Chapter Forty-One: The Lair of the Dark Elves (Part Two)

With a swift motion, Red Mountain Summoner unleashed a spell that could enhance the attack power of summoned minions.

Glancing at the lack of magical effects on myself and at Fei Yin’s innocent, unconcerned expression, I suddenly felt my status had fallen even lower than that of a mere summoned creature—at the very least, she could have cast a Frost Shield on me!

I did not heed Fei Yin’s instructions to ignore the immediate threat and attack Red Mountain Summoner from afar. Instead, by habit, I took my place in front of Wild Goose Formation and Elegant Melody, raising my shield and preparing to fend off Red Mountain Charger and the Hakto Demon.

A sharp “whoosh!”—an arrow leapt from my left, slicing through the air straight toward the Hakto Demon’s menacing face.

It moved so swiftly that my eyes could not follow its trajectory; the slender, deadly weapon seemed to vanish into thin air.

As the buzzing resonance of the blade slicing through the air still reverberated in my ears, the arrow had already buried itself deep within the demon’s eye socket.

“Well done!” I couldn’t help but cheer loudly for such a remarkable shot, instinctively glancing over my left shoulder, and then—

“Uh…” I found myself slightly stunned. Beside me stood Elegant Melody, the elven archer wearing glasses, his left hand resting on the bow, his right fingers gently brushing the string, both hands hanging naturally before him.

The astonishingly accurate arrow had clearly been shot from his hand. I know it might be unkind to say so, but I had to admit that watching Elegant Melody hit a target beyond three paces was profoundly unsettling for me—even though I was aware that his glasses had vastly improved his vision. Before this, his effective range with the bow was barely greater than the reach of my longsword.

Even Elegant Melody himself seemed more surprised than I was by this unexpected accuracy. His hands dangled limply, his jaw dropped to the point of near dislocation, and if not for the thick lenses in front of his eyes, his eyeballs might have popped right out of their sockets. As it was, the fact that his glasses survived the force of his wide-eyed astonishment was itself a marvel.

“Did you see that?” Suddenly, he pointed both hands at the minion struck by the arrow, shouting in a daze, “I hit it! I actually hit it! That was me! That really was me! Ahahaha… ouch…” Just as he was giddily celebrating his “first-ever hit” at range, another arrow from Red Mountain Sniper, perched atop the tower, struck him squarely in the forehead. He immediately clutched his brow, squatting down in pain—not only from the wound but also from the pride of his unexpected success—making odd slurping noises through his pursed lips.

“What’s wrong with him?” Wild Goose Formation asked in surprise, watching Elegant Melody’s uncharacteristic display.

“Oh, it’s nothing, don’t mind him…” Fei Yin replied, not pausing as she flung another ice spear toward Red Mountain Summoner. “It’s just his way of celebrating a hit.”

“Really?” Wild Goose Formation’s curiosity only grew at this response. “Does he celebrate like this every time he hits?”

“I can’t say if he’ll do this every time from now on, but this is the first time he’s hit a target at normal bow range,” Fei Yin replied, not missing a beat as another ice arrow flew from her hand.

This was a completely one-sided magical duel; even without outside help, Fei Yin held an overwhelming advantage against Red Mountain Summoner—her gear wasn’t just for show, after all, and she was three levels above her opponent.

In my opinion, at this moment, Wild Goose Formation would be better served by focusing on the battle itself rather than being curious about Elegant Melody’s accuracy. Then again, I had little expectation that she would be much help in this fight—after all, could you count on someone who found even bears and pythons irresistibly cute, unable to bring herself to harm them, to contribute in battle?

Especially when our opponents were all dashing, strikingly handsome dark elf men. Past experience had shown us that these pure-hearted, lovely young women always lacked the most basic resistance to good-looking strangers, even when they were on opposing sides…

A thunderous explosion shattered both my train of thought and the slight prejudice I held against the elf ranger, leaving nothing but fragments behind.

Compared to bows and crossbows, muskets had shorter range and slower firing, but their power was immense, and their scattershot could cover an entire area, hitting multiple enemies at once.

Red Mountain Charger and the Hakto Demon, charging side by side, were caught completely off guard. Iron pellets splattered their faces with a riot of colors, and both fell heavily to the ground.

Red Mountain Charger’s long-prepared assault was undone in an instant. He had to clamber slowly to his feet and stagger forward. From his clumsy, sluggish movements, it was clear that the “Charger” in his name was nothing but an empty boast.

Through the acrid, sulfurous haze of gunpowder, I saw Wild Goose Formation holding her massive musket steady, stock pressed firmly to her jaw, left eye closed, right eye glaring forward like a dagger.

Her jet-black hair streamed wildly behind her, lending her striking figure an even more formidable aura.

Well… Fine. I admit now that my earlier impressions of Wild Goose Formation were completely wrong and unfounded, and I retract any doubts I ever voiced about her combat ability.

I also realized something else: her overwhelming compassion and peculiar aesthetics seemed to apply only to animals. When facing sentient races and humanoid creatures, her valor and ferocity would put most seasoned male warriors to shame.

“Um… Wild Goose Formation…” The elf girl’s dramatic transformation had clearly shocked her male companion as much as me. Wiping cold sweat from his brow, Elegant Melody eyed the still-smoking barrel nervously, as if afraid she might turn and shoot him next. “What… what do you do for a living?”

“Whew…” Wild Goose Formation blew the smoke from her barrel, expertly reloaded and tamped down the shot, then aimed again at the advancing Red Mountain Charger and the hulking summoned minion.

“I’m a veterinarian,” she replied with a smile, though her finger squeezed the trigger without hesitation.

Another thunderous shot sent our unfortunate foes tumbling head over heels once more, their lives hanging by a thread.

“Oh…” A look of sudden understanding dawned on Elegant Melody’s face, but I was left all the more bewildered: A veterinarian?

I’d never heard of such a peculiar profession before.

“Your musket is impressive—packs quite a punch,” Elegant Melody remarked, recovering from the joy of his first successful ranged hit and nocking another arrow to join the fray.

The glasses had truly transformed his archery; the clusters of arrows now bristling from the Hakto Demon’s body proved that his initial success was no mere fluke.

“It’s a reward from a hidden quest…” Wild Goose Formation explained, then frowned slightly, betraying a hint of discontent with her formidable weapon. “It’s too big—doesn’t look good.”

Her words piqued my curiosity, and I took a closer look at the powerful, rare firearm: “Musket ‘Sera Jiong,’ said to have belonged to a famous centaur ranger. +25 attack, +9 accuracy, +50 health, scattershot effect, and a sixty percent chance to knock down the target…”