Chapter 203

Chapter 204. Public Enemy (3)

Ruquer’s organizations didn’t just rely on numbers to underestimate Keter and Stella.

Even if they usually dismissed Keter’s strength with logic like, “Are you avoiding it because you’re scared of poop? No, because it’s dirty!”, deep down, they acknowledged it.

Keter might not be an overwhelmingly strong figure, but he’s not someone who would die easily.

Stella is just strong. Many have witnessed her wielding the Grandmaster’s symbol, the Aura Laser, as a whip, so overwhelming her with numbers is futile.

Thus, they prepared their own “secret plan” to deal with Keter and Stella.

To counter Stella, the whip master, they gathered five 5-Star Masters who were also whip masters. To counter Keter, who wields two daggers with ghostly precision and is a master of martial arts, they assembled four specialists in close combat. Together, these “Four” were each at the level of executives.

Even from the Red Eye Gang, someone joined the Four. It was Katarak, who had loudly declared Keter’s death day.

Katarak confidently rolled up his sleeves, revealing scars all over his arms. As he formed a triangle with his fingers, the scars split open.

Flash!

What seemed like scars were actually eyes. The closed eyes opened, and as if to prove they were neither fake nor illusions, the eyeballs rolled around.

One on each palm, three on each forearm, and one on his forehead. Including his original two eyes, Katarak now had a total of 11 eyes.

‘Ooooooh! I can feel it, I can feel it. I can feel everything in this world! The flow of air, the particles of mana, I can see it all. I can even see what those trash are thinking.’

Katarak wasn’t exaggerating. With nine additional eyes, he truly possessed vision that transcended humanity.

Having no blind spots was a given, and he even had the functions of eyes possessed by nocturnal or heat-sensing animals.

‘Heh heh heh. These are just bonus effects. The real ability is the power to see through everything.’

Keter excels in close combat. It’s not just about superior technique but also about psychological warfare.

Especially, Keter’s combat style excels at deceiving the opponent’s senses, primarily targeting their eyes.

Therefore, from the opponent’s perspective, if you can see from multiple angles, there’s no reason to lose in close combat. You can see all of the opponent’s movements.

Even without the eye abilities, Katarak is a martial artist. A master-level martial artist from the Empire. He believed that even in pure martial arts, he wouldn’t lose to Keter, and with the eyes granted by Marhan, there was no way he could lose.

However, even the confident Katarak had one nagging doubt.

‘Rumors say Keter switched his weapon to a bow, but it must be a trick. That guy’s crazy, so he might have really switched to a bow, but it’s been less than half a year. There’s no way he could master archery in just half a year.’

Keter’s main weapon is a dagger, and while he also uses throwing techniques, their range is only 30 meters.

Of course, Keter is skilled with all weapons, not just daggers, but no one has ever seen him use a bow.

There are rumors of someone seeing him use a bow when fighting the Red Comet, but anyone can use a bow, right?

“Hahaha, I’ll tear you apart, Keter!”

As Katarak finished his battle preparations and stepped forward with his right foot to leap—his 11 eyes clearly saw Keter, 300 meters away, drawing a black bow and nocking a white arrow.

‘Is he really using archery? Even from this distance?’

Though ignorant about archery, Katarak knew well that a bow’s effective range isn’t that long.

But Keter released the bowstring, and the arrow was fired. He clearly witnessed it.

However, the time perceived by his eyes and the actual flow of time were different. It was the ability of the eyes Marhan had implanted.

‘Fast, and it’s coming this way. Is it targeting me?’

The time it took to see and recognize was significantly different. The moment he recognized the arrow was shot, Keter’s white arrow was already right in front of Katarak.

Katarak couldn’t understand.

His 11 eyes clearly told him the trajectory of the arrow in front of him was targeting him and that it definitely existed.

But why couldn’t his other senses detect the arrow’s presence?

The arrow perceived by his eyes definitely “exists.” But his other senses denied the arrow’s existence. They said it wasn’t an arrow.

An arrow shot from a distance should make noise and have a sense of mass. But none of that was felt. It was likely an illusion.

But ignoring it as an illusion could be disastrous if it were real. So even if it might be an illusion, he had to dodge it. At the very least, block it.

He should have done that—

Normally, he would have chosen something by now, but cognitive dissonance caused his brain to overload.

The human brain is excellent. Even when faced with complex situations, it quickly recovers and resets priorities to solve problems. The time needed for that is just one second.

‘Dodge!’

Katarak, a martial arts genius and natural warrior, twisted his body faster than he could think, dodging the arrow. Then he confidently shouted.

“Haha! Keter! You shoot well, but hitting me is still far from… huh?”

Katarak couldn’t finish his words. Something felt stuck in his neck.

He didn’t need to search for a reason; the warm sensation in his chest told him why.

‘I definitely dodged it.’

The white arrow he thought he dodged was deeply embedded in his heart, only the fletching visible.

‘Ah, so that’s how it is. I dodged after being hit by the arrow.’

Katarak’s belief that he dodged Keter’s arrow was a misconception. The arrow’s speed was much faster than he thought.

Keter’s doubly accelerated arrow is something even the strongest would only realize after being hit.

‘Not feeling the arrow’s presence confused me, but who knew the arrow itself could accelerate.’

Being a genius, Katarak realized why he was hit. If another arrow came, he could definitely handle it.

But he wouldn’t get a second chance.

“Damn it.”

Thud!

Katarak fell backward, still in the posture of trying to pull out the arrow.

Witnessing this, the onlookers were silent, shocked, as three others made their presence known.

The remaining three of the Four chosen to counter Keter.

Their appearances were no less than Katarak’s. No, they far surpassed him.

A warrior wielding a hammer as big as an adult male, with the stature of an ogre.

A puppeteer with bizarre, wide-mouthed puppets on either side.

A middle-aged man with narrow eyes, dressed and carrying himself like a teacher.

Looking at Katarak, who died in one hit, they spoke arrogantly.

“Huhuhu, Katarak. That guy was the strongest among us Four.”

“Therefore, we who are weaker than Katarak need not step forward.”

“Besides, we haven’t heard of Keter using a bow.”

Those were the first and last words of the Three.

* * *

The Four, created to kill Keter, were thus disbanded. They left the battlefield without a chance to say anything.

Though the situation was absurd, the Ruquerians weren’t about to retreat.

“Kill!”

“Take it!”

Shouting slogans, the crowd charged.

Watching this, Keter clicked his tongue.

“Tsk tsk, gathering here is commendable, but it seems they came without a plan.”

Keter flicked his left hand. Then, the Baeklin embedded in Katarak’s heart appeared in his hand.

The “retrieval” function, basic to artifact-level treasures, was naturally equipped on Baeklin.

Though disappointed by the mindless charge of the organization members, Keter smiled contentedly at Baeklin’s performance.

“As expected of an arrow made with the Lord’s authority. To take down Katarak in one shot.”

Though Katarak died from one arrow, Keter didn’t underestimate him.

If he had shot an Aura Arrow instead of Baeklin, Katarak would have definitely dodged. His combat experience, plus the eleven pairs of eyes, would have made it possible. Even with the double acceleration on the arrow.

‘It won’t work twice, but it’s a huge merit that it works once.’

Keter had “assassinated” one of the five he considered the most troublesome among the thousands gathered here with Baeklin.

One of them was the narrow-eyed middle-aged man from the Three, who had fled on his own.

Thus, three strong enemies remained.

The charge of the remaining thousands of Ruquerians was deemed no problem at all.

Not because they’re weak. They might look like third-rate thugs or neighborhood bullies, but they’re all at least 2-Star level strong.

To survive in the harsh environment of Ruquer, Ruquerians are forced to awaken their Aura. Thus, surviving Ruquerians are inherently strong.

Even ordinary soldiers without Aura, when gathered in hundreds or thousands, can create a chance to kill a master-level strong one.

Moreover, those surrounding the Infinite Bank now are members of the four major organizations. Outside, they could be vice-captains of knight orders, 4-Star level strong ones, as numerous as pebbles.

Not only that.

Even if their completion is lacking, master-level strong ones wielding pure Aura weapons are noticeably many.

Such individuals charge towards the Infinite Bank from all directions. Prepared for death, fearless.

Yet, Keter showed no tension, barely suppressing a yawn.

“You who don’t know war, what do you think gathering recklessly will achieve?”

Just looking at their charge, there’s no discipline or order to be found.

Of course. They might be used to brawls with dozens, but thousands simultaneously attacking “one target” is unprecedented in Ruquer’s history.

Though the four major organizations gathered, increasing their numbers, they don’t follow anyone’s control. Even the executives of the same organization don’t try to control them. They just charge on their own.

In war, the vanguard should charge first to open the path, but those charging now don’t even adjust their spacing. The faster ones just overtake the slower ones.

“Really, is this a running race?”

If it were just one or two, it might be different, but with thousands doing it, chaos ensues. Tripping over each other, falling, getting injured before even swinging their weapons.

Watching the disorderly charge might be amusing, but Keter, with places to be, adjusted his bow.

“Come to think of it, you haven’t tasted the true value of archery yet.”

Even when fighting the berserk Jjokjjok, he used archery, but there were few witnesses, and since Aura didn’t work, he used Mana Arrows. Thus, the battle wasn’t long. Even if there were witnesses, it would have just looked like ordinary arrow shooting.

‘I’ll show you that the bow is a strategic weapon.’

Strategy means not giving the opponent a chance to fight.

Keter soared high into the sky. Fixing his coordinates with mana, he deeply drew the bowstring.

Whoooosh!

The Aura Arrow, compressed with explosive power, Milky Way, made its presence known in Ruquer for the first time.