Chapter 89: Arrow and Me

The sun hung high in the sky and brightened the whole world.The ground trembled as hundreds of kareths charged towards the campsite while their ravenous eyes displayed their lost minds.

Most of them looked like wild animals defiled and devoid of a reason or end. Thin purple miasma swirled around their profane bodies that had more limbs, mouths and eyes than they should’ve, each one twisted in a way apart from ordinary.

But just as the eerie horde of hornless and one-horned kareth stepped near the edge of the purple fog forest,

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Tss! Tss! Tss!

Arrows, spears and various other projectiles zipped towards them and ripped them apart; a few failed their targets but were able to pin down the remaining kareth, and the next volley reaped them of their lifeless hunger.

"KRRRRAAAAA!" A dreadful roar thundered throughout the area as a bear-like two-horned kareth pushed past the projectiles and stepped out of the purple fog forest.

Everyone’s expression twisted into horror as the kareth dashed towards them. Their spine went cold, and their hearts pounded loudly at the fear and dread emitting from it.

The squad members who could use aura stepped forward to stop it.

"I’ll take care of it!" One of them shouted, and orange flames danced around his body.

’Honour the Gods!’ He shouted in his head and stepped forward while clutching his heart away from the dread.

However, just as the two-horned kareth neared him, a bright green aura-clad arrow with its head shaped as a flying eagle struck it and pierced right through its core.

Its maw opened wide to scream, only for it to explode into dark dust without letting out a noise.

The ones who stepped forward to stop it blinked in confusion, and before they could conclude anything, more kareth poured out from the purple fog forest.

At a cliff about two hundred meters away from the battlefield, stood Dora.

She lowered her bow and looked at the quiver placed beside her leg.

"Three more..."

"You don’t have to do this, you know? The squad leaders would take care of it," Rion, who was lying under the shade of a redwood tree, commented while munching on a piece of dried meat.

Her lips dropped into a frown, and her brows curled up into annoyance as she turned back and said, "Then why are you snacking here instead of helping them?"

He swallowed the meat and raised his head to look at her.

"I’ll be fighting beside the group leader."

A vein throbbed at her forehead, and she stammered after turning around, "So what? I don’t care about that. Squad leader!"

"Tha-hahaha!" He burst laughing and lowered his head.

She peeked at him from the corner of her eye and mumbled in thought, ’Hmph! Stupid glutton!’

As if he had decided to prove her right, he took out another piece of dried meat from his leather pouch and said, before throwing it in his mouth, "They are experienced warriors, don’t worry about them."

She tightened her grip around the bow and mumbled, "Many of them would have died."

Rion fell silent and just stared at her as she once again raised her bow.

If he wanted he could help them from right there, he didn’t need to move to help them, — unlike Dora, he didn’t need a bow to kill those stupid gluttons; his aura alone could kill them, but he had to save it for the beings that would soon step out of the purple fog forest and that’s why he couldn’t help them even if wanted to.

’She doesn’t have to know that,’ he mumbled in thought and tore his eyes away from her.

She frowned at his silence, nocked another arrow on the bow and began to look for her next target.

A few moments later, she spotted another two-horned kareth that looked similar to a weird mix between a wolf and a man; her face twisted into disgust, and she let the arrow fly towards it.

Pew!

A trail of bright green followed behind the arrow as it pierced through the core of the wolf-man-like kareth, which died before it could even reach the edge of the forest.

A sense of joy filled her as she nocked another arrow and killed another two-horned kareth before she was only left with her final arrow.

She looked at her final arrow with reluctant eyes before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

She nocked the arrow on her bow, and a memory replayed itself in her head.

***

"How do you feel when you use the bow? I always feel calm when I use it." Dora muttered while pulling out her arrows from the tree trunk.

Jura, who sat on a boulder at the edge of the clearing, answered with a faint smile, "I feel like wind and my arrows as air that reaches everyone and everyplace. The more connected I am to the nature around me, the easier it is for me to use myself to the best."

He looked at her and continued,

"So if you want to become like me, then stop thinking of the bow as a mere weapon or tool. Make it a part of yourself and the arrows your breaths, which always return even after you let them go."

***

She exhaled softly and opened her eyes. Everything around her vanished as bright green aura flames flickered at the tip of her fingers and climbed onto the arrow.

Suddenly, she felt a sensation she had never felt before. It was as if she were connected to the arrow itself

Her heart began to beat loudly, her lips arched up into a wide grin, and she let go of the string.

The arrow streaked towards another two-horned kareth, but this time she felt as if she was the one flying with it.

Sleek!

It pierced through the kareth’s dark flesh and pierced through its core, but instead of stopping, it turned around and flew back towards her.

She caught the arrow with a wide grin, and Rion’s dumbfounded voice reached her ears.

"What the?! You learned both the Heaven’s Vector and the Master’s call?!"

She giggled tearfully while holding onto her bow and answered with a wide smile, "Yes!"