Morse’s voice announcing the start had barely faded into the cold wind when Barton’s burly frame, like an angry bull, suddenly expanded significantly.
“Roar — !”
He let out a sky-shaking growl, hoisting his massive battle axe onto one shoulder as the snow beneath his feet sprayed in all directions under his heavy strides.
His target was clear and direct — Julius, the one who looked the most like a formal warrior!
As an experienced C-rank party, Steel Axe’s tactics were simple but undeniably effective:
Barton, the captain, would act as both the sturdiest shield and the sharpest spear, tearing through the enemy’s defensive line from the front to create opportunities for his teammates.
Almost the exact moment Barton charged, his two teammates behind him moved as well.
Kahn stayed low, sliding across the ground like a venomous snake as he silently flanked the group. His target was the masked girl who seemed the weakest and was responsible for all the talking.
In his eyes, eliminating such a troublesome “support” was the highest priority in battle.
Meanwhile, Ella retreated rapidly, putting dozens of meters of distance between herself and the frontline.
Standing steadily in the snow, she pulled the magic vine wood longbow from her back. Three arrows glowing with a faint blue mana aura were already notched on the string, ready to fly.
Their coordination was as smooth as flowing water, without a single moment of hesitation. In an instant, they formed a three-way encirclement from the front, side, and rear.
Many of the watching adventurers cheered, clearly giving high praise to the Steel Axe party’s textbook opening strategy.
However, faced with this seemingly flawless formation, the three members of Helos’s team remained exceptionally calm.
“Come and get it!”
Julius didn’t retreat. Instead, he advanced. Meeting Barton’s oppressive charge, he slammed the heater shield Bulwark into the ground in front of him.
*Buzz — !*
The holy light crystal in the center of the shield suddenly flared to life, and a solid golden light barrier instantly expanded in front of the shield.
He bent his legs slightly, lowering his center of gravity. He became like a rock rooted into the earth.
“Break for me!”
Barton roared, his battle axe whistling as it tore through the air, hacking viciously toward the golden light shield!
*Boom — !!!!*
The moment the axe collided with the light shield, a deafening explosion erupted!
A violent shockwave rippled out from the two of them, kicking up a cloud of snow.
The surrounding adventurers were even forced back several steps by the impact.
Everyone thought the young knight would be sent flying by that single blow.
However, when the dust settled, the scene before them left everyone wide-eyed with shock.
Julius…was actually still standing firmly in place!
The ground beneath his feet had cracked, and he had slid back over 1 meter, but the golden light shield, though dimmed slightly, remained steadfast with no signs of shattering!
‘How is this possible?!’
A flash of disbelief crossed Barton’s eyes.
He knew the power of his own axe better than anyone. Even a fellow C-rank heavy-armored warrior shouldn’t have been able to take it head-on so easily!
And in that split second of hesitation caused by his shock, a cold killing intent struck from behind Helos.
Kahn, the “Dual Blades,” appeared behind Helos like a ghost. His twin blades carved two deadly silver arcs through the air, crossing as they sliced toward the girl’s slender neck.
He could already imagine the scene of this sharp-tongued little brat falling in terror in the next second.
However, the scream he expected never came.
Instead, there was a crisp *crack*.
Gavi had appeared behind Helos at some point.
She didn’t even turn around; she simply reached back with one hand.
That seemingly delicate hand, moving at an incredible speed and angle, precisely caught the two short blades Kahn had slashed down!
No, she didn’t just catch them — she pinched them!
Using only her index and middle fingers, she steadily clamped the two magic-infused, razor-sharp blades!
Kahn’s pupils shrank. He tried to pull his weapons back, but he found that the two short blades were as if welded between the other’s fingers. No matter how much force he applied, they wouldn’t budge an inch!
‘This woman — exactly what kind of monster is she?!’
Waves of shock crashed through his heart.
Before he could recover from his surprise, an irresistible force traveled through the blades.
With a gentle flick of Gavi’s wrist, Kahn was pulled off balance by the force and stumbled forward.
He originally wanted to use magic to escape, but at that moment, the man discovered to his horror that he couldn’t mobilize the mana within his body at all!
‘W-What’s going on?!’
Immediately following that, he was greeted by the armor-piercing spike sliding quietly from Gavi’s other arm.
*Puchi — !*
The armor-piercing spike didn’t aim for his vitals; instead, it precisely pierced the right shoulder holding his knives.
“Ahhhhh — !”
A heart-wrenching scream rang out.
Kahn felt a piercing pain, and his right hand instantly lost all strength. His short blade hit the ground with a *clatter*.
Gavi’s movements didn’t stop for a second. Having landed the hit, she immediately withdrew the spike, turned, and delivered a clean, sharp whip-kick to Kahn’s abdomen.
*Thud!*
Kahn was sent flying like a kite with its string cut, crashing heavily into the grass over 10 meters away. He curled into a ball, completely losing his ability to fight.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
From Kahn’s ambush to his instant defeat, the entire process took less than 3 seconds.
Ella, watching from a distance, was dumbstruck. She had already locked onto Helos and was prepared to fire her magic arrows, but she was so shocked by the sudden turn of events that she forgot to release them.
“Tch, trash.”
Helos crossed her arms and stepped out from behind Gavi, letting out a disdainful scoff from behind her mask.
“Ella! Cover me!”
Barton also snapped back from his struggle with Julius. He roared, abandoning the boy in front of him to swing his battle axe toward Gavi, who had just severely wounded his teammate.
Ella reacted immediately. Her longbow glowed brilliantly, and the three magic arrows streaked through the sky like meteors, flying toward Helos from three different angles!
She knew very well that the masked girl, who looked the weakest, was the core commander of this team!
However, Helos didn’t bother with the lethal arrows coming from behind her at all.
She simply reached to her belt and pulled out a small potion bottle containing a dark purple liquid — it was the Kiss of Thorns that had even given the abyss cultists trouble!
Without any hesitation, she timed it with Barton’s charge and flicked her wrist, throwing the potion bottle with precision.
*Smash!*
Almost at the same moment Ella released her bowstring, the glass bottle shattered against Barton’s heavy breastplate, splashing the dark purple liquid everywhere.
*Sizzle — !*
Pungent green smoke rose, accompanied by the ear-grating sound of corrosion.
The sturdy leather armor, upon contact with the liquid, turned black and curled up as if it had been scorched by a branding iron!
“Ahhhhh — !”
Intense pain, like being burned by fire, instantly pierced through the armor. Barton let out a shrill scream.
His forward momentum came to a sudden halt, and he could no longer hold his giant axe, which fell to the ground with a *clang*.
He instinctively tried to swat at the corrosive liquid on his chest, falling into a state of total chaos and pain.
Meanwhile, the three arrows wrapped in faint blue mana had also arrived behind Helos with a piercing whistle!
Some of the watching adventurers even let out cries of alarm. They could almost see the scene of the petite, masked figure being pierced through.
Faced with this certain-kill strike from behind, Helos finally moved.
But her movement wasn’t a dodge or a block.
She simply took an unhurried step forward.
The moment she took that step, a strange change occurred!
The three magic arrows, which had been aggressive and luminous, had the faint blue mana aura around them instantly extinguished as if wiped away by an invisible force the moment they entered the range of several meters around Helos!
Without the mana enhancement, the speed and power of the arrows plummeted, changing from deadly meteors back into three weak, ordinary arrows.
The trajectories they traced through the air became slow and ridiculous, drifting feebly toward the girl.
Helos instantly drew her thin sword and gave three light flicks in the air.
*Clink, clink, clink.*
Three crisp sounds rang out.
Those three arrows, which had once been enough to penetrate armor, were like three weak twigs as she easily batted them away. they clattered onto the grass, silent.
The battle had completely reversed in this moment.
Ella stood frozen in place, the hand holding her longbow trembling slightly. Her face was filled with unbelievable horror.
She couldn’t understand why her proud magic arrows had suddenly failed.
“Julius!”
Helos’s voice broke Ella’s daze. “Go!”
“Understood!”
Julius had been ready.
Without any hesitation, he kicked off the ground and charged toward the distant Ella like a cannonball, holding his shield high.
Panic-stricken, Ella hurriedly notched another arrow, trying to stop Julius from getting closer.
But her arrows, hitting Julius’s mithril shield, produced nothing but a few dull thuds and failed to hinder him at all.
In an instant, Julius had charged right in front of her.
He didn’t use a weapon; he simply slammed the edge of his shield upward.
*Clang!*
The magic vine wood bow in Ella’s hand was knocked flying by the massive force, tracing an arc through the air before landing far away.
“I surrender.”
The female archer looked at the young man standing right in front of her and raised her hands, her face pale.
On the other side, Barton, struggling in pain, met his end as well.
Gavi’s figure appeared beside him like a ghost.
She didn’t give him any chance to resist, simply lifting her foot and, in a nearly humiliating fashion, stepping on the battle axe he had dropped.
Immediately after, the armor-piercing spike on her arm slid out, its cold tip resting gently against Barton’s throat.
Barton froze. The bone-chilling cold instantly cleared his mind of the pain.
He could feel that if the opponent applied even a little pressure, his throat would be easily pierced.
“I… I also surrender.”
He managed to squeeze those words from his throat, his voice hoarse and full of humiliation.
This party, which was quite well-known even among C-rank adventurers, had been completely crushed by three unknown newcomers in a near-total stomp.
The surrounding adventurers were silent. they stared blankly at the three figures in the arena, their faces filled with disbelief.
Morse also stood up from his position as the referee. He looked at Barton’s defeated party, then at the unharmed trio of Helos, and a hint of shock appeared on his cold face.
He walked slowly to the center of the field, glancing at the incapacitated Barton and Kahn, then at the pale Ella in the distance, before finally settling his gaze on Helos.
“I announce,”
His voice was steady and powerful, echoing across the silent clearing, “the winner of this match is — “
He paused, as if searching for an appropriate name.
” — the newcomer team!”
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Ordinary arrows are still fast and lethal,band losing magic wouldn’t b stop momentum.