The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 103

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 103

People exclaimed in admiration. Then Pabein aimed at the ogre-shaped stone statue that towered massively beyond the targets.

As his arm muscles swelled and shining aura rippled and settled into the arrow, sounds of “ooh” flowed from the viewing stands.

Pabein smirked and released the bowstring. Bang—the shining arrow shot forth with a sound more like a cannonball than an arrow, striking the ogre statue’s head. When the momentary burst of light subsided, the statue’s head could be seen deeply dented.

“To have that much power while piercing through defensive magic!”

“The mark is almost half the head? At this level, it’s not an arrow but a cannon! He could be a one-man artillery unit!”

“Which family’s knight did you say? What, Duirebourg? Tsk, they got a good recruit…”

“This is why there’s a rule banning winners from competing for three years. If such skilled fighters kept participating, the matches would become boring.”

The viewing stands became noisy. Scattered applause broke out here and there, then when Pabein placed his hand on his chest and gave a knightly salute, the entire viewing area filled with applause.

Pabein returned to the waiting area and said to Lillieta with a smile.

“Even now, if you give up, we can pretend nothing happened, Noblewoman.”

Rita walked out of the waiting area without responding. As she stood at the line and raised her revolver, the event staff prepared to time her and looked at her.

She nodded to indicate she was ready to begin. Almost simultaneously with the flag dropping and targets shooting up between obstacles, the gun barrel spat fire.

‘I was given more than enough time to confirm the positions of obstacles and targets.’

Thankfully, there were many obstacles, providing plenty of places to ricochet bullets. The angles came out beautifully too. Rita fired exactly one shot then lowered her gun barrel.

‘One shot is enough.’

Bang, bang, bang, ta-bang, bang, ta-bang—.

Though the gun barrel flashed only once, gunshots rang out continuously like playing percussion instruments. In rhythm with those beats, targets scattered throughout shook.

Some targets fell, some deflected bullets while bearing bullet marks, and some were pierced through, creating paths to targets behind them.

Sometimes bouncing off obstacles, sometimes off other targets, a single bullet shot down all targets. The bullet made of Oath didn’t lose power even while ricocheting like that. Ricochet shooting that had reached mastery.

[Opinion: This artificial spirit believes this level could be classified as art.]

Though it wasn’t a real combat situation and Duke Adickl was watching so she didn’t use special functions, Grace, who was only activated to learn techniques, spoke in admiration.

And the artificial spirit’s reaction was among the most composed in the shooting competition arena.

The announcer looked at the event staff with a dumbfounded expression. The event staff also had a half-dazed look as they rechecked each fallen target one by one, then stammered out:

“A-all hits… time required was… 3 seconds…”

“3 seconds?”

The announcer gave up on proceeding and asked back in a stupid voice, but people had no mental capacity to blame him. Not admiration but shock filled the viewing stands.

And Lillieta prepared a second shock before the first one that swept the arena had even faded.

‘Since Duke Adickl is watching… let’s not show more than the level Pascal knows.’

Though she could handle much more Oath with senses more refined than before, she doesn’t. The skill level from when she was ‘Rita Pascal’ would be sufficient anyway.

She aimed at the ogre statue rising beyond the obstacles. Not at the head where Pabein had already left his mark, but at the statue’s thickest part—the belly.

‘I happen to have a technique that suits the name Twilight Monastery.’

Oath gathered at the raised gun barrel. She processed the gathering Oath into heat. Golden Oath concentrated to a single point and began to shine brilliantly. The surroundings glowed as the converging Oath blazed crimson.

Rita took a deep breath, then paused briefly.

The point of light gathered at the gun barrel’s tip was dazzling like a small sun. Together with the faint crimson tinge around it, the sight looked like sunrise or sunset.

In the past, a unique technique created by extremely condensing Oath to a single point to pierce through some damn named magical beast that deflected most bullets. A bullet crafted by containing Oath equivalent to 10 explosive rounds in a single shot.

‘…In my current state I could compress more than 10 rounds, but there’s no need for that, so I’ll put in about 7 rounds.’

When she hastily created this technique on the battlefield, what Gid who saw her had said.

“I thought twilight had come for a moment. I wondered if the setting sun was caught at the tip of your gun.”

His description became an image within her, becoming the name of this unique technique.

‘Twilight Moment.’

She pulled the trigger.

A golden sun wrapped in red sunset glow crossed through the air. Flying while distorting the air, it penetrated the massive statue. The small sun exploded, instantly releasing heat equivalent to seven times that of explosive rounds.

The defensive magic shattered completely and rock melted through. The statue’s head fell down as its belly disappeared entirely, making a tremendous noise.

Thoom.

Many people flinched at that sound as if struck.

Like the first round, it was a result that didn’t even need score comparison and calculation.

[Amazement: This is another new application. To create a unique technique by compressing explosive rounds like this, this artificial spirit respects the user. However…]

[Warning: Burden from recoil on the user’s body is detected.]

[Analysis: Up to 10 times explosive round standard can be managed with post-care like rapid magic casting and muscle massage, but beyond that risks injury or fainting.]

[Advice: User, please refrain from using this technique at maximum output.]

‘Don’t worry, I know to control that much myself.’

Lillieta let the artificial spirit’s nagging go in one ear and out the other, blew away the heat rising from the gun barrel with her breath, then put Silvergrass into her reticule instead of the bracelet.

‘There’s no need to reveal that the bracelet is a holster in front of the Duke.’

She returned to the waiting area carrying the small bag decorated with jewels. Then she spoke calmly to Pabein, who was frozen with wide eyes.

“Count Pabein, do you now understand the common sense of Twilight Monastery?”

“…”

Pabein couldn’t say anything. He turned pale as a sheet, opened and closed his mouth, rubbed his eyes several times, then looked at Lillieta with a shocked expression.

She smiled slightly and went outside the waiting tent.

The arena was filled not with applause and cheers like before, but with shock and silence. The result was too shocking to even know how to react. Even Duke Adickl was frozen with wide eyes.

The announcer who barely regained his senses stammered.

“Just now, just now… so, just now that… the defensive magic that was never broken… with one bullet, it broke…”

Rita glanced toward Duke Duilebog in the viewing stands.

Next to the Duke with his mouth agape, Lavinia, who had somehow changed clothes and come, was clasping both hands together with a flushed face, then noticed her gaze and hopped up and down in place. Her pink hair fluttered like rabbit ears.

Lillieta waved slightly to her overjoyed disciple and left the arena.

‘This should be sufficient proof. I should hear less nonsense from now on.’

She walked with a satisfied feeling. Not toward the viewing stands, but toward Raskail’s camp.

She had seen Lavinia’s victory, silenced Pabein, and seemed to have succeeded in changing the audience’s perception to some degree, so she had no more business at the shooting competition venue.

‘I’m not interested in combat division matches where guns won’t appear. Now I just need to wait until the hunting competition ends? Then I should go keep the promise I made to Gid.’

She had brought two cravats cleanly laundered. She planned to return them in person as promised.

Rita, who had been walking lightly, encountered Ethan coming out of Raskail’s camp area with an uncomfortable expression.

“Ethan? Where are you going?”

“Ah.”

Ethan scratched his auburn hair then quickly looked around. Confirming there were no particular watching eyes, he answered as a colleague rather than a footman.

“I was going to look for your maid for a bit.”

“Hanna? Why Hanna?”

“It seems past the time she should return, but she hasn’t come back.”

“Time to return? Where did Hanna go?”

“She followed some servant I’d never seen before who was hitting on her, saying they were going for a walk in the forest. And now it’s been three hours since she hasn’t returned. Damn, it’s making me worry…”

“What? Hanna did?”

The Hanna Rita had observed wasn’t the type to act so rashly.

Since her amethyst Lindsey couldn’t come to the Frontier Festival due to other duties this time, Hanna had been enthusiastic, saying ‘I’ll serve Miss even more diligently to make up for Lady Lindsey’s part.’ But that Hanna had been away for over three hours?

She frowned and asked back.

“Hanna doesn’t seem like she would do that. Are you sure you saw correctly, Ethan?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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