[Author's Note: For bonus chapters, the goal every week is:
- 25 Power Stones
- 50 Power Stones]
Volume 2 Chapter 23: Chemistry
Emerging from behind a tree, Daniel revealed himself from his hiding place, catching Pepper off guard with his sudden appearance.
Seizing the opportunity presented by her surprise, Daniel swiftly directed the ten arrows beside him to soar towards Pepper, who remained visibly stunned.
He proceeded to load the amplified arrow into the bow he had crafted moments before and swiftly aimed it at Pepper, releasing the arrow toward her direction.
Pepper, who initially appeared shocked, suddenly smirked at Daniel just as the arrows were a few meters away from her.
The unexpected smirk sent a chill down Daniel's spine, yet he chose to disregard it, confident that whatever plan Pepper had in mind would ultimately fail.
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Since she can't simply ignore the ten arrows, even if they are not amplified, the quantity of the arrows will still compensate for the damage. Thus, Pepper cannot simply ignore those arrows, especially with a single amplified arrow behind the ten arrows.
Pepper can't simply block all the ten arrows simultaneously, and she doesn't have enough time to create a substantial shield to take cover behind. Despite these circumstances, Daniel still had a feeling that something was amiss, especially coupled with Pepper's sudden smirk.
When the arrows were 2 to 3 feet away from hitting Pepper, suddenly, the red-colored steam surrounding her liquefied and transformed into hovering blobs of blood. As one of Daniel's arrows neared one of these blood blobs, it moved under Pepper's control, positioning itself in front of the incoming arrow, morphing into a small, singular round shield.
This occurred with the other nine arrows, although not all were stopped by a single shield. However, the power and speed of each arrow were reduced, requiring only one more round of interception to completely halt them.
Seeing this Daniel can't help but shout.
Daniel: "What?! how?!"
Daniel's reaction was understandable, given the rarity of knowledge about manipulating matter in such a manner. This understanding is typically limited to select professions, including blacksmiths, alchemists, and a few highly skilled mages.
Daniel is only familiar with the fundamental principles, such as the transformation of a solid into a liquid when heated and vice versa, like how a liquid substance freezes into a solid form, such as ice.
However, Daniel was unaware that by further heating a liquid substance, it eventually evaporates and transforms into a gas, like steam. He was also unaware that steam could be condensed back into a liquid form.
Ultimately, all ten of Daniel's fired arrows were either destroyed or stopped. However, the 11th arrow proved different; despite encountering several small shields attempting to block its path, it effortlessly tore through each one as if they were mere sheets of paper, maintaining its speed and power without any loss.
Caught off guard by the unexpectedly heightened power of the 11th arrow, Pepper swiftly positioned the round shield strapped to her wrist in its path for defense. Simultaneously, she concentrated all the available mana she have, pouring it into amplifying the shield. Additionally, she ceased controlling the orbiting blobs of blood that surrounded her like planets, for more mana.
As Pepper ceased supplying mana to the blood blobs, they began descending to the ground, forming several puddles of blood around her. Gradually, these puddles started slowly dissipating.
Then why did the blood steam didn't dissipate?
The steam produced from the blood arrows evaporating upon collision with the fire arrow didn't dissipate because Eve and Pepper continued supplying mana to the red steam. However, despite their sustained mana supply, the steam would still gradually dissipate over time.
As the arrows approached Pepper and collided with the round shield, a sudden shift occurred akin to Moses parting the sea. Behind Pepper, resembling a river in motion, a multitude of arrows flew toward her direction. Yet, when they drew near Pepper, the blood arrows in flight abruptly parted, veering off in two directions—left and right—continuing their trajectory towards Daniel.
Daniel was slow to react, his shock lingering as he witnessed the red steam condense back into liquid blood once more.
Only as the river of arrows split and headed in his direction did Daniel finally notice. He immediately ceased controlling the last remaining arrow, swiftly turned around, and began running before transforming into a bat.
Without any hesitation, he flapped both of his wings as rapidly as possible, taking flight in an attempt to put more distance between himself and the onslaught of numerous arrows.
However, the arrows began homing in on his direction. From Daniel's perspective, the scene was tense, yet if observed from a few meters away, it would resemble a cartoonish chase between characters.
Coincidentally, someone who had a vantage point far enough to witness this comical scene was Tria, comfortably seated on a couch while leisurely sipping on a glass of red juice.
To comprehend the events leading up to this moment, let's rewind to before Pepper expressed her dissatisfaction with Daniel's sudden disappearance.
Carmilla, despite searching around for a few minutes and finding no sign of Daniel, began to sense that his absence might extend for a while longer.
Carmilla utilizes the function of the [Clone] skill, which forms a connection among them. Through this link, they can not only sense each other's presence and location but also communicate with each other telepathically.
Carmilla: "Eve and Pepper, can you two hear me?"
Eve: "Yes."
Pepper: "Yep, loud and clear."
Carmilla: "Good. Let's discuss how to lure Daniel out from wherever he's currently hiding and encourage him to come out voluntarily."
Pepper: "But, Master, is that even possible?"
Carmilla: "I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that if we let this situation linger, we might face defeat. I don't want to waste all this time just to end up losing in the end."
Eve: "What do we do, Master?"
Carmilla: "Firstly, Pepper, you'll need to portray irritation with the current situation."
Pepper: "Then what's next, Master?"
Carmilla: "Then you will transform the bow you are holding into a sword and shield layout, just in case Daniel is currently watching us."
Pepper: "Master, why am I getting a very bad feeling about this plan? Am I the one who will act as bait to lure out Daniel?"
Carmilla: "Yes."
Carmilla: "Clap, clap, clap, alright this will go with the current situation where I can't clap physically, Congratulations, you guessed it right. Do you have an opinion? If so, we could consider another plan that might work, but that seems like a waste. I think this plan has the highest success rate among the other plans we can think of."