I couldn't help but to swear very bad words as I saw thousands of acid drops fell towards me. When I first saw what that snake was trying to do, I was sure that I couldn't dodge it. It covered too wide of an area for my stats. While my stats increased, I was still around mid C rank in terms of stats. Only reason I was able to fight against strong opponents was because I could read their movements with my sights. I may be able to do same thing here by reading the trajectory of drops but for current me it was impossible. When I fought against a humanoid being what I needed to pay attention? Arms and legs. As long as I dodged their arms and legs I would be fine. That was just 4 things. Compering thousands of drops to reading and reacting to an enemy was absurd. I raised my arm, covering my face. If damage was unavoidable then making sure that I minimized the damage as much as possible was what I needed to do right now.
"Mana Wave!"
A man wearing blue armor rushed towards me and swung his sword in a wide arc. Blue mana covered around us. But it wasn't enough to block all of the acid rain. Man blocked them for me with his body. A bad smell made my stomach turn. Acid ate away his armor, burning his body.
"George!"
Knight I fought before defended me. I couldn't even laugh.
"Shut up kid! Can you see it? Can you kill it?"
His voice was filled with agony. Yet he was focused on mission. Who I was to not focus on like him when I could still fight!
"Yeah!"
I didn't hesitate.
"Cover for him! Magicians, create barriers! Close quarters, carry wounded out of here! Healers, you are with them! Sharpshooters, follow his attack! Come on!"
Jonathan's voice was loud. He still had his cool. He ordered without missing a beat. While magicians created barriers, not all of them stood against acid well. People screamed and trashed around as their bodies melted. Smell was horrible. Even with mask and battlefield experience, I felt like throwing up. Some of the hunters must felt like me since I heard and saw people throwing up. I gritted my teeth and didn't join them. If I unclenched my jaws a little, I was sure I would join them. So I clenched them as hard as possible.
"Hawkeye, come on!"
I pulled a special arrow from my quiver. An arrow I didn't think I would have to use. Even in darkness and chaos around us, it gave a scarlet shimmer.
"Super Destructive Blood Arrow!"
Elizabeth danced while raising arrow above her head.
"That's a horrible name."
Elizabeth put her hand to her chest as if she is offended.
"Your face is horrible."
That was uncalled for but I didn't said anything. I also had doubts of naming an arrow. A bow yes but an arrow?
"You finally made something gud! I was starting to lose my faith!"
She hopped around meanwhile, I was sitting on a chair covered in sweat.
"I have no idea how I did it."
Elizabeth looked at me with wide eyes.
"Of course you do. You just don't know how to put it to words."
"I really don't know. I am starting to think it is based on luck."
Elizabeth put her hands to her hip in a bossy manner.
"How do you breathe?"
"Uhhh, you take air from your nose?"
She narrowed her eyes.
"How?"
I thought a little before answering. I felt like I knew the answer. Of course I knew, it was a soemthing I did every second. Yet, it didn't came out.
"I don't know."
"See? You know how to breathe. But it is so basic and primordial that you don't know how to talk about it. Think your abilities as breathing."
That didn't helped me at all but I picked up another arrow to work on it. My skill was just reinforcement and not creation. I picked a vial which contained my blood. It was still fresh. I slowly poured it and covered the arrow. It wasn't a huge amount. I just couldn't cover a weapon with liters of blood and hope for best. I had to focus. Focus on transforming it to a better version of itself.
"My blood is mana and my mana is blood."
I murmered the phrase Elizabeth thought me. It wasn't a magical chant or anything. Just a way to focus myself. I imagined this arrow piercing the head of Wolfgang, the werewolf who took my eye and friends. I focused on that image. I spent minutes just focusing that image. When I opened my eye, I was out of breath despite not doing any physical activity. Blood I poured on the arrow was gone, absorbed to it. It had a red tingle to it. I put it next to "Super Destructive Blood Arrow". The difference was obvious. SDBA was longer and thinner. It was fully red and shone a light. Other one just had a sight red tingle. It's length and thickness didn't change from its original form.
"Same arrow, same amount of blood but different image."
I pulled string of my bow. I poured what little amount of mana I could pour to it. It shone even brighter. It was almost like it caught fire. Elizabeth called this Resonance. My blood in the arrow resonated with my mana and arrow got stronger. Resonance could only happen with weapons that been reinforced properly and only with their creator. Only two weapons I had qualified: My sword and this arrow.
"Holy shit!"
I heard some shocked gasps. Red mana resembling flames covered my bow and arrow.
"Focus! It will do that attack again!"
Even I tried over and over again, only time I was able to create an arrow this good was that time. I was never able to repeat it even with other weapons. I only made them sharper and durable. This didn't qualify as proper blood reinforcement. Only if I was able to give them skills they didn't had it before it did qualify. This arrow had one skill.