B3 Chapter 413: Argent Clash, pt. 3

Kenva was surprised at her lack of fear. More than ten Silvers — it should have been enough to put her ill at ease, or at least make her feel a creeping dread crawling up her back.

Yet all she felt was anticipation, and a sense of certainty in her own capabilities and strength, and in that of the team around her. Light and loose, she played her part. They were smiling and laughing as if they were just at camp.

She stared into her team leader’s eyes and saw her own steely conviction mirrored in Kaius’s gaze. He gave her a casual nod, as if in agreement with a garbled question.

This was the opening move — the decisive shot. She focused on the spire mage, her target. Tall, with silver-blonde hair, she had a permanent scowl on her face. The mage leered in disgust at their group — she would have struggled though, with the distances involved, to see Ianmus as more than a speck.

She had no such difficulty. Kenva could see the bloody pores on her targets face.

Within her, stamina surged. Ranger’s Potency was moving at full bore; she could feel the strength and twitchiness in her limbs. She was fast — with her skill, fast enough that she should be able to draw her bow before even Silvers could react. Hers was the opening move, and she knew just how she would do it.

Many of her skills were synergistic. Winter’s Mark highlighted vulnerabilities to her sight, latent magic infusing her shots to devastating effect when she landed them just so. Lance of Fury grew arrows to the size of ballista bolts. Even her arrows themselves, grown from the Gift of the Hungry Forest and spun from the wood of the trees on the twenty-ninth layer, carried their own power. Multiple general skills empowered her, but with the evolution of her first class skill, she knew it with certainty.

She could make this shot.

Flicking back to a memory, she remembered her Skills new description.

Howl of the North Wind:

Level 201:

Class Skill – Tier II

Affinity: Martial, Wind

Type: Archery Technique, Enhancement, Ranged, Channeled

Selection Available!

Heroic

An atavistic scream that harkens death at the hands of an uncaring world.

Tier I:

This skill instantly consumes stamina and mana to empower an arrow shot with devastating strength and unmatched speed. Additional stamina may be channeled into the shot for increasing power, speed, and armour penetration. Howling winds surround the user’s arrow, fouling attempts to deflect and lengthening its flight.

Tier II:

The North Wind detonates on impact, damaging surrounding targets with concussive force.

Speed scaling increased to Substantial

Each level substantially increases the speed of fired arrows.

Each level significantly increases the distance and power of fired arrows.

Each level moderately increases the concussive force of the North Wind

Each level slightly increases the potency of additional channeling.

It was a potent thing — still chargeable, but now, with its evolution and increase in tier, she could simply consume a chunk of stamina and mana for a single devastating shot.

She saw no reason to wait.

Kenva broke the façade — whirling into an explosion of movement as stamina and mana both roared through her body. She lunged, bracing one foot firmly in front of her. She almost punched out with her bow, drawing its titanic weight back to her ear. An arrow summoned from her ring was in her hand and in motion instantly. In battle, it required a split in focus that was unacceptable unless absolutely necessary.