The Basics of a Surprise Attack
Shooting a bow while lying down was harder than expected.
He had to tilt the bow sideways to shoot, and rapid firing seemed impossible.
So, he had to attempt something he'd never tried before.
—Sss—ha.
—Sss—ha.
He tried to calm his breathing and channel internal energy into the arrow.
He had never studied how to infuse weapons with energy, and his martial art,fist technique, didn't even involve weapon techniques, so this was his first time attempting it—but somehow, he felt like it wouldn't be too difficult.
Perhaps it was his intuition as a fan of fantasy and martial arts fiction?
At last, he focused deeply and shot an arrow at the mage who had been summoning over a dozen ice arrows.
The arrow flew with a sharp whistling sound.
"Che!"
The mage clicked his tongue and rolled quickly, ducking beneath a roof to hide.
'A failure.'
He had thought that if he imbued the arrow with internal energy, it would gain tremendous destructive power—but it was all bark and no bite.
Come to think of it, speed and stealth were far more important than raw power when it came to arrows.
He leaned against the wall and peeked out. As expected, the martial artist had sensed the energy contained in the arrow and swiftly deflected it.
In the meantime, the monsters he had been dealing with filled the gap and charged toward him.
'If a one-hit kill sneak attack doesn't work…'
Then two hits, three hits, ten, a hundred—he'd just keep trying until the enemy died.
Dashing swiftly between buildings, he rapid-fired three arrows every time he caught sight of the enemy.
His feet moved quickly as he tore through the neighborhood, shooting arrows relentlessly, leaving the two unable to keep their focus.
From the front, a crowd of monsters still surged forward with deadly intent, and from the back, arrows rained down from unseen angles, increasing their sense of danger.
The martial artist managed better, but the mage, whose shield had been broken by just two arrows, was in a different situation.
A mage's shield was a kind of insurance.
Normally, knights or warriors would protect from the front, archers would cover the sides—protecting the mage was a fundamental rule of combat.
But targeting the mage was also a fundamental rule of combat.
There were even warriors who specialized in assassinating mages and assassins.
The shield was insurance to avoid being instantly killed by their blades.
A high-level mage's shield was usually strong enough to withstand even a sword imbued with force, but his own wasn't nearly that powerful.
It had shattered after taking just two arrows.
With that insurance gone, the fear of death loomed large, and the magic that had been binding the monsters' movements began to falter.
The once-formidable ice arrows that flew by the dozen and ice spears that froze enemies in two strikes now dropped noticeably in number and power.
He couldn't focus on his magic when he felt like an arrow might pierce his back at any moment.
Panicking to restore his shield, he grew increasingly flustered.
"Shield with escrow! Damn it! Shield with escrow!"
Only after several attempts did the transparent barrier finally appear, and the mage gasped for breath.
As a self-assured 4th-circle mage, the fact that he had failed to cast a mere shield was unthinkable.
Yet with his life hanging by a thread, he kept making the same simple mistakes.
And as soon as he barely managed to cast a shield, another arrow struck it, cracking the surface.
"We have to retreat! We can't hold on anymore!"
"Just a little longer! We can finish them off! Hold on!"
The mage's patience was impressive as he bit back the curses rising in his throat.
'So he thinks he can endure this, huh?'
Despite occasional arrows flying in, the martial artist dodged or deflected them skillfully. He was flustered, but not in serious danger.
The mage, however, kept glancing around nervously, unable to concentrate on his offensive spells for fear of another arrow.
With the mage's support weakening, the martial artist grew increasingly anxious.
They needed to either finish off the monsters and grab loot or find the attacker—but the mage was dithering in the rear, frustrating him.
"Castle Wall with escrow!"
The moment the mage finished his casting, a 15-meter-long, 2-meter-high wall rose from the ground.
At that instant, the martial artist and Seowoon's expressions changed in opposite directions.
'Nice!'
'That idiot!'
While the martial artist grit his teeth with a furrowed brow, Seowoon grinned and moved swiftly.
Instead of sneaking around in hiding, he boldly advanced toward the wall and began firing arrows into the air.
Now that the wall blocked their vision, he didn't need to hide anymore.
A bow is a projectile weapon.
It's not a direct-fire weapon, so just raising a wall doesn't block all attacks.
Sure, the wall made it far more likely that arrows would miss and reduced their power, but that only applied to normal arrows.
Arrows imbued with immense inner power rained down from the sky one by one—it was far from an easy situation.
Stray arrows were falling sporadically, and their power was anything but ordinary. The magician, already shaken and struggling to focus, still couldn't properly exert their power. Meanwhile, the martial artist, fending off monsters alone, couldn't spare any more energy.
As the rain of arrows finally began to subside, the two instead felt an even greater sense of unease.
By then, Seowoon had quietly drawn near the wall and pulled out a scroll from his subspace.
[Magic Bomb Scroll. Explodes 10 seconds after activation. Recommended use: Outside of 20-meter radius.]
[Do you want to use it?]
Seowoon tightly wrapped the scroll around an arrow, pressed the confirm button, and shot the arrow into the sky.
'8, 7, 6, 5…'
Counting down the remaining seconds, he crouched and covered his ears just in case.
-KWA-BOOOM!
-Thud!
With a thunderous roar, the magical wall the magician had set up crumbled. Debris and the shockwave swirled around Seowoon.
'Wow…'
His hair whipped wildly in the blast, but he couldn't take his eyes off the spot where the magic bomb had landed.
Monsters were flung in all directions, writhing helplessly, and the magician—either dead or unconscious—was pinned motionless against the shattered wall.
Then there was the martial artist, blood-covered, kneeling on one knee with his short sword stabbed into the ground.
Seeing the satisfying result, the corners of Seowoon's lips curled upward.
"Ha… ha… Coward!"
The martial artist, spotting Seowoon's revealed figure, spat out his words.
Seowoon, standing about 20 meters away with his bow drawn, didn't feel the need to respond.
Instead of answering, he fired another arrow—and just when it seemed the martial artist would die instantly, he suddenly dashed forward, splitting the incoming arrow in two with precise force.
Thanks to his rapid-fire skill, Seowoon loosed a second arrow, but the martial artist deflected it just as easily.
Now only about 7 to 8 meters apart.
As Seowoon nocked a third arrow, he did something different—he poured his inner power not into the arrow, but directly into the bow.
The bowstring screamed as if it would snap from the immense tension.
'The real issue was the approach. The bow needs to be powerful to shoot strong arrows.'
The moment the arrow left Seowoon's fingers, it flew like a flash of light toward the martial artist.
The arrow, drawing a line through the air, grazed the martial artist's side just as he finally managed to react.
"Graaah!"
His body convulsed as if electrocuted, and the martial artist, who had been charging in, lost his balance and collapsed to the ground.
"Phew. I really can't underestimate him. Dodging an arrow at that speed, from this distance…"
The arrow had been even faster than Seowoon expected.
Seowoon couldn't help but be impressed that the martial artist managed to avoid a fatal hit—he himself probably wouldn't have even reacted in time.
But that was the end of it.
For some reason, the cottonwood bow, enhanced with inner power, had imbued the arrow with a tremendous electric charge.
Barely managing to lift his body, the martial artist looked up at Seowoon, then closed his eyes.
He had no strength left to resist as Seowoon, now standing right before him, brought his fist crashing down.
-CRACK!
With a heavy shattering sound, an overwhelming surge of life force was released.
'This is it!'
Seowoon's face lit up with joy as he opened the Absorption Gate and drew in the martial artist's life energy.
Then, just before the magician's life force scattered, he absorbed that too and spoke aloud:
"My Status."
[Name: Jin Seowoon]
Race: Human
Trait: Magician (Demonic Type)
Strength: 45
Stamina: 20
Agility: 20
Endurance: 30
Magic Resistance: 10
★ Trait Stat – Inner Power: 160
★ Trait Stat – Mana: 30
Normally, it took ten to twenty days of circulating energy to increase internal energy by just one point.
Absorbing the life force of one being from another world only increased internal energy by about 3 to 5 points.
Last time, after obtaining the Power Glove, his internal energy had been at 113.
"But one martial artist… It's better to take down one of them than ten of those other worlders. They're basically walking elixirs."
Of course, it came with greater risk, but that didn't matter.
This game had no risk at all.
Just as he was about to check the two people's boxes, he got a bad feeling and looked around. The monsters that had been writhing on the ground were starting to rise.
"They've got insane recovery."
They had been on the verge of death, but now they were already standing up again.
-Screee! Thwack!
With two or three arrows shot from a bow strengthened by internal energy, he steadily finished them off one by one. Before long, he had wiped them from his field of view.
Leather pouches dropped where they had been, but what really mattered was the box that had appeared in front of him.
Opening the martial artist's box first, the thing that caught his eye was a dark-colored saber with a short but thick blade.
When he grabbed the hilt and lifted the blade, it had a nice, solid weight.
[Ding! You have acquired the Masterwork Black Iron Saber.]
-Whoosh! Swish!
He gave it a light, fast swing. He could feel it immediately — this was a craftsman's work.
-Clang!
Even so, he tossed the nice-looking saber behind him.
He had no interest in carrying around something he couldn't use.
[Ding! You have acquired the Yunshin Pill.]
His lips curled in a wide grin as he looked at the small, brown pill, the size of a thumbnail, inside a tiny wooden box stained from frequent use.
"Elixir!"
[Yunshin Pill: A medicine used to treat internal injuries. Its effects are quite good.]
"Ah…"
An involuntary sigh of regret slipped out.
But thinking it would still be useful in its own way, he quickly stored it in his subspace.
[Ding! You have acquired the Seven Star Sword Technique.]
[Ding! You have acquired the Seven Star Cultivation Technique.]
[Ding! You have acquired the Seven Star Movement Technique.]
[Ding! You have acquired the Seven Star Palm Technique.]
Seeing the four martial manuals pop up in succession, a hint of disappointment appeared in Seowoon's eyes.
"They're clearly a set."
Since he had already learned the Baekmuju Cultivation Technique, there was a high chance he couldn't learn these unless he replaced his current core method with the Seven Star one.
"Well, it doesn't cost anything to try."
[Ding! You cannot learn this unless you first master the Seven Star Cultivation and Movement Techniques.]
This time, he picked up the Seven Star Cultivation Technique.
[Ding! Conflict detected with your current cultivation method. Do you still wish to proceed?]
"Are you crazy?"
With a regretful look, he threw the manuals into his subspace.
There were other miscellaneous items like Gold Spear Medicine and so on, but he discarded them all and moved toward the box belonging to the mage, which was a little further away.
"Let's see…"
As always, the mage's box was full of odds and ends.
The first thing to greet Seowoon was a necklace gleaming brightly.
[Ding! You have acquired the Askro Necklace.]
"There you are!"
He twisted his lips in satisfaction. Despite having taken out several mages already, he hadn't gotten this item, which had been frustrating.
A whopping 6 million won item.
If he'd come all this way and didn't get even this, it would've been more than disappointing — it would've broken his heart.
He had already given up on school and job hunting. The only thing that could support his life now was something that could fetch a good price back on Earth — something like a chunk of gold.
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]