Fate: The Forged Arthur Pendragon

His soles scraped against the knife-like cross-sections of earth blocks.

The twang of a bowstring echoed in his ears once more.

Buzz!

Like plucked strings, invisible notes on the giant bow materialized into substantial arrows.

Whoosh!

An arrow shot forth with immense force!

Suya's pupils contracted slightly. He bent his waist, pressing his palm against a rapidly falling earth block, and pushed forcefully. He flung himself out, rolling onto the ground.

His toes, however, strangely arched at that moment, scraping continuously against the ground. The blood vessels in his entire foot bulged, and the tendons under his arch protruded in a twisted manner.

The next instant,

The Swift Step, which he had intensified his practice of for a whole day due to Dagonet's urging, activated!

Even while still rolling and carrying the unspent momentum from his descent, Suya suddenly shot forward like a bird taking off from flat ground, flying horizontally!

"Chh—bang!"

Suya slightly turned his head and saw a shimmering blue arrow embedded in the spot where he had just been. In the blink of an eye, cracks appeared on the arrow's surface, and it exploded into countless cubic blocks, each one centimeter in diameter!

"What the hell was that!?"

From the trembling sound of the bowstring, Suya could tell this was fired from a monolithic bow at least 1.5 meters long.

This was likely a very ancient type of monolithic bow, dating back to the Bronze Age in Greece, not the composite bows adopted by the Macedonian Empire's army from the East at this time.

But the problem was,

It shot too fast!

It was as if the step of nocking an arrow had been skipped; arrows appeared automatically on the bow with each draw, continuously attacking Merlin!

And what kind of bow and arrow explodes like a fragmentation grenade!?

Just then, Merlin's voice rang in his ear:

"That's a virtual arrow converted from Aether, a type of virtual magic called [Aether Archer]."

"By manipulating deconstructed concepts, [Wind Element] is refined into a materialized Aether arrow and fired."

"A highly skilled virtual magic."

At this moment, Merlin broke free from Suya's arm, climbed to her feet, and stared at the Aether blocks scattered on the ground nearby, her gaze turning cold.

"Tsk, trying to kill me?"

"Suya!" She immediately moved, shielding Suya with her body, and shouted.

"Huh?" Suya was taken aback, thinking, This fellow is so full of bravado, I thought you were going to rush straight at the attacker and tear them in half!

But... what's wrong with you?

Merlin, now hiding behind Suya, raised her hand and pulled out her ruby dagger from her sleeve, whispering to Suya:

"Their 'origin' is deconstruction. They are magicians who fight by deconstructing concepts, reorganizing elements, compiling logic, and then using that 'logic'."

"Use your sword. That magic sword can sever the 'composition of logic' and reverse the 'collapse' of the virtual arrows."

"I don't understand, ~smida."

"You can slash the arrows away, make them fizzle out, and stop them from exploding."

"Got it."

Suya drew his sword, holding it with both hands, and stood in the square pit, wary of the enemy's next move.

With his eyesight and reflexes, deflecting bullets wouldn't be an issue. The reason he couldn't do it in his previous life was because his body couldn't keep up. But now that his muscle strength had reached E-rank, he could completely accomplish this through sheer brute force.

And at this moment,

The enemy seemed to realize that Suya, who stood in front of Merlin and wasn't even a proper professional, was surprisingly tricky.

Two virtual arrows had consecutively missed, dodged in a way that should have been almost impossible at his level.

So, after the two arrows missed, the enemy didn't rush to attack again, but remained hidden in the shadows, observing quietly.

Merlin also quickly analyzed the situation:

"The principle of this barrier is to convert the earth elements within its range into the other four elements, to trap or attack enemies."

"The complete four barriers can form the 'Grand Magic: Lycaon's Corridor,' which has the effect of freely compiling the four elements within the barrier, twisting reality, and applying the law of contradiction, the law of excluded middle, and the law of motion to everything inside the barrier."

"But now, it's incomplete, so..."

"I said I don't understand!"

Suya's face darkened. He said in a deep voice, "Just simplify it, damn it!"

Merlin's face instantly darkened too.

Damn it, you're the illiterate one who doesn't understand, how can you blame me for this?

She gritted her teeth forcefully, paused, and then explained in terms that even an elementary school student could understand:

"Watch out for attacks from the ground."

"Then, keep moving between different blocks. As long as you move fast enough, he won't have time to control that area to attack you."

"Finally, instead of slowly searching for a Ley Line, there's a simpler, more direct way to turn everything around now—"

"Kill that magician!"

As she spoke, a resolute gleam flashed in Merlin's eyes. She raised her hand and pressed it on Suya's shoulder, shouting clearly:

"First Restriction, release!"

"This battle is a battle to seek truth!"

"Acknowledge—Merlin!"

"You've been powered up, go!"

As her words fell,

Merlin dashed out from behind Suya. As she ran, she silently chanted a spell, raising her hand to summon sixteen pink petals to encircle herself.

Her gaze swiftly scanned the atmosphere, then quickly locked onto the direction to her left.

Then,

She tossed the ruby dagger in her hand into the sky, crossed her fingers, and rapidly chanted three short verses of a spell:

"Slumbering fairy eye of eternal kalpa (Etheris Revelare),"

"Weave the end of lies with thorns (Spinae Mendacium Colligo),"

"Reveal your true form within the stellar vortex (Stella Vortex Ostende)!"

The ruby dagger, spinning in mid-air, suddenly became suspended at that moment. Propelled by magic, the tip of the dagger aimed towards Merlin's left.

And Merlin, at this moment, separated her palms, raised one hand, spreading her five fingers.

She coldly, clearly shouted:

"Abyss of Aether, reveal the falsehood!"

The next instant,

A grand red light surged forth, accompanied by surging danger!

After Merlin quickly ran out and exposed herself by casting magic, the enemy hidden in the shadows immediately seized the opportunity to attack.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three enormous azure arrows,

Flew out one after another amidst three sudden twangs of bowstrings!

Suya initially wanted to rush forward and block these three arrows for Merlin,

However,

He saw Merlin subtly shake her head at him.

The next instant, the dagger floating in mid-air transformed into a red ribbon that coiled around Suya's wrist. In his vision, he suddenly saw the magical trajectories in the air that were ordinarily invisible to the human eye.

Suya looked at the direction the ribbon pointed, his eyes narrowing slightly.

The next instant,

Without hesitation, he raised his hands, held his sword to his chest, his toes slightly arched and grinding against the ground, and he leapt up!

With a great leap using Swift Step, propelled by the powerful thrust granted by the battle technique, he leaped onto the square block to his upper left, charging forcefully in the direction indicated by the dagger!

He ascended high platforms, descended into hollows, stepped on withered ash branches to climb onto the next piece of land,

Finally,

Deep within the bone forest, which was now a sea of countless square blocks, at a distance of about 20 blocks, or 200 meters, he saw a man with long gray hair, holding an illusory longbow, standing with one eye closed!

The Fisherman, Pergolesi!