3179 No Bounds
Leonel seemed particularly relaxed as he looked back toward the old woman, raising his bow once again.
"Shall we?"
The old woman blinked for a long while before she smiled, standing to her feet.
"My logic tells me that there is no point. But my pride is telling a very different tale."
When she stood to her full height, Leonel realized that she was much taller than he thought. In fact, she was a half head taller than even he was.
Although Leonel had shrunken in size after losing his Demon Bloodline, he was still of decently tall stature for a Human, standing at around 6'4 or so. And yet, Old Bow was about an inch taller than him. All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.
Her legs were slender and her arms were long. In a way, she almost looked like the curve of a bow herself.
In her youth, she must have been quite the beauty. Even now in her old age, there were hints of rouge on her cheeks and an elegant flare to her actions that made her still hold those hints of enticement.
Her bow was long, over three meters from tip to tip. And yet, it fit her perfectly.
The world fell into silence as her fingers clasped onto her bowstring.
At that moment, it became clearer to Leonel than ever that he was facing off against the Ancestor of the Bow, the originator, the creator.
However, as soon as that reverence appeared in his heart, it was ruthlessly stamped out.
The light smile on Old Bow's face faded as a sharpness tore the murkiness of her gaze apart.
"I can see now why the Idol Battlefield hates you so much."
Leonel raised his bow. Unlike Old Bow, his smile didn't fade. His mood, after taking a downturn thanks to the Spear corridor, was now in quite a good state.
"Jealousy doesn't look very good on you, Old Bow," Leonel said with a chuckle.
"I disagree. As the Old Bow, the Ancestor of the weapon you hold in your hands, my arrogance is warranted. And as the archer of the battlefield… of all battlefields…
"My greed knows no bounds."
Leonel felt his heart tremble. There was a profoundness to those words that he just barely caught onto the faintest edges of.
The truth was that the Spear and Bow Corridors were all curated. Dimension was taken out of the equation and it became a battle of pure Weapon Force skill and might.
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The truth was that the Spear and Bow Corridors were all curated. Dimension was taken out of the equation and it became a battle of pure Weapon Force skill and might.
If Leonel had fought any one of these experts of the past at their full capacity, his head might not still be on his shoulders.
But it was also because of that, that he was able to get true insights into the rawness of their abilities.
This woman was truly an existence that was worthy of lording over all other Bowman…
Except for him.
The twang of their bows echoed at the same time and a rain of attacks opened between the two.
They stood just 20 meters apart, a distance that was incredibly short even for a mortal archer, let alone two practical Gods like them.
And yet their reactions were unmatched.
They pushed one another, their arrows colliding tip to tip with perfect precision every time, no matter how they curved through the air, no matter how they exploded with speed.
They said that to an archer, distance didn't matter. But what many meant when they spoke these words was a longer distance…
What about shorter ones?
How many archers in existence would find themselves helpless if the enemy was too close? How many of those same archers would pride themselves on how many kilometers away they could snipe a target down from?
**BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!**
Their arms moved faster as they took a step forward, and then another.
Leonel released a wild grin and the sharpness in Old Bow's eyes only grew more condensed. He could sense how prideful she was, how she refused to lose.
Neither of them used any fancy tricks. No Ability Indexes, no Lineage Factors, they didn't even use Bow Force itself very much.
It was like they had returned to the days before Old Bow created Bow Force, relying on nothing more than the sharpness of their eyes, the steadiness of their hands, the twangs of their bows.
**BANG! BANG!**
Leonel suddenly accelerated. His hand speed was the same, but he began nocking two arrows at once, and then three.
Even without his Ability Index, his feel for the bow was like a man against the world.
Feeling provoked, Old Bow did the same. Her arrows began to twist through the air with a more vicious momentum.
At this point, the two were only separated by ten meters. Their arrows continuously rebounded against one another only to be destroyed on impact.
Rains of shards of wood and Force descended from the skies, but they still took a step forward, and then another.
Old Bow suddenly nocked four arrows at the same time. When she released, they diverted along two paths, twisting and winding around one another.
At that instant, two sets of two arrows matched against one of Leonel's arrows each, blasting through them and shattering the stalemate.
The fiendish glow in Leonel's eyes grew to another degree.
Rather than matching Old Bow's quantity, he only nocked two arrows. They flew separately in the air, meeting Old Bow's quadruple rain in an instant.
His arrows split the twin arrows of Old Bow apart, parrying one downward and the other upward and off course.
However, his arrows didn't stop, borrowing the twisting momentum that Old Bow had given hers and inexplicably accelerating forward.
Old Bow hadn't expected this and was actually preparing a follow-up attack. By the time she realized that she had to toss her calculations out of the window, she also realized that she and Leonel were too close together now.
If they had been 10 meters apart, she could still manage. But now at just five…
Old Bow released a sigh.