The sun descended in the sky, casting a glorious golden hue over the snow-covered mountains as Aella and Skadi stood poised at the summit. Below them, the landscape transformed into an intricate, perilous course. Somehow, a crowd gathered. A mix of the numerous animals living in this space watched with anticipation.
Looking down, Aella’s silently swallowed her saliva. Seeing the course she’d have to go through already made her equal parts excited and nervous. Above them was a timer counting down from 30.
“The goal is simple. The further you go down, the harder it becomes. Hitting a target dead center will give you 10 points. The closer to the edge, the lower points you get; sometimes, you’ll encounter things that can give or take points. You got all that, Little Miss God Slayer?” Skadi questioned, taunting Aella.
“Oh, I’ve never touched a set of skis in my life, and I’m still gonna kick your ass for that attitude, Huntress wannabe.”
Off to the side was Boreas, wondering how these two managed to trash-talk each other so naturally, not understanding the depths of either’s competitive nature.
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Without delay, both competitors launched into action. Aella pushed off with visible uncertainty, her skies carving awkward, hesitant lines in the snow while screaming, “How the hell do I drive this thing?!”
Skadi, embodying the grace of winter, descended with effortless movements, almost like she was dancing in the snow, a stark contrast to Aella’s unsteady form.
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With the system message appearing, a daunting array of targets along the steep slope popped out of the ground. Aella struggled to maintain her balance, her first few shots going wide but still hitting the targets. Skadi, however, was in her element as expected, her arrows whistling through the air and striking each target with unerring precision.
Continuing to fire arrows from a quiver that never seemed to end, Aella observed the movements of Skadi. Even if just a bit, she mimicked the Goddess’s movement as the notification for the second modifier appeared.
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Revealing more of its cunning design as the many targets began moving sporadically. Despite this, Aella’s accuracy only increased with the moving targets. Just glancing at Skadi was all she needed to figure out the proper posture for such an awkward sport.
Seeing Aella adapt so fast, Skadi actually missed a couple of targets as her eyes widened with surprise. With how Aella started, even if the young girl didn’t tell Skadi it was her first time, that quickly became apparent, yet in just a couple minutes, she managed to begin adapting.
“Not bad! Feeling any pressure yet?!” Skadi asked, only for Aella to sarcastically retort instantly, “It’s only gonna get easier for me, Snow White! Better cement your lead quickly!”
This time, the third modifier appeared before the system notification, screwing both Aella and Skadi up. Small gates began appearing at awkward angles with different numbers attributed to them. Of the two, Aella was the one who recovered first!
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““You don’t fucking say!”” Aella and Skadi managed to scoff simultaneously.
As annoying as the system was, it didn’t matter for Aella as she finally found her footing and began weaving through the gates with an evergrowing confidence. Despite this, each archery station broke her nascent flow, her arrows often missing the moving targets with the new addition.
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Surprisingly, though, Skadi once again missed a singular shot because she nearly ran into a gate that spawned into existence right in front of her. Still, it was not enough for Aella to get anything remotely close to a lead, but it certainly lessened the gap, making Aella even more sure of the possibility of her winning.
‘She doesn’t know what modifier is going to be next? If I just adapt faster, then I can win! I see the way out!’ Aella cheered inwardly as her consistency increased, only for both parties to come across a ramp, forcing them to leap into the unknown!
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” Aella complained, just as she thought the subsequent modifiers would give her a chance to adapt quickly. Below them was a sheet of treacherous ice instead of the forgiving snow.
Aella hadn’t crashed yet, but if she was going to, she really hoped it wasn’t on the ice. Without Mana to reinforce her body properly, she dreaded the thought of face-planting. Because of that, she faltered, slipping and sliding but never losing her composure.
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During this time, Skadi moved closer to Aella until the two were side by side before waving with a smile and darting off, gaining a significant distance lead and shouting, “Later, brat!” as another ramp came into view.
Deciding that trying to tame the ice was redundant, Aella slammed her Skiing poles into the ground to launch herself upward and forward, catching up to Skadi rather quickly while airborne, skipping the ramp entirely while doing a flip to make sure Skadi knew who ruled the skies.
As they both passed the ramp roughly simultaneously, both Aella and Skadi gained dangerous expressions as torrenting winds suddenly swept them up. Aella laughed manically as she accidentally stumbled into her element.
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“Ahahaha! Wind, Guide my arrows, and strike true!” She shouted out with glee. Even if she couldn’t correctly calculate where her arrows would land while moving, she could calculate everything about the wind instantly.
Its direction, its speed, its currents. She road the winds like a leaf. Skadi could only grit her teeth as Aella’s accuracy shot upward and could rival hers!
Sure, she was playing around and having fun just as Aella was, but this was absurd!
Unfortunately, Aella didn’t get to catch up for free as just a few minutes later, the end of the trial was in sight and, with it, the final modifier.
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With a sudden and powerful rumble, a cascade of snow roared down the mountain behind them, adding a visceral urgency to the contest. Aella’s heart pounded in her chest as she raced ahead of the avalanche, her focus consumed by the need for speed. Even with the help of the wind, her accuracy continued to fall as it crept up on her.
Unbothered by the dangerous situation, Skadi laughed at Aella, going so far as to ride on top of the avalanche! Just barely catching a glimpse of her, Aella nearly wiped out from the sheer… The coolness of that.
Although she wasn’t sure she had gained enough points to win, she was glad this contest wasn’t judged by style because she lost if that was the case. Both rushed down to the finish line, with Aella making it through just moments earlier!
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Falling to the ground while huffing for air, Aella looked up at the massive system screen that appeared in front of them as the numerous animals who had been watching cheered with their various cries and growls. Skadi did the same.
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|<2019 points!>|
|<233 arrows shot!>|
|<229 targets hit!>|
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|<1878 points!>|
|<212 arrows shot!>|
|<123 arrows hit!>|
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With the winner decided, both parties glared at each other with intense eyes as their auras flared up. By the time Boreas arrived at the scene, Aella and Skadi had already begun dashing toward each other.
The large man ran at top speed to stop the inevitable clash, but he wasn’t fast enough! All he could do was pray that Aella survived.
Instead of fighting, however, the two high-fived before locking their hands together, their glares not letting up at all.
“You got lucky, Snowcone. If not for that ice, I would have passed you!”
“Like hell, little fox. If not for that sudden wind, you wouldn’t even have 1100 points!”
With his eyes wide and jaw dropped, Boreas wasn’t sure how to approach the two females, so he just didn’t. He clapped along with the cheers of the animals.
‘Was this a woman thing? The kid didn’t give off any sign that she’d get along with Ska?’ Boreas confusedly mused inwardly. He wanted to comment on how weird humans were, but Aella wasn’t a human.