Chapter 846: The Truth of the Contest!
Both parties seemed to be at the limits of what they could bring out from their current archery skills.
Still, no party wanted to give up on the victory, so the battle continued past its time.
The turn of the chanted arrows followed the skill arrows. Aakesh had two chantment arrows available to him at this level, while the Elf had three.
The Elf seemed to be at an advantage, but two of the skill arrows Aakesh had, were almost equal to the weakest chanted arrows, so Aakesh didn't let the Elf come out on top of the battle.
More time passed, and the battle finally reached its end.
Aakesh used a chanted arrow. To match him, the Elf did the same. Unfortunately for the Elf, she couldn't move during the arrow's operational time, while Aakesh was able to for the one he used.
If it had been earlier, the Elf would have easily defended against the arrow, but at that time, her energy and mental strength were both at their lowest.
The Elf had no choice but to see the arrow come at her while the two chanted arrows clashed in the sky.
The space cracked, and the lands disintegrated. The scene was like doomsday, but Aakesh was the last standing man, while the Elf only had half her body left.
It was the longest as well as most challenging battle Aakesh had faced with someone of his own level. Even though he won in the end, his condition wasn't good.
The Elf had pushed him to his limits. If not for his unlimited endurance, the winner of the battle might have changed.
But since the characteristics were part of the contest, Aakesh stopped thinking about them. He instead enjoyed the excitement of the battle.
The Elf was still alive, but not very far from death. Her body was wracked by waves of unbearable pain, and she saw death approaching. The pain seemed to have no effect on the Elf as her eyes shone with joy.
She had enjoyed the battle to her heart's content. As a result of losing to her opponent on an equal playing field, she felt a slight disappointment in her heart. At the same time, there was also an unprecedented shine in her eyes since she had seen that there were still ways to grow further.
She decided to train even harder after returning to reality.
'So, it was the truth after all,' the Elf thought as she breathed her last.
The next moment, the world turned dark for her as she found herself in a dark space where there was nothing but her.
Some days ago,
"Eh!, Why do I feel someone is calling me?" A female voice filled with surprise rang in the area.
The World Tree housed all the Cosmic Elves, depending on their level. The population of the Cosmic Elves was only around several thousand since the death rate for the Cosmic Elf was higher due to the World Tree's extensive demand.
Each Cosmic Elf, who had lived for more than a hundred years, had a rank in its race.
The World Tree had countless branches. As one ascended higher, not only did the purity of the elements increase, but so did the amount of life energy.
If a person who was about to die were to take a deep breath at the very tip of the World Tree, all of their wounds would instantly heal.
The Cosmic Elf in question was ranked three thousandths on the leaderboard, so she got the branch number corresponding to her rank from the top, while the leader of the Cosmic Elves lived on the topmost branch.
The Elf was training as the annual ranking competition was approaching closer. The rewards provided by the World Tree were enough to cause greed in higher-level cultivators in the third dimension, let alone these Cosmic Elves.
The Elf had been at the three thousandth position for the past seventy-eight years. She wanted to break her curse of freezing at the same spot, so she worked harder than usual.
After every six hours of training, the Elf would give herself a window of a minute for rest. When she was relaxing at that moment, the Elf suddenly sensed someone calling to her.
The Elf tried to find the source of the calling, and when she did, she couldn't help but freeze on the spot.
The elf discovered the calling to be coming directly from her heart. She thought she had created some kind of heart demon, but for some reason, her intuition warned her against ignoring the calling.
After the minute window passed, the Elf emptied her mind and returned to her training.
When the next rest window came, the calling reappeared. This time, it was more intense than ever.
'It's your opportunity!'
'It's your opportunity!'
'It's your opportunity!'
A voice began ringing in her heart without stopping. With every passing moment, the call became more intense.
With lots of effort, she somehow passed the window. As her training time arrived, the call automatically disappeared, and she returned to her training.
The Elf dreaded when her next rest window arrived, and as expected, it appeared more intense than ever.
This time, the Elf gave in to the call and accepted it. After she accepted the call, nothing happened, and things returned to normal.
(A/N: This was happening in the third dimension when Aakesh was in the Primal dimension. The time difference is 1:1,000,000.)
The Elf didn't forget about the calling, but the days returned to normal. Then today, while training, the call appeared.
This time it was more of a non-refusable summons. It gave the elf a window of three moments to prepare, and when it passed, she disappeared from her house.
The moment she disappeared, the topmost branch had a sudden movement. Two new silhouettes appeared, while two were already there.
Of the four, three were females, while only one was male.
The open space had a large table with four chairs. One chair was placed on one side, while the other three chairs were on the other side.
On the sole chair, a woman with blurry features sat. The man sat on the center chair on the other side while the remaining two females grabbed the remaining two chairs.
The man seated in the center was none other than the leader of the Cosmic Elves, while the woman seated solely on the other side was the spirit of the World Tree.
***
When Aakesh tapped on the window to start the ninety-eighth battle, the dark space around the Elf suddenly broke down, and the next moment, she appeared on the stage for the next round of battle.
The Elf was significantly more powerful than she was in the previous round as a direct result of the removal of a number of additional barriers to her strength.
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