1196: Chapter 308: The Final Victor 1196: Chapter 308: The Final Victor “Puff,” the sound of a sharp blade entering the flesh was very faint, but in Nora’s ears, the sound was especially conspicuous and unusually piercing.
Having lost the sense of pain for countless eons, she suddenly experienced a long-lost sensation, akin to the mont when she sensed Herr leaving, just like the mont when she watched Darak turn into fine sand before her eyes, a subtle, vague, yet bone-deep sting of pain, a mory vaguely lingering in the far reaches recalling what seed to be called heartache.
Looking down, the fourth arrow was still embedded in her body, only inches deeper than before due to Pannis’s push.
However, those few centiters made Nora feel an emptiness inside, as if she had lost sothing precious.
Nora could feel the Energy of Death still abundant in her body, yet her strength was slowly ebbing away; the millions of years of accumulated fatigue seed to burst forth in that instant, making her feel increasingly tired, both physically and ntally.
No longer able to stay afloat, Pannis, after pressing down on the shaft of the arrow, fell back to the ground.
At this point, Nora seed to have lost interest in combat, not even sparing him a glance, but instead stared complexly at the arrow sticking out of her chest, slowly descending to the ground.
“What a strange feeling.” Nora, seemingly curious, examined the arrow that penetrated her body, cautiously reached out her finger to touch the smooth tail of the arrow, and whispered, “This ans I’m going to die, right?”
“Yes, you have failed.” Pannis, worn out both ntally and physically, sat on the floor, seemingly devoid of any joy from victory, and said in a low voice, “The arrow has pierced your heart, you’re going to die soon.”
“Ah, so you have won.” Nora laughed softly, nodding her head.
Surprisingly, she bore no resentnt towards Pannis, who had killed her, instead she spoke in a relaxed manner, “Is this your trump card?
Impressive.”
“That was my last trump card,” sighed Pannis.
“It was very close.
If you had survived the fourth arrow, I would have had no ans to claim victory.
Luckily, you didn’t, that’s my fortune, but a bit unfortunate for you.”
“There’s nothing unfortunate,” Nora shook her head, “Can you tell what exactly the bow that killed is?
I’ve never seen a bow so powerful, not even the bow Loki used during his battle with our master held such strength or oppressive force.”
“Bow of Release, one of the Elves’ Sacred Items,” Pannis replied unreservedly, handing over the Bow of Release he held: “Blessed personally by a Deity, returned to the Elves as one of their strongest weapons.”
Nora did not reach out to take it but looked curiously at the Bow of Release and nodded, “It carries Artemis’s essence; it’s indeed a gift from the huntress goddess.
Being the best with a bow, it’s no wonder it has such great power.
Losing to such a Holy Artifact is not surprising at all.
But, with such a powerful weapon, why didn’t you use it earlier?
If you had used it sooner, the fight wouldn’t have been so hard, right?”
“A trump card works precisely because it’s unexpected,” Pannis shook his head.
“If I had used it from the start, and you had prepared against it, it wouldn’t have been effective this ti.
Since it was my very last trump card, I needed to ensure its effectiveness which would have greatly troubled , so of course, I had to wait until I was most confident to use it.”
“I don’t really believe that,” Nora said, looking nothing like a person on the brink of death nor like one facing her killer, calmly smiling and saying, “In recent years, our greatest focus has been on you, we studied you the most.
Starting from one hundred and ten years ago, you made a deep impression on us.
Over the decades we all knew very well, if soone could thwart our plans, it definitely would be you, so we ticulously studied all the information we could find about each of your battles, especially those classic fights.
We even understand so of your habits better than you do yourself, thus saying this is your last trump card doesn’t convince .”
“Uh, I must admit, you guys really have a lot of free ti,” Pannis scratched his head, looking rather embarrassed, “Why don’t you believe it?”
“Because, be it years ago or in the most recent tis, you have one unchanging habit; you always prepare everything before a battle, through various ans you grasp a high chance of victory before engaging, aning you never tackle sothing you aren’t sure of,” explained Nora softly.
“This ti, Darak’s death was an accident; you did not foresee the existence of that assassin, though you still ca, which ans you believed that you could still defeat both and Darak.
However, just with the Bow of Release, that wouldn’t have been possible, thus I am sure you have other trump cards, even stronger ones, powerful enough to even out the difference in strength between our sides.
If it’s convenient, could you tell what are the other trump cards you have hidden away?”
“Well, you saw through , to counter you, I had three more trump cards aside from the Bow of Release; they are all one-ti uses, and I wouldn’t use them unless it was a mont of life and death,” Pannis said with a wry smile.
“They are on loan to , an arrow, a scale, and a pearl only.
The arrow, paired with the Bow of Release, ensures one of you two would definitely die, there’s no chance of escape.
The scale, once attached to my body, would cover with a layer similar to that of Lizardn for twenty-two hours, giving the defensive capability and agility of a Lizardman.
As for the pearl, once swallowed, it can heal multiplicative injuries within five minutes.
So, I honestly didn’t mind going head-to-head in a straightforward battle like with Herr because with the pearl’s protection, I would not truly die.”
“Indeed, I suspected you wouldn’t just bring one bow as your trump card,” Nora guessed correctly and said with the pride of a child, “This habit of yours vexes us greatly.
We were worried you wouldn’t co because without you, our plan could not proceed.
Yet, we were also fearful you would indeed co, for that would an you believed you had a good chance of winning.
We certainly don’t think you’re foolish enough to believe that without reason.”
“I was blindly confident once,” Pannis sighed, “You probably know how that turned out.”
“That was during your encounter with our lord, wasn’t it?
Heh, you were indeed blind then,” Nora’s body suddenly swayed as she struggled to maintain her balance and slowly sat down, giving a self-deprecating laugh, “I’m a bit tired; I’ll sit and rest a while.
Hmm, but that experience taught you not to overestimate your chances, which is exactly why we’re really worried.”
“What then?” Pannis’s smile grew more bitter as he said softly, “So you had preparations for both scenarios, correct?”
“Hahaha, seeing your expression, you must have guessed already,” Nora laughed heartily and nodded, “Right, we had to consider, what if you actually won?
It wouldn’t matter much if the two of us died, but would our plan just fail like that?
That’s sothing we absolutely can’t tolerate, so we had to prepare in advance.”
“So you prepared an alternate sacrifice,” Pannis lowered his gaze to the floor, his voice emotionless, “If you failed to kill , you’d use the alternate sacrifice to complete your ritual.”
“Hehe, it seems you’ve seen through even the matter of the alternate sacrifice; speaking with a smart person is indeed effortless,” Nora tilted her head, her curiosity apparent as she asked, “When did you figure it out?”
“Just now, when I landed and saw your reaction wasn’t one of anxiety about the plan failing, I realized it,” Pannis said, his tone despondent, “You kept ntioning an alternate sacrifice, but I couldn’t think what it could be.
Just a mont ago, it hit that you wanted to use as the sacrifice because I am cursed by Danacus, and my connection with the Realm of the Dead is the deepest, making an ideal sacrificial candidate.
However, I overlooked that there are two other people, whose connections with the Realm of the Dead and Danacus are just as deep, perhaps even deeper.
Using them might even yield a better result.”
“Hahaha, exactly,” Nora laughed joyously, pointing to her nose, “Those two people are Darak and .
Both of us could also serve as substitutes, so we sched to lock you and us together in the ritual space.
If we couldn’t kill you, we would let you kill us.
Either outco fulfills one of the conditions, and the ritual would conclude successfully with the sacrifice.”
“That’s why you suddenly beca calm after Darak died,” Pannis sighed, “By then, you must have been fully prepared to face the current situation.”
“Yes, I said then that I would seriously try to kill you, or seriously let you kill ,” although Nora was growing weaker, her mood was incredibly buoyant, “No matter who kills whom, we will be the ultimate victors.
As the victors, we naturally give you, the loser, so leniency.”
“Knowing now that I was deceived, my mood is pretty foul,” Pannis raised an eyebrow and scoffed, “When I’m in a bad mood, I like to do things that make others’ moods worse, so there’s sothing I need to tell you.”
Fearless of Nora’s dying reprisal, Pannis moved forward a few steps, leaned closer to her ear, and whispered for a long ti.
Nora’s expression changed continuously with Pannis’s murmuring until finally, after he finished, she retorted, “These are just your speculations, aren’t they?”
“Yes,” Pannis nodded, “But they are indeed a possibility.”
“Heh, if that’s the case, then we are three fools,” Nora’s expression finally settled into self-mockery, “The biggest fools in the world.”
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