The Unbreakable Bow

Should I help?

Is a question that Aefrine wouldn't normally ask, but in a competition, he had to at least think about it...

He was tailing the chase and observing the two. Çetin had told him that they would take any advantage and he should do the same, but he doesn't want to have a memory of a raider dying on his test with him.

Maybe I should just trip the beast?

Moreno wasn't struggling. He looked pretty fine for someone who is chased by a dinosaur. Yet, Aefrine thinking that he could gain the strong guy's trust, prepared his bow. He wasn't sure what to hit, though.

Moreno would get tired soon since he had been using phys magic a lot, so aiming for the monster's legs would fit. However, as Aefrine was still thinking that this might backfire in a certain way, Moreno made his move.

He jumped very high just like Rudolf and landed on a tree branch, and when the dinosaur went after him, he attacked. Using his left fist, he punched the nose of the beast hard. A small bang could be heard before the impact. It was a small shockwave that made the impact even stronger .The monster felt to the ground, and the youth didn't waste time. He landed another fist on the beast's head . Using his right arm, the area where he striked froze a bit like it had just put in ice for a long time. He continued hitting its head, ice appearing when he used his right and vapour appearing when he used his left. It wasn't long before the animal had felt some brain damage and moved desperately, running away from his prey.

Wow, that was just like Rudolf temperature magic. But it is from his gauntlets, or is that simply his natural magic? Or maybe- HE SAW ME

There was an awkward moment where the boys looked at each other in silence before Moreno got back to running. Aefrine quickly followed after him.

Damn, now I look like I was just watching him and acting like I didn't care! Guess I should forget the whole trust thing now!

Now, behind a strong competitor and probably not a friendly one , Aefrine didn't feel safe . He followed and made some turns to the left to keep a safe distance. He didn't want to go straight behind him. It wasn't long before he was out of sight, however.

Maybe this is better ... Is there anything I could do to increase my speed? Arr!

A couple of small, colourful, feathered dinosaurs flew in front of him. They didn't harm him, but it was a reminder for Aefrine that he was in the wild.

OK, I am not landing any time soon.

He noticed a small body of water and a strim that came from the north. He was getting close.

I am not sure if I can keep up with Merino. And I can't see Sophia. Maybe she is above me?

He looked up in a fast manner as if he would dramatically find her in the air following. He didn't.

I am wasting too much time. I need to just arrive there . Maybe if I increase my arrow length, it could make faster ? But I would be too close to the ground... Oh, is that it?

He finally saw a huge puddle of water. Its bottom could be seen easily . He quickly climbed a tree and hid between its gigantic leaves. The waterfall was there. It was very wide. He opened his parchment and read :

"Through shadows deep, where waters creep,

A chamber hides in silent sleep.

Look for the jewels that shimmer high,

Where dampened stone meets vaulted sky"

And looked at the other person who was present. It wasn't Moreno but Sophia. She was still floating in the air, like gravity simply didn't work on her. It was something very miraculous for him. That wasn't the only thing unique about her. There were tiny groups of water that were floating slowly near the waterfall.

Sophia was moving her staff slowly as if her movements were aligned with the floating water. These groups of water were shaped in some way, but Aefrine couldn't see anything because he was too far. He didn't want to interfere with what she was doing, and he was also wondering where Moreno was.

He should be here by now... there is no way I arrived before... Maybe he is hiding like me ! Oh , hello there .

A tiny fish made completely out of water was approaching slowly. It had a frog-like head, and it was looking around in a very 'patrolling' manner. He tired hiding behind some leaves. The fish stopped in its place. A few moments later, Sophia had turned behind her and looked directly at Aefrine's location. The fish fell to the ground like life had left it, and it was once again just water.

And by raising her staff, two big chunks of water from the puddle below her floated and took a form of two big fish . They both had sharp tails as well as a long sharp nose, a sword if you will . And once formed, they accelerated at a huge speed towards the jungle man.

Luckily, there was a long distance between them, so Aefrine did have time to jump out of the way. The swordfish were back at his back . Aefrine used his strings to get out of the way. This time, the fish were too close for Aefrine's liking. These fish would make anyone whom Aefrine had faced before look like normal human beings. But there is something else on Aefrine's mind.

Are these spirits ? I mean, there isn't any other type of magic that would make this happen other than soul magic? And I am pretty sure I saw them in Alma's book. There are swordfish. Fish which have swords. But why are they made out of water ? Is it easier that way? Are water spirits stronger than normal ones ? I need to ask her ! But maybe after I finish...

As he was overthinking about his enemy, the fish was back, just as Aefrine landed on the lower branch. This time, he prepared his shield. These fish were too fast to be dodged. However, both of them died. Just like the small one, live seemed to leave their wet bodies, and they returned to their original form: two big chunks of water that fell to the ground immediately.

Aefrine turned his attention back to the paddle where a second had occurred. Moreno had appeared from the bushes and charged at Sophia, who tried to fly away and summoned another chunks of water. This time, it turned to a sea turtle . Moreno jumped high and tried to strike her, but the turtle blocked his fist. Moreno fell to the ground and the turtle despite its back having frostbite, retransformed into a swordfish. He quickly attacked Moreno while Sophia made a head start into the waterfall .

The boy dodged it barely. The sword slashed through some of his arm's flesh. After that, he ran after Sophia, who summoned another swordfish. He got out of way this time untouched . Moreno, knowing the other fish was probably about to attack , lifted a huge flat rock that was underneath the water and threw it at the water spirit. Upon impact, the spirit lost its form and disappeared. The boy prepared another rock. However, the swordfish disintegrated.

He turned to throw it at Sophia, but he didn't find it here anywhere. He only found Aefrine running towards the waterfall. Aefrine knew where Sophia was. She had entered the waterfall.

There must be something in there .

A rock came flying at him . He used phys magic to jump above it and shot an arrow to where Sophia entered. Moreno, seeing this jumped to that location . When they both entered , there was a small glowing cave inside, but they didn't have enough time to look around because of two tiny fish spirits . These weren't the same cute patrolling fish. The moment they entered, the fish exploded in their faces. Both tried to cover their faces . Ice spikes cut through Aefrine's skin. And the shockwave pushed them both off the cliff. While Moreno fell to the ground, maybe a bit too hard, Aefrine, thanks to his arrow that was still attached to the wall , hanging on to his string. After taking off all the frozen thorns from his arms , he started to climb back to the cave.

As he entered , he saw Sophia trying to pick off the cylinder that was stuck in the stone roof. The cylinder glowed and emitted the sound of a grumpy man saying :

Item....Item...Item...

There were three cylinders on the roof. And she had a squid spirit that helped her go pick the item. Aefrine realised she was struggling, so he thought that this was his chance, but to his displeasure, the item finally was picked off. She quickly changed her squid into a swordfish and attacked.

The cave passage was small, Aefrine had no option but to block it with his shield. Using his shield's ability, he managed to slow down the attack, which made the sword barely cut through it. With the spirit's insane speed, it was reasonable that the shield couldn't block such attack.

The fish didn't stop through. It continued going forward and taked Aefrine off his feet and forced him out of the cave. He was mid-air, floating as the spirit didn't stop until it did. Aefrine fell to the ground, tired to shoot a relief arrow so he wouldn't hit the ground. He was successful and pulled himself upwards using his phys magic to pull himself faster despite the heavy water pushing downwards.

Sophia came out of the cave with two new chunks of water from the waterfall. She summoned with them a new swordfish and a squid. Aefrine anxiously prepared his shield. However, Sophia didn't use them for attack. Rather, the squid holded on to the swordfish and Sophia . And the swordfish took them away, leaving at a huge speed.

She can do that?

Moreno, who was busy climbing up the wet wall since he couldn't jump high enough, went immediately after her. Aefrine, on the other hand, went back to the cave. He entered and found the other two items. The roof was a bit too high to reach, so he shot two arrows that were attached to the item and pulled it with all his strength. It was easily picked off.

I thought it would be much harder...

Maybe Sophia isn't that strong...

Who needs strength when you got those stupid fish.

He quickly jumped out, used an arrow to land softly on the ground, and started running. Sophia might have arrived already. Hopefully, Moreno might have catched up to her, and now they are fighting. Back at swinging through the branches, Aefrine was still thinking of a way to increase his speed .

Suddenly, an explosion destroyed the branch that Aefrine was hanging on to. The dinosaur was back. Aefrine hastily reacted and pulled himself to a different branch, avoiding falling to the jaws of the beast. He tried to go as high as he could, but the animal shot another blast at him. He dodged it, but it did hit the tree, so the branch did fall.

How can I defeat this thing? It's not like I can simply punch it like Moreno...all I have is my bow and my-..wait, I have my bow.

He confronted the beast and attacked with three arrows directed straight to its head . As the arrows landed on their target, for a moment, the dinosaur fell to the ground so dramatically it looked dead. However, a few moments later, it started to regain consciousness. Aefrine didn't wait to see the results . By the time the monster was back on its feet, Aefrine was far away.

I forgot how much powerful my arrows are ...

It wasn't long before he finally at the starting point. Moreno jumped on him just as he landed. Aefrine hastily blocked using his shield, but the impact pushed him to a tree. Moreno stopped, though, as Fillo told him that it was over. Moreno left Aefrine as he was. Aefrine thought that he would help him up. He got up by himself . There was a table where one cylinder was placed . Aefrine placed his on the table neck to it.

"Well done, everyone, you. You have finished the first task. Unfortunately, we can't tell anything about the results, so you would need to evaluate yourselves. Now, be ready for the next task. Follow us."

As they walked southwards, Aefrine could feel some tension . Moreno felt as grumpy as Almo . That must mean that he lost to Sophia. After all, he was the only one who didn't bring the item. He probably got the worst score now. Luckily, the next round was about teamwork, so he wouldn't need to feel his wraith directly.

He also noticed that Sophia,when she isn't flying, walks using her staff while holding her bucket of water. He didn't know why he didn't notice it earlier. Her walking seemed a little bit odd, for that matter.

Is that why she flies ? Because she can't walk properly? Maybe that is why isn't that strong... and that is why she has those spirits to help her instead?

"Here will be your second task."

Ah?

They arrived at a cavern not too far away from the shore . It was dark inside, so it wasn't clear how much deep it went. But it was definitely very vast .

Three T.rexes could live inside this cave...

"The second task is about teamwork. You will need to work together as a guild in order to defeat your enemy inside. "

"And who will be our enemy?" Asked Moreno in a challenging manner.

"No other than me."

Responded Fillo with a smirk on his face.