Chapter 101

Chapter 101

Spendthrift Necromancer (101)

Guild Battle (2)

Bow Ghost Nam Cheolmin.

He took pride in that nickname. At the very least, there was no Awakened in Korea who handled a bow better than he did.

But Kim Minwoo had shattered that pride in an instant.

What?

Take off the crown?

And Seo Yerim, who hadn't even been an Archer for a month, was supposed to inherit it?

It was so absurd his common sense wanted to pack its bags and leave. What came next was even worse.‘Hah, Divine Archer?’What an arrogant nickname.

That was why he was dumbfounded.‘If you're going to put on a show, at least keep it reasonable enough for me to play along.’It wasn't as though he couldn't understand the intention.

Honestly, even he thought Bow Phoenix sounded rather lame.

If Minwoo had given him a little praise too.

Shown a little respect to a senior.

Then suggested some other reasonable nickname, Nam Cheolmin would've chuckled and offered a few words of encouragement.

What good came from making an enemy of Ilseong Group's eldest son in the first place? Better for everyone to get along if possible.

But right from the start, it had been a complete mess.‘Cocky bastard.’People kept telling him how good he was, and look at him crossing the line without hesitation.

Even in the Awakened world, where ability was everything, those words were unbelievably arrogant.

Naturally, Nam Cheolmin ground his teeth.‘Let's see what you've got.’With his buffs active.

He openly sniped Kim Minwoo.

Rapid Fire.

A Skill like his signature technique, allowing him to fire hundreds of arrows per second.

When he launched hundreds of arrows toward Kim Minwoo.

Nam Cheolmin was still brimming with confidence.

He had perfectly calculated the wind, trajectory, and direction. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd shot this cleanly.

Yet the bastard didn't move.

He simply stood there like a statue, staring at Seo Yerim.‘Don't tell me she's going to shoot these down with arrows?’Arrows already accelerating as they descended from the sky?

Nam Cheolmin snorted.

That was a feat difficult even for world-class rankers, never mind Korean Archers.

Maybe this Guild Battle would end far more easily than he'd feared. Once Kim Minwoo went down and every summon tanking for him disappeared, dealing with one Swordsman and one Archer would be easy.

He almost laughed.

Until Seo Yerim began drawing her bowstring at impossible speed.

“……

Huh?”

Nam Cheolmin blinked.‘What?’Why was that woman using the exact Skill that was his trademark?‘She already had Rapid Fire?’Lower-rank Achievement Skills might overlap, but the higher the Achievement rank, the rarer that became.

Had they somehow beaten odds of one in a thousand, one in ten thousand, and received the same Skill?

If not…….

Nam Cheolmin swallowed dryly.‘What the hell am I looking at?’Mana Arrows fired from the ground were turning every one of his arrows into dead weight. Not merely clipping their tips just enough to rob them of force.

The swarm of Mana Arrows continued flying toward him without losing its momentum.‘Insane…….’An expert recognized another expert.

Nam Cheolmin wasn't merely skilled. He was an Archer with half a foot already inside the realm of true masters. That was why he understood at a glance.‘What the hell is wrong with this lunatic?’A scene from moments earlier suddenly came to mind.

Seo Yerim had kept staring at him while he used Rapid Fire.‘Was she analyzing my Skill?’And then copied it immediately?

“Guild Master!”

“Don't interfere! Absolutely not!”

Nam Cheolmin growled at the guild members hurriedly preparing defensive Skills against the incoming arrows.

Kim Minwoo had stood there calmly and let her stop everything, yet Nam Cheolmin was supposed to receive help from his guild members?

There couldn't be anything more disgraceful. And this was archery, the field where he reigned supreme.

Grinding his teeth, Nam Cheolmin drew his bow.‘Fine, I'll smash them!’He simply needed to do the same thing.

Shoot down arrows?

He was Korea's number-one Archer.

Difficult, yes, but far from impossible.[Rapid Fire(S)

activates!]

With a ghostly gleam in his eyes, he pulled the string. Hundreds of arrows once again filled the sky.

Just as his arrows approached the descending swarm of Mana Arrows.

“Uh……?”

Nam Cheolmin froze in shock.

The Mana Arrows flying in parabolic arcs subtly twisted their trajectories and avoided every one of his arrows.

More ridiculous still.

Those distorted trajectories converged again, the arrows flying straight toward him.

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!

Before he could respond, a mass of arrows buried itself all over his body.[Your shield has shattered.][You have been eliminated.]

Nam Cheolmin suddenly found himself outside the Guild Battle area.

Despite being the first person eliminated, the fact barely registered.

He was simply stunned by something he'd never seen before.‘What?’Had she controlled the arrows?

No.

Controlling flying swords in midair like Telekinetic Swordsmanship was something that appeared in wuxia novels.

But controlling hundreds of arrows freely in the air?

He'd never even heard of a Skill like that.

Then Nam Cheolmin felt how much the wind had weakened.

His eyes widened.‘Don't tell me she calculated the wind?’Even then, it was strange.

Suppose she'd calculated everything from the start. Suppose that was why the trajectories changed midway.

But what had she calculated for?‘……!’Nam Cheolmin's eyes widened again.

The Mana Arrows that had precisely avoided his own before striking him.‘Did she know I'd try to stop them with arrows, and calculate that from the moment she fired?’Was that why the trajectories twisted midway down, then curved back again?

Goosebumps rose along Nam Cheolmin's arms.

If that was really what had happened…….

Divine Archer.

He'd thought it was nothing but empty bravado.‘……

Maybe not.’He couldn't think of any nickname that suited her better.

He thought of the Archer Awakened overseas.

He might be Korea's number-one Archer, but he didn't dare compare himself to the very best Archers abroad.

Comparing the number one of a weak Awakened nation to the number one of an Awakened superpower was ridiculous in itself.‘Sword Immortal is the weird one.’Korea's number-one Swordsman.

Sword Immortal Seo Jincheol.

He was simply an anomaly.―She's world-ranker class.

Nam Cheolmin remembered what Kim Minwoo had once said about Seo Yerim in an interview.

“Hah…….”

At this moment.

Perhaps a genuine Archer capable of competing even on the world stage had truly been born.‘Forget everything else…….’At least Ilseong Guild was fucked.

Not only had its Guild Master been eliminated, an Archer of that caliber was now raining arrows down on the entire guild.

For the guild's sake, he should've accepted help instead of facing her head-on and survived the crisis.‘……

Still, I don't regret it.’How could he have backed down there?

Then he wouldn't have been an Archer.

So he had no regrets.

If anything, admitting the difference left him feeling strangely refreshed.‘So that's why they asked for sixty trillion…….’A guild containing an Archer like that?

He could begin to understand the price.

“……

But I don't think that's a discount.”

Full price, maybe.

Did they still have more to show?* * *“An enormous upset! Guild Master Nam Cheolmin! He's the first one eliminated!”

“It looks like he tried to counter the arrows the way Ms. Seo Yerim did, but he got eaten alive instead! What, did those arrows have artificial intelligence or something? What kind of movement was that?”

“Ilseong Guild is in serious trouble! They've lost their Guild Master right from the start!”

“Emergency! Emergencyyyy! Arrows are pouring from the sky! Ilseong Guild is completely pinned down!”

“It looks like her arrows are generated from Mana, and Divine Archer…… no, Ms. Seo Yerim isn't conserving Mana at all right now!”

“She already took out the Guild Master, so she's going all in with no thought for what comes after!”―Whoa lol what the hell was that arrow movement?―Looks like she predicted everything and calculated it from the moment she fired. Otherwise there's no way she counters him that cleanly.―Nam Cheolmin went out that easily;;―Am I the only one feeling a massive gap in rank? That was just insane.―Objectively, the class difference is way too huge; there's no excuse here. He just got destroyed one-on-one.―Guess we have to call her Divine Archer instead of Bow Phoenix now…… right?―Can't you see Divine Archer noona dumping arrows all over them right now? lol Her form is fucking insane lol―This is the same Awakened who was fighting with a sword a month ago? My chest swells with pride…….―Whoa; she could seriously compete worldwide. For real…….

“Ah! As we're speaking, the undead army begins advancing! The giant Golem, the Skeleton troops, even Cedric!”

“They're busy enough defending against all those arrows right now! Of course, those are low-ranking undead, so one prayer from the Priests should probably purify them…….”

“Awakened Park Siwoo is charging too, Holy Sword in hand! At the very least, his potential is top-class! He's a disciple acknowledged by Sword Immortal! Ilseong Guild needs to be careful!”

Park Siwoo and the undead army rushed forward.

And…….

The woman holding the parasol also began advancing, stepping across ground that rose beneath her feet.

“That summon looks like a Mage, doesn't she?”

“That's right. That looks like Earth Movement, one of the Mage Skills.”

“Cedric turned out to be anything but an ordinary summon. I'm extremely curious whether this Mage will be the same!”

Ilseong Guild didn't sit idle either.

While the Mages raised barriers to block the arrows, brilliant light from the Priests began pouring toward the approaching undead.

To counter Kim Minwoo efficiently, five members of the first team had been assigned as Priests.

The dazzling Skills of the high-Level Priests struck the undead army.

That was when.

“Huh?”

“What?”

“They hit them?”

Light erupted among the Skeletons running forward.

Normally, low-ranking summons like those should've collapsed and been purified instantly.

But…….

“……

They're completely unharmed?”

“No, the summons aren't even using Light-resistance artifacts! What is this?”

“The undead army keeps charging!”

“Uh-oh? This is bad! If they can't stop those undead from getting close, things are going to get ugly! There are thousands of them!”

Ilseong Guild reacted quickly amid the confusion.

This time, the Priests raised barriers to block the rain of arrows.

Mana gathered over the Mages' hands.

If the Priests' Skills didn't work, they would simply sweep the undead away with magic.

That was the idea.

Then.

Kim Minwoo's second summon raised a hand.

A moment later.

Every Mage Ilseong boasted about coughed blood and collapsed.

“?”

“?”

“?”―?―??―???

“D-Don't tell me…….”

The commentators' eyes trembled.

They were professionals.

Professionals knowledgeable enough to cover overseas matches as well.

And occasionally, during those international matches.

They had seen top-tier Mages do exactly this to other Mages.

Read every spell their opponent attempted, react one step ahead, and disrupt the magic before completion.

That was generally called…….

“S-Spell disruption?”

“Is that really spell disruption?”

“That's impossible! Isn't that something only world-rankers can do?”

“And a summon is doing it?”

The back line had been destroyed in an instant.

And that wasn't Ilseong Guild's only disaster.

Park Siwoo and Cedric.

The moment one Awakened and one undead slammed into the front line…….

“Uh? The line…… is collapsing?”

“They can't hold it!”

“What is happening here? S-rank Warriors and Swordsmen are being pushed back! By one summon and one low-Level Awakened!”

Park Siwoo engaged a Swordsman while Cedric took on a Warrior.

The two S-rank Awakened had initially met them with dismissive sneers, only to begin retreating moments later with cold sweat running down their faces.

A huge hole opened in the front line.

And toward that hole.

“There's an opening! The Golem charges! Baaam! Ah! This is bad! The Warriors on the front line just went flying! How high is that Golem's Strength?!”

“The Skeletons are flooding in! Like a tidal wave! Skeletons may be called meat shields, but in a melee like this, they can fight pretty well!”

“A sword in the back eliminates you whether you're undead or human!”

Like ants spreading through an anthill, the Skeletons poured into every gap and attacked from all sides.

The first team of Korea's fifth-ranked guild.

That first team was collapsing helplessly.