In the exchange of arrows and attacks that happened, Kia could already guess that the giant man before her was using the Rainbow Arrow Technique.
"This is a military technique used by archers at Dragon Spike. How could you know it?" Amidst dodging the arrows, Kia asked a question but received no response. The man seemed to attack almost in a robotic fashion.
"Is it not shameful for a military officer to be participating in filth like this?"
Sometimes one would shout at their opponent out of genuine curiosity, and other times it was to make them doubt themselves and reveal an opening. Many people, even the most evil demons, were still tied down by the norms of society. Even if they broke away from their sense of morality and embraced evil, it was still hard to shake off the shackles of the teachings of childhood – one's moral upbringing. However, this man was not shaken at all and he did not relent on his attacks.
'As far as I know, the archery technique has 7 forms, but he has only used two. I have to find an opening and end this in one blow.'
Facing an opponent adept at mid range to long range combat, Kia could not even get close. Even when she swung her chain and wire, they could not reach her opponent.
Of the Rainbow Arrow technique, the Red arrow was the fastest and also the most dangerous. The high speed produced even more friction which consequently produced even more heat causing the arrow to catch fire. For this reason, this arrow was named the Blazing Arrow.
The second arrow that the archer used against Kia was a Yellow arrow. This arrow was named the Morning Sun Arrow due to one unique feature noticeable only in the morning.
This arrow was actually invisible in the morning sun!
For this reason, it was relatively popular among Daylight Assassins. Although it was a specific arrow technique within the Rainbow Archery, many other forms and schools of archery also studied and mastered this arrow move. Not only was this arrow extremely lethal in the morning, but it was also still significantly powerful at night.
Dodging or parrying these two arrow moves was no problem for Kia, but the third arrow move managed to catch her off guard! Even with her calculations, she could only narrowly dodge an arrow aimed at her eye!
"What a close call? Who is this man? What is that arrow technique?"
Perhaps an arrow aimed at her extremities or her torso would not shake Kia, but who could risk an arrow through the eye socket? No matter how many body building techniques Kia mastered, she herself would never take that risk.
In a battle against an archer, speed was of the utmost importance. Specifically, it was important for a warrior to have fast reactions.
On one hand, in a battle at the Bone Forging Stage, experienced warriors could travel at the speed of sound. Nonetheless, this type of speed was limited under the normalization magic formation to a fraction of their original speed. After all, under the magic formation, the use of special internal energy was restricted, all one could rely on was the natural athleticism of their physical body.
On the other hand, taking the archers of a similar level into account even under the normalization magic formation, their arrows could travel at speeds well over 3000 km per hour which was more than twice the speed of sound! This also meant their arrows travelled about 800 meters every second! With such an attack speed, any warrior facing such an archer especially when their energy and power was limited was at a severe disadvantage.
So a split of a second was the difference between victory and defeat, life and death.
The moment Kia blinked even once against such an opponent, her opponent's attack would have moved by an incredible 200 meters!
Therefore, to respond to the attacks, Kia could not even blink as she wished otherwise she would not be able to react to the attacks with as minimal delay as possible.
"Kaching!"
The attack that came next was a cross attack. It was only with the moon bracelet and a horizontal spin that Kia was able to narrowly dodge one arrow and deflect the other. However what came next was an even more daunting attack.
From two arrows to 3 arrows coming from 3 different directions and aiming at the center mass at the exact same time!
This time, even though Kia was ready to catch one of the arrows when it reached, her fingers could not close around the arrow. Without warning, it was if the arrow had changed speed!
"Shit, I miscalculated!" Kia could only exclaim as the arrow hit her shoulder causing her to spin mid-air like a spinning top.
The arrow whose timing Kia had failed to calculate was the Journeyman Arrow. In the Archery technique, this arrow was third in line and left an orange trail that alternated between hot and cold. The unique feature of this arrow was that it could sometimes appear slow and sometimes appear fast thus messing with the opponent's reaction time.
After all, no matter how fast their body, a fighter's brain would still take time to translate visual information into voluntary or conscious motor commands. Once a wrench was thrown into this process, the warrior's actions and movements would be delayed.
Further, even though martial arts practice would have an influence on the brain's associative centers thus allowing a person to respond faster to events in the visual world, information flow between the visual and motor nerve pathways remained relatively constant regardless of the amount of practice.
Therefore, training one's reaction time was more akin to training one's attention rather than making the brain "faster." It all came down to "being in the zone!"
As she reeled from the attack, another 4 arrows reached her at the same time! From 4 to 5, and from 5 to 6! In each attack, the archer got faster and faster and the duration between each cross attack lessened. Kia could not even touch the ground as each attack sent her flying left and right, up and down.
"If this keeps going, I am ******! My internal clock has been entirely messed up!" Kia said to herself.
At this point, she knew that her best bet was to charge through and hope for the best. While in mid-air, she curled her body up like a ball. Each muscle was compressed then stretched taught, with the process repeating rapidly. When the arrows hit her in this position, they could not even budge her.
The moment her feet touched the ground, she was like a released spring, instantly, she broke through dozens of arrows hitting her head on like a tank rushing through enemy fire.
In an instant, she was already in front of the archer. "I got you!" Kia valiantly shouted as she threw a punch straight through the archer's bow which was used as a guard.
Seeing his body shatter and crumble, the man in the dark was quick to raise his arms and guard in front of his chest. However, this punch was like a released rocket! It could not be stopped nor could it be slowed.
"Kachak! Kabaaaang!" With a loud explosion that deafened the ears, the archer's crude sheet-like armor was broken!
Flying pieces of metal travelled through the air slicing through everything in their path carried along by a huge shockwave.
For the first time, Kia was finally able to see the man behind the armor.
It was no man at all!
What entered her eyes was a giant humanoid figure. Instead of skin, there was only rotten dark-grey flesh beneath the white cloth bindings.
The 'thing' had a bony figure with white pieces of bone sticking out at several parts of its body. Instead of eyes, it only had empty eye sockets with an eerie flame within them, the Green flames of Death. It was a reanimated corpse warrior from the Undead Marsh.
"No wonder he never even answered me when I spoke to him. This is no man at all! It is a reanimated corpse." Kia could not help but exclaim in pure horror when she came face to face with this undead creature. She finally understood why her words had sunk into the mud when she spoke to it.
"This creature has no mind, only instinct."
However, before Kia could even 'digest' her victory, her body suddenly gave her some warning.
This was a sudden sense of crisis.
'Why was my battle Instinct was triggered? Why didn't I sense anything with my perception?'
It was as if the sense of danger came from thin air. Then suddenly, a dart seemed to materialize right in front of her face! Then a second attack and a third!
"Salt and Fire Poison Dart!"
"Ghost Devouring Fishhook!"
"Snake Swallowing Spear!"
As the attacks sped toward her, darkness and a strange aura enveloped the surroundings.
The opponents hidden in the dark had already seen the 'generous' treatment that Kia had given the hyena brothers, so they went all out.
While she was frozen in place by the sheer speed of the attacks, the screams of countless ghosts tethered to the fishhook woke Kia up.
"Dodge!"
Kia's body instantly released a purple light as she dodged to the side.
"Swiiish!" The poison dart that had been aimed at her face missed.
"Ding!"
The ear-piercing sound of metal startled even Kia herself. She had been hit!
However, it was not her that was the most surprised. Instead, it was her opponents whose mouths were gaping wide open at the moment.
One attack missed and two hit their target yet there was no effect.
Why did the attacks do nothing? What happened!?
At that moment, the attackers' minds were in a mess.
The Snake Swallowing Spear, which was said to be able to break through all defenses, actually failed to penetrate Kia's body.
"You can withstand the spear with your body, but what about the thousand ghosts? Physical strength is useless in withstanding that soul tearing pain," one of the men in the dark spoke as if he had already predicted Kia's fate.
Since she had been hit with the Ghost Devouring Fishhook which had 1,000 angry ghosts tethered to it, Kia's soul would still be damaged, torn apart, and possibly devoured whole no matter how great her physical defense was.
"Blood Maiden!"
However, the attackers were bound to be disappointed tonight. Kia's entire body suddenly released a bright red light as she activated the [Blood Maiden] physical skill. It was as if the blood in her body was burning which released a suffocating pressure that enveloped the surroundings.
The endless brutal ghosts charged at Kia like a demonic army while continuously tearing at her body. However, the Blood Maiden skill caused Kia's blood to heat up and escape through her pores creating blood-red steam around her.
With the burning blood-red steam around her, the ghosts kept tearing and screeching but they could barely even get close to Kia's body. It was completely useless.
In addition to the Blood Maiden skill, a subtle purple light flashed through Kia's dark eyes. This was the [Violet Mansion] skill.
This technique was also part of Kia's physical martial arts as a practitioner of the Battle Emperor Art. However, unlike other techniques that only strengthened the body, the Violet Mansion skill was a body and soul dual technique. Practising it was like building invisible protective walls around one's body and soul.
With both skills activated, a demonic shade of red and purple surrounded Kia's body while her black hair was dancing wildly in the wind and rain!
New Terms
Di-Ran – Di means Waypoint while Ran means Pathway.
Author Note 1: The Blood Maiden skill and Violet Mansion skill are two of the six Lesser Heaven body strengthening skills that Kia has fully mastered while practicing the Battle Emperor Manual.
Author Note 2: The procession Kia faced passed through the Undead Marsh on their way to Milele. To some such as Flame Spirit Hand, this danger zone is the only home they have ever known. This group holds the title "The Beasts of Burden" within the Red Hawk organization.
Excerpt from Bonus Chapter 2 – Undead Marsh (Chapter 75 or 57): In the darkness, a firefly that was glowing with a grainy green landed on a skeletal hand; the hand's owner lay in the marsh, on wet soil. In the distance, there were flickering lights and the sounds of drums: du du du dudum, du du du dudum, du du du dudum.
The sound of an approaching procession.