Volume 2 Chapter 29: So Near Yet So Far

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

- 25 Power Stones

- 50 Power Stones]

Volume 2 Chapter 29: So Near Yet So Far

So they can only make a 50 centimeter radius and Carmilla and Eve think that 50 centimeter should work.

Daniel progress on casting the blood dome spell was about 93% done when the time they finish spreading the arrows in a 50 centimeter radius and if they insisted on making a 1 meter radius, Daniel's blood dome would be long finish and it would complicate the situation more.

The two of them then begun retracking their control on the arrows around Daniel and his un-finish blood dome since it would be a waste if the two of them use all of their arrows in a single use since not all of the arrows would hit the blood dome or enter the top opening of the blood dome.

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And the rest would only hit the ground. So, after dropping that batch of arrows, they control the other arrows to move forward to replace the ones that they dropped. They didn't let the 50-centimeter radius decrease since after they controlled the arrows beside them to replace the ones they just dropped. After the other arrows leave the edge part of the 50-centimeter radius.

The two of them would control the other arrows that are not yet within the 50-centimeter radius to fill in the gaps.

Daniel, who was about to finish casting the blood dome spell, started to hear a familiar sound above him. He looked up and tried to recall why he found those sounds above him very familiar.

That's when he saw several arrows falling around him through the gaps in the tree branches and leaves. After seeing all of those, he knew why he found those sounds very familiar. It was because every time he practiced shooting arrows at a wooden target, upon hitting the target, he would also hear the same sound.

Daniel tried to hasten the completion of the blood dome spell he was casting, estimating that there were currently 20-25 arrows falling above him. This count also included the arrows that got stuck by landing on a large tree branch or the ones that had shattered.

However much he wanted to speed up his current casting speed, he couldn't, as a debuff was still affecting him, slowing down his casting speed. There were still 50 minutes before it expired.

Daniel was 97% complete with casting the blood dome spell when the arrow rain started hitting the blood dome, significantly slowing down his casting speed.

To Daniel, the completion of the blood dome spell seemed both tantalizingly close and frustratingly distant at the same time.

The blood dome was rapidly losing its durability due to the barrage of arrows, causing the casting progress to decrease from 97% to 96%. Despite Daniel's attempts to halt this decline, he realized he wasn't as exceptional as Carmilla, who could finish casting the blood dome spell with the assistance of her two clones, even while it was being attack simultaneously.

Despite being at level 5, two levels higher than Carmilla who was at level 3, theoretically having more mana due to previously grinding all his stats to the maximum when he was at level 5 before, Daniel's mana still didn't equate to that of the combined mana of three individuals at level 3. If their mana were added together, they would surpass Daniel's total mana reserves.

His progress in casting the blood dome spell was gradually slipping away.

Some time had passed, and Daniel noticed the frequency of the arrow rain was slowing down. Suspecting that Carmilla and her two clones might be running out of arrows, he was proven right as Carmilla and Eve were indeed slowing down due to their diminishing arrow supply.

Their slowdown wasn't due to an inability to make more arrows, but rather because there was no need for them to craft additional arrows.

After the last arrow rain passed, Daniel braced himself for another round of dodging, but to his surprise, the anticipated arrow rain didn't occur. Despite waiting for a while, no arrow rain materialized.

Daniel considered the possibility that they could be crafting more arrows. Simultaneously, he entertained the idea that the absence of the arrow rain might be a trap to catch him off guard, possibly leading to a sudden, silent barrage of several arrows when he let down his guard.

Daniel was so focused on the absence of the arrow rain that he hadn't noticed several intact arrows lying on the ground around the blood dome.

Carmilla and Eve controlled the arrows scattered around Daniel. They directed the arrows to hover slightly above the ground before aiming them toward the unfinished and damaged blood dome of Daniel. Carmilla then communicated through their mental connection.

Carmilla: "On my count, we will launch our attacks at the same time. Ready?"

Eve: "Ready!"

Carmilla: "3, 2, 1, attack!"

Carmilla and Eve directed the arrows to launch toward the blood dome. Some of the closer ones were the first to hit it, causing visible damage. Daniel immediately noticed the blood dome's deterioration and ceased scanning the sky, prioritizing the actual damage affecting his blood dome over the possibility of non-existent attacks from above.

He observed more than a dozen arrows flying in his direction, with a few already colliding with his blood dome. Daniel was on the verge of grabbing a bow and arrow when his instincts began alerting him to imminent danger. However, as he looked around, he didn't immediately discern the source of the danger.

Surrounded by arrows attempting to breach his unfinished blood dome, Daniel perceived the more than a dozen arrows as a mere nuisance, slowing down and impeding his progress in casting the blood dome rather than posing an immediate danger.

Even though he didn't know what triggered his instincts, Daniel had learned to always to listen to it. He began scanning his surroundings to identify on what might have trigger it, but all he found were more than a dozen arrows around him, which he dismissed. Undeterred, he continued looking further through the forest to locate the potential source of the danger his instincts had warned him about.

His instincts alerted him to a significant danger from above that could deal critical damage to him, potentially resulting in a worst-case scenario of fatal consequences.

Just as Daniel was about to look up, his vision suddenly became blurry. It wasn't just Daniel; the trio also experienced the same phenomenon while waiting for the outcome of their impromptu plan.