Chapter 202: Spatial Archery

Chapter 202: Spatial ArcheryAfter the initial shock of Apollo’s performance, the crowd gradually calmed down, and the first round of testing quickly concluded, leaving only the strongest five thousand participants qualified.

Three participants from the Rose Clan made it through Apollo, Matheo, and Marianne. Among the remaining participants, even the weakest was a top fourth-rank grandmaster, and more than four hundred were saint-level warriors, making the competition to reach the top one hundred even more intense, even for saints.

With the end of the first round and not wasting time, the second round begins.

Immediately, a token appeared in the hands of three thousand participants who cleared the first round.

And without a moment they were forcefully teleported.

"What!" Even Apollo, who had a strong understanding of space, couldn’t help but be surprised and couldn’t stop this sudden teleportation.

When they opened their eyes, they found themselves in a vast valley, surrounded by towering trees and looming mountains. A loud voice echoed through the valley, announcing the next challenge:

"The second test will be held in this miniature world. You will need to hunt monsters or one another to obtain points, which will be displayed on your tokens. The time limit is three days, and only the top three hundred will advance to the final round."

The voice continued, "Participants can go all out. If any representative is defeated, they will be teleported out safely at a critical moment. So there is nothing to hold back. So, all the best."

With that, the voice faded, leaving everyone momentarily stunned by the sudden change in their surroundings and the rules of the second round.

Apollo was also surprised by this. He looked around carefully and didn’t see Matheo and Marianne from the Rose clan. He was alone, which means they were randomly transported all over this place.

He seems to land in a good position, as he is on a relatively tall mountain and can view most of the landscape. And since they are on their own, he is going to begin his hunt and is looking forward to how many talented people he is going to meet.

As Apollo stood atop the tall mountain, his sharp eyes scanned the vast landscape. The valley was a wilderness of thick forests, rivers, and jagged cliffs, teeming with dangerous creatures and competitors. The dense mist rolling off the distant mountains added an eerie ambience, making the miniature world feel more alive and unpredictable.

’Three days’, he thought to himself, gripping the token in his hand. The token glowed faintly in his hand, indicating that his points were at zero. ’’Not for long’, he mused with a small smile, feeling the competitive fire ignite in his chest.

First things first: assess the environment.

He cast a simple search spell that, in his current strength of fourth-rank mage, was a very easy spell, and it had more range than using his direct spiritual sense to search, although not accurate, he was going to find approximate enemies nearby.

It didn’t take long for him to detect several energy signatures—both human and beast. But for now, he focused on the monsters closest to him. They would serve as the initial prey.

Apollo took out his soul-shattering bow as he was going to hunt using his archery. He originally wanted to try to improve his archery with his now-improved space law. He now wants to shoot an arrow that travels through space and can kill anyone or anything at any place without being unable to hide.

And the current situation was the perfect place for this; he was going to create his own unparalleled archery skill. Not to mention he showed his mastery of space law in the Rose clan, which confirmed his identity as a genius of space law.

As he stood in the thick forest, he closed his eyes and drew in the energy around him. The ambient life force flowed into him as he focused on the space between him and his unseen targets in the valley. He wasn’t aiming for a creature or another participant just yet—his goal was to craft a skill that would increase his strength.

Apollo notched an arrow and began to manipulate the space around him. A shimmering wave of spatial laws danced across the bowstring, wrapping around the arrow like a second skin. He could feel the tension in the air as his awareness expanded, connecting with the distant points around the valley—trees, cliffs, even the energy signatures of other beings, all scattered across the valley.

He began layering his understanding of space over the arrow. His first step was to ensure the arrow could fold space, allowing it to travel vast distances instantly. By bending space to his will, the arrow would disappear from one location and reappear at another, moving faster than anything.

But that’s just the beginning, Apollo thought, his eyes narrowing in focus. He needed more than speed. His arrow needed to seek out its target regardless of its position. This was where his next breakthrough came into play: spatial tracking. By leaving a mark on a target’s spatial signature, the arrow would be bound to its unique energy, tracking it through any shift or movement in space.

With the foundations of the skill forming in his mind, Apollo’s energy surged. The forest around him seemed to warp slightly, the trees bending as the laws of space bent to his will. He could sense the potential of the shot growing, the arrow thrumming with power, but there was one more element he needed to integrate—space penetration.

No matter how many barriers, realms, or even dimensions a target could hide in, the arrow would pierce through it all, leaving no room for escape. He focused, visualizing the arrow cutting through multiple layers of space, breaching dimensional walls, and striking with an unstoppable force.

Apollo pulled the string back fully now, his entire being focused on this single shot. He felt the bow resonate with his energy, becoming an extension of his very soul. He locked his target and marked the spatial coordinate and its life.

"Let’s see how far you can go," he whispered to the ice arrow, a small smile curling at his lips.

With a smooth release, the arrow vanished from the bowstring. There was no sound, no visible trail, just the sudden displacement of space as the arrow folded into another dimension. Apollo’s senses followed it as it sliced through the layers of reality, travelling far beyond the normal range of any mortal bow.

In the distance, deep in the valley where monsters roamed, a fierce beast roared. The target beast was a big rhino-like beast who didn’t have any idea what was coming towards him.

And an instant later, an arrow appeared near him, and the beast had no time to react, no chance to escape. The arrow had appeared at its vital point, bypassing its thick armour and natural defences, and in the blink of an eye, it collapsed, lifeless.

"Tchh!" Although he clearly killed the beast, he didn’t show much expression as he felt the amount of spiritual strength used in a single arrow and errors in blending multiple layers of space law and different abilities in a single arrow.

He was barely able to manage and mend those characteristics when the arrow was within his immediate control, but as the distance increased, the cohesion of these abilities began to unravel. Apollo knew he needed more training and practice to perfect this technique, understanding that the balance was delicate and required further mastery.

His token flashed, adding more points to his total, but Apollo barely glanced at it. The initial zero changed and became 10.

But even with limitations right now, the shot had been a success. The potential of this technique is limitless, he thought, looking forward to it.

He had just taken the first step toward mastering his new, unparalleled archery technique—one that could transcend space itself. And in this miniature world, surrounded by countless opponents and dangers, he had the perfect testing ground to refine it further.

Outside on the large pillar top, all five thousand participant points and rankings were being displayed. And just after a few minutes of landing, the points of many participants were increasing rapidly, easily crossing three digits, and were still increasing.

These were the fierce warriors and talented geniuses who wasted no time in hunting down monsters or engaging in combat with each other.

The leaderboard displayed the names of the top participants in glowing letters, their points rising rapidly as they hunted monsters or fought off other competitors. The top ten clans, renowned for their unmatched strength and heritage, naturally dominated the rankings, with each representative’s score surpassing 500 points in mere minutes.

But to everyone’s surprise, Kassandra, who had demonstrated the strongest raw strength earlier with her 912 Dragons of Strength, was not holding the top position.

The name at the top of the leaderboard was Violetta Drakins, a mysterious figure from the Infernal Clan, one of the more reclusive but powerful factions within the top ten.