The Unbreakable Bow

Even though Aefrine knew that he would be fighting a raider, he still felt surprised and concerned that they will be fighting Fillo.

"See you inside kids..."

And with that, Fillo entered the darkness.

"You will be fighting Fillo an A rank raider but don't worry. "

An A rank ??? So, it is like I am fighting Çetin?

"You will only need to take off his headband. He won't try to harm in a serious way but he will fight like a real enemy."

"You will also be protecting this doll. If Fillo gets out of the cave with the doll in his hand he wins. You need to keep the doll inside the cave while trying to take the headband. Understood?"

Explained Elmo, throwing them a doll with blond hair just like Clara.

"You have time to make up a plan for your teamwork. Tell us when you are ready."

They are backed away quickly and gathered together.

"So does anyone know what Fillo's abilities are ?"

Asked Moreno.

"No."

"No."

"Great, any ideas ? He is an A rank. This aren't no joke."

"Well, for me, I will just protect the doll with my spirits and you try to face him off. I will give you occasional help."

"You think one bucket of water is enough for you, I hardly doubt if there is any water inside."

"I will get some more. Think of a strategy while I get back."

She left the bucket and flew towards the shore.

"So, Alfine, any ideas?"

"It's Aefrine,...er no."

"I am not sure what that man uses as weapon but here is a idea. I try to fight and you back me up."

"How ?"

"I punch and you shot arrows. A good combo, right?"

"Well... I think I have a better idea."

"Oh really?"

"You fight him and when he less expects it , I shot a string that warps around his arm and try to demobilise him. And while he is confused, you take his headband."

"Well- OK fine, we will do that. Let's just hope he is a close range raider or else you will be the distraction. "

"Do you think there is something else in the cave ?"

"What no, they would have told us if so."

"But they said it is supposed to be like a real battle , so it would make sense if they made a surprise for us, right ?"

"They didn't say like a real battle. But you do have a point though..."

Damn, are Rudolf's words struck in my head ?

"But I guess we can't do anything about it. We will just have to adapt..."

"Yeah"

Sophia returned with a huge spirit this time. It was a huge fish with large teeth and a weird head.

"What the heck is that ?"

"A hammerhead shark."

"Oh"

"Oh"

They both didn't know what that means.

"So, do you have a plan ?"

"Yes. Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Ok, let's go ."

From the bucket, she summoned two squids and gave them the doll.

"Sophia wait!"

"What ?"

"I think have an idea."

They all arrived in front of the cave.

"So, are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Hey, Fillo, the kids are coming for you."

An echo of a wicked laugh could be heard from the darkness of the cave .

He seems too happy...

All of then entered the cave , slowly. Moreno was the first, followed by Aefrine and finally Sophia with her friends. They examined every tiny detail of the cave and approached step by step as if they were approaching a wild beast.

The cave seemed as endless as its darkness. Small drops of water was the only sound they could hear, however the echos made it impossible to locate the source. Aefrine,knowing that his bow would give away their location, was only armed with his axe and shield which now had a small hole. He feared that Fillo might even be behind them. Sophia whom spirits glowed, kept her friends away from her, so she wouldn't be a flying target . Meanwhile, Aefrine was about to warn Moreno about Fillo's possible hiding place, but he noticed that he was using phys magic on his ears and eyes.

You can use it like that? Let me try...

He tried to focus his magic on his eyes and ears. At first, he could feel the muscles around his eyesores tightening however it wasn't long before he felt pain from them.

"Ow..."

In that moment, the bright light appeared in front of them. A light so bright, it blinded Moreno. As Aefrine was recovering from his failed attempt at magic and Moreno whom his enhanced vision backfired on him rubbed his eyes, Sophia seemed to feel something coming .

"Watch out !!!"

As Aefrine opened his eyes, he could only hear someone getting slammed into the cave's wall, the cave shaking in the process. Fortunately, it wasn't a member of his team. He could see the hammerhead shark fighting the air. However, thanks to the shark emitting light, he could see eventually Fillo, who was armored from head to toe. The headband was around his forehead. It end was quite long for it reached the end of his neck. He was armed with two war hammers. Aefrine could already feel his head getting crushed by it.

He had a clear shot, so he summoned his bow and aimed. At that moment, the bright light returned. It was Fillo's armor. It glowed so bright that Aefrine got blinded again. He couldn't close his eyes in time.

"Aefrine, he is attacking-"

Aefrine without further questioning, prepared his shield and activated it. Yet, its knock back didn't stop the hammer from sending him behind Sophia.

"Be careful team !"

Yelled an alarmed Moreno.

Aefrine tried to use phys magic on his eyes thinking it could feel it like it heals wounds but it only made his pain bigger. After some time, he could finally see properly what was happening. Apparently, Moreno and the shark were teaming up on Fillo.

Why am I so useless???

Moreno was consistently assaulting the enemy with quick punch attacks trying to keep him occupied while also creating a room for the shark's attacks. They both were relying on quick indecisive combos to ware out their enemy.

After failing to target his head with heat and frost gauntlets, Moreno quickly found himself losing ground. Fillo blocked with his hammer and retaliated to his right arm. Now, with both arms out of way, Fillo attacked upwards with both hammers in a X shape attack, slamming his opponent to the wall.

However, he couldn't finish the job as the shark came swooping in. He dodged by jumping up . It didn't work well, as the shark turned up and made him stick to the wall. Fillo did block it with both hammers but he still felt the impact. In that moment, Aefrine shot his arrows, three to be precise.

Fillo was now all wrapped up in his strings or that what he thought. Fillo had raised his arms before the arrows arrived, making them just wrap around his chest. After landing on his feet , he jumped to squids. Aefrine prepared a new shot. But a hammer was thrown at him. It didn't reach through. It turned out that the two hammers were connected with chain. Aefrine jumped away in any case. Just as he got away, the hammer created a huge annoying sound. It did hurt Aefrine's ears but he could still move fine. He wasn't so sure if that would be the case if he stayed still. Fillo pulled back his hammer while passing Sophia like she wasn't there, and went straight for the squids that were suspiciously behind everyone.

However, as he reached out for the doll, the two squids shot a blobs of black muddy water from their becks aiming at his eyes.

"Argh, you dare use my own trick against me, bitch ?"

"Now, that wasn't very polite..."

Replied Sophia.

Moreno who was chasing Fillo didn't waste this opportunity. He tried to take the headband. Fillo, despite his blindness, did react by throwing his hammer at Moreno's general direction. It missed. However, Fillo did jump away. Moreno gave chase and managed to punch him three times in his abs, utilising his opponent's blindness.

Fillo tanked the hits but he got smashed into a big rock behind him. The shark was quick to catch up to the fight. Aefrine took aim, but he didn't shoot. He couldn't accidentally hit his team, plus he wanted to make surprise Fillo if he ever got away from the attack squad.

Fillo tried covering his head, while tanking Moreno's nonstop strikes. Everyone thought that this meant that Fillo was out of mana or at least will to fight. Moreno then back flipped in order to give the shark a sneak attack. However, Fillo hastily jumped away into the wall and jumped again high leading the shark to smash into solid rock.

Is he still blind or not ???

After that, he attacked from behind at full strength with both hammers and the shark exploded like if was a balloon of water. As he turned behind, two arrows quickly caught him.

Aefrine had shot two arrows which turned into strings aiming at both arms. Now, Fillo was now struck to the wall in a T pose. Moreno moved in fast, reaching out his arm to get the headband. The enemy however kicked him away with his loose leg. After that, he broke free by breaking the parts of the wall which the strings were attached to with his strength.

He is definitely stronger than Rudolf. The plan better work...

But now the shark is gone. I think we should just try overwhelm him at this point.

He shot five arrows aiming for the heart. Fillo dodged them but he didn't manage to evade Moreno's left punch which threw him back deep into the cave. Moreno quickly followed to finish him but this time Fillo hit both hammers into each other in Moreno's direction. That resulted in generating a huge sound wave that threw out of the cave.

"Aaahhhh!"

This isn't good...

"Well, hello there, aren't so useful without water I see."

Sophia ever since her shark died, was trying to find a new angle to shot some more black water in her enemy's eyes while keeping a good distance from them. However, now, she was targeted. Aefrine hastily shot an arrow that got attached to him. And pulled himself to Fillo and hit him with his axe. His helmet was hard enough that the axe didn't injure him but it still pushed him away.

Aefrine shot two arrows-strings and pulled himself again and striked at his head. However, Fillo stood his ground and gave Aefrine a stong back kick. It was so strong that a tooth dropped from his mouth while he got slammed into the wall.

Fillo then threw his hammer at the unexpecting squids, destroying one of them in the process. The other squid that was still holding onto the doll. It tired to run away and hit the enemy with mud but it was too late. Fillo smashed the spirit and took the doll running.

"No!"

"No!"

"I win! Hahaha haha"

Aefrine tried to catch up to Fillo but he was too fast. As the sun light touched Fillo's white armour, he realised something. It was clutching in his hand a plain rock. However before he could say anything about it, a big punch landed on his guts. At the same time, Aefrine who shot an arrow targeting his head, pulled himself quickly and snatched the headband from off his head in a moment.

"Congratulations, you have finished the second task!"

"Wait, what ? No, they didn't! They didn't have the doll with them!"

"Actually..."

They all turned to Sophia coming out of the cave.

"The doll was with me all along..."

"What ?! That is cheating!"

"Fillo, first tell me how on Adanya did you think that the rock was a doll?" Asked Elmo

"I thought it was a hard doll! Anyway they still failed, they only succeed because they tricked me ! That isn't what the test was about defeating me!"

"Actually the test was about team work which they were very good at. Tell me what was your plan ?"

"Aefrine said if I got somehow out of the cave I should wait there until Fillo arrives and attack him once he got out of the cave."

"And he said that I should put a rock in place of the doll, keep it safe from Fillo but once he takes it, I should leave him alone."

"Ohhh, trust me if I wasn't holding back, your plan wouldn't have even mattered Mr.smart boi."

"I guess so..."

Yeah, an A rank is probably stronger than this ?

"Great, now for the last and third task, come with me. "

They all were walking towards the shore. The only sound that could be heard other than the beautiful nature was Elmo and Fillo arguing about the latter's performance.

So, it is time for 1v1, right ? I don't suppose it will be too hard . I just need to overwhelm Sophia and outsmart Moreno...

They arrived at the beach. One side was covered by the vast ocean while the other was covered by a huge cliff and sand continued endlessly in both other directions.

"The third task will about your individual capabilities. Usually it would be like a tournament however due to your small number that it become a royal battle. "

"And what does that mean ?"

"It is all three against each other."

"Now take each one of you a headband. Then take a place far from each other, five meters at least. Your goal is be the last one with a headband. If you lose your headband, then you are eliminated and can't play anymore. Everything clear ?"

"Yes."

They got ready and waited for the signal. Aefrine prepared his bow looking on Moreno. He was his first target if he could eliminate him, it would be much easier to deal with. Moreno was apparently observing Sophia who was floating above the water. At that moment, Aefrine realised something horrific.

Why didn't I figure this out earlier?!

One of three clearly had a deadly advantage on this battle ground.

"1

2

3

Go!"