Supreme Archer: Taking The Game's Weakest Class To The Top

Chapter 244: The International Tournament (5)

'A kick… he kicked me!' Shiro exclaimed as she drilled into the ground face-first. She sounded like a beast, as she was straightforward and saw weapons in their primitive forms.

A bow and an arrow were meant to be used together.

An archer was to only release arrows.

She'd come to terms with fantasy skills, such as releasing many arrows simultaneously. But more than that, particularly what Jake had revealed to the world so far, was utterly unacceptable to her.

Jake's kick, therefore, turned Shiro furious.

'He's not letting me adapt to him! He studied me much better than I did him,' Shiro thought as she detached herself from the ground.

She used her katana to pull herself up before entering her guard form immediately.

Contorting her face at the abundance of arrows around her, Shiro noticed that Jake didn't waste any second. When she was immobilized, he created a new stage for himself.

'A full moon slash would eliminate all those arrows, but the price is too much!' Shiro's Full Moon Slash could erase everything around her and significantly damage enemies surrounding her. It was particularly satisfying to use that skill against many monsters!

In one versus one, the price was more expensive than the effects. Shiro would have leaned more toward this if it was possible to hit Archer with that skill as well.

Alas, he was keeping his distance from her.

"And you call yourself an archer?!" Shiro screamed as an arrow hurled her way. She cut it in half by increasing her katana's damage with a support skill.

Jake didn't fall into her verbal trap. He once again repeated The Ribbon Of Freedom, weaving himself around Shiro. It was a concept he had used against Shaw. This time, however, Jake had much easier means to pull himself above his opponents.

The Feather Step allowed him to pinpoint where he would get drawn.

He didn't need to click on an icon, either.

Jake's Joker Style was much stronger and annoying.

'She has an adaptation skill. Whatever it is, my goal is not to let her adapt fast enough to me. I'll keep increasing and lowering my arrows' speed and strength. I'll occasionally thrust my bow at her and even enter a melee combat with punches and kicks. Her chances must be significantly lowered!' Jake thought.

Though his plan sounded smart and perfect against Shiro, there was something Jake couldn't really 'lower' or 'increase' as he went at her.

That was The Perception.

Once Jake touched the ground with a light step, he suddenly felt a looming threat on him. It was like he was being pushed down by a cold hand.

Pulling himself higher through The Feather Step, Jake avoided Shiro's slash at hair-breadth. He looked down at her, seeing her straightening herself after the failed assail.

A crescent slash remained in the air, telling Jake that he would have sustained many health points had he gotten hit by her. She wouldn't have let him go, either.

Jake narrowed his eyes. 'She's the core of her team, alright. This must have been The Perception. She adapted to it and could follow me to the next location right away. This limits my angles. If this keeps up, she will be right at my tail… or before me!'

Jake could no longer be as reckless around Shiro as he wanted. He was severely limited on the ground, while the skies were now his best allies.

Pointing his palm at a tree, Jake used The Feather Step to enter the forest's canopy.

Sneering, Shiro stared at him fleeing. "I didn't even hit you, yet you're taking such precautions?! You're worse than I thought, Archer!"

She ran after him.

"Shiro!" A ninja man shouted at her through the voice chat, "You don't have to follow him in there!"

"Shut up!" Shiro replied. "I'll kill him in his environment! I can see what he's planning even from here!"

It was her typical behavior.

The ninja man didn't even bother arguing with her after that. He knew how persistent and strong Shiro could be once she adapted her perception to her enemies. She could see through every scheme, and her talented style and sharp reactions allowed her to respond to anything.

If Archer wasn't the core of Casual Clowns, he wouldn't have been worried about her.

But that man… had many more cards up his sleeve!

He wasn't known as a Joker for no reason!

-

'I need to deal with her as fast as possible,' Jake thought as he perched on the tall tree's branch. He stood still like an assassin, waiting for his prey to enter his range. 'Wukong, can you hear me?'

Wukong's tattoo on Jake's back heated up.

Jake nodded. 'I'll summon you when I face her in melee. We'll defeat her together.'

The tattoo contentedly warmed up.

Jake smiled. He kept the appearance of his companions hidden from the world. The crowd only saw Ender as he helped Jake's team scour the surroundings.

The existence of others was still a secret.

'Here she is…' Jake said as he gazed at Shiro running into his area. She arched her head back and looked in his direction, telling him he'd never lose her.

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She was growing mad at Jake as he hadn't released an arrow at her.

"Come down and fight! You're not chickening out now, right? Let's fight! Let's clash with blades! Let me defeat you so I can split that mask into pieces!" Shiro screamed.

'Am I that annoying?' Jake asked himself. He could see that Shiro was similar to him, or rather the past him. He'd changed enough not to be focused only on a single thing.

This woman was the same. She was so much into fighting that she discarded anything else and challenged others, no matter how straightforward and blunt she was.

She often lacked decorum or manners, and her skills would make up for it.

Jake clenched his hands. 'I've changed. And I'll keep changing… that's right. She's the core of the Asian Team. She's an opponent I won't find any time soon. She's so much like me that… I must put more belief into myself and evolve!

Believe in my hard work and talent! Create a new, original skill! That's what I must do to move forward! I must keep developing myself and my archery!'

He crumbled into his Formless Soldier Form.

A new arrow was nocked on Jake's arrow rest.

Six-bladed and curved, the arrow would spin and deal so much more damage that Jake could only use it in Formless Soldier Form.

Jake locked Death's Lock on Shiro.

It felt like a cold breeze went through her.

Shiro knew what it meant. She put up a guard and waited to deal with an arrow, which didn't seem avoidable. She could bet her luck and try to avoid that arrow since she knew Jake's position, but Shiro's guts told her not to rely on luck.

Jake's surroundings dispersed as the trajectory line stretched toward his opponent.

He fell into such a deep focus that he couldn't sense anything other than his foe.

He only stared into his opponents' eyes, seeing himself in them.

His heart thumped.

This woman was similar to him. Those eyes were nearly the same.

He knew what it meant to be obsessed over something.

He understood her so well… that he hated her.

Jake took a step forward, plummeting to the forest floor.

Upon a soft landing, he released the arrow.

It was fast, heavy, and decisive. It flew in such a straight course that it seemed only a speed was a problem. Shiro was confident in taking it onto her blade and defeating it.

But when the arrow was close, it suddenly curved down, avoiding her slash and drilling into her right eye!

"Ahhhhhh!" Shiro cried. 'His arrow changed the trajectory! He didn't do that before!'

Death's Lock evolution and its new passive skill—Hunger—allowed Jake to change that trajectory near the finish line.

The prerequisites were different for each target.

In Shiro's case, however, Jake saw so many available trajectories on her. It was because he understood her so damn well that he could do that without fighting her for too long.

Jake increased the damage to his arrow with The Feather Step as well.

He stared at her. "You repulse me. Your obsession… I will devour it and evolve."

Shiro gazed back at him.

She didn't utter a word.

For the first time in her career, someone had made her silent.

Jake's words were the cause of that change.

It hit something within Shiro. She couldn't tell what it was but swore not to lose against this guy.

Even if her eye was gone, she could still fight.

"Disappointing," Shiro whispered.

Jake sneered. "You've been disappointing so far. Try harder."

Shiro suddenly disappeared.

Like a ghost, she appeared in front of him.

She thrust her katana into Jake's stomach and pinned him to the tree.

[You have lost 610 HP!]

[A severe bleeding has been applied!]

[-100 HP!]

"There's no going back, Joker," Shiro said, "You can't devour my obsession nor get rid of yours. Our brains are so nuts that there's no hope for us. I'll completely overwhelm you so that you understand what I mean. I'll destroy your archery, so you will have no choice but to be more obsessed about it! No one will enter your eyes. All you do soon will be only for archery!

And then we will meet in the future, where I will destroy your stronger archery again."

"Someone… refuses to change… huh…" Jake whispered as a streak of blood dripped off his lips.

"Someone believes he can change," Shiro whispered.