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CHAPTER 44: THE REMAINING MAGIC ARROWS I HAVE LEFT IS
“Luminous…?”
“Huh…? Older brother? Younger brother?”
Lihilt’s squad members let out voices of surprise in response to what I said. I didn’t have the leisure to thoroughly explain to all of them.
That’s because it wasn’t over yet.
Usually, my Magic Arrow would bring down everything with a single shot. Even after taking my Magic Arrow, all the Crest Master did was totter several steps backward.
“…Woah there, woah there…”
The Crest Master fixed his posture.
“Woow, this power is certainly impressive.”
The Crest Master talked while rubbing his chest, which was directly hit by my Magic Arrow. Composure was written on his facial expression.
“You ain’t bad, huh?”
“Impossible. He’s calm even after taking Albert’s Magic Arrow…?
The Crest Master faced Firvus and grinned broadly.
“Aah, sorry, but you guys won’t be able to win against me. The reason being that I have Absolute Defense tattoos engraved onto my body!”
“Absolute… Defense…!?”
“That’s right. No matter if it’s magic or physical, my body cuts 99% of all damage. In other words, you have no way of defeating me.”
Immediately after speaking, the Crest Master whistled.
The four super-enhanced lizardmen by his side broke into a sprint and vanished from our sight.
“They’d only serve as targets. I don’t wanna pointlessly lose any game pieces either, ya see. I just asked them to step away.”
The Crest Master cracked both of his hands.
“Now then, let’s get this show on the road, magician! Let’s see how long you can hold out until your mana runs dry!”
“Albert.”
Firvus called out to me.
“Don’t get carried away by his easy-going provocation. If you run out of mana, then we’ll be killed by the super-enhanced lizards in the end. Let’s—”
“Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow.”
“Guo!? Uo!? Au!? Geu!? Guu!? Eu!?”
The Magic Arrows I shot one after another stabbed into the Crest Master.
BWOM!
The Crest Master was brilliantly blown away, and his back crashed into the cliff behind him.
“Phew. Well, I guess I don’t need to worry about falling down anymore.”
The Crest Master spoke flippantly.
“Haa… I guess it’s finally being put to good use for a change… It’s been pain ever since I completed this tattoo, but I don’t feel like I’m dying at all! HAHAHA!”
“Albert! You need to stop!”
Firvus spoke.
However, I had no intention to obey him.
“It’s alright. I won’t run out of mana.”
I stared at the Crest Master.
“99% of the damage won’t go through. That means 1% does?”
“So what? I’m asking you what’s 1% gonna do!”
“If 100 shots equate to 1, then I just need to shoot 100 times for the same effect as 1. Even I can understand that reasoning?”
For a single moment, the Crest Master’s face twitched. However, he quickly regained his composure and shouted.
“What about your shit reasoning!? Before that happens, your mana will run out and that’ll be the end of it!”
“Don’t you know? Magic Arrow is a beginner-level spell.”
“…Hah?”
I explained myself in response to the Crest Master’s confusion.
“In other words, my mana consumption is low.”
Magic Arrow was low-cost to begin with, and I decreased its cost even further by spending day after day reading spellbooks.
“Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow.”
“GUO!?”
The Crest Master’s body bent at an angle. He put up with the pain and directed an angry voice at me.
“I’m telling you, so what!? You have a limit! How many Magic Arrows are you saying you can shoot!?”
“Eight hours.”
“…Hah?”
It wasn’t just the Crest Master—Everyone had a dazed look on their faces.
…Ah, I guess I need to explain.
“I had the same doubts as you, so I tried experimenting before. I constantly shot Magic Arrows into the sky. Without break, and without pausing. Needless to say, it was too much of a hassle once I passed the 1000 mark, so I stopped counting how many times I fired. I got bored and gave up after eight hours.”
“1-…1000? …You got bored… and gave up…? Eight… hours…?”
The Crest Master repeated what I said with a completely dumbfounded look.
I continued with an indifferent tone.
“That’s why I don’t really know my own limit myself. At the very least, I can continuously shoot for eight hours. If I were to put it in numbers, I think I’d be able to go for around 10,000 shots.”
“Ha…hahaha… y-you gotta be kidding… it’s a bluff! I’m sure of it!”
“…Then let’s find out. I can play along with you for 16 hours if you’re so inclined.”
I pointed my right hand straight at the Crest Master.
“Now then, let’s start where we left off.”
“H-h-hyaaaaaa!”
The Crest Master tried running off to the side.
I mercilessly spoke the words that acted as the trigger.
“Magic Arrow.”
“Geu!?”
The white arrow I fired mercilessly slammed the Crest Master’s body against the cliff.
“Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow, Magic Arrow—”
A storm of virtually infinite Magic Arrows were fired from my hand, which violently exploded onto the Crest Master’s body.
“UGUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!?”
Magic Arrows flew at the Crest Master’s body without pause.
Albert simply employed brute force.
This was probably how standing directly below a massive waterfall felt—an overwhelming pressure that covered every inch of your body. He was crushed by a force so powerful that it completely sucked the will to resist out of him.
The Crest Master’s Absolute Defense tattoo was functioning well.
Just as he had boasted, it cut 99% of the damage.
However, to him, that was a misfortune.
He was unable to die with just 1% of the damage, and it wasn’t powerful enough to make him lose consciousness, either.
The hell of ceaseless, unending, ever-lasting pain.
The reality of the white arrows slowly but surely shaving away at his flesh.
Unable to move a single fingertip, the Crest Master was overwhelmed by such fears.
I want to run! I want to run! I want to run! I want to run!
While suffering in agony from the intense pain, the Crest Master frantically thought.
What can I do to slip out of here?
There were no solutions.
The consecutive Magic Arrows that Albert fired were literally “without any end in sight” and “left not even a spare moment to escape.”
All the Crest Master was allowed to do was die here.
Which is why he prayed.
Kill me sooner than later!
However, the Absolute Defense tattoo wouldn’t permit that.
Little by little, little by little—
The Crest Master’s body was whittled away, stripped away like an orange peel. Eventually, he would be reduced to nil.
Those were the final moments of the Crest Master.
So, when would that happen?
How long would this intense pain last for?
The only way left for him to die was to wait.
Despair dominated the Crest Master’s heart.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
While shrieking at the intense pain that burned throughout his body—
The Crest Master’s body was slowly ground to atoms by a limitless downpour of Magic Arrows.