Chapter 93: Chapter 93: Triumph Over Adonai
Every one of Adonai's bolts was a frightening weapon, yet there was a hand that intercepted and neutralized them.
"Stay back."
Aquila advanced, blocking Vikir and Aiyen.
She had dispatched the eight Deathknights that restrained her, sending them back to their graves, and now she was about to confront Adonai, the last apex, the supreme of the Balak.
Adonai, the head of the Advanced Age, and Aquila, the head of the New Period.
These twin apexes, each masters of archery, now faced each other in an eternal showdown.
Vikir swallowed nervously.
A battle between two absolute powers, master-level strength users touching the realm of the Supreme, isn't something witnessed every day. Even in the Time of Obliteration, where the sky and earth were turned upside down daily, such a battle was rare.
"What... what will happen?"
"It's not even worth asking."
Aiyen, beside him, reacted to Vikir's question.
She spoke with a determined expression.
"My mother will never lose."
Aiyen's words exuded confidence.
But the reality was beginning to show otherwise.
Kararak-
Aquila raised her mighty bow and aimed it straight ahead.
The thick bowstring was pulled back under immense tension, and a solid arrow was released.
Boom!
Aquila shot at Adonai with silver quality.
The formidable force flew like a silver bolt, piercing through the dark aura emanating from Adonai's body.
[....]
Adonai immediately counterattacked.
His battle instincts were so sharp they were firmly ingrained in his lifeless body.
...Boom!
The dark aura emanating from Adonai's body exploded like steam.
The ground around him cracked, sulfurous gas rushing out of the fissures, and the dark aura was black with sulfur, like the flames of agony.
It rose up high in a whirlwind, and soon the vast expanse of sky was shrouded in ominous shadows.
To these ominous shadows, Aquila unleashed a barrage of silver flames.
Silver glimmers and dark tendrils fiercely clashed with each other.
It was so fast that even Aiyen, a novice Graduator, and Vikir, a high-level Graduator, could scarcely keep up.
"Aquila, the speed of your bow rivals that of Adonai."
"My mother's archery skills are top-notch, and I don't just mean in terms of accuracy."
Indeed, these two living legends were setting a true example for future generations of fighters.
Aquila and Adonai's battle was one of precision.
The basics of anticipating your opponent's movements and placing your arrows on a predictable path, along with more advanced techniques such as curving shots that take advantage of the air currents in which your opponent's arrows are flying, and feint shots that make arrows shoot unexpectedly from a higher position or sideways, were flawlessly executed.
...BANG!
As Aquila ducked her head, a dark arrow flew past and snapped the back of a log behind her.
...Boom!
As Adonai leaped vertically, a silver arrow embedded itself in the shoal he was standing on, sending a spray of sand in all directions.
A full-blown clash of attrition.
... But as time passed, it was Aquila who was losing ground.
Spot!
An arrow from Adonai grazed Aquila's side. The dark arrows were slowly, steadily sapping the air from Aquila's lungs.
Yet, it wasn't a matter of skill.
This is because Aquila lacked the versatile tools of arrows, and Adonai did not.
Occasionally, like Adonai, Aquila would simply concentrate her air and send it out without an arrow, but it was so mana-draining that she could not use it except in a moment of extreme urgency.
Adonai, on the other hand, thanks to the negative energy he draws from Hell, could shoot out solid air arrows of 100 percent purity.
Even.
"... ... Even the direction of the wind is unfavorable."
Vikir grimaced.
Adonai had the advantage to the wind, and Aquila was struggling with it head-on.
The winds of the jungle seemed to be favoring Adonai's arrows, giving them more power, while Aquila's arrows were diminished in strength.
The difference was becoming increasingly apparent in Aquila's body, which was becoming more covered in scars.
Indeed, even Adonai's sniper shots were infused with the venom of Madame Eight-Legged!
Tsutsutsutsuts... ...
The wounds on Aquila's body turned black.
Her complexion grew pale for the first time.
Ping ping
Moreover, the arrows that Aquila had delivered had suddenly started to veer off in completely strange directions.
The wind wrapped around her arrows and sent them flying in all directions, never reaching Adonai.
Perhaps the entire jungle was protecting Adonai. Could he be a jungle god?
Vikir wondered. How could he reverse the odds?
Continuing like this, Aquila would lose, and Balak's fighters would be swept away by the Death Knight hordes.
" ... ... Should we kill Ahheman first?
Yes, but to do so would require breaching Adonai's iron wall, which stands immovable in place.
Moreover, Ahheman had not unleashed his Deathknights, but was instead focusing his efforts on controlling several Named-class Deathknights, including Adonai.
Balak's fighters were battling against other Death Knights who were only slightly hindered by the sprinkling of salt, but not completely deterred.
"Someone needs to go get the other fighters around! Continuing like this, we're going to... ... !"
Vikir shouted desperately.
Aiyen clasped a hand over his mouth.
"Shhh. We're almost there."
"...?"
Vikir's eyes narrowed.
Aquila was growing tired, her arrows flying in strange directions against the headwind.
Adonai, meanwhile, still pressing forward.
Where did she think she was winning?
However, Aiyen, who was a better bowman than Vikir, seemed to see something else.
Aiyen. She watched in awe as Aquila performed a miracle.
"I see it. I do. I see how things are playing out."
"...?"
Vikir could only shake her head.
Then.
It happened suddenly.
...Boom!
A mysterious arrow flew out and lodged in the center of Adonai's back.
A lone, unerring arrow twitched.
It came from an unexpected direction, from behind, not from below, not from the front.
[...?]
Adonai paused, surely there must be someone behind him, right?
But.
Pfft!
Another arrow flew right back at him, hitting him in the back of the head.
And then another.
-Signal, blare, blare!
Countless arrows began to fly in from behind.
"Ugh!"
Ahheman writhed like a bug on the ground.
Several of the arrows flying from behind pierced his back.
"...!"
Vikir looked up, her mouth half open.
Only now did she see the origin of the arrows coming from behind.
They were the stray arrows Aquila had been shooting moments ago!
Pipipiping!
Another hail of arrows from behind. All aimed at Adonai's back!
Whizz, whizz, whizz-!
The fierce wind was carrying Aquila
's arrows back to Adonai.
Only then did Vikir realize the reason for the anomaly.
Aquila's arrows weren't flying off course.
They seemed to have gone astray, only to surge up in a whirlwind that raged across the jungle, only to swirl around in a loop and return to whence they came.
Like salmon leaping up a waterfall back to where they were born.
To the center of the dark vortex that Adonai was creating, to where the wind originates!
...Puck! ... Puck! Quack!
Adonai's exposed back was quickly turned into a pincushion.
After bouncing twice in the wind, the arrow became even more potent than when it was first released and struck its target.
Aquila's arrows, which could pierce rocks and logs, didn't fully penetrate Adonai's solid body, but they still managed to make a good dent.
Boom!
Another arrow landed on top of the one in Adonai's thigh.
Only then did it manage to penetrate Adonai's thigh, causing him to stagger and fall to his knees on the ground.
Aquila looked up, her complexion fatigued.
"Great Ancestor, if you were still alive and feeling well, you could not have possibly made such a simple mistake. It saddens me."
Aquila sent the final arrow flying towards the wounded Adonai.
A stray arrow struck him in the back and a targeted arrow in the front.
Adonai couldn't evade Aquila's final shot.
Pfft!
An arrow halfway to the back of his head and another halfway to his temple.
...Boom!
The two sharpened stones converged at a single point.
Thud-!
Adonai fell to his knees.
The legend of a past age bowed before the dawn of a new era.
"...."
Aquila looked at Adonai, kneeling before her, head bowed.
It didn't truly feel like a victory.
Aquila was at the peak of her powers now, and the Adonai she had just faced had already died of old age and was no longer in the state of being resurrected from the dead.
Furthermore, he was a corpse, lacking even basic cognition, let alone a living mind, so it was hardly a fair match.
"If only Adonai had the strength of his prime... ... .
Aquila shook her head. She could hardly comprehend the dire consequences.
Then.
"Kaaaaaah!"
A muted cry.
Ahheman was grappling with Adonai's body.
The battle was lost, as the Death Knight crafted from Adonai's corpse had fallen.
The few remaining Deathknights gathered around Ahheman, and a far greater number of Balak champions surrounded him.
"Now die."
Aiyen scowled at Ahheman with disdain.
But.
Ahheman's gamble was not yet over.
He had lost almost his life and mana, and was all but disabled from the waist down, yet he still hadn't abandoned his will to live.
"Don't come near!"
Ahheman gathered Adonai's body and the bodies of other ancestors together.
He got a handful of blood from his hands and mouth.
"If you come closer, your ancestors will be tainted with my blood!"
Ahheman's ominous message made everyone, including Aquila, pause.
Superstition held that a soul tainted with the blood of a traitor would be unable to enter the champions' heaven.
In his final moments, Ahheman had relied on this small superstition to blackmail the others.
Continuing like this, the spirits of the champions could forever be unable to reach heaven, not to mention they would have been deceived by him.
The fact that he was so skilled in black magic made the situation even more dire.
"...."
Aquila raised her bow, but Ahheman was cunningly hiding behind the bodies of his ancestors.
Thus, all the champions couldn't act recklessly.
For if they did, they might never be able to honor their ancestors again.
At that moment.
"Stand down, everyone."
Vikir's voice rang out.
Everyone's eyes turned to see Vikir raising her bow and pointing an arrow.
However, the arrow was aimed off target.
"... ... What are you going to do?"
Even Aquila, who had just used the wind to make an incredible shot, looked puzzled.
But. Vikir was confident.
"Move to a higher place first."
That was Vikir's final advice.
At the same time.
PING-!
The arrow from Vikir's bow flew in an arc.
It struck where the logs were stacked on top of each other, the bunch of plants holding them in place.
...Pow!
Vikir's arrow snapped, and the plant toppled to the ground.
And then.
Grrrrr - snap - snap - snap.
As the plants snapped one by one, the heavy logs began to move as one.
When the wooden barrier dam, held in place by the plants, collapsed, the contents on the other side spilled out.
Chhhhhhh.
It was a river that swelled during the long rainy season, the torrents of a salt river filled with dissolved white salt!
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