I frowned at Roswald’s words. He was talking about Crice’s grandfather. That person brought a lot of questions back to mind. I hadn’t imagined he would be like the other elves: condescending, annoying, and prone to treating everyone else like braindead zombies in the presence of millennia of “Elven wisdom.”

  But the idea that he might willingly share that so-called wisdom? That didn’t sit right with me. The elves rarely did anything without a reason, let alone something as generous as imparting their ancient knowledge.

  “How long ago did this happen?”

  “Around ten years ago.”

  That should be just around the time he resigned his seat as the leader of the Silver bows. Someone with that kind of knowledge certainly wouldn’t fall for the schemes of the empire… I hoped that he would return to help Crice soon, but who knows where he was and if he will hear about the war.

  I decided to put that aside, since we still had a lot of fighting to do. Clearing dozens of waves of ice drakes seemed like a pain, but I wanted the special css. I also wanted plenty of ice drakes materials. I wouldn’t waste even a single scale.

  In any case, after the third wave of ice drakes, we noticed that the number of possessed ice drakes had ended, but there were no signs of the boss wraith.

  “I don’t think that even a wraith like that can possess the final guardian of a byrinth like this, but… there is a chance that it is happening. Some bosses obtain some level of intelligence at weird times inside byrinths, after all.”

  “I saw an ice phoenix obtaining higher sentience when an abyssal creature invaded its chamber, but something like this didn’t happen here, right?”

  “No, but it can still happen. All the mana in the byrinth goes haywire during the break, so maybe some bosses would attain a higher level of intelligence. I can’t still imagine that happening to the fifth boss, but not to the final one.”

  The final guardian was going to be troublesome enough. It didn’t need the boost of a wraith. Regardless, while the chances were low, it seemed that it would happen since the boss didn’t appear until now.

  I didn’t pn to do this much, but I was truly interested in the css that I might get, so I decided to do what I could to reach that goal. Naturally, I wouldn’t go to crazy lengths since Gcien and Alissandra were with me, but I could try harder.

  “... Are you really doing what I think?”

  “Yes.”

  “You are a scary guy. Remember me not to make an enemy out of you.”

  I decided to put that aside, since we still had a lot of fighting to do. Clearing dozens of waves of ice drakes seemed like a pain, but I wanted the special css. I also wanted plenty of ice drake materials; I wouldn’t waste even a single scale.

  As I examined the fallen ice drakes, an idea struck me. Using their bones and scales, I could craft giant arrows. Normally, weapons made from ice drake materials wouldn’t be very effective against other ice drakes because of their natural resistance. However, with the dreadful enchantments I had in mind, these arrows could become devastating. The durability of the bones combined with the sharpness of the scales would make them really useful, and with the right magic, they could pierce through even the toughest defenses.

  It was a gamble, but if the enchantments worked as pnned, these arrows might make things easier against these tougher enemies, and perhaps even the byrinth’s final guardian.

  When the next wave of monsters showed up, I decided to use the new arrows alongside those skills for a short while… Berserker, Adrenaline Surge, and Hunter’s Rage. The arrows pierced the head of the monsters with ease, or at least impaled them. I thought that I might have to add some poison to them, but it seemed that it would be an overkill.

  After doing that a few times, Roswald looked at me like I was an unknown creature. I ignored his look and just did what needed to be done. Recovering the giant arrows after that was a pain, though.

  ‘I should try to use Savage Shot… even with ordinary arrows, if I used it alongside Hunter’s Rage, it should be enough to kill the monsters with a single shot if I am close enough.’

  It’s clear now that I should have realized this earlier and tested it beforehand. The skills of the Primal Archer css were clearly made to complement each other, particurly in high-risk, high-reward situations.

  Their synergy becomes obvious in the heat of battle, where combining their effects could dramatically turn the tide. The fact that I hadn’t fully considered their potential as a pair until now felt like a missed opportunity, but at least I can learn from this and keep moving forward.

  ‘Melee archer, huh? This is a building that I have never heard of.’

  “Uuuuuuhhhh.”

  “Ah, it must be time for Alissandra’s meal. Keep the next wave of enemies busy.”

  “What the heck? How do you want me to do that alone?”

  “Use your creativity or your real strength instead of hiding it.”

  “No way. Do you think that I am a monster or something?”

  Although Alissandra had been quiet for now, she was getting moody since I wasn’t paying attention to her… it looked like preventing the break would be difficult. Still, she calmed down a lot just by staying in my arms. I was pretty sure I was pretty cold, and I was still a bit nky, so it was hard to imagine being that comfortable to her.

  ‘Perhaps keeping her on my back or chest might keep her calm, but I can’t do that just when I decided to test the limits of the Primal Archer css… I guess hold back on that until she falls asleep.’

  “Hey, Regulus! Give me a hand!”

  I could see Roswald moving around on the walls and ceiling, trying to avoid the cold breath of the monsters, but his legs were already freezing. He still wasn’t truly hurt, so I could tell that he was holding back.

  “What a pain…”

  I summoned fire walls under the monsters and soon they began to burn and stopped attacking as well. Once he got the opening that he wanted, Roswald approached to cut the necks of the monsters.

  I couldn’t recover my mana for a while like this, so I considered changing the enchantments on my hand crossbow. Still, it seemed that Roswald would be fine for a while longer, but I still needed to put Alissandra to sleep fast.

  “Sorry, Aliss. But I need to get back to work, so cooperate with me. You will get one heck of a css too, so behave, please.”

  “Uuhhh.”

  She didn’t like the idea, but after a few head pats, she calmed down enough to fall asleep. I sighed in relief… of all kinds of challenges that I had faced in my life, Alissandra sure a cut above the rest. I had to use my brain at full capacity and keep my nerves under control to look after her properly, but I probably wasn’t doing enough since I still brought her here to this kind of situation.

  After Alissandra finally fell asleep in my arms, I carefully pced her back into her basket, doing my best not to wake her. As I straightened up, my attention changed to Roswald. He was on the ground nearby, looking utterly spent after fighting what seemed to be a few dozen ice drakes.

  At first gnce, his posture screamed exhaustion, as though he’d barely survived. But as I took a closer look, it was obvious he only had a few minor cuts scattered across his body, nothing serious enough to justify the act he was putting on. He was doing a poor job of pretending he’d survived some tough ordeal.

  It was clear that while Roswald wasn’t exactly struggling, he didn’t want to show just how capable he truly was. Whether it was humility or something else driving his theatrics, I decided to let it slide for now.

  “Don’t let me hang like this again, please.”

  “So melodramatic.”

  I moved forward and then began to fiddle with my bow while I was waiting for the next wave of the enemies. It didn’t take long for that to come at us. Roswald, who was sitting and resting, got up after sighing, but I stopped him.

  “I will handle this on my own now. Just sit down and keep watching.”

  Roswald furrowed his eyebrows, but he didn’t say anything… even when the ice drakes got in range to freeze me with their cold breaths. I wanted to wait a bit more, but when their magic began to stack up, I decided that it was time to do it.

  I used Savage Shot and Hunter’s Rage. I could feel my blood boiling, and when I unleashed the arrows, I was able to see them almost vibrating as they spun in the air. Still, when they hit the enemies, they made the area of the flesh almost explode like I had used Decay Arrows… it was just a small area given the level of the skills, and thanks to the defenses of the monsters, but it had been enough to make them flinch in pain.

  I activated Rapid Shot to unleash the arrows even faster and hit all the closest enemies and make them stop using Cold Breath and that worked… I stopped closer with Shadow Step and then Savage Shot knocked down the monsters in the air. Some of them spun while flying, others were knocked down. Such was the power of Savage Shot.

  ‘This makes me wonder what kind of skills this css will continue to give me… I really should focus on only using these for a while.’

  Thinking about the full potential of this css made me feel really eager to do that, and it looked like this wouldn’t be that hard.

  WritingMachineGun