Eric was starting to get annoyed over...
He suddenly recalled his hidden Evil powers, so he swiftly controlled his annoyance, in case it began spilling out.
His annoyance was over the fact that although this bow was amazing and its power was not a joke, it was far from enough to take out such a large crowd, which was increasing by the second. If he could not think of a solution quickly, then he truly would not know how to deal with them in close combat.
He had a sword, and he no longer doubted its sharpness, as it was of the same Tier as his bow. But Elara did not have any secondary weapons.
No matter how much he chopped all these dark diamonds and roses with his sword, both he and Elara were bound to get overwhelmed by their numbers. Also, the dead bodies of Dark Elves were not disappearing into thin air, and this would only make the ground more bloody and slippery, making it much more difficult to fight in melee.
He also did not want to get their blood and these Dark Elves' 'Ewwww' fluids onto him as well.
Also, no matter how much he wanted to friend-zone Elara, she was still, after all, his friend, and he owed her life-saving grace. If possible, he did not want Elara to face such a large crowd in close combat.
These Dark Elves might be brain-dead, but they could run properly—in other words, they could also fight properly like trained barehanded fighters.
Such a huge number was already a headache for him to deal with, much less Elara with her single bow.
Elara was similarly trying her best. Unlike Eric, she was largely an archer and not really skilled in close combat. Although her expertise in archery was such that she could even fight in close range with her bow as well, for the current situation, it was not possible, as the number of enemies was just too overwhelming.
She could fight a few in melee, but that many she could not, so she panicked… for Eric.
Elara wished to protect Eric at all costs. She could not bear to see him getting injured, much less killed. Even thinking about it almost made her feel her heart shattering; it nearly made her give up on everything, including her life, as she felt it was just better to follow him in the afterlife than to continue living.
So, all Elara could do was shoot faster than anything she had ever tried before.
The Dark Elves' hordes were getting closer and closer, and similarly, Elara was shooting faster and faster, to the point that by the time Eric shot two arrows, she was shooting five! Her determination was clearly pushing her beyond what normally was possible.
As Eric was thinking of a solution while also shooting continuously, he suddenly recalled a way of shooting arrows that he had seen in a book in his past life.
It was a martial arts book on ancient Indian ways of archery.
Among various ways, there was one particular technique of shooting three arrows all together in one shot!
Eric also recalled that there was another simpler way of grabbing all three arrows together and shooting, but in this way, the accuracy became too terrible, and not a single arrow might land a target properly.
But the Indian method could be used to aim all three arrows with precision!
This technique also had one major flaw, and that was the shots would not have enough force, and so they could not travel too far, because the power got distributed among the three.
But!
The bow he was holding onto was not a normal bow! Its power was so huge that he was not even pulling back the string to its full extent, and it was still opening holes in multiple Dark Elves' bodies.
But then there was another major problem here, and that was he was not using real arrows!
Would it even work here with arrows being conjured rather than placed?
Eric hastily tried by using his four fingers in a reverse grip while keeping a small gap between them.
He pulled the string backward, as if there were three arrows between his four fingers, and just as he had hoped, three arrows instantaneously manifested all together!
Eric was dazed, amazed, and impressed.
He quickly used his other hand's fingers, which were holding the main body of the bow, to separate the three arrowheads with appropriate distances between them, and after slanting his bow a little more horizontally, he shot.
Just as he had expected, it ended with amazing results!
With just one shot, Eric had killed over eleven people!
Each arrow swiftly flew through Dark Elves' naked bodies to the next one behind them; though the power diminished and the direction changed a little, it was overall a great success!
Eric swiftly executed the same technique once again.
His first shot took him some extra moments to adjust, but after that, it was rain… Rain of Arrows with rapid shots! Almost as if a dozen people were shooting from Eric's location.
Elara halted and was in a daze, glancing at Eric's multi-shots that almost seemed like he had suddenly multiplied into three people.
She knew there were ways, using Mana, to shoot large numbers of arrows in one shot, but Eric was not a Mana Wielder. So, how was he doing this?
Elara quickly focused while holding her breath, and soon her eyes snapped wide open in realization.
Her eyes were filled with hearts.
'As expected of my Eric! He is such a genius!'
As an expert in archery herself, it did not take Elara long to figure out the intricacies of how the arrows were being shot.
She quickly pulled the same position as Eric and started shooting three arrows together with him, who was just a few meters away from her.
And soon, there was a downpour of arrows upon arrows on the helpless mortals.
Slaughtering dozens upon dozens with each shot.
To an outside viewer, the scene was of two people—one handsome, blue-eyed young Human and another glamorous, green-haired High Elf—who had suddenly transformed into an army by themselves.
Although only six arrows were shot at a time, with how rapidly both Eric and Elara were shooting while adjusting their positions slightly to their own sides to get the maximum kills, it almost looked like they were releasing a horizontal waterfall from their location.
The number of helpless, naked Dark Elves dying was like a tsunami, swallowing them in waves over waves, and with each wave, countless Dark Elves perished.
Following that, new groups of Dark Elves would push the dead ones aside and charge forward, as if they also wanted to ride these dangerous waves.
Previously, the numbers of Dark Elves were so huge that it was almost certain that within a few more moments, both Eric and Elara would have to engage in melee, but now, before the last remaining Dark Elves could even cover half the distance, they were completely wiped out.
It truly seemed like a giant wave had appeared and gulped all the pathetic mortals into a bloody ocean.
It was a mass genocide, a bloody massacre.
The entire empty field—from the village gates to the place Eric and Elara stood—had completely transformed into blood and gore.
Bodies lay across the field like they told the stories of how these once peacefully living mortals were minding their own business, and then Demons appeared, bringing hell upon them by slaughtering them cruelly, unjustly, and mercilessly.
It was almost poetic, with the entire green and brown field transformed into thick dark red blood, as if it was no longer solid ground but a river or lake of blood, with countless bodies of naked men and women floating around—some had huge holes in their foreheads or were missing half their heads, some had missing chests or abdomens, and some even had their heads entirely missing, as their necks and heads were severed by the power of two low-grade Tier 1 bows.
Even Lysandra, who had been laughing crazily like a madwoman, had stopped long ago and was completely stupefied to the point that she had even stopped canceling the Spells and whatnot coming at her altogether.
Her eyes were wide due to a sudden realization.
Lysandra had previously intentionally set up the scenario so that both Eric and Elara would have to fight a melee battle, but her plans were completely foiled by two mortals. But that was not what shocked her.
This archery method was indeed mentioned in ancient archery catalogues of High Elves, but it was just a mortal method, and most High Elves already became Mana Wielders by six or eight years of age.
Using Mana, one could manifest multiple arrows and attack with them all together, so no one bothered to use or even learn it, and eventually, this ancient mortal technique was long forgotten by all Elves and all archers. And this technique also had three glaring weaknesses compared to shooting one arrow with a bow.
Now that Lysandra was observing it with her own eyes, what truly dumbfounded her was that she—who was one of the strongest Grandmasters and the renowned best Archer of the entire Celestia—was suddenly taught a lesson by a mere mortal and made her realize that even she could also use this technique!
The three weaknesses of this technique were of no issue to her.
Those weaknesses were slower refilling speed, delay during aiming, and shorter distance coverage.
Lysandra, as a powerful Mana Wielder, did not even need to use a bow to shoot arrows, but when she did, it basically meant that she was fighting with her full capability, for whatever the reason might be.
Physical arrows always had their benefits over using Mana or Elemental or any sort of manifested arrows, and a high-Tier 'arrow' with Mana Imbibed while also using Runes could hugely surpass both Mana and Elemental Arrows in terms of power and results. This was also the reason why all Ranks, from Apprentice Ranks to Grandmasters, still used actual weapons in real battles, rather than simply conjuring them with their Mana or whatever.
And so, Lysandra only used one physical arrow with multiple manifested arrows when she was going all out.
There were also some uniquely designed bows where one could shoot multiple arrows, but those were too immature and were not practical for Lysandra's level of archery; those tricks were only used by Apprentice Ranks. Those bows were also flawed to begin with, as their aims were mostly fixed due to their design, and they also had a few other issues.
And so, Lysandra did not, could not, and never shot more than one physical arrow at a time with her own personal bow. This fact was even known to her enemies—that this was her limit.
Of course, such high-Rank Mana Wielder battles were not so simple, but shooting three physical arrows at once with perfect accuracy could completely change her own capability and fighting style to a new level, especially because she was far stronger now, unlike when she was just at Apprentice or Master Rank.
It was a complete overhaul of her fighting capability! A complete game-changer!
It was the same as becoming one to three. And perhaps even more!
In short, at her current mastery of archery, Lysandra was suddenly taught how to shoot arrows…
Of course, she was not depressed, but her mind was completely blown away by being taught such a great method by a mere Human mortal.
Lysandra no longer knew what to say or think anymore, so in the end, she just sighed.
'As expected of a possible Legend, who could even trigger my instinct so vividly while still just being a mortal…'
Lysandra shook her head with complicated emotions.
What she had originally planned to provide Eric before leaving was no longer of equal value. It had suddenly turned her into owing him a favor now.
Even so, Lysandra was not planning to give Eric more than she had previously planned, or else he would only become a 'homemade' Mana Wielder expert.
'Let's just say, I owe you a favor, Eric.'
Lysandra glanced back at the fools trying to do whatever possible to injure her, as she had commanded using her 'Will' previously. But her Constitution and even her attire were of such high Tier that even a million Apprentice Ranks could never scratch her dress or her.
She yawned with boredom.
She was getting sleepy, but she had plans for a few of these Mana Wielders, so she had not wiped them out yet… Except those children, elderly, and pregnant women, but they did not count.
Lysandra did not have to wait for long, and all the mortal Dark Elves were wiped out clean, as none of them could escape from her 'Will.'
Lysandra's eyes sparkled.
Time to bully two innocent, cute children!