Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

[OP: ]

-Oooooooooooong!

All of a sudden, Eon vanished from before her eyes and an unforeseen attack arrived from right beside her.

-Clank!

A silent arrow that she barely perceived and blocked with the large mace that she was wielding.

However, the impact that she felt in that moment was so powerful that she was thrown three steps back.

-Clank!

And, that was just the start of the silent assaults.

-Clank! Clank!

She was dodging most of the attacks but some of them weren't something she could possibly evade from how fast they arrived before her.

They were fast, covert, and impactful.

Every time she was hit by one of these arrows, she almost lost her footing and if it wasn't for her skills and great natural balance, she would have long lost the battle if things had gone on the same way for even more than a minute.

But she handled the assault, got used to the speed of the arrows in no time and, started blocking the attacks in a more efficient manner.

She did not understand how he was doing it, but she understood one thing.

-Clank! Clank! Clank!

Her opponent was simply moving around without any kind of excess movements and that was making it seem like he had almost disappeared.

The reason his attacks did not make any kind of sound was all thanks to the enchantments that were placed on the arrows that he was using and his experience.

He was talented, so much so that she could not understand how someone just a little younger than her could possibly move in that manner.

She already knew that he was strong, but she also knew that he was not using even half of his strengths, half of the things that he could do in this battle.

And yet, he was pushing her back with the most simple kind of attacks that anyone should have been able to block and counterattack.

-Oooooooooooooong…!

She got angry after this continued for a few minutes and used all her magic to enhance her speed and focused her skills on strength and stamina.

She was not going to tolerate this insult. She was here for a fair fight and to defeat this bastard who was already looking down on her by holding back… so, used a new approach and became so fast that she also vanished from the arena.

-Clank! Clank! Clank!

For the students, the arena had become empty with only occasional sparks flying all around the place.

There were some occasional impacts, some places faced strong impacts from the weapons that few and crashed in those placed.

-Booooom!

If it was not for the protective barrier covering the arena, the weapons could have come out and it might have hurt them in a serious manner.

The weapons were fast, very fast as they the strength that they were thrown with was in fact no laughing manner.

-Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!

But then, out of the blue, the sparks that were flying all around that arena became so intense it stunned the students, flabbergasted the judges, and shocked the teacher that had been keeping an eye on every single movement both of them made.

He was not the only person who could see what was actually happening in that arena, but he was the only person present in this arena who actually understood everything that was taking place in this place.

-Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!

They were fighting at first with Eon only using simple yet the most efficient movements to confuse his opponent, but then when Tia also enchanted her speed, Eon started using a completely different kind of tectic.

-Oooooooooooong!

The teacher saw it clearly, the young person who should not be older than most of the young adults of this academy, entered the ZONE at his own will.

-Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!

He did something not even some of the most experienced knights could not do, and he did it so effortlessly that The teacher knew instantly the boy had already experienced something much deeper than the surface of this unique mental state.

-Swiiiiiiiiiiiish!

He first entered the zone and then his attacks, his movements, his every single action became so intense yet so perfectly coordinated that it exceeded his own comprehension.

As he continued watching the young boy, he understood what exactly he was trying to do and it brought him another shock.

-Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!

He was using his superior experience to drag his opponent into this unique mental state as well— he was forcing his fairy opponent who was a battle mage and not a knight into one of the most unique yet dangerous mental regions.

Doing so carelessly could put the lives of both of them into danger but, as the teacher watched, he could clearly tell that this was not the first time the young boy was doing something like this.

His every action, the evey arrow that he intentionally fired in a way that she would have to move the way he wanted her to, and the way he precisely manipulated her reminded him of the younger version of his teacher— the vice headmaster who was the only person he knew to be capable of doing something like this with that kind of precision.

He was stunned after that and just continued watching the unfathomable show that was unfolding before him…

-Oooooooooooong!

It did not take the young fairy to enter the highly longed state of the ZONE.

Her unnaturally strong will, the absurd fighting spirit that she possessed was something that made her angry at the fact that her opponent was not even considering her a proper opponent and was playing around with her.

Her strong anger and frustration was channelled directly into her actions and she became more focused, more aggressive, more confident, and more powerful as the time passed— and all those things increased exponentially when everything aside from her opponent's arrows had been erased from her mind.

When she entered the state of ZONE, as the teacher witnessed, she had stopped producing the crimson stardust that she had been producing throughout the fight.

Not many people could perceive it since she had been using it very effectively since the start of the battle so not any of it was leaking out, but when she stopped producing her stardust, she somehow became even more powerful.

It was as if the way she had been using her stardust suddenly became so efficient that she started directly using it as soon as it was produced in her back where her wings should have been.

She was doing something even he had not seen before, something he was witnessing for the first time… but she did not know what she had been doing herself.

The only thing that someone in the ZONE would know about was the objective that made them enter that state unless they were extremely experienced with this state.

He could tell this was not her first time in this unique state but the level of dearth she had reached was something new to her.

-Ooooooooooooooong!

-Clank! Clank! Clank!

The same was not the case for her opponent as it seemed like he had so much experance with this state of mind that he was even able to extract stamina from all parts of his body while using this state.

He was not getting tired like someone in this state usually should.

He was getting stronger instead, and… this became the main dividing line in their fight.

-Oooooooooooong!

-Clank! Clank!

She did her best and she almost reached him, damaging him with her fiests. He had even barely avoided some of her attacks, but he still did not fall for any of her attacks that had now become relatively predictable.

She was now stronger, faster, and sharper than ever. But she still lacked experience fighting in that kind of state, with this kind of speed, with such conditions.

-Oooooooooooooong!

"That would be enough, Tia."

Twelve minutes.

It was the total time their fight went on.

And of these twelve minutes, they had been in the zone for not more than three minutes.

"Let's stop here."

-Swish.

-DHUM!

She was exhausted but she didn't know it herself.

She would have kept going and nearly killed herself had he not used his movement skill in time and stopped her from making any more moves.

He used a strong attack on the back of her neck that made her suddenly fall unconscious while she was in the middle of punching him in a vital spot.

In normal circumstances, that attack would not have done anything to him but it surely would have made her Mana flow disrupted.

It could have been serious, and even though he was also having fun with his friend, he stopped her, and their fight ended with the entire arena falling silent.

She was now on the ground, unconscious. And it seemed like she would not be able to continue with the rest of the tests… but that would have been a problem.

So, Eon got down before her, used his Aura and somehow, with some trick that neither the students nor the teacher in charge understood, he brought her back.

"…?!"

And surely, when she came back to her senses, she did not understand anything that was going on except for the fact that she was now laying on the ground and he was crouching down before her.

"…I lost… again."

"You were going to lose anyway. Did you think you really had any chance?"

He playfully smirked at her and helped her get back up, and she made the same adorable face that she makes every time she is angry.

"You did not have to say it so bluntly!"

She did not like how he made fun of her. He was perhaps the only one who did it and every time she saw that smirk… she just wanted to punch that ugly face of his.