The realization hit Lin lan like a bolt of lightning.
Limited arrows.
Not infinite.
Not unstoppable.
Just… managed.
His panic vanished in an instant, replaced by something far more dangerous.
Calculation.
"You're sure?" Lin lan asked sharply, still sprinting. "Absolutely sure?"
"Positive," Shen Daolun replied, breathless. "Skeleton Archers don't conjure arrows out of thin air. Bone arrows are condensed from their own soul matter. Regeneration takes time."
"How long?"
"One arrow per minute."
Lin lan's lips curled upward.
"So even the Chieftain—"
"Same weakness," Shen confirmed. "Just stronger arrows. Faster draw speed. And far, far more terrifying aim."
Right on cue—
WHOOOOM!
Another flaming bone arrow screamed past, exploding behind them and sending bone fragments raining down.
Lin lan didn't slow.
But his path changed.
Instead of fleeing straight ahead, he began weaving—sharp turns, sudden stops, erratic bursts of speed. He zigzagged across the slope like a maddened phantom, dragging the Archer Chieftain's aim wider and wider.
Shen Daolun caught on instantly.
"You're baiting him."
"Exactly," Lin lan said. "Make him shoot. Miss. Shoot again."
"Do you have any idea how insane this is?"
Lin lan laughed breathlessly. "I'm already dead. Might as well be efficient."
The Archer Chieftain watched from above, crimson soul flames roaring.
It sensed something was wrong.
These two intruders weren't panicking anymore.
They were stalling.
Its bow pulsed violently. Flame condensed.
Another arrow loosed.
Lin lan vaulted sideways at the last possible moment. The arrow tore past his ribs, heat scorching through the Spirit Witch Armor.
Too close.
But it missed.
Again.
The Archer Chieftain growled, rage warping its posture. It fired again. And again.
Each shot shattered terrain, obliterated skeleton archers unlucky enough to be in the way—but failed to land a killing blow.
Minutes passed.
Lin lan's movements grew heavier. His spiritual energy burned fast. Sweatless exhaustion crept through his bones.
But the Chieftain slowed too—just a fraction.
"Count them," Lin lan muttered.
"I am," Shen replied grimly. "Seventeen. Eighteen…"
Another flaming arrow.
Miss.
"Nineteen."
The Archer Chieftain hesitated.
Just for a heartbeat.
Its bow flickered.
Lin lan saw it.
"There," he whispered. "That pause."
Shen Daolun's eyes widened. "It's… waiting."
Waiting for regeneration.
Waiting for arrows.
Lin lan planted his feet.
"Then we don't give it time."
Before Shen could protest, Lin lan turned—and charged straight toward the Archer Chieftain.
"Are you out of your mind?!" Shen screamed.
Lin lan didn't answer.
The Gale Boots flared to their limit. Spiritual energy screamed through his body. Cracks spread along his spine, but he didn't slow.
The Archer Chieftain recoiled instinctively, drawing its bow—
Nothing formed.
No arrow.
Just empty crimson light.
That fraction of a second—
Lin lan raised the Blood-Slaughter Bone Blade.
Spiritual energy surged.
Crimson blade aura howled.
But just as he was about to strike—
The Archer Chieftain laughed.
A deep, distorted, bone-grinding sound echoed across Archer Hills.
Its chest split open.
From within, a second quiver, fused directly to its spine, emerged—etched with unfamiliar runes, glowing a sickly dark red.
Shen Daolun's face went deathly pale.
"That's not normal," he whispered. "That's not supposed to exist."
A new flaming arrow condensed—faster, denser, darker than before.
Lin lan's pupils shrank.
So that's it…
You're not just a Skeleton Archer.
You're something else.
The arrow loosed.
Point-blank.