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“Are you already fully prepared?”

Anisida had an anxious expression.

“What we’re about to face is the very culprit who destroyed Silk Valley. She was once my younger sister, but now she’s merely a… monster that repeats destruction.”

How much agony and suffering must there have been for him to call his own younger sister a monster?

That’s why they had to be all the more cautious.

She was no easy opponent.

“We need more preparation. If we go like this, it’ll just be a dog’s death.”

“The preparations are already complete.”

Rumble!

The sound of thunder grew even more intense. It meant they were heading in the right direction.

“We don’t have much time left.”

“What’s that about…”

“It’s because I’m a teacher at the academy. There’s an important event coming up.”

“Huh? A teacher at the academy? An important event?”

Anisida grew even more flustered.

Since there was no time for further explanation, Ethan quickly continued speaking.

“Anisida, please guide my arrows with the wind spirits and add their power.”

“You’re preparing here?”

“I’ll shoot from here.”

“But she’s not even visible yet… The distance is incredibly far.”

“That’s how it has to be. If we can see the Lightning Guardian, she can also see us.”

The Lightning Guardian’s perception range and attack range were enormously wide. Even if we couldn’t see the Lightning Guardian, her attacks could still reach us.

So they had to be careful.

Ethan stared northwest with his Eye of Horus. As Anisida said, the distance was incredibly far, but the Lightning Guardian was definitely there.

In her hand was a sword.

‘That’s lightning.’

It was the treasure Ethan sought to obtain.

‘Anisida said his sister received a special spirit’s blessing. That spirit must be the Thunder God.’

That ‘lightning’ was the item bestowed by the Thunder God.

Whoever possessed that lightning would be granted power from the Thunder God and become the Lightning Guardian.

‘That’s the class I’m trying to get.’

The Thunder God was enraged at Silk Valley and cursed it, and the Lightning Guardian fell into depravity by misusing that curse.

‘Originally, I could obtain the class by defeating this Lightning Guardian.’

But this time, he didn’t plan to do that.

‘The rewards differ depending on how you complete the quest. Simply defeating her is not the perfect way to clear this quest.’

The essence of this quest was to quell the Thunder God’s anger.

To do that, he couldn’t just kill the Lightning Guardian directly, but had to help her seek forgiveness from the Thunder God.

Only then would the god’s wrath subside.

‘First, I need to subdue her and then restore her sanity.’

He had to return the depraved, insane Lightning Guardian to her right mind.

Ethan quietly took a breath.

-Hero’s Breathing is activated.

-Using Divine Archery.

After closing and reopening his eyes, his view through the Eye of Horus became even wider and clearer.

‘I see movement.’

The depraved Lightning Guardian was moving without any fixed pattern. But the Eye of Horus began predicting her erratic movements.

One, two, three.

Ethan counted the numbers and immediately pulled back his bowstring.

Kwaaaak!

-The power of Counter-Radiance is imbued.

Shaaaaaak!

Ethan focused all his power into this one shot.

As immense power momentarily gathered around Ethan, Anisida looked stunned.

He had seen swordsmanship that could cleave iron armor in a single strike and skills that could create incredibly potent potions. On top of that, to have archery skills of this level as well…

“Even archery…!”

As Anisida marveled, Yerica nonchalantly shrugged, feeling rather proud.

Of course, this was her first time seeing Ethan’s archery skills too, but she was well aware that the Ethan she served was highly capable in many areas.

“Yerica! Cast a destruction spell on the arrow when I fire.”

“Yes.”

“Sir Anisida, please use the wind spirits to accelerate the arrow’s speed.”

Shaaaaaak!

The tautly drawn bowstring proved just how much force Ethan was exerting.

“Hup.”

‘I’ll put all my power into this one shot!’

“Fluxion of Destroy.”

“Spirits of the wind.”

Shwaaaak!

As the mages cast their spells on the arrow, Ethan released his grip.

The arrow enhanced by Ethan’s Counter-Radiance, Hero’s Breathing, and Divine Archery, plus Yerica’s destruction magic and Anisida’s acceleration magic, shot straight toward the Lightning Guardian.

‘Ugh.’

A sharp pain struck his eyes. Even with the Eye of Horus, it was barely possible to track that incredibly fast and accurate shot.

Thwack!

The moment he released his grip, the arrow reached the distant Lightning Guardian with astonishing speed.

Kwaaaaak!

A thunderous boom resounded from far away.

Rumble!

Along with the rumbling of thunder, the sound of the land crumbling echoed, followed by the cries of mountain birds piercing the silence.

“What happened?!”

Anisida cried out urgently.

Since they couldn’t see, they had no way of knowing the situation.

“Ethan?”

In response to Yerica’s question, Ethan hurriedly took something out.

With a strained expression, Ethan poured his energy into the item.

“I hit her dead center and knocked her down, but she got back up.”

Hihihihng!

What Ethan summoned was the beautiful and majestic black horse Ochuma, Hang Woo’s beloved mount and Ethan’s mount item.

Ethan immediately gestured for Yerica to get on Ochuma’s back, then signaled to Anisida.

“Fall back for now! I’ll lure her away!”

With Yerica riding behind him, Ethan grabbed Ochuma’s reins and charged forward.

At the same time, something burst out from the opposite side.

It was the Lightning Guardian, who had already closed the distance.

Her sky-blue hair was disheveled with crackling blue lightning all over her body, and her eyes were blood-red, likely from the curse.

Her tattered clothes hung in shreds, and she was barefoot.

In her hand was a blue lightning sword.

“It’s not Ymir’s fault. Ymir tried to do well. It’s not Ymir’s fault. Ymir tried to do well. Ymir tried…”

At that horrific sight, Anisida clenched his teeth tightly. He had no more tears left to shed.

The depraved Lightning Guardian kept mumbling while staring at the fleeing Ethan, seeming to recognize that he was the one who shot her.

“Ymir tried…”

Muttering, she aimed her lightning sword, and in an instant, a bolt of lightning shot toward Ethan from a distance.

Crack!

“Yerica!”

If Yerica hadn’t already cast a defensive spell, they would have been instantly penetrated and charred black by that lightning strike.

“Th-this is too dangerous!”

Even with her confidence soaring after breaking through to the second level of the curse, Yerica realized just how weak she was after that single lightning attack.

If Ethan hadn’t told her to cast defensive magic in advance, she wouldn’t have even been able to react and would have been struck defenseless.

Cold sweat drenched her back.

Realizing that a single mistake or misjudgment could cost their life, her hands trembled uncontrollably.

Ethan grasped Yerica’s trembling hand.

“Yerica, you can do it.”

“…Can I really block it?”

“You can. I believe in you. If you doubt yourself, then believe in me, who believes in you.”

With those words, Ethan produced some needles.

-Using Five Elements Acupuncture Technique.

After administering the Five Elements Acupuncture Technique on himself and Yerica to grant them buffs, he immediately pulled back his bowstring again.

It seemed he was truly leaving everything in Yerica’s hands.

Complete trust.

Yerica stared intently at Ethan for a brief moment.

“…Alright.”

While trust can sometimes become a heavy burden, other times it acts as a powerful self-suggestion.

Since Ethan said he believed in her, she decided to believe in that Ethan too.

Kwaaak!

Shhh!

Ethan fired another arrow. The effects of Divine Archery were tremendous, with each of Ethan’s shots hitting the Lightning Guardian.

Once again, Ethan’s arrow struck the Lightning Guardian’s center. Arrows consecutively struck her forehead and solar plexus area as well.

‘Not enough.’

But it felt lacking somehow. As Ethan thought, while his arrows hit the Lightning Guardian, she endured all those attacks.

‘It’s different from the video I saw.’

It was only natural, since he had just started using it.

Crackle!

The Lightning Guardian’s lightning grazed Ethan’s elbow.

They were clearly running at full speed on Ochuma, so the distance should have been considerable, yet the Lightning Guardian’s attacks didn’t seem constrained by distance at all.

-Moonlight Defense is activated!

If not for Moonlight Defense, this attack could have immediately triggered his Unfading Stamina trait.

‘Next time I’ll block it with Supreme Resilience.’

He couldn’t complain to Yerica. She was already doing her utmost to block that overwhelming lightning attack.

That’s why he couldn’t even ask if she was okay after he got grazed, as she had expended all her concentration solely on defense.

“A little more.”

Ethan pulled back his bowstring again.

Shwaaak! Shwak!

His arrows struck the Lightning Guardian in succession. But now the Lightning Guardian seemed accustomed to it and simply deflected his last shot.

“Damn it.”

The plan was to incapacitate the Lightning Guardian first, and then restore her sanity.

‘But like this, it’s impossible.’

Instead, their own lives were in danger now.

Dadagdak! Dadagdak!

Ethan spurred Ochuma on. As an exceptional horse, Ochuma naturally moved wherever and at whatever speed Ethan wanted.

“Prrrr!”

Ochuma whinnied, as if encouraging Ethan to believe in him too.

“Yeah, I believe in you too, Ochu.”

Spinning around, Ethan fired more arrows. The Lightning Guardian swung her lightning to deflect Ethan’s arrows, but failed to block a few, causing her to stagger.

‘Got it.’

Crackle!

But Ochuma was grazed by the lightning.

“Hihihing!”

As Ochuma stumbled as if about to collapse, Yerica’s magic also faltered.

“Ah, no!”

The Lightning Guardian’s lightning seized the opening and rushed toward them at tremendous speed. Yerica couldn’t block it. Seeing this, Ethan immediately stepped forward.

“Supreme Resilience.”

Ethan used Supreme Resilience to block the lightning.

At the same time, Yerica fell off Ochuma and rolled on the ground.

Thud! Thud!

“Ethan!”

Yerica urgently got up, covered in dirt. Fortunately, Ethan was unharmed.

-Absorbing damage!

-Damage exceeded limit.

Kwaang!

Ethan couldn’t even think about using the absorbed damage and had to simply release it.

Tuk. Tuk.

The Lightning Guardian had already closed in on Ethan. She was just walking, yet her speed was like lightning itself.

“It’s not Ymir’s fault. It’s not Ymir’s fault…”

Muttering, the approaching Lightning Guardian stared straight at Ethan. It was a chilling gaze.

‘I know the pattern.’

But if he dodged her attack here, Yerica behind him could be put in danger. Ethan hurriedly fell back and remounted Ochuma.

‘The aggro is already on me. She’ll chase after me.’

As expected, the Lightning Guardian targeted Ethan. She sheathed the lightning sword at her waist, taking a stance reminiscent of Iai.

‘Iai!’

She unleashed it.

While the stance resembled drawing a sword, the speed and power utterly transcended ordinary swordsmanship.

The highly condensed lightning maintained the speed of light, but its destructive force was incomparable to before.

Crackle!

The earth-rending lightning rushed at Ethan as if to cleave him in two. Ethan urgently changed directions by pulling Ochuma’s reins.

He could respond like this because he was already familiar with the pattern. If she hadn’t taken that Iai-like stance unlike what he saw in MePan, he would have been skewered by the lightning.

“Ethan!”

“We have to retreat!”

Anisida, who had run up from behind, shouted. Their preparations were indeed lacking.

Dadagdak! Dadagdak!

“Phew.”

‘I still can’t fully control Divine Archery.’

He recalled the videos of Hood and Jumong in his mind. The archery teachings they imparted became ingrained in Ethan’s body motions. There shouldn’t be any deficiency.

Then Ethan remembered Jumong’s parting words:

-Free yourself from the obsession of having to hit the mark.

Kwaaaak!

Come to think of it, that’s how it was.

The gods truly emphasized one’s mindset.

Hercules had said to believe you could cleave whatever stood before you, be it the Dragon or a gigantic lion.

If you made up your mind to cut, you would cut. That way, you could cut through anything in your path.

‘To free yourself from the obsession of having to hit the mark.’

Ethan grabbed the reins again. Then, spinning around, he charged straight at the Lightning Guardian. The Lightning Guardian took a stance and began preparing her kick technique pattern once more.

Ethan aimed at the Lightning Guardian like that and pulled his bowstring.

Shwaaaak!

The Lightning Guardian’s lightning came even faster than when he released the bowstring. For a moment, time seemed to slow for Ethan.

“To have the conviction that you’ve already hit the mark the moment you release the shot.”

To move with utmost confidence and conviction in every action.

Shwaaak!

With the Lightning Guardian’s lightning incoming, Ethan fired his bow.

“I understand now.”

-Divine Archery proficiency increases by a large amount!

Author's Thoughts

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