Chapter 385: The Appearance of the Divine Bow (3)
Tris thought Keter was just joking to try to calm her down… until he took everything from her except her clothes.
“What is this?” Keter asked, holding up the seeds of the Moonlight Apple.
“Those are Moonlight Apple seeds. They grow well even in barren environments. They could save this fog-covered world…?” Tris answered seriously.
Crunch, crack.
“They’re good.”
“Huh?”
“I was getting hungry anyway. Thanks.”
“You… You didn’t just eat them, right?”
“Were you hungry, too?”
“Th-those were all the seeds I brought…”
Tris collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down her face. Keter looked at her like she was the strange one.
“You’re crying over a few seeds?”
“They’re not just any seeds!”
“Yeah, I know. But there are plenty in the city, right?” Keter said, pointing down toward Teresa, the city below.
Because of that, Tris was reminded of all the knights and people who had sacrificed themselves for her. Her tears flowed even harder.
“Everyone sacrificed themselves to get those seeds…!”
“Alright, alright. Take that guy and go back to the city.”
To Tris, telling her to go back to the city was the same as telling her to die. Only then did she realize that she had been toyed with by a monster-human.
“You monster! You were playing with me!” she yelled.
“What are you talking about?”
“We barely escaped after being attacked, and now you’re telling us to go back? That’s the same as telling us to die!”
“I killed them all, so it’s fine.”
“…?”
“I killed everything that attacked the city, and everything around here, too. And no more monsters will come.”
Tris doubted her ears.
He killed over a hundred monsters? When?
They had been fighting fiercely right up until they fled, and it had only taken about twenty to thirty minutes to get here. Each monster was at least at the three-star level, and some of them were even monster-humans. Even Regan, a six-star, couldn’t guarantee victory against a monster-human. No matter how strong the Divine Bow was, Tris couldn’t believe that he could really kill one hundred monsters and monster-humans in the blink of an eye.
When Tris stood there, frozen, Keter turned his back without hesitation.
“You said they were Moonlight Apples, right? Next time, bring the fruit instead of the seeds.”
And with that, Keter left. Tris first tried to wake Regan.
“Regan, Regan!”
“Gah?!”
Regan, who had fainted from Keter’s flick, sprang to his feet. Though his eyes had been injured and he had lost his sight, he opened them as he got up.
“My lady? Where is that bastard—no, where is he?”
Though Regan couldn’t see, the voice he heard before fainting was unmistakably Keter’s.
“What do you mean? Do you know him?”
“My lady, that man was Keter. He is the Divine Bow I told you about—the one who suddenly appeared at the Sword of the South Tournament and revived Sefira.”
“Th-that lunatic—no, that person—really was the Divine Bow?”
Tris didn’t think Keter, whom she had just met, was the Divine Bow. To her, he had gone from a lunatic to a monster-human, then a lunatic again. But when she heard that from Regan, she was completely confused.
“Then the monsters?”
Tris hurriedly ran back toward the city. Her parents were dead, and she had no siblings. The knights and residents of the city were like family to her.
“Ha… Ha…”
Despite being exhausted, Tris returned so quickly that it felt unbelievable, and she found herself marveling at the resilience of the human body. She had thought she had already shed every tear she had, but upon seeing her people alive, tears welled up once again.
“My lady? My lady!”
“It’s the lady!”
They had been clearing monster corpses, but the moment they saw Tris, they dropped everything and ran to her. As their lady, Tris was overjoyed to see her people alive. As an alchemist, though, her gaze was drawn to the corpses of the monsters.
They were all dead with fist-sized holes in their heads and chests. Every single one of them were completely drained of moisture, like mummies.
What kind of archery could do something like this?
Either way, the Divine Bow had truly helped her even before she asked for help.
He’s quite different from the rumors, but…
Her cheeks flushed slightly. Tris decided that even a crazy Divine Bow wasn’t so bad, and that she would definitely go find him again later with Moonlight Apples.
* * *
The fog of Liqueur swallowed the entirety of the Lillian Kingdom. Many problems arose, but the second most serious among them was the obstruction of vision.
The density of the fog was so thick that even in broad daylight, visibility did not exceed ten meters. At night, even with torches, one could barely see a single step ahead. As a result, humans, who relied on sight, were placed at a severe disadvantage in combat. Meanwhile, monsters that perceived the world through senses other than vision gained the advantage.
It wasn’t just combat; movement and transportation became extremely inconvenient as well because humans remember locations through paths. Even familiar routes were lost, causing people to wander aimlessly. Because of this, interaction between cities, and between noble families, drastically decreased.
It wasn’t just the difficulty of navigating through the fog. Monsters hiding within it and launching ambushes were an even bigger problem. Of course, none of that mattered to Keter.
Kiiiiiieeek!
A monster passing through the fog let out a scream. It had been ambushed by Keter.
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!
The monster struggled, but Keter’s arrows were merciless. Arrows were meant to be fired from afar, but he used them like daggers, stabbing relentlessly at close range. The monster didn’t even know how to respond.
Standing before the fallen corpse, Keter extended his left arm, which was formed by the power of Dracula, the blood sword given to him by the Sword Demon Balt. It contained the essence of blood magic, and Keter had elevated even that into archery.
Swoooooosh.
Dark crimson blood was drawn out from the dead monster’s body. It gathered in Keter’s hand, forming arrows that floated into the sky. The blood arrows trembled in midair, then shot off in all directions, chasing anything that possessed the same “blood.”
“Nothing but small fry… How boring.”
If Keter wanted, he could return to Sefira within ten minutes. Yet he continued hunting monsters like this, because it was something that needed to be done anyway.
Even if I go to Sefira first, I’ll still have to deal with the monsters. Might as well clean them up along the way so that I don’t waste any time.
This entire region was Sefira’s territory, and Sefira’s land was essentially Keter’s land. For him, clearing out monsters was simply the natural act of protecting his own domain. Still, it was too much trouble to hunt each monster individually.
So Keter made full use of Dracula’s blood-based power. He killed monsters and turned their blood into arrows. Those blood arrows would automatically seek out and kill others with the same blood. Killing one monster typically produced ten blood arrows, so killing one effectively meant killing eleven.
“Is there anything bigger around?”
Placing his palm on the ground, Keter used the power of the Terra Ring, one of the Five Element Relics, to track the monsters. Of course, he didn’t rely solely on that ability. He heightened his hearing and sense of smell as well.
A radius of five hundred meters, then a thousand meters, then even five thousand meters, was all within Keter’s grasp.
“Ah, so that’s where you’ve all gathered.”
Having finally found the big fry he was looking for, Keter smiled like a child who had just discovered a new toy.
* * *
Sefira sent reinforcements to the church on Lion Hill. It was the place they could reach the fastest, and it was also where many valuable doctors were located.
The commander of the seven hundred-fifty-strong relief force, unexpectedly, carried a spear instead of a bow. He was Jordic, the youngest son of the Bydent family, once known as the Spear Dragon. Upon closer look, all of the reinforcements weren’t archers, either. Half were archers, while the rest were a mix of swordsmen and spearmen.
Over the past ten years, Bydent had completely assimilated into Sefira. They had gained Sefira’s trust and were now recognized as a vassal family, allowed to retain the Bydent name. This wasn’t just true for Bydent; many other small and large families had also joined Sefira and become vassal families.
Jordic, who had been running without rest, suddenly raised his fist to signal a halt.
“Something’s off.”
His aide, who had been following behind, nodded.
“I felt it too. What should we do?”
“The path ahead narrows. If our formation stretches out and we get surrounded from front and back, it’ll be dangerous. The monsters haven’t attacked us so far, but that might be exactly what they’re waiting for.”
There was no evidence, only a strong suspicion.
A foolish commander might have thought it was fine and pushed forward, but Jordic was cautious, and his aide was experienced.
“I’ll look for an alternate route.”
“No, follow me. This used to be Bydent territory. I know a way around.”
“Yes, sir.”
The aide, an archer of Sefira, did not question Jordic’s decision. The resentment between their families had long since disappeared. Only trust remained.
“If they’re lying in ambush on that narrow path, they’ll move the moment we take the detour.”
Jordic gave a hand signal. A soldier with keen senses broke off as a scout.
Unlike before, Jordic had become cautious and skilled in strategy. He seemed to have no openings, but in war, there were strategies that worked even when one anticipated them.
“Ambush!”
The monsters were not hiding in the narrow pass. They had predicted Jordic would take the detour and had set up their ambush there instead. And their numbers far exceeded what Jordic had expected.
“A feint…!”
Jordic bit his lower lip. Even at a glance, there were at least five hundred monsters. Moreover, some of the monsters were already wounded. That meant the monsters that had attacked the church had joined the ambush.
“Hah! Whether we fought there or here, we intended to kill you all anyway!”
Jordic swung his spear. Each time he thrust it, a clear full moon spread across the battlefield. Though he had not crossed the threshold of a seven-star Transcendental, among six-stars, Jordic was considered the strongest.
The reinforcements did not panic, not at the ambush, nor at the overwhelming number of monsters. Every soldier who had survived until now had already come back from death’s door least once. Those who feared death had long since perished.
Each soldier was skilled and trusted their comrades completely. The monsters had superior tactics, and individually they were stronger, but the power of archers protected by swordsmen and spearmen far exceeded their expectations.
“Bull Formation!”
The spearmen, who had been crouched like turtles, suddenly drove forward. Monsters skewered on the extended spears resisted, but the swordsmen followed up and cut off their heads.
“Sun Formation!”
The monsters knew no fear. They advanced, trampling over the corpses of their fallen comrades. What met them were flaming arrows with oil flasks attached.
Kiiieeek!
Ordinary fire wouldn’t even scratch the monsters, so they didn’t use ordinary fire—this was sulfur fire. Even monsters felt pain from it.
The reinforcements quickly reformed their formation and continued cutting down the monsters. Despite being ambushed, they handled the situation remarkably well. After killing two hundred monsters, not a single casualty had occurred among them. If this continued, it would be a complete victory.
But their expressions were not bright. The monsters often used tactics that lured their enemies into complacency. The closer victory seemed, the more tense they became. And sure enough, Jordic, who had been fighting well, suddenly snapped his head to the side on instinct.
Slash.
Even though he avoided it instinctively, a deep cut appeared on his neck. Blood poured out, but Jordic didn’t even attempt to stop the bleeding. He just stared forward.
“Dodging that… I’ll give you credit.”
A man stepped out from among the monsters. Blades protruded from the backs of both his hands, and his face was grotesquely mangled. He looked more monstrous than the monsters themselves.
Jordic recognized him.
“You can’t be…”
“Oh? You recognize me?”
“Of course I do. The third son of the Browning family of the north…”
Jordic gripped his spear again and smiled, just like Keter.
“Aren’t you the one Keter beat senseless and turned into a eunuch? Your name was Vector, wasn’t it?”
Before he could even finish speaking, Vector’s sword sliced off Jordic’s left arm.
