived as if unafraid of death, they could not help but freeze when faced with the incomprehensible. They were still human. No matter how mad, no matter how reckless in the face of death, when confronted with something beyond understanding, humans stopped and contemplated. They tried to grasp what it was they had just witnessed.

Just as no one needed to be taught how to breathe at birth, the Liqueurians instinctively halted their charge and fell into thought after witnessing the Milky Way. Though the process was different, that was exactly what Keter had intended.

“Yeah, keep standing there dumbstruck.”

A similar thing had happened during the tournament—when he shot Heavenly Rain of Fire into the sky and turned the entire island into a wasteland during the battle royale. The survivors might have looked calm, but they weren’t. Their reason and logic had become clouded, their nerves stretched too tight, and their muscles fatigued and stiffened. They simply had no experience with such a situation, and if they had, they didn’t have the mental fortitude to withstand it.

Of course, there were thousands gathered here. Not all were left dumbfounded. Surely, some stayed sharp, but even those few froze in place. If they alone continued the charge while the rest halted because they were fine, they would be nothing but targets. And though the people of Liqueur rarely feared becoming targets, there was an exception when the enemy was Keter.

Keter was the one who had assassinated an executive with White Cloud, and the one who had instantly killed hundreds with the Milky Way. All it took was two arrows to ingrain this into everyone’s mind: Keter was no novice archer. He was no longer the Solver they once knew.

Until now, they thought Keter was difficult to deal with because persistent and stubborn, but ultimately someone who could be killed if one were willing to take some losses. But after seeing this display of divine power, anyone who still thought the same was either blind or insane.

Keter was at least six-star—a Grandmaster-level warrior, and most likely one of the strongest in Liqueur. In that moment, he was newly etched into their minds as someone who could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the leaders of the great factions.

“Scared? Gonna give up? You think I’ll let you quit after just two arrows?”

Though Keter was muttering it under his breath, everyone heard it clearly. It was a cheap provocation, yet one difficult to ignore. If they were planning to run away, they would have done so already. The reason they stayed was because they were waiting—waiting for someone else to take the lead.

Thousands of people were playing a game of chicken. They were willing to risk their lives, but no one wanted to be the first to die.

“You pathetic bastards. Don’t you see Keter’s just stalling for time? Move, you worthless dogs!”

Someone among the crowd who was smart and bold stepped up to the lead.

Thunk!

However, White Cloud pierced his forehead.

“Smart, but weak.”

Retrieving the arrow, Keter swept his gaze around as if asking who else would step up. But this time, no one froze. The mass of thousands surged again toward the Infinite Bank.

“Keter’s exhausted. No one could use that kind of technique twice in a row!”

“His bluff ends here!”

Since he had only fired White Cloud instead of unleashing another round of the Milky Way, they took that as proof and began charging. Whatever they did, it made no difference to Keter.

The branch manager said he was preparing a giant golem, so even if this turns into a standoff, it doesn’t matter. And even if they resume the assault...

Everything was in the palm of his hand. The difference in experience was overwhelming. These Liqueur rabble were perhaps three or four thousand strong, but Keter had survived sieges of tens of thousands.

Wow, look at that. Their charge was already a mess before, but now it’s even worse. There’s no telling who’s in the front line and who’s in the rear anymore.

It was a reckless rush, the spacing so tight in between.

What are you going to do if the person in front of you stops?

One minute: that was how long the Liqueur forces had faltered upon seeing the Milky Way. It was long enough for Keter to restore his aura and mana.

His third arrow was the Heavenly Rain of Fire, but it was small. Even though he had recovered, his Limitless Archery drained too much aura. The shot now had neither the power nor the range of the one he had used in the battle royale. Its destructive force was nothing compared to the Milky Way, but that didn’t matter. Tactics weren’t merely about killing; they were about control.

The Heavenly Rain of Fire shot into the sky. It swelled then burst, scattering explosive rain in every direction.

Whoosh!

The Milky Way was shot in a single direction, but this one was scattered across the area. It was limited in scope, so if people halted, they could easily avoid it. And that was the trap.

Those at the front had seen Keter’s might firsthand. They had no desire to gamble their lives on something they could dodge, so they stopped. It was logical.

“What the?! You bastard, if you stop like that...!”

Now that the ones in the lead had come to a stop, the people behind them could not brake in time; they were already at full speed. In addition, they were at best an arm’s length away, so they were bound to crash into each other. The inevitable collision toppled the vanguard, and the crowd cascaded like dominoes.

Keter’s attack hadn’t even struck them yet; all this chaos came simply from their attempt to avoid it. Some with fast reaction times leaped over people, and the crueler struck down those before them to avoid crashing, but this, too, was what Keter had been waiting for.

“You’ve passed my test. Your reward is more arrows.”

They were ordinary Aura Arrows, but nothing was ordinary if Keter unleashed them. His arrows had incredible speed and variability due to the double acceleration, as well as a triple-coated tip for maximum penetration.

This arrow would be difficult to dodge or block, even with full preparation. Naturally, only a rare few could block or dodge such an arrow right after landing or attacking.

Thwack! Crack! Clang!

Keter’s arrows rained relentlessly, delivering death sentences across the crowd. And still, not one of them had closed to striking distance. Even those who could attack from afar found their projectiles intercepted, as Decameron on the rooftop was shooting down everything aimed at Keter. Offense and defense were in perfect harmony. It was a flawless stance.

Dork’s jaw was on the floor as he observed Keter’s power.

Maybe... Maybe Big Brother can fight them all off alone?

At that moment, Keter shouted toward his allies on the roof, “Is that golem thing ready yet? I’m starting to run low here.”

He showed endless stamina and aura to his enemy, but to his allies, he made sure they understood his true condition.