Volume 2 Chapter 41: Tiebreaker Round And A New Rule

[Author's Note: For bonus chapters, the goal every week is:

- 25 Power Stones

- 50 Power Stones]

Volume 2 Chapter 41: Tiebreaker Round And A New Rule

Pepper was shocked at suddenly being pushed out because, from what she knew from their initial conversation, she would be the first one to take the turn to shoot, followed by Carmilla, and for the last round, it should be Eve's turn.

So she almost fell face-first to the ground due to the suddenness of the situation and being unable to control herself, when suddenly she felt a gust of wind envelop her whole body, stopping her from falling face-first to the ground. Not only that, the wind enveloping her whole body also helped her stabilize her footing so that she could stand properly.

After gaining a proper footing, Pepper instantly knew who might have helped her, since she only knew three individuals who could use wind magic.

But before she confirms who have save her from falling, she first glared towards Carmilla and Eve, where Carmilla was giving her a apologetic look with both of her two hands placed together with both of her palms touching each other.

Pepper sent Carmilla a glare that promised she would seek revenge in the future for being suddenly pushed out and almost falling face first on the ground. Her glare also carried another meaning, questioning what happened to their internal conversation earlier and their plans to suddenly change out of nowhere.

After that, she took a short glance at Tria, but seeing that Tria was not paying any attention to them, she then looked at Vespera, who was the closest one to the three of them who could use wind magic, before thanking her.

Pepper: "Thank you for saving me from falling."

Vespera: "No worries, but I didn't expect you to thank me."

Pepper: "Why?"

Vespera: "It's because you were being sarcastic to me earlier."

Pepper: "I might be rude sometimes, but I know how to be grateful to someone who has just helped me."

This conversation occurred during her walk towards the front of the target. After that conversation, she took position in front of the target, which surprised her since there was no sign of any damage done to it, and she was sure that Vespera or anyone had not approached it to repair it.

Pepper chose to ignore this since getting 100 points was much more important than some irregularities that she could ask about later.

She then conjured a very familiar-looking bow and arrow before taking aim. She was very careful in aiming this time, since her current distance of 80 meters from the target was far from the distance she was comfortable with and where she could easily hit the bullseye.

After a few more seconds of carefully aiming had passed, she decided to take the shot.

*Swoosh*

After taking the shot, she closed both of her eyes since she was not confident enough and also due to her nervousness. She didn't open her eyes until she heard her arrow hitting the stone target.

*Thunk*

She quickly regretted opening her eyes, as it only made her more nervous. Why? Because from their distance, it seemed that the arrow had landed in either both the bullseye or the inner ring. Seeing that, she thought it would have been better if she had just kept her eyes closed and waited for someone to announce the result.

She also didn't say to Vespera that she had gotten another 100 points, unlike the first round, since it would be pretty embarrassing if she announced it right now and it turned out to be wrong after checking.

But she didn't let her nervousness take completely over her and quickly approached the wall where the target was placed.

She was also followed by Carmilla and Eve, who both appeared nervous, since if Pepper's arrow landed on the bullseye, they would get another 100 points and they would be tied with Vespera.

But if Pepper's arrow landed on the inner ring, it would only be worth 75 points, which would make them lose to Vespera by 25 points. Subsequently, they would lose the chance to choose the battlefield for their fight with Vespera, since this is the last round other than the tiebreaker rounds.

Vespera, who saw the trio's reaction, just chuckled internally since their reaction was a bit adorable. From what she could see, Pepper's arrow was within the bullseye mark by just a hair's breadth, but it was still within the bullseye mark.

But she still followed the trio just for fun to see their reaction when they saw the result of Pepper's shot.

As the three of them got closer to the target, they became more nervous, since this shot would determine their chance of picking their battlefield. So, the three of them couldn't help but get a bit competitive.

There is also another reason for their competitiveness, which is because they lost to Daniel in picking the battlefield in their first fight, which left a sour taste for the slightly competitive Carmilla.

The trio's nervousness spiked, especially for Pepper, who had taken the shot. When the three of them saw that the arrow could be on the edge of the bullseye or on the edge of the inner ring, their anxiety reached its peak.

The three of them were still unclear where Pepper's arrow had landed due to the arrow's fletching, or the feathers on the back of the arrow, obstructing their view.

But after walking a few more steps forward, they soon saw where the arrow tip had landed. The three of them simultaneously released the breath they were unknowingly holding in nervousness.

Vespera: "Fufufu, I guess we will be having a tiebreaker round."

That is when they heard Vespera chuckle, but they ignored it since what followed reminded them that they hadn't won the picking rights just yet.

Vespera: "I guess I'll be taking the first shot, and let's add a new rule in our little game just to be fair. If either one of you guys takes a turn as the shooter in this round, in the next round, the one that took the recent turn can't be the shooter. They will have to wait for another two rounds before they can take their turn again. Of course, this rule is not applicable to me since I'm only a single individual."

What Vespera said was too long for Carmilla and her two clones, but they got the gist of it. Basically, if one of the three of them took their turn, that person would have to wait for another two rounds before being able to shoot again.

Vespera decided to add this rule because she noticed that one of Carmilla's clones hadn't taken her turn yet to be the shooter. But the primary reason she added this rule is because Carmilla could just keep being the shooter and keep casting the blood slash spell.

Even though it's unlikely for Carmilla to continuously cast the blood slash spell successfully, since Vespera observed that Carmilla was not very familiar with casting the spell just yet, to perfectly cast the blood slash spell without making a mistake.