Descending Into A Novel

Chapter 132:Narrow Victory

False Future Projection Art wasn’t the only Art Ellen created, she currently had another idea in the works that was stalled due to her lack of knowledge about time. Something she had been fixing with lessons with Raymond.

She drew her bowstring back, aiming at a projection of Zachary that was open. Firing off a other river crossing arrow.

He prepared his sword, aiming to block or dodge it. Only for it to go past his defenses and hit his chest.

If not for his armor, it would have already gotten him eliminated. But it was drawing blood already.

He pulled the arrow out again, this entire fight. He had been continuously suffering at her arrows. But now, it was his turn!

He swung his sword at her, expecting Ellen to immediately falter.

She didn’t blink, in one swift motion. Her Kairos Bow was used to block his sword, as a genuine grade 8 weapon. It was practically indestructible at their current level.

Trapping the sword between the bowstave and the drawstring, she twisted her wrist. Prying the sword free from Zachary’s hands.

Archers shouldn’t fight in close quarters, and Ellen was someone who knew this very well.

Throughout her years, she had lost count of the amount of people that believed they could defeat her merely by closing the gap. Believing that if they just forced her to fight they would win. As if they were looking down on her.

Without skipping a beat, she immediately dashed towards him. A small steel dagger appearing in her free hand.

A sword of light appeared in his hands, blocking Ellen’s dagger before swiftly retaliating with a rising diagonal slash.

Clang!

Clink!

Their weapons clashed, with Ellen’s dagger nearly snapping half. She threw it at him before executing a full 360 kick in the air. Her heel hitting him right in the shoulder. Another move taught to her by Lin Qingyi.

Her years of combat experience were showing already, despite being at a disadvantage. Her skills more then made up for it.

At this point, Zachary immediately noticed something was wrong.

Ellen was skilled, but she shouldn’t have been able to evade him so often!

Everytime he tried to attack her, she swiftly dodged by the barest amount needed. Any small slip-up and she would be injured, yet she was doing this continuously for minutes on end now.

Just to test it, he tried a slash at her chest level. Something that was usually unavoidable at such close range.

As expected, she immediately stepped back before he had even swung his sword.

Zachary’s eyes narrowed.

Her innate powers could only detect weaknesses, seeing the golden wisps of mana on her eyes. She was clearly doing something else!

Faster reaction speed? No, that didn’t explain how she managed to dodge without him even acting yet.

Come to think of it, Zachary had almost forgotten. But Raymond wasn’t the only individual with a time-attunement, Ellen also had the same one!

It was clear, she was obviously predicting his attacks on advance using some sort of Art. Foreseeing his own actions before he even knew it himself.

Zachary grinned, feeling his own heart pumping faster.

Without any hesitation, he immediately activated his new skill.

’Life Furnace. Burn!’

Zachary felt his entire body heat up. His very body burning itself in a mana-fueled flame. Taking on the same golden sheen as his light-attunement. Every part of his body becoming faster, stronger. Even as it screamed at him, Zachary didn’t care.

The strategy was simple, Ellen may have been able to see his attacks on advance. But as long as he could overwhelm her with sheer speed and quantity. She wouldn’t be able to keep up!

So what if you can see my attacks! You can’t dodge it all!

His attacks continuously ramped up as his Life Furnace Art burned, his sword turning into a blur.

Ellen frowned, moving her body at increasingly fast speeds. She was starting to struggle to dodge his attacks now.

This was strange, Zachary definitely didn’t have an Art like this at this current time.

She jumped back, pulling out a second dagger from her thigh just in time to block another stab.

Her eyes burned, the False Future Projection Art wasn’t as straining as using her innate power. But it still burned her eyes to use. She also couldn’t blink lest she miss even a single second of Zachary’s attacks.

Even worse was that the projections weren’t always one hundred percent accurate, sometimes his sword would be at a slightly different angle. Sometimes it was faster or stronger then anticipated, and Ellen had to adjust for each change.

The inaccuracy of the projections was continuously increasing even since Zachary activated that Art of his.

Clang!

Her other dagger was knocked away by Zachary, leaving her only with the Kairos Bow.

Ducking under a slash, she let loose an arrow directly at him. Watching as it struck him in the chest again, yet failing to do anything else from the lack of power.

The current situation was unbelievably tilted against her favor. But she held zero intention of giving up.

Zachary’s speed was starting to match hers, so she quickly made more space between them. Firing off a volley of arrows in rapid succession, each arrow curving in ways so that they all hit Zachary at the same time.

Meanwhile, she pulled out another arrow from her quiver. Rather then the regular wooden ones she had been using all this time however. This arrow had an elegant design, purple with a wicked purple head. Adorned with a dark feather as well. The mana it radiated was enough to make Zachary wary.

Many of the spectators in the stands recognized the arrow. As the public inheritor of Jillian’s legacy, the Kairos bow was frequently seen. Yet the set of both had never been seen.

Now for the first time, Ellen was using the Kairos arrow. Activating the ability of the Kairos set.

What made some weapons so special?

Of course, they were more durable, sharper, better then any other weapon of the same type. But that wasn’t the only criteria for an object to be classified and receive a grade.

The most important criteria especially was the features that came with it.

Zachary’s sword had a feature to transform into a dome shield to protect him and others. They could be simple features such as an enchantment that kept the blade sharp, to more complicated ones.

The Kairos set, being a genuine grade 8 artifact used by Killian of the hero party. Naturally had its own features.

It was durable, the arrows shot would be faster and sharper, it was more accurate, and most importantly.

The Kairos Bow held an enchantment that only activated when used alongside the arrow. It wasn’t called the Kairos for nothing

Kairos. The moment of opportunity, the timing for something before it is lost or gone forever.

The name alone gave a hint as to the ability. Something which was a near perfect match for Ellen with her innate power.

She took a deep breath, ingraining the images of Zachary’s projections in her head before shutting off the False Future Projection Art. The wisps of mana around her eyes disappearing.

Her pupils glimmered, Raymond who was sitting in the stands wearing his glasses (which were newly engraved to also improve vision) mentally cheered for her. Recognizing what she was about to do.

She drew her bow, the dark arrow ominous to Zachary. Like a omen of his defeat.

Her mana flooded the bow and arrow. Creating an outline of a larger mysterious bow and arrow over the two, the domineering appearance of the amber bow and arrow was a sight that Raymond and the others could never forget.

Holding her breath, her eyes focused not on Zachary. But on the blue pathway that only she could see, the end target hitting a Zachary that hadn’t even reached the location yet.

She waited, steadying her breath. Waited for the signal.

’ÑöW!’

A voice that could only be described as horrifying yelled in her head. An incomprehensible language consisting of unknown sounds and words. But the meaning was unbelievably clear. It was a signal to her, now was the best timing.

She let loose, watching everything occur in nearly slow motion. Perhaps it was the adrenaline, but Ellen could barely even hear anything other then her own heartbeat.

Zachary let out a roar, swinging his sword downwards with enough force to crack the ground between them in half. Glowing in a radiant light as he tried to block the arrow coming his way to no avail.

He could only watch in horror as the arrow narrowly swerved his sword. His extreme reflexes watching as the amber outline inches closer towards his body.

Ellen watched as the arrow dodged past him. Right before it could pierce his body. A glowing blue shield of mana appeared to protect him.

The moment she saw that, she let out a breath of relief, a breath she hadn’t even realized she had been holding.

It was all over now, the challenge was over. Zachary had lost and she had successfully defended her position as rank number one in the year. Most importantly,

She had won.