Chapter 36: A Second Attack?!
Arc calmly walked behind Liz as they headed towards the collision point. He was surprised that the closer they got, there were still no signs of an invasion or sounds of battle. Then something pricked his mind, and he halted in his steps, snapping his head in a direction.
Liz took a few steps ahead when she realized he wasn’t following her and paused to look behind her at the unmoving Arc, who was staring intently in a direction. She was about to ask in confusion, when—
"Watch out!" The distant scream of Jack’s voice came from up ahead, followed by the sounds of several arrows smashing into a hard surface and digging into the earth.
"What was that—"
Boom—
The island shook to its core. The familiar phenomenon that occurred when a collision happened.
But hadn’t that happened already?
"W-What’s going on? That should be another collision. A second collision. A-Are we getting ganged up on?!" Liz cried out.
Arc didn’t need her to spell it out to know that was in fact the case. He could feel a strong killing intent coming from that direction before the enemy’s finger let loose the bowstring. Whoever it was, they were a formidable archer.
"Arc, what should we do? We have to join them," Liz said after seeing his unhurried expression.
"You can go ahead," Arc replied as he summoned the legendary trio of daggers.
"What about you?" she asked in concern.
Arc turned to look at her. "I’ll go solo."
"Be..."
The earth cracked beneath his heels, and Arc dashed forward towards the second collision. That was where the true danger was.
"...Careful."
Liz slowly pressed her lips together before she turned and leaped towards the first collision with a burst of flame from her heels.
Arc ran at full speed without making use of his movement skills, arriving before the invading island where several figures were charging into the island.
Arc was still under the cover of the forest and was yet to be detected. Without wasting any more time or pausing to assess the enemies’ strength, he lined up his daggers before him and leaped into the air with a spinning kick.
He concentrated all his strength into his leg and drove his foot into the hilts of the daggers simultaneously, sending them flying at a tearing speed that far surpassed the enemies’ reactions. The three blades impacted two of the mysterious figures, pinning them to the nearest tree.
One had Backbone of Ragnarok and Blade of Shiba sticking out of their head and chest, while the other had Cerberus’ Cursed Fang pinning his head to the tree with his eyes wide open.
[You have killed Lv29 Avariel (Avi)]
[You have killed Lv30 Avariel (Mighty)]
The group screeched to a halt and turned to see two of their teammates dead in an instant. They immediately stood on guard and moved into a tight battle formation.
"We know you’re out there. Show yourself!" one of them screamed.
Arc wasn’t planning on playing hide-and-seek and calmly stepped into the open, standing between them and their island.
The group tensed.
Arc took that brief moment to assess the group of seven individuals. They didn’t look like monsters or demons and were fully humanoid. Maybe thinner and taller than the average human, but he noticed some had wings sticking out of their backs—the slender ones—while the more masculine ones didn’t.
"Where are the rest of you hiding? Why don’t y’all come out and let’s get this over with?" one of them barked. He had a bow as a weapon.
Arc could immediately tell he wasn’t the first shooter.
"I-I think he’s alone," another replied. She was wielding a grimoire.
"What? Are you saying he single-handedly killed Avi and Mighty?" the archer had just said when one of them suddenly shoved him to the side and calmly stepped forward.
He had a metal mask covering his lower face and wielded a chain with jagged blades on both ends.
"Zar?"
"Y’all should go ahead and find the others. I’ll join you in a bit," the assassin calmly said.
The rest of the team immediately nodded, some snickering, before they dashed forward into the island.
Arc didn’t make an attempt to stop them. He looked over his shoulder at the invading island, where the first shooter had likely remained behind after the first attack to protect the island. But for some reason, Arc felt a strong sense of danger coming from the island.
Zar snorted disdainfully. "You’d be better off dying at my hand than at the hands of those back on the island."
’There’s more of them?’
[Avariel (Zarus) | Lv32]
"Let’s get this over with," Zar said as he maneuvered the blades to whip around him with a deathly whistle. "I’ll make your death swift."
The chain shot out without warning, its blade aiming for Arc’s throat.
Arc was surprised by the speed of the weapon that arrived before his throat in an instant. But he was faster.
The world seemed to slow to a crawl, and Arc moved out of the blade’s trajectory before grabbing it at its base. He twisted his body along the chain to grab it with his other hand, concentrating all his strength into that arm and pulling the chain towards him.
The Avariel was taken by surprise by Arc’s strength and couldn’t pull away in time as the other end of the chain was wrapped around his hand. He was sent flying towards Arc, whose foot was already coiled in the air.
Just as he got within range, Arc drove his foot into the Avariel’s chin, breaking his jaw and sending him scuttling in the opposite direction.
Arc wrapped the chain up before tossing it into his inventory. He calmly walked toward the Avariel, who was disoriented and trying to get his bearings. He grabbed him by the neck and pulled him towards the edge of the island before dangling him over the endless expanse of blue below.
"Do you know how long it’ll take for you to reach the bottom? Why don’t we find out?" Arc said to the Avariel.
Zar was about to struggle when he realized he’d be falling to his oblivion if Arc were to loosen his grip even a little. Terror struck his mind, but he wasn’t about to go down without a fight.
"D-Do you think you’ll survive after killing me? Huh? You might be stronger than me, you might be stronger than the rest of us, but when we don’t return to the island, the true monsters will come looking for us. And when they don’t find me or find the rest of us dead... kikiki," Zar laughed hysterically.
"Are you done?"
"W-What?" The Avariel was stunned by Arc’s calm demeanor.
"How many of you are there on the island?"
"If you tell me, then I might consider letting you live," Arc added.
"Do you take me for a fool?!"
"Fair. But if you speak, I’ll give you a head start, and if you outpace me, then you get to live," Arc said.
The Avariel remained silent for a moment, gritting his teeth.
"There are four of us. There’s a powerful archer with a special class. A rogue who can control metal. A formidable swordsman. Then there’s our leader... a healer," the Avariel hesitated.
"...Ever heard of an Authority Devil?"
