Chapter 340 Young, Flawless, Unreal
The voice as the countless weapons and spells hit a single place was loud. The concentrated force that was born from it was comparable to a strong (tier-5) spell, the smoke that came up after that and the crater that was created after this was quite something too.
But the shock one would have from seeing this was nothing compared to the shock they had after seeing the abnormal-looking bow that the young boy was lifting so casually.
As soon as the young boy released the bowstring, holding a golden metallic spear that became an arrow, as if a storm had descended upon the entire training grounds with a boy at its center, the whole ground shook with strong winds.
They hadn't taken away their eyes from him from the moment he appeared on the other side of the ground, and just this much was enough for them to tell the source of the fierce winds that carried enough power to cut at their hardened knightly skins.
Just the aftershock of the attack was this much stronger than their imagination that aside from the captains, no one was able to think anything about actually fired arrow with this much force.
Just the fact that he could exert this much power proved that he was on an equal level to most knights here.
Most knights who were trained for years by the best of the best.
The young boy was already on the same level as them, from pure power to basic techniques.
Maybe no one aside from the captains saw this, but the two of them had seen how the boy was able to produce this grand of an aftershock.
They had seen this, and they felt admiration just from seeing him do that with a smile on his face.
They could tell that… first of all, the weapon he was holding was an artifact that was made by a great craftsman and they, normal people, couldn't even fathom the value of this artifact.
Secondly, the bow was heavy beyond the look. And even if one was strong enough to lift it, they couldn't do so unless they actually understand the weapon called a bow.
They, the best in their fields, had already known the existence of an ego weapon, and this was one of them.
A weapon that had a will of its own. Artificial intelligence that was not any normal existence.
Just being acknowledged by these weapons was a task one might fail even after training with their blood and sweat for their entire life and still fail to match their noble standards.
The bow he was holding was one such entity that all archers or knights in this place might fail to even lift if it was just laying on the ground that casually.
Just being its wielder, understanding the weapon to this degree that high knights spend their lives understanding, and being skilled enough to handle that weapon made him far greater than most knights on this ground.
Maybe far greater than many mages too, because this was a magic weapon and not just a simple bow.
A magic weapon that enhanced the performance of magic and something that very rare magic archers used.
Using it required precise control over the Mana, as well as an understanding of complex spells and enchantments that the weapon was created with.
He used it effortlessly, and this much was enough to admire him, but that wasn't all he did while shooting the one arrow-like artifact.
The knight captain, people called him Iron Heart.
He was the right hand of marquis Heliox. Someone who had been trained by him from a young age and had been with him since the time of the great maroon war.
He was a talented individual, and he probably knew about his master as much as the adults of this family.
He was an excellent knight. A true knight.
And knights are naturally proficient with a great variety of weapons aside from the main weapon they have the most affinity with.
He has trained many weapon wielders in his life with the knight king Golden Hammer, and countless of them were archers.
Some of them were even magic archers, so he knew just what the art called archery was.
He had discerning eyes, and he was able to fully see the series of processes the young boy did before releasing his arrow.
His basic posture, the most basic form of an archer, something a top-grade archer has, the form he had was at that level.
Maybe it was even more perfect that transcended his own understanding and he was sure of this fact.
His breathing was calm, so calm that it seemed as if he stopped his heartbeats just to understand the terrain of the ground and stretch his focus to the extremes of his body's limits.
Just this much was amazing but still, that wasn't all.
Form, breathing, the unreal focus in those ferocious eyes, all of his muscle alignments, the atmosphere he created around himself prior to arrow release, the harmony between his movements and breathing... they were so great that he accepted his failure.
These were the most basic of basics. Something he had refined to the degree that a strong knight like himself, someone who had numerous achievements, wasn't able to achieve yet.
There was nothing extravagant, flashy, or sophisticated about his archery. No, it was the most basic thing that any archer or knight is taught at the start of their training.
But he... his form, breathing, his archery itself, it was so thoroughly refined in basics that it looked charming, beautiful, and out of the norm.
He was surprised by this physical refinement that the boy had achieved at this young age while the elf, the mage captain, was astonished at the degree of control the boy showed with his Mana.
He himself didn't use any magic on this attack. The arrow carrying a strong magical power was a different fact at that moment but, he didn't use any spells.
He just moved his Mana at a speed that was close to, maybe even greater than a pureblood elf like herself.
She was an elf so she could perceive what others normally couldn't when it came to natural energy like Mana.
She had been doubtful for a long time but today, she confirmed her suspicions.
The young boy before them didn't just store the Mana in his Mana nucleus.
It was the most basic Mana storage and mostly the only place to store one's Mana.
But it was different for elves as well as some other magical species as well as high-level mages like 'elders'.
Aside from the basic Mana nucleus, their body can hold the Mana in the entirety of their bodies. Just like the elves, witches, wizards, and some other beings close to nature.
He was the same. This young boy was the same in the aspects that normal humans hardly ever achieve.
He could store the Mana in his entire body, and the speed he exerted the needed Mana from the nucleus, refined with his entire body, took in the atmospheric Mana with his full body Mana breathing, and channeled the Mana into the magic bow and the arrow was astonishing! 𝒇𝐫ℯ𝑒𝒘ℯ𝑏n𝑜ѵ𝐞l.c𝗼𝗺
She was genuinely surprised by all these facts.
She, a pureblood elf and high mage was surprised just by the Mana utilization of a young boy who had just reached twelve.
And this was just surprising.
The admiration she was feeling from the arrow that was actually fired was even greater.
Both of them knew where the arrow would land. Many of the mages and knights could tell from the way he felt it.
And even though the others aside from the two captains couldn't see the arrow, they had a firm understanding that the arrow was never meant to hit anyone.
The aftershock of his arrow release was great, many knights were shocked stiff because of it, but, even in this mess, the mage captain who was looking at the arrow that was coming down at the mages at her back, couldn't do anything to stop or hinder it.
Not just the force was that great but the arrow was surrounded by a high Magic and physical attack nullification field that even she couldn't understand.
There was practically no way to stop this arrow and the great magic this arrow was carrying.
She could tell even as the arrow was falling in the middle of the mages in that split second, a spell even she would be seeing for the first time was going to unfold here.
The aftereffect of the arrow release, his still sharp eyes filled with unique confidence, and that certain smile of excitement over his own attack.
This was... attractive?
They certainly thought it was.
The girl that came with him, the young lady everyone in this place knew about, was sighing at that excited smile on his face.
She had seen it many times during their special training. And she could tell he had done something crazy again.
But... this was charming in her eyes. Something that put a smile on her already pretty face making it even more alluring.
She could also see the arrow with her special eyes and even her eyes failed to understand the spell that was on both of this arrow's tips.
There certainly were the fluctuations of spells, the early effects that indicated a strong spell, and something even she was going to see for the first time. 𝑓re𝘦𝔀𝗲𝘣𝘯𝘰νℯ𝒍.c𝗼m
From the looks of it, it wasn't an explosions-type destruction series spell but something else.
And the two ladies who were looking at the arrow falling in the middle of the mages didn't have to wait long as the arrow that was first fired towards the sky reached maximum height and gravity was doing its work.
The arrow fell, the speed accelerated in mere moments, and when it collided with the ground, it didn't cause any explosion…
Instead, the arrow just naturally pierced the ground and gently stood up.
It was like a sword or pointed rod falling from a small distance and just its tip being dug into the ground.
The arrow, even after that much force, even after carrying that much kinetic energy, didn't fully pierce the ground or create any huge explosions.
But, the moment the arrow was one with the ground, it became visible again.
And now, everyone could see the arrow that had suddenly appeared in the middle of tens of mages without their noticing.
It was also calm, with no great reaction around it, at least for now.
The complicated invisible shield protecting it was still there and the red gem on the tip of the arrow that blinked as if heartbeat, as well as the weird white light just above it, on the blade tip of the arrow, were especially eye-catching.
Everyone saw this arrow. From the knights to all of the mages who had been surprised by its sudden appearance.
But this surprise deepened as soon as the white light at the spear-like sharp tip shot up into the sky and created a weird white translucent barrier.
This happened too fast. Even faster than how the arrow was shot and hit the ground in the middle of them.
And this was the moment, every one of the people present on this ground, witnessed an unexplainable phenomenon for the first time in their lives.
The effect of Act 12, paragraph 1 of the greatest arrow, Asta. The... Mana-sucking barrier.