Apocalypse system: I have unparallel comprehension-Chapter 68 - The Archer

The beginning was blurred. It was the truth. The start was always a mysterious thing. How did the universe start?

Dante didn’t remember what happened after his conversation with Tendo. By the time he came to realize himself, he was standing on top of the huge tree.

His heart was racing, his anger beat so loud that he wished he could forget all. But he couldn’t. He must not forget. After all, he was the son of his mother.

He didn’t know why he ran here. Why did he climb the cliff with his two small axes? He wished he knew the answer.

He knew.

Dante extended the range of his eyes. One mile. Two miles. Many miles.

Blood dropped to his shoe. Dante looked down at the dripping blood and came to his sense that he was bleeding.

"Shit." He wiped the blood from his nose and lifted up his head, trying to stop the running blood.

"I really came here." He muttered. It was a soft mutter but his eyes were cold. He clenched tightly around the axe’s handle.

He felt strength left from his knee. Despite that, he willed himself, pushing deeper into his rage. Unable to do that, he punched at the tree.

He punched again and again until his knuckles turned red.

He was angry at himself. Not because he couldn’t save his mother. He understood that no matter what he couldn’t save his mother.

According to Tendo, his mother was killed in a cave. And he knew Ashar was trapped in a cave for how long. It was probably where his mother was eaten by Ashar.

"Why? Why can’t I get angry at Ashar?" He murmured. "I should feel rage."

There was not even a hint of sadness inside his heart let alone some anger.

Right now, what he was feeling was anger toward himself. The fact that he couldn’t feel anything for his mother. That fact drowned him in rage. That fact alone fueled him, pushing him, dragging him.

Despite his tired body, he couldn’t stop. If he stops, what will he feel afterwards?

Will he rationalize his mother’s death?

He didn’t know. He was scared of knowing that.

So he pushed. He again searched for Ashar’s group.

He didn’t have a plan to fight. He didn’t have nothing at all, just a blind rage toward himself for not feeling anything.

Suddenly, something sharp entered into his sense sphere. It was a fast moving object imbued with a lot of mana. It traveled through the air, crying out a loud screech along the way.

Dante prepared himself to dodge but decided not to, the arrow was slowly losing speed and he wanted to hit as well. So, he prepared to meet the arrow with his axe, channeling a moderate amount of mana.

As the arrow entered into the 400 meters range, it exploded, releasing a wave of mana. Dante noticed the sudden change in the arrow. It appeared in front of him in an instant, traversing 400 meters in a split second.

Thankfully, Dante already readied himself. He braced for the arrow.

The iron head collided with his axe.

Boom!

A small explosion was created between him and the arrow. The shockwave and the force was strong enough to shatter the small axe into pieces.

As for Dante, he lost his balance and dropped from the tall tree. As he was falling down, another arrow flew toward him. It’s faster than the earlier one.

Dante clicked his tongue and threw the handle at the incoming arrow. It missed by a huge margin.

So, he moved his body and let the arrow pass beside him. It hit the tree and created another explosion.

"Damn." He cursed out loud. The arrows were no joke.

Dante didn’t know who was targeting him but one thing for sure, his opponent was a strong one.

But there was something lacking.

Dante rolled himself and landed on the ground with his feet. He didn’t get hurt because of the mana he used to strengthen his legs.

Immediately, he stretched his body.

"Alright. Alright. Let’s see who is targeting me." Dante murmured.

He then got into the running position and used Swift Rush to the fullest.

He tore through the air with his physical body, each step pushing him further into the distance. He was not as fast as the arrow coming at him.

Nevertheless, he could dodge them.

Dante noted down his opponent’s fighting style. The arrow was a single target attack. One hit in his chest and he would be gone.

Dante had seen many archers during his stay in the Rebellion. And there were many types.

Some focused on their firing capability, trying to drown the monster with a lot of arrows. But some poured more attention on the lethality of their arrow.

His opponent seemed to be the second type.

Dante smirked and concentrated more mana into the skill. He poured mana and his speed increased.

He also used his concept to help create speed energy.

Suddenly, the arrow vanished.

Not even his eyes could pick up. He couldn’t even find the trace of mana in the air. It was like he was facing a ghost but that ghost was real.

He squinted his eyes and looked around, searching in the white forest. It was a perfect place to hide.

Unlike the previous world, humans here can withstand a lot of nature’s wrath. So, Dante won’t even be surprised that the archer can burrow himself in the snow for many days.

And he didn’t have time for that.

He was sure he got the archer inside his eyes range.

’Where did he go?’ He thought.

He didn’t need to wait around as the arrow came. This time from the opposite side.

Dante frowned. Something was wrong.

The arrow was quite weak compared to the earlier shot. Either the archer’s mana got lower or the arrows came from the new opponent.

Dante shook his head, rejecting that idea. The mana signature inside the arrow was the same. It couldn’t fool his eyes.

Dante caught the arrow with his hand and broke in half. It was that weak.

He threw away the broken arrow. Right now, he had two choices. Stay here or pursue the new strange opponent.

There was no way the archer could teleport. He was not arrogant to think that Julius was the only one who can use space skill but his eye didn’t pick up any change in space.

’Strange. Strange.’ He murmured in a low breath. With nothing to do, he decided to pursue the second archer.

The previous situation happened. As soon as the second archer entered into his range, he disappeared.

He couldn’t even fully process the opponent’s mana.

Dante closed his eyes and counted.

The arrow came. This time, it was powerful. He had to dodge it.

A smile formed on his face and he quickly masked it. He stopped on the way to the first archer and looked down at his hand, trembling furiously.

’Why? Why? Why!?’ He screamed inside his mind.

’I should be feeling anger right now. Why am I getting happy?’ He ran his hands on his face, finding a soft smile, a barely masked smile.

He wished he could see how his face was looking right now. But there was no need as his eyes revealed everything to him.

If he had to describe the smile he was having, he would use the word childlike. A childlike wonder etched onto his face. It was like he found new toys to play with.

He hated that and yet there was nothing he could do. It was a part of him. A very important part.

He didn’t know he was like that. His mind was conflicted.

He felt like he was acting like himself but regular Dante won’t be acting like this.

He clenched his hand and let out a smile and a sigh. He then continued pursuing the first archer.

The previous scene repeated.

They were trying to wear him out, both his mana and his mind. But Dante was restless.

He had set up a goal to find out the trick behind this magic trick of teleportation. He let it play for a few times, studying everything.

Thinking every possibility and running them through his mind. Once he felt that the time had come, he stopped and stood tall in the middle between the two archers.

The opponent seemed to notice as well because the arrow didn’t come.

They were both preparing for the final fight.

Dante looked down at his left hand and tapped at the black ring he was wearing. It had been a while since he used the black ring.

To be honest, there was no reason to use the ring until now.

He channeled mana and a black book appeared, floating in front of him, ready for him to wear.

Dante smiled and crouched down, picking up a small rock. He played with it, tossing in the air.

"It is not even that long and yet I am feeling nostalgic."