System's POV

Chapter 1394: A Shot To The Heart

Following her defeat in Go Kart, Stella decided to avenge herself by taking Thirteen to the Archery Range.

’I’ll win this time!’ Stella glanced at her companion, who was currently testing the string of the bow in his hand.

Kazo Land’s Archery Range was also very popular. The current Top 10 scorers were always displayed, and every time someone new joins the list, they would receive a prize.

The amusement park never lacked visitors happy to take the challenge. Of course, that was easier said than done. The rankings had changed countless times, and the score needed to break through was getting higher and higher.

Interestingly, majority of the names immortalized in the rankings hailed from the Elven Race.

When it came to wielding bow and arrow, it went without saying that the Elves were the cream of the crop.

Stella’s name was also at the top of the Rankings, though she wasn’t ranked first.

That spot belonged to her mother, Belle, whose rank remained unbeaten for the past ten years.

On the second place sat her Elven Mother’s name, Princess Eowyn.

Stella only managed to reach third place, but that in itself was already a great achievement.

These three ladies were hailed as the Trinity of the Archery Range and were deemed unbeatable.

From a distance, Belle, Sidonie, Chiffon, and Stella’s other mothers observed with knowing smiles on their faces.

"She’s trying to beat him in a game where she has the advantage," Sidonie giggled. "Oh, dear. It seems that her three consecutive losses at Go Kart took a toll on her. I guess our future son-in-law’s winning streak ends here."

Belle didn’t make any comment, but she shared the same thoughts.

Chiffon, on the other hand, thought differently.

"It’s too early to assume Zion will lose," Chiffon commented.

"Looks like he has impressed you, Chiffon," the Fairy Queen, Titania, said. "He doesn’t seem that skilled to me."

She was also one of William’s wives and had come to spectate to see the young man whom everyone had been talking about.

"Well, you should have seen him earlier," Sidonie replied. "Stella didn’t win a single time against him in Go Kart."

"Go Kart is Go Kart," Titania crossed her arms over her chest. "The Archery Range is Stella’s domain. There’s no way she will lose against him."

"Then how about a bet?" Chiffon asked.

"You’re going to bet on him?" Titaania blinked, confusion written on her beautiful face.

Chiffon nodded. "Yes. It’s too bad, Stella already likes him. If not, I would have played matchmaker for him and my daughters."

"... But your two daughters have already called dibs on two babies," Titania smirked. "How old are they? One year old?"

"Age is just a number," Chiffon replied.

Everyone would have agreed with her if not for the fact that Maple and Cinnamon claimed that their future husbands were only babies right now.

In fact, the two would visit them often to bring them bottled milk.

It was a very complicated story, and frankly, even William felt helpless because his two daughters had redefined the term "cradle snatchers".

Maple and Cinnamon even said that they had already made arrangements with the mother and father of their future husbands.

After hearing this, William asked them to take him to that world so he could personally see his "future" sons-in-law and meet their parents.

But that was a story for another time.

"Look, they’re starting," Sidonie said, while looking at Zion with pity. "I feel so sorry for him."

"So, is our bet on?" Chiffon asked Titania.

"Sure." Titania accepted the challenge. "If you win, I’ll give you a jar of the prized wines made from Tyr Na Nog. If I win you’ll give me..."

Titania whispered something in Chiffon’s ears, which made the latter frown. However, she still nodded in the end.

"Deal!"

"Hahaha! Thank you in advance."

Titania was quite confident that he already got this one in the bag, so she looked at the two competitors with excitement.

The Archery Range battle was quite simple.

There would be five combatants, and they would be shooting at flying clay pigeons.

The winner would be the one who would be able to hit the most targets within two minutes.

To prevent cheating, there was a special enchantment placed inside the shooting range, preventing any spells or other special abilities from giving them an edge in this battle.

Simply put, this was a battle of pure Archery Skill, and only those who prided themselves in their abilities would be able to come out on top.

"Good luck, Zion," Stella said as she nocked an arrow into her bow.

"Good luck to you too," Thirteen replied before stabbing all of his arrows on the ground in front of him.

After that, he nocked three arrows on his bow and prepared to shoot.

The Mascot who was present in the Go Kart earlier also spectated this archery match.

James stood beside the mascot, fiddling with his beard.

Both of them had no doubt in their mind that Stella would win this challenge hands down.

They even felt a little sorry for Zion. Although they didn’t know about Zion’s proficiency, they believed in Stella’s prodigy and felt like this could be considered bullying.

The staff then raised his trumpet and blew on it, signaling the start of the Archery Competition.

Countless clay pigeons soared across the Archery Range.

They were enchanted with magic that let them fly like real pigeons, capable of evading arrows targeting them.

Stella released her arrows in quick succession, hitting her targets without fail.

None of her shots had missed, boosting her confidence.

However, after the half-minute mark, she noticed something peculiar.

There were several arrows that moved erratically across the Archery Range, bouncing into one clay pigeon onto the other.

Some of these arrows could hit three targets in one flight. The sight of it made the audience feel absurd. Not to mention, three arrows were being simultaneously fired at a time.

Such a feat should be nearly impossible to actualize, yet here was someone doing it consecutively.

Who else could it be if not Thirteen?

Everyone even felt sorry for him at the beginning, clueless that the teenage boy was once the System of Cannon Fodders.

High-Speed calculations was his forte.

While everyone else was targeting a single clay pigeon with their arrows, he was targeting multiple of them at the same time.

Too focused on the teenage boy’s archery, everyone forgot to pay attention to his crazily incrementing points.

In fact, after reaching the first-minute mark, Thirteen’s name had already entered the top 10!

James even accidentally pulled his beard too hard, making him groan in pain.

The Mascot on the other hand looked dazed. But this wasn’t the case.

The person inside the mascot was busy covering the entire Archery Range with detection magic, checking if Zion was cheating.

The moment he discovered traces of the young man cheating, he would beat the crap out of the latter and call him a cheat in front of everyone else.

But no matter what kind of detection spell he used, all the results were the same.

Zion truly used nothing but pure archery skill to hit the flying pigeons.

When the clay pigeons finally disappeared from the Archery Range, everyone’s gaze looked at Zion’s score, which was now blinking non-stop at the Top 1 spot of the rankings!

"Huh?" Belle blinked once then twice after seeing that her record had finally been beaten.

Even Chiffon, who bet on Zion earlier, looked wide-eyed at the results.

While everyone else was reeling in the aftermath of the competition, Stella looked at Zion in a daze.

The teenage boy then finally glanced in her direction and flashed her a smile.

"Good game," Thirteen replied. "I haven’t had this much fun in a while."

The young lady’s heart skipped a beat as if Thirteen’s smile was like an arrow that had pierced her heart.

If there was one thing that Stella prided the most, it was her archery skill.

For her to be beaten this easily by someone, who also managed to beat the best score of her mother, the young lady felt as if he was now seeing the "real" Zion.

A version of him that only his lovers knew and loved very much.

"Well then, should we do a round two?" Thirteen twirled an arrow between his fingers as if he was still itching for another round. "Or would you rather that I shoot an arrow to your heart?"

These lines were also written in the guidebook that Vincent had given him in the past.

He said these words so playfully and naturally that Stella felt her heart skipped a beat a second time.

For Thirteen, the competition was just a simple game of archery.

What he didn’t know was that he had made history that day, and no one, not even William could deny his achievement.