Infinite Arrow-Chapter 47 - 45: Battle on Order (2)

A normal archer against a fully armored knight wielding a sword that disregards and destroys armor easily.

In an MMORPG, this would count as bullying. However, the open street is filled with a few street stalls that could prove to be an obstacle to the knight. Not only that, he has 94x arrows, the archer won’t run out of arrows that easily.

That being said, it is still not a fair fight!

A sword from above swings downward, eliminating anyone who stands beneath it. Cliff barely managed to avoid it by rolling to the side, it slashed a few strands of his royally luxurious hair but ultimately did not hit any of his vital parts.

"Basic Shot–!"

Cliff released an arrow, flying towards the knight. It is aimed to target the shoulder but was easily deflected due to the sword’s structure. The archer clicked his tongue out of annoyance and ran behind a stall to get some cover.

"Oh~? Interesting... But sadly~"

However, the knight simply slashed one of the structures that held the stall together and it fell apart. With his cover gone, he is back in the open with no cover to protect himself with. "Hiding is useless, dear boy~!" However, the archer was gone and was seen hiding behind another stall.

The knight smirked underneath his helmet and sighed so loud, the archer could practically hear his disappointment. "Hiding is the only thing youuu doo! Sooo boooorrriinngg~"

The sound of footsteps continuously gets closer to the stall where the archer is hiding.

What a one-sided battle this is...!

Cliff closed his eyes and focused on the sound of his heart beating rhythmically. His breathing stabilized as he released a deep sigh before opening his eyelids and his eyes filled with courage.

He pulled his bowstring and placed an arrow. Then, he came out of his hiding spot and released the arrow. But the knight disappeared– no, HE’S BEHIND!

Cliff looked behind him and found the knight with his hand nearly close to his neck, but due to his agility being high, he managed to duck fast enough to avoid being grabbed in the neck by that grab. However, it wasn’t over.

It was an onslaught. After failing to clutch the archer’s neck with his hand, he brought his sword forward once again without any second wasted. Cliff was too close to the knight, the sword’s blade would still reach him if he dashed backward. Instead, he evaded the thrust stab by stepping to the side and tackled the knight, pushing him away from him and interrupting his thrust attack.

"Tsk–! What a fucking cockroach–!" The knight shouted, annoyingly grunting as soon as he got pushed back and the archer managed to get some distance again between them.

"Ninety-three arrows left..." Cliff murmured a word under his breath as he jumped away, gaining distance but this time he had a clear sight of the knight’s profile. Indeed, he is wearing fully suited armor including a helmet. Almost every part of his body is covered in metal, except for the joints. It’s a tiny gap, but there’s a strap that holds the armor together.

I gotta remove his armor... one by one...

The knight slowly approached the archer, dragging the Armor-Destroyer on the concrete pavement. The blade clashed with the stone, creating violent sparks of light underneath. Cliff noticed and thought to himself.

Incoming surprise attack!

Suddenly, the knight dashed forward and closed the gap between the two of them while he dragged the sword upward, creating a bunch of sparks that blinded the enemy to create an opening.

"𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀!" The knight viciously shouted a move that only mercenaries know because of their particular fighting style that focuses on trickery.

[ Rear Dash ] + [ Focused Shot ]

Once again, he placed an arrow to his bow and pulled the bowstring. But this time, he didn’t let it go and aimed it after dashing backward. He didn’t waste any time either, he is not about to let this knight finish his attack.

"Surely after gathering that overwhelming amount of momentum, you won’t be able to do shit–!"

He released the arrow from his fingertips and let it fly towards the knight’s only weakness, the gap between the armor.

[ 𝗟𝗨𝗖𝗞𝗬! ]

A pop-up interface appeared inside of his mind and smiled just at the words alone. His eyes shined brightly as he watched the knight attempt to deflect it by swinging his sword downward, but the arrow was too fast and he was too late to stop it.

Hell yeah-!

The arrow went through the shoulder plate armor’s gap and pierced through the knight’s left shoulder "...Urgh–!" He can feel his bone touching the metallic tip of the arrow that was shot at him.

His left shoulder felt weak, but it was burning like hell. His blood boiling from the pain, his pain receptors going haywire. He couldn’t handle the pain, he screamed.

"URGRHAAA!!" The knight held his shoulder and immediately ripped out the arrow. He painfully grunted and pressed his shoulder to put some pressure on it to stop the bleeding.

Unexpectedly, it did not remove or cut the strap that held the armor together. It only pierced his shoulder.

Tsk– that message deceived me.

Cliff’s eyes lit up and quickly went into cautious mode. The signs were there, there just wasn’t enough evidence to back it up. The usage of that sparking slash, the rough grapple techniques, and the most obvious one is the knowledge of arrows.

You do not take an arrow out, it’ll only make it worse unless you have anything to patch it up.

But in this case, he doesn’t have time to bandage himself up. If he did, he’d have to remove the heavy ass armor that he is currently wearing and that would leave him unguarded and open to being killed. This reckless behavior revealed his identity...

A mercenary.

Mercenaries are like adventurers, but illegal. They do not have a license to enter any dungeons and are most likely a criminal trying to earn a living by doing suspicious missions, such as bounty hunting, assassinations, and trafficking.

They are the scum of the world, no matter which kingdom they’re from. In this world, the only way to defeat a mercenary is... to kill them so that they’ll stay down permanently. Mercenaries have tendencies to hold a grudge against an enemy for a long period and will do anything to earn their ego and pride back. So, it is better to kill them.

So, can I? Will I even be able to kill him? The thought of killing a person is nauseating. I’m from the modern world, for Christ’s sake...

His sweat dropped on the ground. Cliff is unbelievably sweating at this current moment, his feet slightly trembling as he hesitantly decides whether to do it or not.

[ New Mission! ]

Huh?

[ Quest: Survive

Survive for ten minutes straight while protecting the princess of the central kingdom. Killing is optional. Wait until your allies arrive and help.

Reward: Increase level to level 20, and a new active skill is unlocked.

Punishment for failing: Death. ]

Huh...

So, I just gotta hold out for ten minutes... killing isn’t mandatory, I can just wait for the others to do it for me.

Yeah, that’s it!

There is no need to kill. He just has to wither him down until he cannot fight anymore.

Are you sure that you wanna continue like that? Check your fatigue or exhaustion meter.

A familiar voice– no, it was him. Despite hating his voice, he obeyed his command.

[ Exhaustion %: 50% ]

His eyes widened. It’s only been a few minutes since the fight began, yet it already reached the fifty percent mark on the exhaustion meter. This isn’t good, this is bad. Holding out for ten minutes isn’t ideal in this condition, he has to...

No no, he just has to knock him down.

I wonder how~? You don’t have enough strength to end a fight with a knockout punch.

I’M THINKING, OKAY?

He looked back at the battlefield and found himself facing the knight, holding the sword with both hands and unleashing a downward strike.

[ Side Dash ]

To the side, he dashed to avoid the downward strike. But the force behind the attack summoned a strong gust of wind that blew the archer back, not only that, it also blew other items in the sky.

"Shit–!"

Strong and fast, this knight wouldn’t give him the time to decide which one he’d have to do. This man is out to kill him, no matter how young he is, this is a skilled mercenary with no morals.

It irritated Cliff.

It irritated him that he was forced to do something he didn’t want to do. The escort mission, acting like a different person, and now... he has to kill a living being. It felt like he was being controlled, like a puppet.

The system may have given him the option to wait until his friends arrive, but he’ll be dead without even reaching the five-minute mark. It’s the illusion of choice, this system... is changing him.

"..."

What would you do now?