Data.65 – Old Bowman, God of Thunder and the Meteor

The first arrow that I unleashed hit Zeus right on the left side of his chest.
While this was god in a virtual world, the actual shape was no different from a human.
And so I had instinctively aimed for the heart… So what would happen?
I couldn’t see its HP gauge. It had been the same with other ultra rare monsters, like the Windcloud Dragon.

In any case, the heart was way too high up.
Perhaps I should target a weak spot that is lower…
This was a strong enemy. I could not hesitate to act.
And so without thinking, I aimed for the crotch.

Kiririri… Shu!

As this was not a mature game, he was wearing clothes. That being said, he would surely still react to being hit.
This was a male god, after all… However, Zeus showed no signs of noticing it.
But perhaps for the amorous Zeus who fathered so many children, it was less a weakness and more of a strong point…

Regardless, all Zeus was doing now was slowly walking towards me. He did not attack at all.
Which I was thankful for, but it was also creepy…

Goro… Goro-goro-goro…

Thunder…!
The sky was covered in black clouds.
The only reason that it was bright enough to see Zeus clearly, was because of the constant flashes of lightning.
And just now, one of them had struck the ground.

It had hit a short distance away from me.
However, it was more than enough to demonstrate how powerful it was.
A crater that looked like the first one I saw was newly made here.

While I wouldn’t know for sure unless I was hit, I was pretty sure that Garbow, who was weak to lightning, and I would die in one shot…
No, I had to think positively.
While it may be over if we were hit, Garbow’s weakness had nothing to do with it. The result would be the same either way.

Besides, I now knew how Zeus attacked.
Zeus was so big that his movements became slow. But in exchange, he could summon lightning from the sky and attack.
If I was being honest, my greatest fear had been that he would fight at close quarters.
But if it was ranged weapons against ranged weapons, then I had a chance to resist.

It also helped that he didn’t carry a weapon.
The Zeus from mythology had numerous powerful weapons, but the one here was simply enveloped in white cloth.
In other words, as long as I could deal with the lightning…

That being said, it is impossible to dodge lightning after you’ve seen it.
So what I had to be careful of…was that rumbling sound.
I had heard before the last crash of lightning, but it sounded like it was still far away.
And so if the sound was far, then the lightning must be far away as well.
And if it was close, it would hit close as well.

Thankfully, Zeus was so big that I never missed when hitting him.
I would continue to attack while focusing more on my hearing than sight.

“Bow Shower! Sky Tear!”

As the time limit was 15 minutes, it was best to use my charge attacks quickly, or I wouldn’t be able to activate them as much due to cooldown.
And I couldn’t forget to reactivate them immediately when they were available.
My opponent had so much HP, and I had so little firepower.
The amount of times I could use special attacks would determine the outcome of the battle.

It was the same with Garbow.
I used powerful charge attacks first, such as Ocean Sphere, Red Meteor and 8-mount Missile.
While I was specialized for Range, Garbow’s stats were specialized for attacks.
As he was so vital when it came to fire power, I should be more careful when using him. But just this once, I was going to take a chance.
There was no doubt that Garbow could do the most damage when fighting close quarters.
And so I had him charge at Zeus’s legs…!

While Garbow looked like he was flying in the air, he was closer to a hovercraft.
And so he could not go very high up.
That meant he could only target the legs during close quarters combat.

Well, Zeus wasn’t fast enough to kick Garbow while Ocean Sphere was activated.
And I had also noticed that the lightning didn’t strike anywhere close to Zeus.
Sometimes the places that looked the most dangerous were actually the safest.
However, this was only while he had boosted speed through Ocean Sphere.
Once the effect wore off, I would bring Garbow back in.

Regardless, there was no point in thinking about the future when you were fighting an enemy with no HP gauge.
Just dodge the attacks in front of you and focus on hitting the target with every shot.
The goal was invisible, but it existed.
In marathons, the goal was so far away that you couldn’t see it, and so all you can do is continue to go forward one step at a time.
And even if the road is long, you will eventually get there.

“The only problem is, can I survive until then…”

As the lightning struck in random places, I had to focus on dodging at any moment.
That would often interrupt my attacks.
It was all about your luck. Like praying to a god…

◆　◆　◆

There was a timer in the corner of my vision that showed I had 3 minutes left.
Both Garbow and I were still alive, as was Zeus.
However, his appearance had started to change.
His clothes were in tatters…
I didn’t know if it was quite necessary, but I was glad that we were dealing damage.

However, his attacks were also growing more vicious.
Lightning struck at a faster rate, and three would fall at the same time.
Not only that, but there would be explosions of electricity after they hit.
Because of this, several of the attacks had grazed me.
Thankfully, my equipment was good with magic defense, and so they didn’t result in mortal wounds…

“Garbow! Come back!”

Now that the effect of Ocean Sphere had expired, I called Garbow back.
I usually had to do it a little earlier, since Garbow moved so slowly and it would be dangerous. But I had been too busy dodging the lightning, and my order had been delayed.

Goro…goro-goro-goro…

The sound was quite close, but as long as I backed away a little, I shouldn’t be… Ah?!
Garbow was on his way back and moving straight towards me…!
At this speed, it will hit him…!

However, I could not send Garbow away like I usually could on the field.
Perhaps it was because this was the trial grounds, and they had restrictions in place.

“Garbow! Straight Dart!”

“Gar! Gar!”

It was Garbow’s charging skill that I rarely used.
If I used it repeatedly, it would be faster than just swimming.
But…Garbow was unable to dodge the lightning.
He still avoided a direct hit, but the ensuing explosion reached him.

“Are you okay!? Garbow!”

He was clearly not in the best state.
And it had barely even touched him. Electricity attacks really were his mortal enemy.
I quickly used a healing item to recover Garbow’s HP.

I had less than 2 minutes left now…
What I should have done was ignore Garbow, since he hadn’t been able to do that much damage, and focus on attacking now that my charge attacks had entered cooldown.
However, I had chosen to help him without really thinking about it.
It’s not as if you would lose your Unison if they were killed.
They would be the same once resurrected, but I didn’t feel like abandoning him.

“I don’t have much time left, but Zeus’s clothes are torn up. Which is great, but also not great. In any case, let’s do our best, Garbow!”

“Gar! Gar!”

–Beep! Your bond points with your Unison have reached a new level. You can now use ‘Combination Charge Attack.’

Came the announcement in my brain.
What’s a ‘bond point’?
There hadn’t been any points like that in my status.
Was this…masked data?
Numbers that were hidden from players…

Just then, Garbow scattered into separate pieces.
I was dumbfounded.
But this was no time for that!

“What the hell!!”

And then the pieces of Garbow started to combine with the Windcloud Bow…!?
The bow had been a blue and white color, like the wind and clouds, but it was now covered by red and black armor!

–Beep! You have acquired the combination charge attack, ‘Meteor Bow.’

This was too much information.
I wanted to calm down and think…but I had no time.
There was less than a minute left now.
Ah! I’ll test it out then!

“Meteor Bow!”

What was unleashed then, were numerous arrows that shone red.
Bow Shower didn’t even compare when it came to the number of arrows, and with the speed of Sky Tear, they hit Zeus.
It was as if the power of Garbow’s Red Meteor was now inside of the arrows…
A meteor…a meteor shower!

I only had a little bit of time left. This was my only hope…!
Without thinking about the falling lightning, I just unleashed the arrows.
It was like my body wasn’t mine anymore… My arms were moving so fast that they were a blur.

5 seconds remaining. 4, 3, 2, 1…

“…It stopped?”

The timer never reached 0.
Just when I thought that Zeus was starting to squat, he kicked off the ground and disappeared into the sky.
The thunder clouds vanished and a blue sky appeared above.
Did I…win?

‘Congratulations-nyon! I didn’t think that you’d actually defeat it-nyon!’

Charin appeared with a burst of confetti.
Confetti was nice in virtual worlds, because you never ran out of it and it disappeared when it hit the ground… Such pointless thoughts went through my mind.
But there were more important things to think about.

‘I knew you would survive, but I thought that you didn’t have enough firepower to defeat it in time… But then you acquired the combination attack! What a surprise-nyon!’

That’s right. I was able to win thanks to Garbow.
Though, was he alright? He fell apart and combined with my equipment…

“Huh? Where’s Garbow?”

I had thought that he went back in, but he wouldn’t appear after being summoned.
Co-could it be that…

‘The combination attack is the power of your bond. After activating, the Unison uses all of its power and will be unable to do anything for a while. Kind of like the cooldown for your charge attacks-nyon.’

In exchange for incredible power, the Unison won’t be able to help for some time after…
And so having them fight normally would probably be the better option if it’s a drawn out fight.
But it could be a good trump card when you needed a quick burst of firepower.
I would have to look into the details of it later.

Still, Garbow really helped me. I would have to thank him when he came back.
He didn’t understand words, so it was more self-satisfaction than anything, but that was fine.

‘Well then, you will be warped back to the field you were in! And you will also get the reward-nyon!’

And so I was warped from the sunny fields of grass to the blackened crater.
Now, what reward would I get for defeating a god…?

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