This was a bow that belonged to the dark gold rank. Raven's claw was Abel's very first dark gold quality weapon. He didn't know whether it belonged to Kashya or Blood Raven before, but it was his now.
But before that, "agility required: 19"?. Abel blinked for a bit. Was he not good enough to use the Raven's claw?
Abel clenched Raven's claw with his hands. Oddly enough, because of how cold his hands were and how comfortably the grip felt, this longbow felt very suitable for him. Actually, that's probably how dark gold weapons were.
Abel slowly examined the Raven's claw. There were old runes written all over its red surface. These runes were written in dark golden lines, which together formed a unique pattern.
As for the bowstring, it was made of a fiber that belonged to an unknown animal. It had a very rough texture, which made it a lot easier to get a firm pull of the bow.
Abel took out an iron arrow from his kong kong spiritual beast bag. He had originally planned to use it on the Harry Bow. Even the tip of this arrow was made the best iron he could forge.
As Abel placed the arrow on Raven's claw, he stretched out the bowstring as hard as he could. After a soft crackling sound, Raven's claw was finally used after many, many years.
Abel suddenly felt his body becoming a lot heavier than it should be. It was like something was holding him still. He had lost the ability to move as soon as he stretched out the bowstring.
Was this the consequence of him not having enough agility points? As the arrow was still on the bow, its tip was already starting to glow in red. The longer Abel held still, the more this glow began to extend towards his finger. Abel could feel his fingers being roasted like a barbeque, so he quickly released the bow before it was too late.
Boom.
After flying for about one hundred meters, the arrow exploded on top of an unnamed gravestone. Everything within a five-meter radius was covered by the subsequent fire.
So that was the ability the Raven's claw possessed. It's got a rank three fire explosive effect, which was very different from an ordinary explosion effect. Unlike a physical or chemical explosion, a explosive fire effect was caused by magic, which, combined with the physical damage of the arrow itself, could deal a tremendous amount of damage to its target. Not only that, since the range of explosion was up to five meters in radius, the bow could also be used against a multitude of enemies
Abel felt a lot lighter after he fired the arrow. Apparently, he would not be able to move if he was using Raven's claw without the required agility point. Thus, for the time being, using Raven's claw would be the same as firing a cannon station.
While thinking of how inconvenient that would be, Abel turned to look towards Black WInd. Since he was a knight, he might just be able to use the Raven's claw while riding on top of Black Wind.
Abel quickly jumped on Black Wind's back. After placing another arrow on Raven's claw, he called out towards Black Wind.
"Let's get out of this place, Black WInd!"
After hearing Abel's command, Black WInd hurried out from the Sister Burial Ground. Just like its master, it didn't like being here as well, which was why it was running so fast towards the Cold Plain. It was running so fast, actually, that the three skeletons fell behind. Luckily for Abel, he could just cancel his summoning and transport the skeletons in his Horadric Cube.
It didn't take much time to find another swarm of enemies. After returning the Cold Plain, Abel found a bunch of dark hunters that were very eager to cut his throat off. These corrupted warriors were all once rogues. After being defiled by the energy of the underworld, they had lost the ability to launch long-range attacks.
Abel called for Rib Bone no.1, 2, and 3. After summoning them, he commanded to stand in front of Black Wind. He took out the Raven's claw, and despite how red the arrow was turning, Black Wind did not slow down at all. In fact, Abel didn't feel the same pressure as when he was using the bow on the ground.
From what it looked like, Raven's claw was treating Abel and Black Wind as one whole being. Rather than a knight in full armor, it was a knight riding on top of his mount. For this reason, Black Wind's agility point was combined with Abel's, and while Abel wasn't sure what Black Wind's agility was, it was definitely faster the 19 points required to use the Raven's claw.
Boom.
As Abel fired an arrow towards the dark hunters, they started screaming. Flame burst out towards their body. They tried to wave the fire away with their hands, but all efforts were futile until the flame spell canceled on its own.
Those who weren't shot started charging towards Abel. In response to this, Abel fired a few more explosive shots. Rank three fire explosions weren't all that strong on its own, but when these dark hunters were about twenty meters away from Abel, about more than half of them had already fallen.
There wouldn't be any point in continuing this fight. As Abel cleared up the remaining foes with his "charged bolt" and sword of Victory, not one dark hunter was able to do anything to him until the very end.
And that's how powerful dark gold weapons were. While Raven's claw was a weapon designed for beginners, it could make fighting so much more effective.
Just now, Abel's found his optimal strategy to engage in combat. When the enemies were about one hundred meters away from him, he could launch a long-range attack at them with his Raven's claw. When they were about twenty to thirty meters away from him, he could deal with them with midrange spell attacks. For those who could survive the two initial waves, he would use the sword of Victory to suck out all the mana that they had.
As it was getting dark, Abel stopped moving any further. Before, he would only meditate and rest when he was inside the Rogue's Encampment. However, after he's received the standard, intermediate defense circle from Bernie, he could pretty much protect himself anywhere he wanted.
After entering a house that was made of stone, Abel drew a hexagram around its edges. The house was in the middle of the hexagram, and for each one of the six corners, he would place four cards to set up the circle.
Since Abel wasn't quite familiar with setting up magic circles, he had to draw the hexagram first before activation. The requirements for setting up circle cards were extremely strict. If there was a tiny error in the orientation of one of the cards, the activation would not have worked at all. Obviously, once Abel became more familiar with the standard, intermediate defense circle, he could just set up the circle after skipping the part where he had to draw a whole hexagram.
After placing the circle board in the center of the stone house, Abel placed an intermediate gemstone on top of it and began the activation process. While doing so, a semicircular barrier emerged around the house.
So the circle was set up. It was now time to set up the circle for the meditation session. As Abel took The next morning, Abel promptly proceeded his journey after packing up. He didn't even need to have breakfast since he could just feed himself with some ration potion he had (same for Black Wind). With meal not being a problem, the majority of his day would be spent fighting. Apart from fighting, he just did meditation and some occasional breaks in between.
After less than two hours of his departure, Abel discovered a huge army of dark hunters and corrupt spearwomen. In the center of their formation, there was a corrupt spearwoman in full golden armor. As soon as Abel discovered her, she too began to notice him.
Suddenly, the golden-armored spearwoman let out a sharp shriek, and all her subordinates began to rush towards Abel frantically. She must be the mini-boss here.
Abel quickly fired a few fire explosive shots with his Raven's claw. Despite how devastating his arrows were, the dark hunters and corrupt spearwomen were not slowing down on him. They had no fear of being blown up to pieces, nor with having their bodies burnt up while their consciousness remained intact.
The golden-armored spearwoman was very smart. While constantly switching up her position, she tried to use the other soldiers as her meatshield before releasing an unguardable attack at Abel.
From one hundred to thirty meters away from Abel, about one hundred corpses were lying on the ground. Because of how cramped the area was, Raven's claw couldn't be used to its full potential.
Finally, when these fallen soldiers were within a thirty-meter range away from Abel, Abel withdrew his Raven's claw, then switched to his standard knight's gear. With one shield in his left and one sword in his right, he continued to release "charged bolts" from the tip of his blade.