Since the weapon in Izroth's hand was registered as a sword and bow by the system, he was able to unite his sword skills with the thunderbolts, and the skill he chose to embed into the one he just fired off was his Fourth Sword Form: Dipping Valley.
Woosh! Woosh!
Izroth unleashed a second and third thunderbolt arrow as both moved at twice the speed of his first shot. Then came the fourth arrow; however, Izroth did not immediately release it and kept the arrow nocked as he maintained a steady aim—as if he were waiting for something to occur.
Simultaneously, the black wisps above Izroth curved and adjusted their course to recommence their chase. Their speed had risen once again! But, Izroth's expression was not one of concern or worry. There was an unwavering calmness present as he kept his eyes on his target.
After Izroth waited for a full breath of time, he finally let go of the last arrow. As the thunderbolt cut through the sky, it traveled at speed much greater than any of the previously shot arrows. It released a high-pitched ear piercing screech as it traveled through the skies.
Once that arrow left the bowstring, the sword bow in Izroth's hands started to dissipate. He deactivated the First State: Heavenly Descent as he neared the ground.
20 meters…
10 meters…
1 meter…!
Just as he was about to crash, the black wisps caught up to Izroth. It slammed into his body, adding to the force of the impact.
Boom!
The ground slightly trembled as a large cloud of dust formed where Izroth crash-landed. Simultaneously, several bright flashes of light went off nonstop.
…
Meanwhile, the first thunderbolt had long since reached Zarolas and Essirie as it pierced the soil at their feet. But, neither of them moved from the spot they stood as the arrow had missed them by over five meters! Although it created a fissure in the earth that split between Zarolas and Essirie, they appeared unbothered by the neglectable damage it inflicted.
"A pointless struggle." Essirie scoffed. Where was that human aiming? He wanted to hit them from the air while falling in such an unsightly manner? Even if he stood on his own two feet when he made that shot, there was no way such sloppy marksmanship would be enough to reach them.
Crrrckle! Crrrrrckle…!
Exactly 2.9 seconds after the first thunderbolt arrow reached its destination, the two arrows that were discharged after it arrived with a thunderous boom.
The first arrow contained the Third Sword Form: Collapsing Thunder, while the second held his Sixth Sword Form: Double Blooming Lotus that mimicked Izroth's third sword form.
With a single wave of his hand, two black wisps appeared in front of Zarolas. Each wisp hovered in the flight path of Izroth's arrows, making a collision between them unavoidable.
But, that was when something bizarre happened. The fissure that formed earlier as a result of the first arrow slammed closed. The instant it did so, the two Skounae were struck with an unexpected blow from Izroth's fourth sword form's delayed damage.
Wooosh!
Out of nowhere, the fourth and final arrow sped past the second and third as they were about to clash with the black wisps! The fourth thunderbolt brushed past the second arrow as the black wisp meant to consume the second arrow reacted and immediately moved to devour the fourth arrow. Soon, the third arrow succumbed to a similar fate and was also destroyed by the black wisp.
However, the second arrow on a path right for the black wisp had abruptly vanished less than a meter before it connected.
…Woosh!
All of a sudden, an arrow emerged out of thin air less than five centimeters away from Zarolas!
Even Zarolas was surprised by this arrow's sudden appearance. However, it was not from an unknown foe. Nor was it a sneak attack Izroth managed to launch. It was the very thunderbolt that had just disappeared from view just moments ago!
Bang!
The thunderbolt struck Zarolas on his back as electrical discharges could be seen coming from his body.
What that arrow did just now—if Zi Yi were there to witness it, she would be shocked. Wasn't that skill her Void Jump?!
However, while it worked similarly to Zi Yi's Void Jump, what Izroth just did was something completely different.
Due to the massive explosion of mana from the City Magic Grid, the space encompassing Vostracane had been displaced, and there were countless spatial tears. These spatial tears were invisible to the most, but Izroth could see them as clear as day with his Spatial Awareness skill.
Before he utilized his Sky Steps to take to the skies, Izroth noticed the two connecting spatial points, one of which was located right at Zarolas' back.
However, for his arrow to invade the spatial tear, Izroth could not be off by even one centimeter! Shooting at such a small target with monstrous precision while free falling upside down from the sky—among all the players in RML, it was likely that Izroth was the only one who could pull off such a feat!
Of course, Izroth's primary purpose with this arrow was not to inflict damage upon Zarolas. In the end, Zarolas was a Night Lord, and even though the system did not reveal his information, Izroth speculated that he was a legendary being. This meant that any damage Izroth did at his current level of strength would be, for the most part, neglectable since the level gap was sure not to be small.
Given that the second arrow contained Izroth's Third Sword Form: Collapsing Thunder, it had a 55% chance to paralyze its target, and it was this effect that momentarily locked Zarolas movements. Usually, the target would be paralyzed for two seconds. But, dealing with someone at Zarolas' level, Izroth knew that he would be lucky if the skill even paralyzed him at all, let alone for a full two seconds.
Fortunately, the odds favored Izroth, and he succeeded in paralyzing Zarolas. Even though its time was cut short, at moments like this, every second was crucial.
When the second arrow hit Zarolas, the smoke and light cleared up at the spot where Izroth crash-landed. But, neither Izroth nor the black wisps were anywhere to be found!
…
A faint shadow could be seen crawling on the earth. However, the peculiar thing about this shadow was that it moved as though it possessed a mind of its own. This shadow belonged to Izroth, or to be more precise; it was Izroth himself.
Moments ago, just before he was about to hit the ground, Izroth activated multiple Grand Illumination Talismans to create a screen of light. Since it was a low-grade utility talisman, the Grand Illumination Talisman did not have a cooldown time. Izroth took advantage of this and used up the last several of them that were in his inventory.
Then, right as Izroth threw the talismans, the black wisps succeeded in touching him. In the blink of an eye, what little mana Izroth had remaining was devoured by the black wisps. Even his magic was not spared, as a debuff was placed on him that dropped Izroth's magic down to zero. It was not long before the black wisps also drained his energy and HP.
However, instead of turning to dust like the others who came into direct contact with the black wisps, Izroth's HP stopped at one! After there was nothing else left for the black wisps to feast upon, they disappeared without a trace.
Izroth's survival was not the result of his good luck, but rather something he planned the instant Zarolas summoned those black wisps.
As for how he survived with one HP—this was thanks to an item he acquired back in the Great Sea Palace raid during his first run, the Preserving Breath of Life Talisman!
Whenever the user received a fatal blow, the Preserving Breath of Life Talisman would stop their HP at one and grant them immunity to all damage and crowd control for ten seconds. It even improved the user's HP regeneration by 1,000% during that time. However, the downside was that Izroth could not attack, use items and skills, nor could he obtain healing from outside sources.
Unfortunately, Izroth did not have ten seconds to spare, and immediately after the black wisps vanished, he forcibly canceled the effects of the talisman. This left his health in a dangerously low state as the bonus HP regeneration did not get the chance to play its part.
