During the entire duration of the Higher Bracket Archery Tournament, the Elves performed decently. They weren’t the strongest, but they weren’t the weakest either.
Compared against the Purveiyour Werewolf Tribe and the other Conglomerate representatives, they were quite behind in terms of output. Their skill was there, but they simply just got outclassed by the Conglomerates just like the other tribes.
And now, it was time for the Elves to have another duel to decide whether they were going to advance to the semi-finals.
Against them was another Conglomerate representative.
By pure coincidence, they were fighting against a Hepheasteus company representative once again.
But unlike last time, no one expected any miracles. A demi-human Maugnetic couldn’t defy expectations this time. Not only that, but they were fighting against a team of Conglomerate Archers fully armed with the best equipment that the world had available.
Neytiri’s mother personally gave their representatives their special bows, one that was designed with the best minds in the world, rivalling even that of the Dwarves in terms of crafts.
Added to that the other resources that the representatives had, it truly did seem like the outcome of the match was all but done.
Gabriel’s father didn’t even pay attention to the fight. He was still worrying about those rats and how best to protect the demi-human Maugnetic from their schemes.
But just as he was in the middle of his rumination, he suddenly heard gasps echoing out of the arena.
"What’s happening?" he asked his secretary.
He looked towards her, but saw that her head was still staring at the arena, unable to get rid of her attention towards it.
Eventually, he turned his focus there as well.
And what he saw then was something completely shocking.
The Conglomerate Representatives were on the defensive, their numbers slowly whittling away as arrows after arrows rained down on them and hit the targets on their bodies.
They tried to fight back, but the onslaught of piercing shots left them unable to even get a single breath of reprieve.
On the opposite side of the Sanctum, the Elves stood atop the giant trees, holding their strange metal bows in their hands.
The arrows shot by the Conglomerate representatives limply arced down a few hundred meters away from their position. They couldn’t even hit the leaves on the giant trees.
The Elves positioned themselves too far away!
Now usually, this wasn’t a viable winning strategy, one that only elongated the fight. If they were too far away, no one could hit each other.
But for these Elves, this didn’t seem to be too much of a problem.
Their eyes glistened as they looked at their targets.
Once they locked eyes with the Conglomerate Archers, they drew their shots. The dark, vine-like string on their bows glowed with mystical power, a power that seemed to increase their Aubility threads by a tremendous amount.
Once the arrows were let loose, they charged towards their targets with blistering speed.
These were so fast that they didn’t even arc like a normal arrow! They beamed straight to their targets.
And no matter the obstacle, the Elves’ arrows remained inexorable. They pierced through thick tree barks, shattered boulders, and cleaved the Earth before they finally reached the Conglomerate Archers, hitting them in their targets.
Even when the Hephaestus representatives took pill after pill after pill, or even used magic scrolls to boost their power and eyesight, they just couldn’t recreate the power of the Elves’ bows.
And not even five minutes after the start of the Sanctum Duel, the Elves finished off their opponents. Ten to zero.
No elf returned to the Colosseum with an arrow in their body.
"WHAT?!"
Gabriel’s father couldn’t believe what he just witnessed.
The Hepheasteus bows actually got... outclassed?
Even without looking at it from up close, he could feel the immense power that those metal bows held. Physically. He wasn’t even taking into account the Aubility Power hidden on those vine-like strings.
"The Elves actually have such Mithril Artifacts under their belt?"
This had terrifying implications. The only reason why the Elves weren’t considered one of the strongest species in the world was because of their lack of resources. Their Mithril Artifacts were low, compared to other companies or Beastfolks.
But if they had more of those metal bows on hand, then they were a force to be reckoned with. Even the Draconians would have to be careful when dealing with them.
Just then, a figure flashed right beside Gabriel’s father.
It was one of his guards.
"Master Vanderbilt, I have news."
His guard leaned in and whispered in his ears.
His eyes widened. "Those Elves... are allied with the Reborn company?"
Gabriel’s father sunk back into his throne as he tried to process this information.
If this was true, then he may have underestimated the leader of the Reborn company.
The fact that he was able to ally himself with the Elves, who had such powerful weapons hidden in their sleeves, before anyone else was indicative of a very good business acumen and intuition.
Of course, it didn’t even occur to him that it was actually the Reborn company who supplied those bows.
Why would he? In his perspective, Mithril Artifacts couldn’t be reproduced.
This only solidified his goal of protecting the Reborn company. And to do so, they must be under the shade of the great Vanderbilt name.
With that in mind, he put his focus back on the Arena.
And from here, he could see the Hephaestus company in complete shambles. Their eyes were glowing with awe and excitement as they peered at the Elves’ bows.
He could already tell that they had plans of talking with the Elves in the hopes of becoming allies.
"Should we also send someone to talk with the Elves?" his secretary asked.
But he declined. "Talking will get us nowhere. We need solid leverage."
In short, they couldn’t really promise anything to the Elves unless they had their resources in hand, which they currently didn’t have. It was still on the way from the Upper Queens region.
"Master Vanderbilt. I have just received word about our items."