MIGHT AS WELL BE OP-Chapter 553: Ant vs Vee

"Hoo... You also use arrows? That’s surprising. I thought you only loved the katana, given I’ve seen it with you twice," Vega replied in surprise.

"I’m not limited to one weapon. I just love the katana more than any other weapon," Anthony replied.

Anthony wasn’t really a fan of bows and arrows; he didn’t like the idea of fighting from afar. He loved the movement in battle, the dodging, the injuries, the exhaustion.

He wasn’t into firing an arrow from a great distance and then changing position. Although he knew archery was more than that, he simply too lazy to care.

"Let’s go then. Since I know the location, I’ll drive," Vega said as she walked toward the driver’s seat.

"Just give the AI the coordinates, and it will get us there," Anthony replied, not wanting Vega to drive around on their first date.

Vega didn’t argue and agreed. With the coordinates now in place, the car lifted gently from the ground once more and shot forward into the distance.

Within minutes, they arrived at what looked like a vast open clearing. A building stood prominently in front, while a thick forest stretched out behind it. Anthony and Vega stepped out of the car, and Vega eagerly headed to the front counter.

To Anthony, this place was no different from the shooting ranges back on his planet, the ones favored by gun lovers. But in this case, it was all about arrows.

Since Anthony wasn’t familiar with the place, he let Vega take the lead and show him around. They paid for thirty minutes of time before purchasing two bows and a set of arrows.

As they walked, Vega explained the rules of what they were about to do.

"The running course is this forest. Human-shaped board figures will appear in your path as you move, and you’re meant to shoot them down with your arrows. Different parts of the body have different point values, the head, the leg, the eye, all scored differently. We’ll both be shooting them down throughout the course. Also, once every minute, a green circular arrow target will appear in the sky. That one is for extra points, but this time, only a bullseye counts. Anything less results in a point deduction," Vega explained in a single breath.

Anthony’s gaze scanned the forest ahead. Vega handed him a bow and a quiver of arrows, each of which restricted mana and physical strength down to the D-rank level.

"You ready?" Vega asked, already strapping her quiver onto her back.

"I am. But don’t cry when you lose at your own game," Anthony said with a grin.

"Say that after you’ve seen the score," Vega replied, smirking.

A short flare gun launched into the sky, then exploded with a loud crack, signaling the start of the course.

Anthony and Vega vanished at the exact same moment, their figures darting into the forest with seamless movement.

Vega’s heels did nothing to hinder her momentum. It was as if she had been running in them since birth, her movements were fluid, balanced, unshaken.

Her purple eyes snapped to the side as the first set of board targets emerged. An arrow was already in her grasp. Without hesitation, she let it fly.

Thwack.

The arrow buried itself into the center of the target with pinpoint accuracy.

She didn’t slow. Another arrow was already between her fingers, her hand moving fluidly to her quiver as she loosed another shot, then another, each one striking its mark.

’Fifty nine.’

She kept count silently in her head. From the moment the trial began, she had been tracking every second.

Her gaze flicked upward. A green, circular aerial target appeared, but it wasn’t still. It glided through the air unpredictably.

Vega’s arms moved. She drew the bowstring back with practiced strength and aimed.

Swish.

The arrow launched, slicing through the air before embedding dead center in the moving target. A small, satisfied smile touched her lips as she pushed onward.

Elsewhere, Anthony moved with composed ease, leaping effortlessly from tree to tree. Some trees were rigged with traps, their branches snapped like brittle twigs the moment they were touched.

But to Anthony, such tricks were meaningless. They posed no threat to his momentum.

Though he rarely used a bow in actual combat, he had trained with one extensively. More importantly, his battle instincts were razor-sharp.

With a smooth motion, he nocked three arrows at once and released. All three hit their respective boards simultaneously, perfect shots.

’Fifty nine.’

He, too, had been counting down to the one-minute mark. His cerulean eyes lifted to the sky, catching sight of the moving aerial target Vega had spoken about earlier. But he didn’t shoot. He had chosen to leave that one for her.

’What a sly woman,’ Anthony mused as he moved through the course. Vega hadn’t warned him about the trap-laden branches or the fact that the aerial targets were in motion.

But it didn’t matter. As for those moving targets, he had already decided, he would take sixteen and leave fourteen for her. That was the best compromise he could manage without hurting her pride. A tie? That was out of the question. Anthony didn’t believe in those.

And so, time flowed on. The two of them tore through the forest like flowing wind and fire, moving with an unspoken rhythm, every arrow finding its mark, headshots only.

Vega had noticed that Anthony skipped a few aerial targets now and then, and she was also aware that she had missed a few shots of her own. Still, she told herself it didn’t matter. Her early targets were all perfect bullseyes, they would make up for the rest.

Then it appeared, the final aerial target, gliding across the sky.

Vega’s eyes sharpened. She was only one moving target behind Anthony. If she landed this shot, they would be even.

Her arrow soared, cutting through the air straight toward the bullseye.

But then, two arrows surged in from another angle. One collided with hers mid-flight, splintering it into shards. The second hit the target dead center.

Thwack.

And with that, the course ended.

Both of them emerged from the forest shortly after. Anthony looked at Vega with a light smile and asked, "How was my shooting form?"

"Hmph. You cheated at the last moment," Vega snorted, folding her arms.

"How did I cheat? That wasn’t against the rules. Besides, you didn’t tell me about the fake branches or the moving targets," Anthony replied calmly.

"Hmph. Such small things don’t matter to a real archer," Vega retorted with a cute pout.

Anthony only chuckled and shook his head as they walked toward the scoreboard.

Ant: 6600 / 8000

Vee: 5700 / 8000

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