## CHAPTER 38: Air bolt
The silver streak of Louisa's arrow had done its job with terrifying efficiency. Carrying the kinetic inheritance of two shots and the piercing properties of the "Air Bolt" enchantment, it had sliced through the monster's armored vine as if it were soft butter.
*GGGarRRRROOOOWWWWLLL!*
The Monster screeched, a sound that grated against the eardrums like metal grinding on bone. Its entire form convulsed in a violent spasm of agony. The sudden shock caused the beast to lose its grip entirely, and it hurled the captured black-haired girl high into the air. She sailed through the canopy, limp and unconscious, before falling flat onto the hard ground with a sickening thud. She didn't move.
"I did it!" Kerra shouted, her voice trembling with a mixture of exhaustion and manic triumph. She gasped for air, her chest heaving, but a wide smile broke across her dirt-smudged face. She saw the monster reeling and believed her own shot had finally found its mark. "I got my shot!"
Fuelled by a fresh surge of confidence, Kerra reached back into her quiver. Her fingers moved with newfound speed as she plucked another arrow, her eyes locked onto the twitching monster.
But back at the base of a nearby tree far from them , Louisa's face was the polar opposite of triumphant.
"Oh no... mistake," Louisa whispered, her eyes wide with horror. "I should have predicted it would drop her."
Louisa inhaled sharply, then exhaled a long, shaky breath to still the trembling in her hands. She needed to know if her teammate had survived the fall. She closed her eyes, shutting out the visual chaos of the clearing. In the sudden mental silence, her elven ears twitched, filtering out the rustle of leaves and the monster's dying groans.
*Thump... thump... thump...*
It was faint, but it was there—a stable, rhythmic heartbeat coming from the spot where the girl had landed. Louisa's shoulders slumped in relief.
"That was a close one," she murmured, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow. "Good thing she's still alive. What is wrong with you, Louisa?" She lightly rapped her knuckles against her forehead in self-annoyance. She couldn't afford to be sloppy; not when lives were on the line.
She snapped her gaze back to the clearing. Kerra was already in motion, dancing through the wreckage and unleashing a sequence of arrows.
"Oh no!" Louisa hissed. She raised her bow again, her movements a blur of practiced economy. " Archery style, BLINK SHOT"
Louisa began a frantic, invisible support fire. As Kerra darted from left to right, shooting her wooden shafts, Louisa's arrows followed a microsecond behind. To the untrained eye, it looked like Kerra's arrows were suddenly gaining supernatural power. In reality, Louisa's invisible projectiles were shattering Kerra's arrows mid-air, transferring their momentum and driving deep into the monster's stem and remaining tentacles.
*GGGRRRROOOOWWWWLLLLL!*
The monster was being turned into a pincushion. Every limb was impaled, and a foul, disgusting green liquid began to seep from dozens of puncture wounds, staining the arrows and the mossy ground.
---
*"Huh?"* Kerra stopped mid-stride, her bow half-drawn.
The tentacles had stopped moving. They lay scattered across the dirt like dead snakes, leaking green ooze. The monster seemed to have given up its defense. Kerra's smile turned sinister.
"This is my chance," she whispered. She stood her ground, facing the beast head-on. With no more tentacles to shield its weak spot, the massive, lidless eye was wide open and vulnerable.
"Just one more thing to do, and this will definitely be over," Louisa thought, her own arrow notched and ready. "Just once more. Louisa can't miss."
Nearby, Kelvin was finally clawing his way back to consciousness. He groaned, his gut burning where he had struck the tree branch. He forced himself upright, his back against a rough trunk, his eyes bleary as they sought out his sister. He saw her standing perfectly still, her arrow pointed at the beast.
"What is she waiting for?" Kelvin wheezed.
He watched as a faint, bluish glow began to emanate from Kerra's arrow. It pulsed like a heartbeat—brightening, then dimming, then brightening again.
"What is she doing?" Kelvin's voice was thick with frustration. "She should just shoot and finish it! She knows how long it takes to charge that attack! Shoot now, while its defense is low!"
---
Louisa, watching from the shadows, felt the hair on her arms stand up. Kerra was frozen.
"Is she paralyzed?" Louisa wondered. Then, her elven instincts screamed a warning. "Something's not right."
Louisa's left eye shimmered as a cross-shaped sigil appeared in her pupil.
"**Far Sight.**"
Her vision zoomed in instantly, bringing Kerra's face into sharp focus. She saw the sweat on Kerra's brow and the intense, almost unstable light gathered at the tip of her arrow.
"Oh no," Louisa gasped. "Kerra, you fool!" She quickly clapped a hand over her mouth to stay silent.
She glanced toward the monster. The "ooze" from its wounds had stopped dripping. The green liquid was thickening, sealing the holes even with the arrows still embedded in the flesh. The beast wasn't dying; it was regenerating.
"That can't be good," Louisa muttered.
Kerra, unaware of the monster's recovery, smiled wider. "Just a little bit more, and I'll blow this plant thing sky-high."
She began to chant, her voice low and resonant, echoing with the weight of her family's pride. "Let my power flow like a blazing sun which nothing can stop, and may it bring destruction upon those who stand against me!"
The arrow was now a brilliant, blinding beacon of blue energy, crackling with white electrical charges that hissed through the air. Kerra's face was illuminated by the deadly light, her expression one of grim determination.
The Monster slowly turned its eye toward her. It didn't lash out. It didn't roar. It simply watched, as if waiting for her to reach the peak of her power.
"Agh..." Kerra let out a pained groan. The mana drain was becoming immense. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the black-haired girl still lying in the dirt, and the guilt only fueled her desire to end this with one final, devastating blow.
The clearing was silent, save for the hum of Kerra's rising power—a silence that felt like the indrawn breath before a scream.