Chapter 138: Archery Line

Woooootttt!!

When the sonorous sound of the trumpet reverberated through the air, Serene was dumbfounded when she saw that shameless elf just stood in place while the other participants swiftly ran towards the first course.

The damned elf was already a few seconds behind before he finally decided to run and enter the race. Looking at the figure who sped away, Serene scoffed, "Huh!? Winning he said?! He can't even start properly!"

When the 25 participants had left the clearing where the starting point was, Queen Leena, her entourage, as well as the whole audience immediately began making their way to the finish line which was in the opposite direction where the race began.

The place where the Gauntlet was held was a U-shaped terrain where the participants gathered at the foot of the hill, started there and made their way up through the courses before going back down to the other clearing which was the finish line.

Shortly after, the hundreds of Vanyar elves had already crossed the woods and arrived at the other clearing.

Seeing the elven archer squads already lining up before the finish line, Serene turned to her mother with a surprised expression.

"We are doing the archery squad in the last course for this Gauntlet?"

Leena turned to her daughter and let out a faint smile, "Yes, dear. We are."

Actually, the archery lines were the hardest among all the other options of obstacles throughout the history of Gauntlet. 

It was mainly because the elves were born with innate talent for archery, and thus, these archers were obviously not going to shoot inaccurately, let alone aimlessly. In fact, they were certainly ordered to do their best to stop the participants from advancing in this Gauntlet.

At that moment, Serene subconsciously thought of the arrogant elf. Realizing that her thoughts were about him, she quickly shook her head and slapped her cheeks.

"Huh?! Why am I worried about him..?! Anyway, he might not be able to even get past the second course with the way he is now."

While Serene was busy scolding and belittling Tristan in her mind, Leena who was next to her gestured to her aide. Soon after, the aide came to the queen carrying a longbow in his hand.

She took the longbow and handed it to Serene, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"Huh? What's wrong, mother?"

"Daughter, I want you to join the archery lines."

"!!?"

Shock, disbelief, then a doubtful expression appeared on Serene's face in rapid manner. Noticing her daughter's emotions through the look she showed, the queen smiled and looked at the direction where the course was.

"This way, you can't say I force your marriage. Well, on second thought, I guess I am forcing you to marry someone. But now, you have the freedom to shoot whoever and however you want." the queen said those words with an indescribable smile on her face.

As she had no reason to refuse, Serene took the bow and made her way to the line. While doing so, she was contemplating what her mother had actually planned for her in secret.

Alas, she wasn't given a lot of time to think as her thoughts were interrupted by the cheers that suddenly broke out from the crowd. The reason for the abrupt commotion was due to the appearance of two figures approaching the fourth and last course.

Serene looked over from behind the archer squad and as expected, those two figures were Elyon and Alanis. For a moment, she wondered where Sindur was as she couldn't see him behind the duo. But then, Serene quickly threw him to the back of her mind as the two were still the best of the three.

Once again, her thoughts returned to that shameless elf and when she saw that the said person couldn't be seen, she was convinced he didn't make it.

Following the arrival of the two, the two dozen elven archers started to launch their volley of arrows. Naturally, the two began their sequence of dodging and advancing toward the finish line.

Between the two, Elyon and Alanis, Serene knew the former was a bit stronger. Therefore, she decided to put more strength onto the arrows when she shot the large elf. Moreover, she also thought that it was probably best for her if Alanis was the one who won the Gauntlet.

Swish Swish Swish

In no time at all, the first arrow was released from Serene's bow, speeding toward Elyon. Unfortunately, the latter managed to dodge it by a large margin. 

Knowing that her first shot was a warm up, Serene swiftly notched her bow and fired another one at the man. However, this second shot also missed its target.

Serene was annoyed when she saw her arrows were dodged because she was hailed as the best prodigy on archery and thus couldn't accept what had happened. Hence, she once again loaded the bow with an arrow and fired it.

This time, Serene had used her maximum strength and the technique in her repertoire. The arrow was moving in a curved angle, hiding its presence behind the arrows shot by the other elven archers. As a result, Elyon could not dodge the arrow as it nailed on his thigh, hindering and making his movement slower.

As the elves already prepared healer at the end of the lines, she wasn't worried about it and it seemed everything was under her plan, and a smile appeared on her face.

When Serene thought she didn't need to do anything anymore, suddenly another cheer broke out from the audience.

She quickly shifted her gaze and saw a white-haired elf entering the vicinity of fourth course. Her eyes widened as she could clearly see the face of that elf.

"H-How?! That fool!!? How could he?!!"

Her mouth was wide open as she was surprised by the unexpected development. In addition, the elf's appearance somehow sprouted warmth in her heart. 

Serene immediately shook her head violently when she realized what she was feeling at the moment,

"No! No! I won't let him win!"

As the damned elf reached halfway through the course, Serene armed her bow and dispatched her fourth shot to him. The arrow split the air as it flew in a straight line towards its target.

To her surprise, her simple shot pierced the elf's shoulder, making him stagger and almost fall to the ground.

"That stupid elf!"

Serene set another arrow and aimed at the elf. However, she couldn't continue her action. She didn't know why her hand suddenly didn't have the strength to pull the string.

The image of what happened last night, the image of the man above her, suddenly appeared in Serene's mind, making her cheeks blush and her ears turn red. Then, she remembered how helpless she was at that time, and that made her regain her strength.

"That bastard should pay for what he did last night!"

Without further ado, she fired her fifth arrow.

Splat! The arrow flew at an even greater speed than before and hit the elf, causing the ground to stain red.

Seeing the elf was still advancing, Serene sent another arrow at him.

The sixth shot made a beeline in the air and seamlessly made its landing on the elf's stomach. As a result, more blood splattered out of the latter and colored the lush grasses with an entirely new color.

Serene was irritated when she saw the elf was still not stopping. Therefore, she prepared her seventh arrow.

This time, she decided to use one of the archery battle art techniques, the Piercing Shot!

The arrow zoomed through the air at breakneck speed as its tip revolved rapidly, giving it deadly penetration capability. It once again struck the elf, this time on the thigh, and pierced through it before darting away. However, the elf still didn't stop.

He continued forward even though his figure was bleeding. Step by step, faster with every passing second.

Angered, Serene took the last three arrows in the quiver and loaded it with her strongest technique. Before releasing the arrows, her gaze locked on the figure at the distance. 

He was a dozen steps away from the finish line, while his body was riddled with at least a dozen arrows. Even so, he kept persisting.

Seeing it, her fingers that pulled the string suddenly faltered. As a result, the arrows completely missed their original target. 

The white-haired elf dragged his bloodied body and stepped into the finish line, as the winner.