Bang!
The arena cracked. Decay Knight's heavy hammer slammed towards Maria, but she skillfully dodged it. The heavy hammer struck the ground, instantly turning the originally flat artificial terrain into a large crater. This strength already far surpassed Rust Copper. The visual impact directly reached the hearts of the arena audience. Maria Nearl, who had elegantly dodged this blow, noticed that Withering Knight on the side had already aimed at her.
The Stone source art of these two should be similar, a kind of Stone source art that weakens opponents and restricts their recovery. Noah originally wanted to try to counter it with her light, but she hadn't been practicing Nearl Family's Stone source art for long, so it was impossible to reach the level of resisting such a highly targeted Stone source art in a short time. However, this didn't make Noah feel tricky. Rather, she was wholeheartedly enjoying all of this, having finally gotten a chance to fight.
"Insect!" Withering Knight, already impatient with Noah's constant dodging, immediately shot an arrow from his bowstring. This arrow, enveloped in a pitch-black hue, arrived in front of Noah at extreme speed. However, Noah was already prepared. She condensed the radiance belonging to the Lingguang Family in her hand, solidified it, and then, using this layer of light as protection, she actually—caught the incoming arrow?
"Caught the arrow!?" Not only was Big Mouth Mobu exclaiming, but even the audience in the stands had rarely seen anyone dare to do such a thing. Most arrows would be imbued with various strange Stone source art, but Noah caught the arrow as if with a casual flick of her hand, then simply dropped it to the ground. This almost effortless action directly enraged Withering Knight.
However, Noah also felt that she might have been a bit overconfident. Although her light did indeed neutralize the Stone source art attached to the arrow, the light attached to her hand was also corroded almost through, which was why she was so eager to drop the arrow.
This arrow-catching technique was once one of the Kielanlet family's stunt. It was said that her grandfather could even catch the Silverlance Pegasus's javelins, but Noah, when she was young, only practiced catching crossbow bolts. Her grandfather would shoot, and she would stand in front of the target, catching each arrow her grandfather shot at her. Although those arrows didn't have sharp tips, if she made a mistake, she would be knocked flying by the force of the arrow.
The most serious time, she probably broke her arm. After three days of recovery, she began practicing catching arrows with her left hand.
She had already mastered this technique to perfection; unless it was a sneak attack, she could catch most projectiles for you to see.
Roar!
Decay Knight on the side once again raised his great hammer and slammed it towards Noah. Noah, of course, had heard his movements long ago. To be honest, from the beginning until now, she had no intention of attacking. It wasn't that she didn't want to attack, but rather that she was getting into the zone. Having not been in such a fierce fighting environment for too long, she naturally needed some time to get used to the atmosphere.
It was about time now. So, Noah suddenly turned and did a backflip, dodging the giant hammer's smash while simultaneously drawing an arrow from her securely fastened quiver. This massive arrow was specially designed for this bow. In the instant she dodged, the arrow was also instantly enveloped in a layer of light. Before her backflip landed, the arrow had already left the bowstring. The immense force made Decay Knight stagger back two steps. The arrow almost pierced through his armor, even embedding itself in his body.
Noah couldn't help but feel regret—if she had used her own body, this arrow would definitely have gone through.
Maria's arm strength hadn't been specifically trained. Although it was already quite good, there was still a certain gap compared to her own. The bow's power was also slightly reduced because of this, which was an unavoidable compromise.
In the flash of lightning-fast exchanges, Noah actually gained a slight advantage—and this was a two-on-one situation. Her graceful movements of catching arrows and dodging while counterattacking made the people in the arena cheer. They had originally thought Maria's matches were always head-on confrontations, but now she displayed a remarkably smooth and skillful fighting style, especially that dodging counterattack, which was a scene that could be recorded in a top ten counterattack compilation.
"How is this guy slipperier than a loach…" Withering Knight's arrow was caught again. From before until now, all of Withering Knight's attacks had missed, even making many spectators forget Withering Knight's existence. His arrows were clearly imbued with terrifying Stone source art capable of corroding armor, but Noah caught them one after another. Sometimes she even bothered to catch them, simply dodging and letting Decay take the arrow instead.
Effortless, light as a feather, this was the level of footwork Noah was now displaying—
Smooth, natural, every attack landing in the opponent's most uncomfortable spot. Although it would be difficult to deal with these two guys in a short amount of time, she seemed to be in an invincible position.
That being said…
But Noah herself knew that she didn't have a big advantage. The light she used to protect herself wasn't much; it was only because of her good control that she could block arrows imbued with Stone source art. In reality… she couldn't take even one arrow, and her light was already on the verge of being completely consumed by the opponent's Stone source art.
Fighting two opponents at once was indeed too mentally taxing. No matter how good her technique, her attacks would struggle to pierce the opponents' armor—
These two individuals clearly wore specially made armor; ordinary arrows simply couldn't penetrate it. What could Noah do now?… That was to first eliminate this Decay Knight. His great hammer was the most troublesome thing. Arrows could be blocked with her family's unique techniques, but a hammer couldn't be blocked at all.
After calculating, Noah decided that eliminating the Decay Knight first was more important—
So, once again, as she dodged the warhammer's smash, Noah went all in. Her index and middle fingers formed a sword-finger, and a glow appeared at her fingertip. Then, she drew it across the bowstring—the glow condensed, and an arrow of light, entirely formed from Stone source art, appeared on the bowstring, solidifying light into an arrow, making the Virtual solid. This was one of the secret techniques of the Lingguang Family's hereditary Stone source art!
Although they usually manifested it as a Sword of Light—
Since she was skilled with a bow and arrow, then naturally it would be… an Arrow of Light!
Bang!
The bowstring snapped like a thunderclap, and the Arrow of Light left the string, turning into a beam of radiance that directly pierced the Decay Knight's left shoulder. This beam of light, after penetrating the Decay Knight's body, even continued upwards, directly exploding in mid-air, like the night sky suddenly brightening!
And this arrow was also the strongest attack Noah could manage at the moment.
Leave Request
Busy! Slacking off! Two updates!
That's all!
Although it seems like a leave of absence, and yet not, since the basic updates are still there.
No need for a leave request.
Scratching my head, but this month has already reached 120,000 words, so it doesn't really matter.
I am truly diligent!
Suddenly, slacking off became justified.
However, consistently doing four updates is indeed quite difficult, unless there are more votes—
[Furious Hinting]
Please! This is really important to me!
…You scared me to death.
You guys cast over eight hundred recommendation votes in one go? No, usually you aren't that capable of voting.
I suddenly feel guilty.
Scratching my head… No… Alright, even though I've taken leave, I'll try my best to update two chapters tonight first.
It's just very subtle.
What's going on here?
I just woke up and was scared sober.
Anyway…
---------------------------------
If you'd like to read the next 40 chapters in advance, you can support me on Patreon.
I regularly post chapter previews there, so you'll always be up-to-date and won't have to wait too long.
patreon.com/SolyuraMT
And if you enjoy the story, don't forget to give me a Power Stone. Your support really motivates me to continue translating!