Dimensional Descent

What Leonel had needed to understand was why Range felt like too simple of an answer to him, and it had only taken a moment to do so.

The truth was that it was too simple because Leonel's state of mind when it came to the bow was far beyond his state of mind when it came to the spear. The reality was that despite having a Lineage Factor related to the spear, and even having the Spear Domain Heirloom, his thought process revolved much more around the bow than it ever did the spear.

Much like how switching to wooden spears for a long while helped Leonel grasp something he had been missing, so too did using his sniper rifle for so long. It made seeing the fundamental difference so much clearer.

The reality was that Leonel's explanation was much more complex for the bow because if his Spear Force could be considered to have stepped into Level 2, then Leonel's Bow Force had just entered Level 3, skipping over Level 2 entirely.

Leonel was sure that there were probably names and categories for this stuff already documented, but he had purposely not used the dictionary to learn about them. He didn't want his progress in this fashion to be influenced by anything else.

It was quite interesting. Leonel was always worried about missing out and had always wanted to learn as much as he could about everything. But, for some reason, when it came to his Spear and his Bow, he wanted the exact opposite. Something about them felt deeply personal in a way he found difficult to describe.

In the end, he chose to follow his gut. And as things stood now, it was doing wonders for him.

Leonel released another arrow but the result of this one caused the expressions of everyone around to change wildly. The air around the arrow vibrated out of control and the Force in the surroundings seemed to distort. It hadn't even reached its destination yet, and yet not a single soul failed to see through its danger.

Dee and Dre who were among the very first to fall victim to Leonel's arrows and lose their bird, had their pupils constrict.

Dre had been waiting for the archers to deal with Leonel first before he deployed his bird once again to command to the battlefield. But to his shock and horror, Leonel alone had actually rendered his men completely useless. And now this arrow…

SHUUU!

Leonel blinked. '… I missed?'

Leonel was baffled. Even back to the days when he was a normal boy playing quarterback on a football field, he had never missed. It sounded ridiculous, but it was the truth. Leonel couldn't ever remember being inaccurate in his life.

And yet, for the first time… he actually missed?

BANG!

The sight was devastating.

Leonel's arrow passed over the head of a bird, missing its neck. However, just as it did so, it was as though everything ruptured.

The head and part of the bird's torso was shredded to pieces. The marksmen on its back screamed in horror as they too were torn and ripped apart. It was as though a spinning vortex of Space Element Force whipped by, forming a blackhole that pulled everything apart and left nothing but droplets of blood, flesh and an inky blackness.

The space in the surroundings continued to tremble as the arrow shot into the distance. As though it was a nuke, everyone on the battlefield scattered, rushing out of the range of the arrow before it could get anywhere near them.

BANG!

The arrow collided with the calm waters of the second Lake Crossing. A devastating whirlpool formed and water as sharp as knives and needles jetted out in all directions.

Screams of agony and pain erupted. Those that hadn't managed to get far enough away found themselves sucked in, the devastation of the arrow shocking them to their cores and reaping their lives. At least a dozen fell into the silence of death in that one instant.

Leonel frowned, raising his hand to his bow again. But, right as he was about to fire again, he felt his forearm spasm and a large chunk of his mental stability vanish.

'What the hell…'

Leonel's mind spun, his near perfect recall activating as he replayed what had just happened. When he came to an understanding, his expression became somewhat solemn.

His Bow Force had actually surpassed a level he could casually sustain. There wasn't much of an impact on his body as Bow Force came from the external, but his mental focus took a huge hit. It felt as though he was a normal human again and had just spent all day studying.

It was exaggerated to the point he couldn't lift a single finger any longer. But, Leonel felt like his current self only had about two more of these arrows in him before he really wouldn't be able to think straight anymore.

'Unless… I use Auspicious Air. But, even then, I think I would only be able to increase the number by one… I never thought that would become a problem.'

What Leonel didn't know was that this was only natural. His so-called 'Level 3 Bow Force' was actually a concept usually only grasped by those at the Sixth Dimension, something he would know had he done his research. In fact, it couldn't even show its full strength due to Leonel's current limitations.

Leonel could sulk about this and be unhappy… But was it even necessary?

'Three more of these arrows to end this battle…?' Leonel grinned. 'Isn't that too easy?'

Leonel had had many plans brewing in his mind for how to deal with this battle, but he hadn't expected to have such a breakthrough before it even started. In fact, as long as he wanted, he could lower his Bow Force to Level 2 and not have to worry about this drawback at all.

However, where would the fun in that be?

It was about time these people understood that what they should fear wasn't those vying for a piece of Earth along with them… What they should fear was Earth itself.

Leonel raised his bow again, his free hand drawing two fingers together from the curve of the bow down the string. Everywhere his two fingers passed, a shimmering bronze arrow of Earth Force formed, wrapped in spiraling Level 3 Bow Force.

"RETREAT!"

The roars came from all over the battlefield as the same thought resounded in Leonel's mind once again.

'With a single arrow, I can do anything.'