Chapter 743: Mana Bolts
Chapter 743: Mana Bolts
The ashen walls of the mansion, its glamorous silver gates, and the statues of brave warriors all crumbled under the force of the explosion. Haro and Captain Munro were pulled toward the center, riding the giant jellyfish that Haro created.
The scene below was a wasteland after the force of the explosion destroyed everything. Haro peeked from atop the jellyfish to see many corpses in the path connecting to the main mansion.
"There is someone there!" shouted Captain Munro while pointing at the explosion, which was still shrinking in size. Haro looked at the scene and found a single man standing in the center of the blast, his hands directly fused with the white sphere.
"Arthur Silvera…" recognized Haro, making Captain Munro gulp. Arthur Silvera was standing in the center of the explosion, his arms grabbing into it. In response, the mana was shrinking in size. "Sir, we will crash into the mana sphere at this rate."
"Hold on to me and jump," said her captain, and Haro obeyed. The two jumped with her hugging his waist from behind, landing several meters from the explosion. Captain Munro then pierced the ground with his sword and held on to it.
"Arthur Silvera!" shouted Captain Munro to the man with black robes. "This is as far as you will go with your evil plans! Stop this explosion at once, or we will attack!"
Zzzznnnnnn~
Haro wanted to tell her captain that buzzing mana muted his voice. However, it seems that Arthur Silvera heard their words and turned to look at them.
"Isn't that what I'm doing?" he asked, his golden eyes staring at them with disdain. "If you attack, I will let this mana explosion destroy half of the Silver District."
Captain Munro and Haro found themselves stumped for words, and Arthur Silvera turned back toward the explosion. Then, the mana sphere started shrinking further. The two glanced at each other since this proved he was telling the truth.
Haro almost thought he was a good person, but the trail of corpses behind her said otherwise. Since most of these corpses seemed destroyed by the explosion, he might not be the culprit.
"If you have free time to stand around," said Arthur Silvera while gritting his teeth. "How about you take down the sharpshooter above the roof? He is the one behind this explosion."
Haro and Captain stood confused before they looked around and finally found who Arthur Silvera was talking about. It was a figure standing atop a tower, holding a white crossbow in hand. He was standing there and watching the show without moving.
"If he fires again, then the whole city will be destroyed," said Arthur Silvera. "If he does, then not even I can stop it. So this is your duty, right? You are the Holy Knights of Ilios, so protect your damn city."
Haro was silent before she let go of the captain, who turned toward her with panic. Then, she allowed the force to pull her and used her jelly to navigate around Arthur Silvera and the explosion.
"Use the explosion to propel me!" shouted Haro before creating a jelly cushion on her back. Arthur Silvera paused for a second before letting go of the explosion directly behind her.
The mana released exploded in full force, vaporizing everything around it. Captain Munro was sent flying and rolling on the rubble while Arthur's body was covered in golden mana that protected him.
As for Haro, she bolted like an arrow toward the tower the sharpshooter occupied. In no more than a few seconds, Haro descended toward the tower, her bow appearing in her hand.
"Astral Blessing: Thousand Feathers," muttered the young knight as a pair of wings exploded from her short bow. A shadow of a peacock appeared behind her, spreading its feathers. Haro pulled on the bowstring, and a lime-colored arrow started conjuring.
The sharpshooter raised its white crossbow and aimed it at her, giving Haro a sense of impending doom. Moonlight gathered around the figure, radiating their weapon as a transparent bolt formed on it.
Haro realized that it would be mutual destruction if she did not dodge, which seemed to be the intention of the sharpshooter. Her heart wavered, but she remembered what Arthur Silvera told them: another arrow would destroy the city.
"Let this be… my true justice," muttered Haro as she released her arrow, and a thousand arrows exploded from her bow. They arched while rushing toward the sharpshooter, who shot the bolt toward her.
Moonlight seeped into the transparent bolt, making it look like a shooting star as it headed towards her. Haro fell toward the tower, knowing she couldn't block this attack. However, the same could be said of her enemy, which made a grin appear on her face.
As long as she remains alive until the thousand arrows strike the enemy, she will win. Therefore, Haro gathered her jellyfish ability, which had no defense powers, hoping to stall for that last second.
The jellyfish compressed beyond its limits, but the bolt arrived faster than she could unleash her ability. It tore through the jelly like a hot knife would cut through butter. Haro gritted her teeth as the mana inside the moonlight bolt exploded in front of her.
"Perish!" roared Haro as the overbearing energy vaporized her outstretched fingers, but her eyes did not look away from the thousand arrows raining on the sharpshooter. Her face crumbled when she realized that she would die before her hands hit their mark, making her full of regret.
Boom!
An explosion echoed in that split second before an arm appeared in front of her. The arm grabbed the explosion in midair and absorbed it as if it was a black hole swallowing everything.
"I never imagined I would respect an Iliosian Knight," said Arthur Silvera, who appeared beside her, his body burning with white flames. "You did well, but there is no need to die today. I will take care of the rest."
After that, Arthur Silvera struck her abdomen, kicking the air out of her lungs. Haro coughed as she was sent crashing toward the ground, unable to understand why he attacked her.
"Haro!" shouted Captain Munro as he rushed to her aid, storming into the dust cloud her descent created. Haro's head was spinning, but she could feel a foreign energy rampaging through her body. "Are you alright?!"
Haro could feel Captain Munro lifting her, and she struggled to open her eyes. When she did, she realized that her body was glowing with green mana, and her fingers were growing back at an alarming pace.
"I…" muttered Haro with confusion as she looked around and saw her captain's idiotic but concerned face. Then, she turned to look at Arthur Silvera, who was still hovering above the tower as her arrows rained on the sharpshooter.
Arthur Silvera looked nothing like before since he was on fire. However, the flames were white energy that turned him as white as the moon.
"I should have used this method earlier," muttered Arthur Silvera as he clenched his fist. That simple action made the world buzz with mana. "This way, I don't need to care about mana depletion. Wasn't that your aim, Zas?"
The raining of arrows ended, but no one was on the tower anymore. Instead, they were standing atop the Mansell Flag, carrying their white crossbow on their shoulders.
Haro stood up with Captain Munro's help, staring at the scene with confusion. Seeing that her ultimate attack failed and that the sharpshooter was not even harmed, Haro felt pathetic.
"You know the rules of Mistletoe, Arthur. Revealing my name here is against them," said the sharpshooter as he pulled down his hood to reveal a man with a crow mask. "Another reason I should blast you away," said the man called Zas and aimed his crossbow at Arthur Silvera.
"Is that the Moonlight Crossbow you stole from Runera?" asked Arthur Silvera with a smile. "I wonder what happened after I left. Did Velos and Jumana beat the shit out of you?"
Zas was silent before he aimed his crossbow at Arthur Silvera, but Arthur disappeared. The sharpshooter looked around with confusion before he was struck from behind and sent crashing toward the ground.
Boom!
The estate shook as the sharpshooter slammed to the ground, creating a crater. Haro couldn't see what happened, but all she could see was the radiating Arthur Silvera standing beside the Mansell Flag.
"Don't expect I will hold back after you ambushed me," said Arthur Silvera with a grin. Haro blinked before she looked at the sharpshooter, who stood and aimed his crossbow again.
"BASTARD!" roared the masked man before shooting another bolt toward Arthur Silvera. However, this one was much weaker. Haro could see a streak of light flash across the dark sky before the resulting explosion vaporized the tower from existence. Arthur Silvera was gone.
"It is time that I take this back," said Arthur Silvera after he appeared above the sharpshooter and palmed him. Mana exploded from his hand, crushing Zas.