Ch.7070 – Schola, Descendant of the Divine Bow vs. Oknodie, Archer of Monstrous Strength

by fnovelpia

<70 – Skola, Heir of the Divine Bow vs Oknodie, Archer of Monstrous Strength>

Morb’s heated run affected the two people running at the front as well.

‘Those guys, they’re catching up faster and faster!’

‘Impossible! What on earth do you have to do to catch up at such a rapid pace?!’

The all-out sprint fueled by the desperate cheating of a man who had abandoned everything, and Oknodie’s sincere running inspired by that profound display—together they formed a relentless pursuit.

With each track they passed, the gap narrowed, and Skola and Layve repeatedly felt the urge to look back.

“Don’t look back!”

“Aren’t you curious too, Skola?”

“It’s hard enough just focusing on running forward!”

When Oknodie went back to save her comrade, Skola thought:

Rescuing allies who fall behind on the battlefield only puts oneself in danger.

That’s why he resolved:

Even if she belatedly realized her mistake and abandoned her comrade to run ahead alone, he wouldn’t even allow second place to such a foolish person.

At Skola’s advice, Layve forcibly suppressed his anxiety.

‘The heir of the divine bow is matching my pace. He must be expecting something from me!’

Among the 981st class students, not a single person could shoot a bow better than Skola.

No one could deny that fact.

That’s why Skola’s advice carried special meaning, particularly in this <Ranged Weapon Mastery> class.

The Academy’s number one.

The top talent was looking after him.

That meant he was expected to be second.

The top student of A group.

That he could surpass even the youngest genius Oknodie, who had already outperformed many formidable frontier nobles!

A steep cliff approaching 90 degrees.

Protruding footholds and handholds scattered throughout.

A course lined with ropes hanging from above and safety equipment that could be securely attached to the body.

Some targets could be shot from below, but others were placed in extremely challenging positions that could only be hit from above.

“Use the safety equipment if it’s too much!”

Saying this, Skola nimbly clung to the cliff at full running speed and climbed up with agility.

‘F-fast!!’

Agility is one of the basic qualities for an archer.

So is grip strength that can support one’s entire body weight with just fingers inserted into small crevices.

His heart was saying:

I want to run up like that too.

But his head was saying:

You know that’s impossible for you.

‘Damn it, those guys have been pushing themselves to chase us too!’

Layve pushed himself out of spite.

Without safety equipment, he forcibly grabbed protruding rocks and quickly climbed up the cliff.

He went in with his bare body, without tying a rope around his waist or attaching safety equipment.

Thump thump

Yet he could feel it.

A heat so intense it made his skin tingle coming from two lanes over, the pressure of being chased by a giant who seemed to be 230cm tall.

Even though he thought he shouldn’t look back, his head eventually turned toward Oknodie’s lane 5.

At that moment, Oknodie had already climbed quite high.

He knew immediately upon seeing it.

‘This is impossible.’

That he could never win.

Faced with the limits of talent, Layve’s hands froze.

His dream of placing second in the group competition slipped away before his eyes.

* * *

Layve was pushed back to third place in the group competition.

He gave up.

Challenging those ahead of him.

Oknodie was different.

She pursued Skola, who was climbing the cliff just ahead of her, at a frightening pace.

‘Ugh, so frustrating. If only my arms were a little longer!’

Yet the gap wouldn’t close.

No, it was actually widening slightly.

Unlike Skola with his long limbs and tall stature, Oknodie’s body, though well-proportioned, had shorter limbs, creating an unavoidable difference in reach.

“Ohhh!”

“Number 5 is pretty good!”

“Number 1, don’t let her catch you!”

“Chase him, Number 5!”

She erased all the seniors’ shouts from her mind.

The reason she was running now wasn’t for the sake of those seniors’ point betting.

It was for a man who wanted his comrade to advance ahead.

To repay the burning will of a man who risked all demerits to return a favor.

Oknodie, who had always played like a giant with excessive muscles and unnecessarily large stature in every round, admired such passionate dedication more than anyone.

‘My body may be small, but my heart is bigger than anyone’s!’

Skola quickly turned his body after climbing the cliff and fired five consecutive shots.

Oknodie, who succeeded in climbing 8 seconds later, strung her bow.

There was no visible aiming point.

No convenient automatic magic arrows.

She used all her accumulated knowledge and trained senses to manually nock and shoot each arrow.

[You conquered Course 3 in one go without stopping once.]

[Boldness experience +10]

[Climbing experience +5]

[Terrain analysis experience +2]

[You hit all targets in Course 3.]

[Rapid fire experience +3]

[Concentration experience +3]

The time gap had widened further, but looking at the upcoming Course 4, she couldn’t help but smile.

A descending lift extending diagonally from the cliff top down to the forest below.

Shockingly, the lift made of ropes and biclo had no foothold, just bars that had to be gripped by hand.

Of course, hands are needed to shoot arrows.

This lift was boldly challenging them:

Can you move without using your hands to hold on while hitting targets with a bow?

If you’re not confident, it’s enough to just hang on and pass through.

“Hyah!”

As she quickly jumped and grabbed the bar, the Lane 5 descent lift began to operate with a jolt.

[You grabbed the descent lift without a second of hesitation.]

[Boldness experience +3]

Clunk, rrrrrumble!

The descent lift shook violently like a downhill roller coaster without safety equipment.

Even knowing the instructors would catch her if she fell, her heart pounded with chilling tension.

The fear was momentary.

While maintaining an inverted position with her legs wrapped around the handgrip, she saw Morb in the distance, limping toward the cliff.

Flash.

She raised her hand back to him as he raised his fist as if to say he was watching her.

‘If I’d known he was such a cool person, I would have paid him more generously for the flag.’

Courage recharged.

She entered an inverted aerial shooting competition with Skola on the descent lift, after the time gap had narrowed due to a moment’s hesitation.

Pabapat!

As expected, Skola displayed terrifying rapid-fire capability with magic arrows.

Paang!

In contrast, she fired power shots, manually loading each arrow and shooting with all her might.

There were ten targets to hit in mid-air.

Considering the speed of the descending lift, there was only one chance per target.

The rapid-fire guy could hit just one out of three shots, but as a power shot user, she had no such luxury.

Whooosh

‘Oh no.’

The lift jolted from the wind blowing in mid-air.

The aim point wavered, and she missed the shooting timing for a moment.

Skola also missed all three of his arrows.

‘Don’t panic. If you crumble after missing one beat, you’ll miss all the remaining targets.’

During extremely difficult combat situations that make your head spin, there are crazier things that make this lift seem trivial.

[You quickly recovered from a momentary mistake with iron-like mental strength.]

[Mental strength experience +10]

[Concentration experience +10]

[Moving shot experience +5]

[Acrobatic shooting experience +5]

[Aerial shooting experience +5]

Good.

I hit nine out of ten.

As she was about to think that while shooting her last arrow, an arrow flying from the side knocked hers away.

“This is insane.”

That vicious guy.

He’s struggling enough to focus on his own targets in mid-air, yet he attempts interference and even succeeds?

She almost shot an arrow at his lift rope out of anger, but stopped herself.

‘Morb wouldn’t want that kind of competition.’

She threw her bow and quiver onto the sand, rolled sideways for landing, then got up, retrieved her bow and quiver, and sprinted with all her might toward the final goal point.

Her arrival time was slightly slower, but her movement to get up was faster.

Though her legs were trembling and her body aching, she ran with all her might.

“Kuk!”

Skola’s voice was heard, expressing frustration at his body not responding as he wished.

Without looking back at him, she ran at full speed toward the destination.

50m to the finish line. 10m. One step.

<Goal!>

Skola and Oknodie.

The two reached the finish line almost simultaneously.

“Wooooah!”

“Both of them are amazing!”

“D~! I finished earlier and was watching. It was totally awesome!”

“Not very assassin-like. But somehow cool.”

“Ukya-kya. Land dwellers can be pretty decent sometimes, huh?”

Arcadia, Zhang, and Zigoku.

Even students practicing other weapons had gathered to watch the magnificent match that had attracted so much attention.

Now it was time to announce the results.

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