A loud, harsh clash of metal pierced the air. Sparks flew right in front of Robert's eyes.
In merely a fraction of a second before the arrowhead could pierce Robert's body, a black shadow darted from the side. Wolvin had moved.
With deadly precision, the Night Wolf youth used his black dagger to parry the arrow, deflecting it to the ground until it embedded itself deeply.
Silence instantly enveloped the battlefield. Everyone, especially the man who had just fired the arrow, stood frozen with highly shocked expressions. Their eyes could not believe the movements of the Night Wolf beastfolk who could respond to such a fast projectile with such ease.
"Well... well... well..." said Silgard, clapping slowly with a cynical smile blooming, although his eyes radiated amazement. "I never expected there to be a race from the Night Wolf clan as formidable as you, capable of accurately parrying an arrow reinforced by blessings... truly impressive reflexes!"
Wolvin clicked his tongue softly. He straightened his body, standing arrogantly and highly provocatively in front of the formation while casually twirling the black dagger in his fingers.
"Do you think an attack that weak and slow can hurt us?" Wolvin challenged dismissively, the corners of his lips lifting into a smirk. He pointed the tip of his dagger straight at the archer. "If that's all you are capable of, you had better just go home and sleep in the place you came from!"
Hearing the degrading provocation from the Night Wolf youth, the veins on the archer's neck bulged with anger.
"You bastard, damn beastfolk!" the archer growled.
He pulled another arrow from his quiver, but this time he nocked three arrows at once. Not only that, another man beside him who possessed the [Multiply] blessing immediately placed his hand on the archer's shoulder, channeling his mana.
Splat! Whoosh!
The arrows were released once again, shooting extremely fast with the main targets being Wolvin's chest, neck, and legs.
However, what happened next in mid-air was truly horrifying. The three arrows suddenly split and multiplied their numbers in the blink of an eye.
Three became nine, nine became twenty-seven, until finally eighty-one sharp arrows rained down through the air like a storm of steel, shooting erratically yet lethally toward Wolvin and the party members behind him.
Wolvin's eyes widened slightly. He realized it was impossible for him to parry dozens of those projectiles alone.
However, before Wolvin could execute a defensive maneuver, a calm voice echoed in Calian's mind.
They have crossed the line! he thought coldly, realizing that his spouse and travel companions would not be able to evade that rain of arrows without getting hurt.
'Sluggish'.
Calian activated one of the derivative spells from his [Time Loop] blessing. An invisible, transparent wave of energy immediately spread out and swept across a circular area up to a hundred meters from where he stood.
Spontaneously, the entire flow of time within the range of that area changed drastically.
The movement of the dozens of arrows that were previously shooting as fast as lightning now crawled slowly in the air, as if held back by an invisible viscous liquid. The speed of those lethal projectiles was now no different from a slowly crawling snail. Falling leaves from the trees hung stiffly in the air.
The world seemed to freeze, yet Calian continued to breathe and move at a normal tempo of time.
The purple-haired youth stepped forward past Wolvin. With a very flat facial expression and casual movements, Calian reached his hands into the air. One by one, he plucked the slow-moving arrows as if he were picking fruits from tree branches.
He took the arrows aimed at his spouse's face, grabbed the arrows targeting Robert's legs, and gathered all those iron projectiles until not a single threat remained hovering in the air.
Meanwhile, for those who possessed no immunity to temporal anomalies, a completely different and incomprehensible sight was unfolding before their eyes.
Both Silgard's group and the Black Axe party could only stare in horror. All they could see with their eyes was a blurred silhouette, a dark purple shadow moving at an extremely high speed, blinking smoothly from one point to another and barely catchable by the naked eye.
And alongside the flashes of that shadow, the dozens of deadly arrows that were about to tear their flesh... suddenly disappeared one by one in mid-air like a cheap magic trick, vanishing without a sound of impact.
After the last arrow was successfully secured, Calian canceled the 'Sluggish' spell.
Whoosh...
The flow of time around the area instantly returned to normal. The sound of the wind and the noisy breathing of people could be heard again just as before.
Those armed defectors from the Molcan Kingdom nearly dropped their jaws upon seeing what was in front of them. Their rain of arrows had vanished, and a purple-haired youth was now standing calmly right in front of the formation, gripping a bundle of their dozens of arrows in both of his hands.
Clatter!
Calian released his grip, letting the dozens of arrows fall scattered onto the ground's surface. The clattering sound of wood and iron echoed very loudly amidst the gripping silence.
What just happened?! Silgard screamed internally, his eyes bulging in utter shock. His entire confidence crumbled in a second. What kind of demonic speed is that? That youth... he managed to stop and snatch all those duplicated arrows with incomprehensible movements! Who exactly is he?!
It was not only the enemy who was shaken. In the backline, Eralio, Robert, Catrina, and Nora from the Black Axe party also felt the same shock and horror. Calian's movements, which were far beyond the limits of human capability, successfully made their knees weak and drenched their backs in cold sweat.
What... what exactly is the blessing possessed by His Highness the Prince? Eralio thought, his heart beating madly behind his ribs. His movements completely defy the laws of nature. And he managed to catch all those duplicated arrows mid-air so easily, like picking fruits that were ripe for harvest!
The middle-aged man looked at Calian's back while swallowing hard. The fear he had felt last night when threatened by Wolvin had now morphed into a tangible terror of an absurd power he could not measure at all, not even with his appraisal blessing.
I... I am so grateful not to have any problems with the imperial family members. the merchant thought, his legs trembling slightly. It is said that for hundreds of years, the members of the Erthland Imperial family have always been bestowed with nonsensical and terrifying blessings. I used to think those were just tales to spread fear. But today... I have witnessed all those stories with my own eyes.
Amidst the battlefield that was suddenly frozen in shock, Calian simply stood calmly, staring straight at Silgard with a pair of purple eyes as cold as ice.