Chapter 119 – How A Veteran Shoots The Bow (2)

“Let’s review this one more time.”

Jin-hyuk said.

“The arrows are fired alternatively, but if both of us fail, the one closest to the target wins, right? And there are no rules other than that?”

“Yes. That is it, so stop asking questions and shoot.”

“Do not rush me. Are you sure you don’t intend to do anything to interfere with my concentration?”

“What the hell do you think of the elves? I will be quiet, so focus properly!”

Even if he hadn’t said that Jin-hyuk was planning on it.

Jin-hyuk raised his arrow and knocked it.

“Umm…!”

He breathed short and fast breaths to create pressure on his stomach and firm up his body.

At the right moment.

Woong!

The arrow flew up in a parabolic arc.

It was the first step to estimating the direction and distance. He had almost hit the fig tree, which was the target, but instead barely grazed it.

The arrow eventually landed near the center.

A fail.

“Puah! Pahahaha! Not funny. Did you challenge me with that level of skill? It is a pitiful one, even for a joke!”

Tetlon was definitely enjoying this.

Having watched Jin-hyuk get the fruit, Tetlon had thought his chances of winning were low here.

“Um. I am not in a good mood today. Is it because there is no one to support me?”

Jin-hyuk spoke lightly.

“A person to support you… Are you going to make excuses till the end?”

“No, for real. How great is the power of cheering? It is an unfamiliar environment, and with so many elves, I will be unable to show my skills. I need to have one of my own by my side too.”

The cheers and shouts from the audience had a significant impact on the players.

There was no such thing as there being no advantage over nothing.

“Shit. I am tired of listening to this over and over. Fine. Get one of your own for your side and shoot again.”

Tetlon gave him another chance.

With the skills he had seen Jin-hyuk use now, Tetlon was confident that he would win even if there were thousands of humans cheering for Jin-hyuk.

“I won’t let you down.”

Jin-hyuk smiled brightly and opened his subspace inventory.

Out came Sweet Potato, his black-skinned ancient beast.

“White Pood! Yellow Pood! Tough and tasteless Pood!”

Sweet Potato looked around curiously.

It was seeing the elves for the first time, so they seemed to have attracted its attention quite a bit.

But it was only for a few moments.

“Good Pood!”

As if it lost interest, it flew into Jin-hyuk’s hands.

“Right. Come here, my child.”

There was nothing wrong with saying these bastard elves were loyal.

Jin-hyuk gently patted it with a proud face.

As he saw Sweet Potato purring and closing its eyes, he felt like his stress was relieved for a moment.

“… you have a unique pet.”

Tetlon’s eyes narrowed.

No dwellers on the 6th floor would have ever seen an ancient beast.

At best, they probably thought it was a rare reptile, but who knows?

Who knew that these noble and dignified elves were nothing more than hybrid mongrels in front of an ancient beast.

“Phew.”

Jin-hyuk cleared his breathing and fired the arrow again, but the result was the same.

The arrow landed slightly closer, but it did not hit the target.

“No more excuses now.”

Tetlon clicked his tongue and, at the same time, pulled out the beautiful longbow slung over his shoulder.

It was made of silver and measured two meters long.

At first glance, it looked like quite the weapon. And with his unique ability…

It was safe to say that any desired outcome would come.

That was true, but…

Jin-hyuk smiled.

As if he knew what was going to happen next.

‘What is that? What is with that smile…?’

Tetlon tilted his head.

He felt slightly uncomfortable, but Tetlon shook that feeling off.

He just had to shoot his arrow now.

There were no variables here, so he shouldn’t be making any mistakes.

But…

Kuak!

Just as Tetlon was about to shoot.

“Pooooddddddd!”

[Sweet Potato used Lv1 ‘Fear’!]
The ancient beast screamed loudly, filling the swamp with its tremendous roar.

Kwawakwang!

Waves rumbled across the water as even the crocodiles stiffened in fear. It was as if time had stopped as the overwhelming sight of the clouds above being split apart enraptured everyone.

Of course…

Plop!

Tetlon’s arrow missed its target.

“Oh. Is there anything to be upset about? Our Sweet Potato is called out during eating time, so it loudly asks for food.”

Jin-hyuk scratched his head with an apologetic expression.

Then, he pointed to Sweet Potato.

“You need to be careful. This is an important match. So what do we do? Because of you, an elf who should be the best is now staring at you.”

“Pood…”

Sweet Potato bowed its head. It was clearly expressing contrition at doing something wrong.

This… had to be forgiven.

But don’t look so innocent!

“It is fine. Things like that can happen. You have to be careful next time.”

Jin-hyuk nodded while looking at his pet as Tetlon shouted.

“T-this person… damn bastard! Did you mean you brought him out to do such a cowardly thing?”

“The purpose of it is to cheer for me but also to overwhelm the opponent.”

“Y-your words! I gave you a chance. But is this how you pay me back? Is there no such thing as fairness?”

“Nope.”

“What?”

“I am sorry, but unlike you noble elves, I am rude and snarky.”

Evil, dirty, something that was utterly incompatible with so-called nobleness.

All these make a person a veteran.

‘Because, in the first place, the reason someone is standing is to make the other person yell and give up.’

In a sense, this was a method to poke at any loopholes in the rules. It was the virtue of a veteran to constantly grow.

Just like now…

Of course, this was a bit absurd.

More advanced rules should be clearly defined if someone wanted to prevent coercion.

“Lalalala.”

Jin-hyuk hummed as he looked into the sky.

Since he had won the match, the status window should appear.

[You have acquired the unique ability ‘100 Aims and 100 Shots (AA)’!]
[100 Aims and 100 Shots
Acquisition Difficulty: AA
Description: Increases the understanding of arrows and throwing weapons by 80%. In particular, if the focus is held for 5 seconds, the accuracy is increased to 100% in the case of the bow. However, if a unique ability or skill of the same rank or higher intervenes, the accuracy might decrease.]
A status window appeared indicating the success of the copy condition.

No matter how harshly they insisted, as long as the system admitted it, then his goal was achieved.

‘No.’

Not yet.

He had copied the skill but hadn’t seen the elf feeling ashamed yet.

A 2% difference was not enough to classify it as a true victory.

Then…

Jin-hyuk said to Tetlon.

“If you think about it, it might be unfair to you. How can I sleep at night if this match ends like this?”

“You… want to go again?”

Tetlon’s eyes flashed with hope.

“Instead, if you lose this time too, don’t add anything more and just obey the result.”

“Of course. If you promise to not do anything disrespectful this time.”

“Don’t worry, Sweet Potato will be inside the subspace.”

“Then I agree.”

Good.

The elf had said it with his own mouth!

Jin-hyuk grabbed his bow again as Tetlon looked on confidently.

‘As long as there are no dirty tricks, I will not lose again.’

In archery, the opponent was now a beginner among beginners.

A child who didn’t know the basics, let alone how to aim correctly.

The result was obvious.

Tetlon was sure of this, but…

‘Something feels off.’

Tetlon frowned.

How Jin-hyuk held his bow had changed utterly from before. That natural movement was accompanied by smooth breathing.

His pull of the bowstring was filled with strength, and the surprise didn’t end there.

[Blood Demon Qi and 100 Aims and 100 Shots have been fused!]
[Fusion successful!]
[You have acquired the skill ‘Red Demon Bullet (AAA)’]
[Red Demon Bullet
Acquisition Difficulty: AAA
Description: A skill that boasts extreme destructive power using black flame and unerring accuracy. Focusing for 2.5 seconds grants you 100% accuracy, and understanding of the arrows and thrown weapons are increased by 145%.]
[The copied ability is stored in the ‘Memory of World’]
A status window that only Jin-hyuk could see.

But Tetlon had a gut feeling.

In front of his eyes, the opponent’s status had risen.

And at that moment.

Swish!

With a soft sound, the arrow flew unerringly.

A red light flashed.

Kwaang!

The tree that was the target shattered at contact.

Everyone watching was shocked.

They couldn’t help it.

The swamp fig tree was known to be exceptionally robust.

Because of that, even a blade infused with magic could only scratch the surface.

But this man had destroyed it.

They couldn’t even dare to imagine what level of archery he possessed.

Wheik!

Dark red flames appeared around the tree.

“I-I cannot believe it…”

“How can a human have such skills?”

“I don’t think even the 1st rank high elves can keep up with this human…?”

Although they had pride in themselves for being the best in archery, their high noses inevitably came down.

Jin-hyuk approached Tetlon.

There was no longer any point in this contest.

With this, the match result was decided.

“I wanted to protect your pride as much as possible, but I ended up showing off my skills.”

“…”

“Don’t hate this too much. This is just because the comparison target we selected was too far off. It would have been the same if anyone else had come instead of you.”

Jin-hyuk kept pissing him off.

The defeat was the most painful thing to get over.

And the point of having done all this was for the penalty punishment.

“Ah! The penalty!”

Jin-hyuk mentioned the long-awaited punishment with a bright smile.