Old Bowman, Clashing Power
“In spite of making it through several desperate battles, she still saved a Miracle Effect like this… This Annemarie Gothnoir really is the most unpredictable one in the group.”
Nord muttered.
Even though they were the most powerful guild, it was not as if VRHAR knew everything.
While more players took on Charin after she was weakened, most of those fights were not interesting to watch.
Besides, a lot of them were happening simultaneously, and so even if the monitors in the fountain plaza in the first town used split-screen, they could not show all of them.
Eventually, they had just stopped showing the fights, and so it became difficult for outsiders to know the results.
Anne had not uploaded any video, and since she was solo, no information had leaked..
So only Charin knew that she had that Miracle Effect.
On top of that, VRHAR had not thought much of her.
And so they didn’t put much effort into gathering information.
Many players had wanted to join the Ghost Guild, and some of them had impressive resumes.
And VRHAR had assumed that it would be one of those players that would be chosen as the fourth member.
But they were wrong.
Nord had fought with Anne briefly on the Ghost Float, and he did not think that she was ready.
In fact, she had been very easy to manipulate, so he hadn’t been wrong.
What was astonishing…was that she had grown at a tremendous speed.
Once the tournament began, Nord had to change the way that he looked at Anne.
“Hey, hey! Nord-chan! Why are we floating up too! What’s happening here?!”
One member of their party, Gullinkambi, was flailing his arms and legs around.
As he said, the four members of VRHAR were also being pulled towards the small earth.
Kyuji’s party landed on the earth first, and they had gone to the other side, where Nord could not see them.
If they wanted to launch an attack, they would have to land as well…
“Edda. Fix us to the ground. If we’re going to be the most cautious towards Kyuji, it would make sense to get up close and attack. But that sphere was made by an enemy Miracle Effect… And we should not be fighting on their turf.”
“Yes, yes, understood!”
Talkative Edda said as she raised a hand.
She was small and used a thick book as a weapon. And on her head was a nightcap with a pompom on the end. And she was wearing loose-fitting, comfortable clothes.
There was an overall sleepy air about her, but now her eyes opened wide. It had the kind of intensity that would make you want to look away.
“Gravity Spell!”
A gravitational field appeared around Edda, and Nord and the others were pulled back to the ground.
Now they didn’t have to worry about floating upwards.
“Should we destroy it…?”
Asked Skald, as he unsheathed the greatsword that was on his back.
He was slender, but still muscular, and looked intelligent.
There was always a ragged cloth that covered him from mouth to toes, and he only talked when it was necessary. He claimed that this, and his wildness, was his prime appeal.
“…No, we won’t do that. If that is a replica of the real earth, then magma will come out if we crack it. And we don’t want that to fall on us while we’re restricted by gravity.”
“I see… So, what should we do…?”
“Our options will be limited if we stay right under the sphere… However, if we move away, the enemy that is on the other side of it… Kyuji is now at the highest point on this field, so it will be easy for him to shoot at us…”
“I can fly up there and knock them down? Right? What do you think?”
“…Yes. The others in the party were also surprised when they saw it. So go and attack them before they have a chance to collect themselves. But don’t be reckless. Just shake them up a little.”
“Yes! Yes! All right! Fly Spell! Fly up to the star… Huh? Oh? Hmm? Is it coming closer to us?”
By the time they noticed the change, the earth was moving quickly.
Towards the ground…!
And from the other side, they heard Anne’s voice shouting…!
“Huh!? How am I supposed to control this!? I was just focused on hiding it, so I haven’t practiced at all!!”
And so the newly created earth began to fall and then explode as it hit the ground!!
◆ ◆ ◆
“Uh, Floating Cloud Herd!”
Just before the earth hit the ground, I created clouds under everyone’s feet.
While Floating Cloud Herd could make up to nine clouds at the same time, I rarely used it outside of travel.
At least now, we could avoid being annihilated by our own Miracle Effect. We would never have been able to live that down if we lost like that…
But, would our luck extend to the enemy being wiped out as well…?
No, it wouldn’t…
“Ah, re…really!?”
There was an announcement. One from the enemy team, a player called Skald, had been killed by Anne!
Uh, he was the guy with the big sword…I think?
He looked like an attacker that would be good with close quarters combat, so it was a big deal that we defeated him so early…!
And maybe it wouldn’t be the only announcement…
“…No, I guess it was. Here it comes!”
Numerous black bullets flew through the dust!
This was an attack from the dual pistol wielding Nord…!
They were being shot from multiple directions, and I couldn’t tell where he was located!
However, it would also be too dangerous to land without being able to see anything!
And so I killed the bullets with my arrows and waited for the dust clouds to clear.
If possible, I wanted to use a skill to clear the dust all at once, but I was kept too busy just trying to protect myself from the bullets…!
Just then, the smoke rose into the air, and countless pieces of paper shot towards us!
Was this also an attack…!?
“Ha! Ha! Haa!”
“What?!”
A girl burst through the storm of paper and kicked Necoco three times!
However, Necoco managed to parry all of them!
“To see through my Kick Spell… Amazing! Amazing! Punch Spell!”
This time a fist slammed into Necoco’s stomach!
Judging by her weapon and armor, she was the one they called Edda. But her appearance had changed a little.
Her hair was now golden and her ears were long and pointy.
Just like…an elf!
“Gah…!”
Necoco lost her balance and fell off of the cloud!
“Necoco! Tsk. This is bad…!”
Due to being distracted by Edda, I was not able to react to Nord’s bullets in time!
The cloud I was standing on was hit, and then it disappeared…!
The bullets also hit me and chipped away at my HP…!
I-I have to use Floating Cloud Herd again…
“No, I’m going down to the ground!”
Floating Cloud Herd had no defense ability.
And so staying up here just made me an easy target for Nord.
On the ground, large debris from Mother Earth was scattered around, and so there were plenty of obstacles to hide behind.
Thankfully, there hadn’t been any magma inside, so it would not be dangerous.
Furthermore, Edda and Necoco were fighting in the air and slowly moving away from us.
In other words, the only enemy below was Nord, Gullinkambi, and that huge hippo Unison!
And I had Garbo, Satomi, with his three Unisons, and Anne!
While I didn’t know anything about the hippo, the enemy was a gunman and piper.
They did not seem like they had high firepower.
And so it would not be bad for us to use brute force here when we had the superior numbers…!
There was also the option for me alone to stay in the air and snipe at the enemy. But if I did that, the debris from Mother Earth would still be in the way.
Players like Nord would likely hide behind them while fighting.
In the end, both in games and real life, it was best to hide from snipers.
And so I decided to descend.
Once I was on the ground, I could move away so that my range would give me an advantage!
“These attacks are weak enough for me to deal with while falling…”
However, once we decided to fall, we were met by an even fiercer storm of bullet fire.
So Nord had been holding back.
He had purposely shot bullets that I could cancel. That way we would think it was safe, and would be lured into coming down.
Had he showered us with such bullets from the beginning, we would have likely retreated.
I still had Warp Arrow, and Satomi could fly on his cloud.
Garbow couldn’t fly, but Straight Darts could be used repeatedly to propel him forward, which would allow him to slide across the sky while falling.
Anne was the only one who might have difficulty escaping. But perhaps if she was alone, she could use Floating Cloud Herd to move out of the way.
However, once we were swallowed by the storm of bullets, it was impossible for all of us to escape!
In any case, I had to protect myself and reach the ground…!
I can do this. I had to believe it!
In fact, maybe I could kill the attack!
“No! This…!”
While the storm of bullets had looked like a random attack…it was targeting Anne!
At least sixty percent of them were going towards her!
And the rest were split between me and Satomi!
So she was getting more than twice as much as me…!
That was very impressive control…
And though Anne had high durability and used her spiked iron ball as a shield, it would be difficult to survive this…!
“Giant Daybreak Star!”
I see. Making the spiked ball larger enhanced its ability.
Now she should be able to stop the bullets.
That’s what I had thought.
However, instead of thinking about herself, Anne threw the giant iron ball towards the ground!
Old Bowman, Clashing Power
“In spite of making it through several desperate battles, she still saved a Miracle Effect like this… This Annemarie Gothnoir really is the most unpredictable one in the group.”
Nord muttered.
Even though they were the most powerful guild, it was not as if VRHAR knew everything.
While more players took on Charin after she was weakened, most of those fights were not interesting to watch.
Besides, a lot of them were happening simultaneously, and so even if the monitors in the fountain plaza in the first town used split-screen, they could not show all of them.
Eventually, they had just stopped showing the fights, and so it became difficult for outsiders to know the results.
Anne had not uploaded any video, and since she was solo, no information had leaked..
So only Charin knew that she had that Miracle Effect.
On top of that, VRHAR had not thought much of her.
And so they didn’t put much effort into gathering information.
Many players had wanted to join the Ghost Guild, and some of them had impressive resumes.
And VRHAR had assumed that it would be one of those players that would be chosen as the fourth member.
But they were wrong.
Nord had fought with Anne briefly on the Ghost Float, and he did not think that she was ready.
In fact, she had been very easy to manipulate, so he hadn’t been wrong.
What was astonishing…was that she had grown at a tremendous speed.
Once the tournament began, Nord had to change the way that he looked at Anne.
“Hey, hey! Nord-chan! Why are we floating up too! What’s happening here?!”
One member of their party, Gullinkambi, was flailing his arms and legs around.
As he said, the four members of VRHAR were also being pulled towards the small earth.
Kyuji’s party landed on the earth first, and they had gone to the other side, where Nord could not see them.
If they wanted to launch an attack, they would have to land as well…
“Edda. Fix us to the ground. If we’re going to be the most cautious towards Kyuji, it would make sense to get up close and attack. But that sphere was made by an enemy Miracle Effect… And we should not be fighting on their turf.”
“Yes, yes, understood!”
Talkative Edda said as she raised a hand.
She was small and used a thick book as a weapon. And on her head was a nightcap with a pompom on the end. And she was wearing loose-fitting, comfortable clothes.
There was an overall sleepy air about her, but now her eyes opened wide. It had the kind of intensity that would make you want to look away.
“Gravity Spell!”
A gravitational field appeared around Edda, and Nord and the others were pulled back to the ground.
Now they didn’t have to worry about floating upwards.
“Should we destroy it…?”
Asked Skald, as he unsheathed the greatsword that was on his back.
He was slender, but still muscular, and looked intelligent.
There was always a ragged cloth that covered him from mouth to toes, and he only talked when it was necessary. He claimed that this, and his wildness, was his prime appeal.
“…No, we won’t do that. If that is a replica of the real earth, then magma will come out if we crack it. And we don’t want that to fall on us while we’re restricted by gravity.”
“I see… So, what should we do…?”
“Our options will be limited if we stay right under the sphere… However, if we move away, the enemy that is on the other side of it… Kyuji is now at the highest point on this field, so it will be easy for him to shoot at us…”
“I can fly up there and knock them down? Right? What do you think?”
“…Yes. The others in the party were also surprised when they saw it. So go and attack them before they have a chance to collect themselves. But don’t be reckless. Just shake them up a little.”
“Yes! Yes! All right! Fly Spell! Fly up to the star… Huh? Oh? Hmm? Is it coming closer to us?”
By the time they noticed the change, the earth was moving quickly.
Towards the ground…!
And from the other side, they heard Anne’s voice shouting…!
“Huh!? How am I supposed to control this!? I was just focused on hiding it, so I haven’t practiced at all!!”
And so the newly created earth began to fall and then explode as it hit the ground!!
◆ ◆ ◆
“Uh, Floating Cloud Herd!”
Just before the earth hit the ground, I created clouds under everyone’s feet.
While Floating Cloud Herd could make up to nine clouds at the same time, I rarely used it outside of travel.
At least now, we could avoid being annihilated by our own Miracle Effect. We would never have been able to live that down if we lost like that…
But, would our luck extend to the enemy being wiped out as well…?
No, it wouldn’t…
“Ah, re…really!?”
There was an announcement. One from the enemy team, a player called Skald, had been killed by Anne!
Uh, he was the guy with the big sword…I think?
He looked like an attacker that would be good with close quarters combat, so it was a big deal that we defeated him so early…!
And maybe it wouldn’t be the only announcement…
“…No, I guess it was. Here it comes!”
Numerous black bullets flew through the dust!
This was an attack from the dual pistol wielding Nord…!
They were being shot from multiple directions, and I couldn’t tell where he was located!
However, it would also be too dangerous to land without being able to see anything!
And so I killed the bullets with my arrows and waited for the dust clouds to clear.
If possible, I wanted to use a skill to clear the dust all at once, but I was kept too busy just trying to protect myself from the bullets…!
Just then, the smoke rose into the air, and countless pieces of paper shot towards us!
Was this also an attack…!?
“Ha! Ha! Haa!”
“What?!”
A girl burst through the storm of paper and kicked Necoco three times!
However, Necoco managed to parry all of them!
“To see through my Kick Spell… Amazing! Amazing! Punch Spell!”
This time a fist slammed into Necoco’s stomach!
Judging by her weapon and armor, she was the one they called Edda. But her appearance had changed a little.
Her hair was now golden and her ears were long and pointy.
Just like…an elf!
“Gah…!”
Necoco lost her balance and fell off of the cloud!
“Necoco! Tsk. This is bad…!”
Due to being distracted by Edda, I was not able to react to Nord’s bullets in time!
The cloud I was standing on was hit, and then it disappeared…!
The bullets also hit me and chipped away at my HP…!
I-I have to use Floating Cloud Herd again…
“No, I’m going down to the ground!”
Floating Cloud Herd had no defense ability.
And so staying up here just made me an easy target for Nord.
On the ground, large debris from Mother Earth was scattered around, and so there were plenty of obstacles to hide behind.
Thankfully, there hadn’t been any magma inside, so it would not be dangerous.
Furthermore, Edda and Necoco were fighting in the air and slowly moving away from us.
In other words, the only enemy below was Nord, Gullinkambi, and that huge hippo Unison!
And I had Garbo, Satomi, with his three Unisons, and Anne!
While I didn’t know anything about the hippo, the enemy was a gunman and piper.
They did not seem like they had high firepower.
And so it would not be bad for us to use brute force here when we had the superior numbers…!
There was also the option for me alone to stay in the air and snipe at the enemy. But if I did that, the debris from Mother Earth would still be in the way.
Players like Nord would likely hide behind them while fighting.
In the end, both in games and real life, it was best to hide from snipers.
And so I decided to descend.
Once I was on the ground, I could move away so that my range would give me an advantage!
“These attacks are weak enough for me to deal with while falling…”
However, once we decided to fall, we were met by an even fiercer storm of bullet fire.
So Nord had been holding back.
He had purposely shot bullets that I could cancel. That way we would think it was safe, and would be lured into coming down.
Had he showered us with such bullets from the beginning, we would have likely retreated.
I still had Warp Arrow, and Satomi could fly on his cloud.
Garbow couldn’t fly, but Straight Darts could be used repeatedly to propel him forward, which would allow him to slide across the sky while falling.
Anne was the only one who might have difficulty escaping. But perhaps if she was alone, she could use Floating Cloud Herd to move out of the way.
However, once we were swallowed by the storm of bullets, it was impossible for all of us to escape!
In any case, I had to protect myself and reach the ground…!
I can do this. I had to believe it!
In fact, maybe I could kill the attack!
“No! This…!”
While the storm of bullets had looked like a random attack…it was targeting Anne!
At least sixty percent of them were going towards her!
And the rest were split between me and Satomi!
So she was getting more than twice as much as me…!
That was very impressive control…
And though Anne had high durability and used her spiked iron ball as a shield, it would be difficult to survive this…!
“Giant Daybreak Star!”
I see. Making the spiked ball larger enhanced its ability.
Now she should be able to stop the bullets.
That’s what I had thought.
However, instead of thinking about herself, Anne threw the giant iron ball towards the ground!
