Chapter 124: Lightning Guardian (4)

Chapter 124: Lightning Guardian (4)

“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.’

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

Want to read ahead of the scheduled release? You can check the Novel page on the website (or press the next chapter button) and buy an advanced chapter with only 20 Honeys! (100 Honeys is only 5$! So you can basically read 5 advanced chapters ahead of schedule!)