The old house, already worn down, had partially collapsed, leaving behind a massive pile of rubble filled with broken bricks.
Near the top of that wreckage lay a large body, motionless like a corpse. Embedded in its chest was an arrow, its shaft broken halfway.
On closer inspection, the body had broad shoulders and a wide torso, a round belly, hands as thick as sledgehammers, and a face so hideous it would strike fear into almost anyone who saw it.
Then, the seemingly lifeless body suddenly shifted, rolling to the side, revealing another figure beneath it.
The one being pinned down was a child, his eyes and hair as black as night, his figure wrapped completely in attire of the same shadowed shade.
In fact, this dark impression had recently led others to mock him, comparing his appearance to that of a cockroach.
This child was none other than Tris.
From the rubble, Tris struggled to lift himself. His whole body ached from the violent impact earlier.
The final arrow fired had carried terrifying power.
In desperation, Tris had commanded the puppet "Berserker" to intercept it, deploying both magics 'Space Barrier' and 'Devouring Hand',and even reinforcing the defense with the combat technique 'Iron Wall'.
Yet, despite all that, both he and the puppet were blasted backward by the sheer force of the strike.
They had then crashed violently into the wall of the old house, creating the scene now before us.
At this moment, Tris felt his muscles and bones screaming in protest, the pain gnawing at him relentlessly.
And the agony from that brutal collision was not the only injury he bore.
Clenching his teeth, Tris firmly grasped the arrow lodged in his shoulder and yanked it out.
"Hiss."
Tris drew in a sharp breath of cold air, the pain of torn flesh forcing tears to spill uncontrollably from the corners of his eyes.
Suppressing the urge to curse aloud, he immediately directed his spiritual energy to tend the wound, while also retrieving various magic potions from his spatial ring to hasten the healing process.
In addition, he took several precautionary measures to guard against the possibility that the arrow carried poison.
Once the treatment was complete, Tris turned his focus back to controlling his puppets. 'Berserker' pulled the arrow from its own body and cast it aside. 'Sniper' was recalled to return. 'Feathers' was directed to scout the battlefield and assess the results…
Earlier, Tris's plan had been deceptively simple.
First, he secretly released 'Sniper', letting it remain well-hidden while stealthily moving to find a favorable position for sniping.
Because the enemy possessed the ability to perceive living beings with precision, lifeless constructs such as puppets were far less likely to be detected.
Tris exploited this fact, using himself as bait to draw attention, thereby giving 'Sniper' the opportunity to operate and carry out its assassination attempt.
Of course, the actual execution was far more difficult and complex than it sounded; otherwise, he would not have ended up so gravely injured.
After deploying 'Sniper' successfully, Tris had to ensure the puppet remained in the enemy's blind spot, yet not too far from his own position, lest control be compromised. All this while, he was still occupied with evading the relentless attacks of his opponent.
Once the puppet was in place and ready to strike, choosing the precise moment to fire became critical.
Tris timed the shot to coincide with the instant his opponent unleashed her most powerful attack, the very moment when her defenses were at their weakest.
But this also applied to him: it was a double-edged sword. A single miscalculation would have been no different from pulling the trigger on himself.
His greatest advantage at that moment was holding the initiative in his own hands, allowing him to prepare more thoroughly than his opponent.
And to maximize the element of surprise, Tris had deliberately concealed all traces of his long-range capabilities beforehand, enduring the enemy's relentless attacks without once striking back.
It was fortunate that all his effort and endurance had finally paid off.
Earlier, Tris had worried that the spot where she stood might have been fortified with layers of powerful defenses, which would render the assassination attempt a failure.
But it seemed she had placed very little protection there, relying solely on magic arrays to amplify her offensive power. As a result, the bullet fired by 'Sniper' found its mark.
Of course, focusing entirely on offense carried its own advantages. It made each of her arrows lethally dangerous.
In the battle just now, it was only by the narrowest margin that things did not end in mutual destruction. Tris could not help but wipe the sweat from his face and breathe a sigh of relief.
In exchange for allowing the puppet to strike with unrestrained force, Tris had to take an arrow to the shoulder, one that should have been avoidable.
Unexpectedly, that arrow proved far more dangerous than it appeared.
The moment it struck, his spiritual energy was thrown into chaos, weakening his defensive skills even further at a time when they were already strained by his focus on offense.
Because of this, the final arrow had come perilously close to breaking through.
Thus, the actual outcome was far more precarious than it seemed on the surface.
In just a short time, the puppet 'Feathers' under Tris's control had flown high into the exact position required.
Through its eyes, Tris could observe the outcome at the top of the distant tower.
The sight there instantly changed his expression, wiping away the relief he had felt only moments before.
Without sparing a thought for anything else, Tris rushed toward the mage tower, while controlling 'Feathers' to fly there as well.
'Will I make it in time?'
At that moment, Tris feared that all his effort would end up wasted.
He had barely covered half the distance when a figure with black hair, wielding twin blades, suddenly launched an ambush against him.
Judging by that reaction, it seemed the man had already guessed and understood exactly what was happening.
Realizing he could not simply escape, Tris entrusted the remaining task to Guildmaster John's group, hoping they could succeed in dealing with the female archer in time.
Indeed, though she had been shot and her entire head, along with part of her upper body, blown away, she was still alive.
No, rather than saying alive, it would be more accurate to say she still existed.
For in truth, she was an Undead. Even now, she lay there, swiftly regenerating her damaged body.