NOVEL NEXT Facing An Archer
Mark had a slightly disappointed look in his eyes as he walked up to Jien and carefully but firmly removed the book from his hands. "I'll be holding onto this. You are up." As he said this he took a slip of paper from his own pouch to use as a bookmark, knowing that Jien was rather overprotective of his books. He closed the book and tucked it into his belt pouch for safe keeping until the end of the night before pointing toward the training field where Olivia and Earl were waiting.
Earl seemed to have a slightly conflicted expression at the sight of Mark taking Jien's book. He was upset that Jien didn't seem to be taking the event seriously from what he was able to see but also had been satisfied with Jien's first match. As long as Jien was able to continue showing his skills and winning against the other children he felt that perhaps it would be okay. He just had to be sure that Jien would socialize after the sparring matches were over. He couldn't let his son ignore everyone and then end up the outcast of the group.
Jien stepped onto the training field opposite Lesley who had drawn his bow and an arrow from his quiver. He had a focused look with his brows pressed into a slight frown. He had seen what Jien did during his match with Rosalind. He understood that Jien could close distances quickly if he was allowed to. As an archer he couldn't allow such a thing to happen or he would be facing the same issue as Olivia.
Jien calmly drew his rapier but did not go into a sprinting stance. Though he had regained a good portion of his spent mana over time he had not recovered fully. Not to mention that his legs and feet still hurt from what he had done to win his previous match. He was facing an archer, if he played his cards right he felt that he should be able to win without as much physical and magical strain. He just needed to be careful about his actions while closing the distance.
Jien simply stood where he was, waiting for the declaration of the start of the match much like Barret had in his prior match. Gloria looked at both of the contenders calmly before raising her hand and without even counting down lowered it in one swift movement.
Lesley nocked his arrow quickly, the crow on his armor taking life once again, separating from the leather and flapping its wings to take to the sky where it circled overhead. Instantly Lesley adjusted his aim as if receiving a new perspective to assist with aim and loosed the arrow before grabbing another immediately.
His loosed arrow flew high, forming a beautiful ark before accelerating down directly for Jien's chest. Jien watched the arc carefully before calmly taking a step forward at a diagonal. His strategy for this match was to do his best to conserve his energy and allow time for his legs to heal to their fullest. His first match he had chosen to end quickly because he figured that Rosalind was a bad match up in many circumstances. She could obviously overpower him and likely if she knew he was going to resort to such speed could have won simply through preparation and vigilance. He did not take that victory for granted, nor would he take this one.
The arrows kept raining down on his exact location, always aiming for his chest. It appeared that he was only giving Olivia special treatment by aiming for her legs and feet but felt that for Jien the larger target was good enough. Each arrow flew beautifully, each ark through the air seemed like a perfect measurement and each arrow would have struck its target if Jien did not consistently step either to the side or at a diagonal.
This was not magic, Jien was just paying attention to when Lesley was drawing back his bow, when an arrow was loosed and the general arc of the arrows that were visible against the backdrop of the blue sky. After the first few arrows Jien was getting used to the general timing of each shot, though he didn't lower his guard as he continued on his way, a trail of arrows showing his almost straight path to his opponent.
Lesley saw that his shots were being sidestepped and couldn't help but feel frustrated. What was it with close range fighters and being able to dodge his arrows, not to mention that this time his opponent wasn't even dodging wildly like Olivia had but simply sidestepping. That being said, not everything was lost just because of this.
When Jien had covered half the distance between them while walking as if having a casual stroll things took a turn. This time rather than attempting to aim his arrow for an arc in the sky Lesley pointed the arrow directly at Jien. He took in a deep breath and drew back his bow to a full moon position, his chest firmly puffing out and his arms quivering with the effort of pulling such a firm bowstring back so far. He had not drawn the bow back completely in the past because it was a large strain on his muscles, as could be seen by the veins of his arms popping out as he held firm, taking careful aim as Jien continued to move forward.
Jien saw the difference in stance and knew that this next shot would be vastly different. As he was watching Lesley to try and determine how to move he hadn't noticed that the crow that had been circling above them appeared to be drifting down behind him slowly. However, knowing that the arrow coming his way was most likely going to be vastly more potent than the prior ones he decided to take things a notch more seriously.
Jien pulled small string of mana to his throat spoke a word in a tone no more than a mumble and disappeared from sight.