Ryu dodged an arrow that came from behind.

He immediately looked back in the direction from which the arrow came, but the archer was nowhere to be seen.

He activated his Divine Eye to check the distance, but there was no one in that direction.

He used his Divine Eye to check Bat's location, but Bat seemed to be still in the same place and hadn't moved.

He had deliberately chosen to walk along the road, expecting some kind of action from Bat. He could sense a clear hostility, so he thought there had to be something, but if not, he intended to approach Bat and confront him. However, he couldn't just attack based on "hostility" alone. He wanted to retaliate after being attacked.

But the previous arrow had come from a different direction than where Bat was. Was there another attacker? But no matter how much he searched with his Divine Eye, he couldn't find anyone.

Just then, a second wave of arrows came flying. They were from a different direction than the previous arrow. Then a third wave. This one also came from a different direction.

Was Bat using teleportation to move and attack? He thought for a moment, but Bat's position hadn't changed. Moreover, he had noticed during the third shot that the arrows weren't following a ballistic trajectory. They were flying low and curving.

Ryu: "Guided missiles...?"

Ryu recalled the cruise missiles from Earth. He was intrigued, thinking, "So this is the power of an S-Rank."

Understanding the situation, Ryu used teleportation to move behind Bat. It didn't matter if they were a few kilometers apart. To Ryu, it was nothing.

Bat was completely off guard.

But, being an S-Rank, he was undoubtedly skilled. The moment he sensed Ryu's approach, he turned around and fired an arrow. Six arrows at the same time. It was incomprehensible to Ryu, a feat of incredible skill.

Bat continued firing countless arrows as he fled. The speed of his consecutive shots was like a machine gun, a divine skill.

And, his escape speed was astonishingly fast. He must have possessed a [High-Speed Movement] skill. He was creating a barrage of arrows while disappearing into the distance.

High-speed consecutive shots and high-speed escape – these were the combat tactics and techniques devised by Bat, who was not adept at close-range combat.

Ryu decided to store all the incoming arrows in subspace. Since they were targeting him, he just had to open a subspace portal in front of him, and the arrows would automatically go in. He left the arrows that missed him alone.

But the arrows that seemed to have missed, turned around and attacked him from behind.

However, of course, he had anticipated those attacks as well, and stored them all.

He thought he might as well keep storing them and wait for the arrows to run out, but no matter how long he waited, Bat's arrows never stopped.

He glanced down and saw the arrows that had strayed and fallen to the ground disappearing after a certain amount of time. It seemed they were not physical arrows but made of magic.

In other words, the arrows wouldn't run out until the magic wore off.

Bat continued to run further and further away. No matter how far he ran, Ryu could catch him, but... then Ryu thought of a slightly cruel trick.

Ryu raised his hand, and the bow that Bat was holding was enveloped in a magic circle and moved into Ryu's hand.

Bat: "Wh-!"

Bat had been deprived of his greatest weapon, his bow.

He couldn't understand what had happened at first. But when he looked, he saw the Magic Hawk Bow in Ryu's hand.

The Magic Hawk Bow was Bat's lifeblood. It was a memento of his comrades and an essential weapon for him to function as an S-Rank.

Bat: "You! Give it back!"

Bat stopped fleeing and ran towards Ryu at high speed. He drew his dagger and leaped at Ryu.

Although Bat was a top-tier archer, he wasn't very good at close-range combat with a sword. However, Bat was desperate to get his bow back.

Fortunately for Bat, his trump card had already been unleashed.

As he fired countless arrows, Bat had also shot arrows towards the sky.

This was the [Lofted] skill, which used arrows falling from extremely high altitudes to exploit the opponent's blind spots.

He could control the arrows already fired with the Cruise skill. He used this to guide the arrows toward Ryu's head, preventing Ryu from noticing them while attacking with his sword. No one, human or beast, had ever been able to defend against this attack. Even the dragon he had defeated had succumbed to this technique.

But...

Ryu, with his danger anticipation, could not be caught off guard.

Ryu, aware of the arrows coming from above, teleported the arrows onto Bat the moment they were about to hit him.

Small magic circles appeared above Ryu's head and above Bat's head. The arrow that entered the magic circle above Ryu's head instantly shot out from the magic circle above Bat's head.

The arrow struck Bat's shoulder, shattering the bone.

The arrows fired by Lofted possessed enormous destructive power due to their falling speed, but Ryu had rounded the arrowhead with a soft material and reduced the speed to avoid killing him. As a result, it was only a fracture.

Bat cried out in pain from the arrow wound and then collapsed, his body going limp. The arrow had been imbued with a paralysis effect.

Ryu left Bat alone, unable to move, and used [Appraisal] on the bow he had obtained.

He understood that the guided attack he had seen earlier was a power bestowed upon the bow. It was an interesting weapon. Would he get angry if he took it?

Ryu held the bow, pulling back the string, but he couldn't shoot because he didn't have any arrows. Even if he had arrows, he probably wouldn't be able to shoot them properly, as he had never used a bow.

Bat glared at Ryu, who was fiddling with his precious bow, as if he were his mortal enemy.

Despite the paralysis effect still lingering, Bat spoke.

Bat: "...Fake..."

Ryu: "?"

Bat: "Fa...ke...!"

Ryu had finished examining the bow, so as usual, he rewound Bat's body time. Bat was surprised by the sudden return of movement to his body, but he immediately lunged at Ryu.

Bat: "Give it back!"

Ryu dodged Bat's approach using teleportation.

Ryu: "This? Something important to you?"

Bat: "It's my life!"

Ryu: "I see. It's quite an interesting bow. I can't use it even if I have it, so I'll give it back to you."

Ryu said this and tossed the bow towards Bat.

Bat, surprised that the bow was so easily returned, was momentarily stunned. If he thought about it, the arrow wound he had received earlier had also healed. Ryu had probably healed him.

As Bat pondered Ryu's intentions, Ryu spoke.

Ryu: "Shall we start round two?"

To be continued...

---

Next time

A sitting, crying, S-Rank adventurer.

Don't miss it!