"Is it over----"
"Everything is over."
The metal longbow speckled with sand trembled slightly, its bowstring of pure energy drawn to the fullest.
Between fingers covered in translucent flesh-scales and thin calluses, an energy arrow humming faintly was poised to fire.
Sarisa had once stood atop a towering mast amid a storm, striking a pirate leader on a distant deck with unerring precision as the waves swayed below. She had also patiently lain in wait among treetops, shooting a rare Monster dead through countless branches and bushes just as it poked its head out of a burrow.
Now, the enemy was not far away. Even while it was moving, with the battle-hardened skill of a profession-level Archer like her, all she had to do was loosen her fingers and let the arrow fly. Hitting the target was a certainty.
But Sarisa hesitated.
Something from the depths of her heart tormented her far more than physical exhaustion. Something she refused to acknowledge, yet which truly existed and seeped into her bones like piercing cold—something called "fear"—was affecting the Archer's mind.
There were not many Adventurers still alive on the field.
Just moments ago, when she saw Xia Nan, the Black-haired Adventurer known as Sea Fang, leap from the sea, withstand several horrifying spells, and cut down the elderly Murloc Priest commanding the enemy with a single stroke, she had thought the battle was about to end.
Until that suffocating crimson light burst explosively from within the Shark Beast, nearly wiping out the Oath of Vengeance Squad she had placed such high hopes in.
The battle turned sharply for the worse.
She had watched with her own eyes as four Professional Adventurers who had barely escaped the Sahua Mermen's encirclement tried to take over from the Oath of Vengeance Squad and hold