The Protagonist Already Knows

Chapter 40: Day 1 [7]

Before I could even move, Ren pulled out two more arrows from his quiver, now having three tightly pressed against his bowstring.

As I activated Anubis’s Ferry, the bowstring snapped forward.

*WHOOSH*

*WHOOSH*

*WHOOSH*

The three arrows surged forward simultaneously, one atop the other, at the boy’s still and confident figure.

Looking forward, I saw thousands of blue-mana particles gathered in the shape of a circle seperating the three arrows from the boy.

I doubted whether even I could phase through the formation in my intangible form.

Smiling, even with the three arrows barreling toward him, the boy yelled

"We have a defensive format-"

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

Before he could utter another word, the three arrows made contact with the mana circle formation, a massive cloud of dust appearing as three shockwaves exploded through the air.

"..."

"..."

As the dust cloud vanished...I flew forward, seeing thousands of mana particles in disarray, flying around like bees after their hive had been destroyed.

The boy, alongside tens of the students who had been confidently wielding their weapons a moment ago, were lying on the ground, trembling and seizing desperately.

They had taken the backlash from their formation’s destruction.

Easily phasing through the now-chaotic mana particles, I finally entered the fortress, materializing before the crowd of students, who were in the same state as the mana particles.

"A-ATTACK"

"WE CAN’T LET THEM STEAL OUR ORB!"

"PROTECT THE FORTRESS!"

Tens of arrows and throwing knives barreled toward me, but I didn’t mind them.

Gazing at the tens of students charging toward me, I simply raised my sword...and slammed it downward at the defenseless leader boy on the ground below me.

His body instantly shattered under me, disintegrating into nothingness within a second.

*WHOOSH*

*WHOOSH*

At that moment, two arrows flew over both my right and left shoulders, aiming at the over thirty students rushing at me.

Taking a deep breath, as swords and axes aimed to slash at my defenseless body, I followed the arrow’s trajectory.

Somehow...perhaps because of my mark on Ren, I understood that these arrows were not meant to kill.

But meant to disarm.

A faint... very faint blue line appeared at the arrow’s tips, extending only about two centimeters.

Thus...for some instinctive reason, I completely decided to disregard the arrows and throwing knives now only a few seconds away from tearing apart my body.

Swapping my mark to the boy nearest to me, who was wielding a massive berserk axe, I instantly felt massive amounts of adrenaline rushing through my body, as I inadvertently clicked my tongue in anger.

As the boy slammed his massive axe at my neck, attempting to decapitate me, I ducked and stabbed my Dao forward, piercing his stomach.

Then, without wasting a moment, I retracted my sword and stepped to the left, avoiding a sword slash from my right.

*WHOOSH*

*WHOOSH*

Two arrows immediatly flew through my previous location and embedded themselves in the stomach of the boy I had just stabbed.

As his body shattered into thousands of glass pieces and vanished, I re-marked Ren behind me, feeling that it would be more useful to understand the intent of his arrows than the crowd of chaotic students before me.

Faced with three simultaneous sword slashes from my middle, right, and left, I leaped backward, watching as all three cut through the air I had previously occupied.

*WHOOSH*

*WHOOSH*

Against, feeling a lack of excitement from Ren, I instinctively understood these arrows were meant to clear, not eliminate.

As I stepped to the side, the three arrows flew right past me, forcing the three sword-wielding students in front of me to also leap out of the way.

One leaped to the right and two to the left.

"..."

Was he helping me isolate fights?

Pushing the thought aside, I immediatly stepped forward to the isolated boy before me and slashed my sword horizontally at his neck.

*CLANG*

Raising his sword, the boy managed to parry mine; however, without skipping a beat, I immediatly punched my left hand forward.

As my left arm hit his shoulder, the boy instantly fell backward, losing his balance, and I instantly stepped forward again, stabbing my Dao into his stomach.

*WHOOSH*

"..."

Was he trying to steal my kill?

Without skipping a beat, I threw my Dao, which was still impaling the boy, to the right, and the boy’s body followed, flying off the sword and a couple of feet before landing on the ground.

*WHOOSH*

*WHOOSH*

*CLANG*

*CLANG*

Seeing the two arrows flying far above my head, I watched in awe as they made contact with all seven of the arrows and five of the throwing knives aiming at me, hitting one after another.

At the backlines of the crowd of students, the archers furiously turned around... ran inside the castle keep?

*CLANG*

All of their arrows and throwing knives were neutralized by Ren’s arrows: they had been nullified

One archer had managed to completely overwhelm over ten others.

Looking forward, though, I found over seven students sprinting at me, their swords and spears already slashing through the air at every part of my body.

I could take a hit or two, couldn’t I?

Stepping to the right, I winced in pain as a sword impaled my left shoulder, but gritting my teeth, I swept my Dao horizontally from right to left.

Hitting the right-most student’s stomach with my Dao, I watched as he flew to the left, knocking over the students next to him like dominoes.

*WHOOSH*

*WHOOSH*

With their formation now collapsed, I didn’t hesitate to retract my Dao and impale the two bodies lying on the ground, while the other five dealt with Ren’s arrows.

After perhaps... fifteen total eliminations, a scream finally sounded.

"RETREAT!"

"RETREAT!"

"PROTECTING THE GOLDEN BALL IS ALL THAT MATTERS!"

*BANG*

The crowd of students turned their backs and ran, rushing into the castle keep and slamming the door shut.

About three of them were impaled by arrows in the process of running.

Finally, as I looked behind me, Ren officially entered the fortress, casually strolling toward me with his bow and quiver.