Promise

That Impossible Magic

The entire office was astonished and perplexed when Javier Mareq arrived at the Crimson Knight headquarters in the city of Filanesia. Numerous Crimson Knights stationed in the city of Filanesia exchanged whispers and questions with one another. They wondered why their supreme general's younger brother had physically visited the headquarters.

It has long been known by all Crimson Knight members that Javier's despair, brought on by the death of one of his subordinates and his close friend Erel, led to his assignment outside of Terra. Furthermore, the younger brother of the young general had twice turned down significant roles offered by Meuz in order to join his older brother in Crimson Knight as the deputy general and royal guard. Every time he was given a significant assignment, Javier would always tell his brother that he should be treated like any other soldier and sent to the Crimson Knight's outer guard outside of Terra. After Anthonius gave his approval, Javier Mareq was given a position in the outer guard, which has its headquarters in Malang.

"Gather all the archers who are off duty right now, and tell them to meet me at the shooting range!" Placing a task letter from Meuz on his brother's desk, Javier gave an order.

One of the soldiers approached Javier and said, "Now, sir?"

Without responding to the inquiry, Javier ran off to the area where the Crimson Knight warriors always train. Javier claims that the work given this time was not simple.

Whispering, "This is really crazy," Javier said.

Javier appeared composed, but his thoughts were racing. Javier was trying to come up with a method for teaching himself and his companions how to use that inconceivable assault magic. Even though Javier had a relatively poor success rate when using the spell, he still had to teach the attack magic to every archer in Crimson Knight.

"I hope there won't be any casualties during this learning process!" Javier wishes that when the Rain Arrow is used, no archer would perish from a lack of manna. "Should I ask for some medical personnel to stand by outside the field?" Javier considered the most dire situation that might occur.

Seven archers entered the shooting range shortly after. An elf was among the archers. They went over as soon as they saw Javier. Every archer's face lit up with a smile. Javier is the most revered character in Crimson Knight, despite not having the same significant role as his brother. Because of the harm caused by Javier's arrow strikes, which went against common sense, as well as his tough manner and his jokes that would confront anyone who was wrong. Meuz built the strongest barrier to guard the Kruber Crystal Cave 120 years ago, but Javier is the only archer on Terra whose magical attack style nearly shattered it.

Javier inquired, "Is this all the archers we have?"

"Yes, sir," said one of them.

With the words "Alright...," Javier began to explain the duties that the seven Crimson Knight archers deployed to the city of Filanesia were to perform. "Some of your friends are currently assigned to clean up the remnants of amethyst crystal shards from the murder victims that have been occurring frequently in Terra lately. The task is really risky; I will tell you that. Within a specific radius, the magical miasma emitted by each crystal will prevent a sorcerer from using their powers. The resultant miasma impact will be more hazardous the stronger the crystal's amethyst hue. Therefore, there is one thing you must know before I give you your assignment this time." Javier stated.

"Mission?" one of the archers inquired. "Are you going to be our superior for this mission?"

Javier gave a nod. "Correct. Meuz gave me the task of teaching you an attack spell that will assist your companions in removing the amethyst crystal fragments that are presently dispersed throughout Terra. Those crystals will pose a serious threat to other wizards, particularly inexperienced ones, if they are not cleared away. You are well aware that many deaths are not just the result of the monsters who are currently threatening Terra, but also of inexperienced wizards' carelessness with the crystal shards."

As though in agreement with Javier's statement, the archer nodded.

"After that... I mean, after we master the magic. What ought we to do?" One of the archers inquired.

"You may be sent by Meuz to each squad tasked with cleaning the crystal. My job right now is only to show you how to break the crystal as effectively as possible. In addition, I have other things to do with Anthonius and the others, so we don't have much time. Thus, we shall begin this exercise immediately!"

…

Javier instructed the archers to form a line in front of the field's targets. Javier then instructed them to use Rain-arrow on their respective targets. The archers exchanged eyes and whispered to one another, seeming perplexed, wondering why they were forced to use basic magic, which they hardly ever employed in combat. Javier may be playing with them, according to one of the archers, rather than teaching them a spell that may actually destroy an amethyst crystal.

Javier then encouraged them to visit the Old Sofia City ruins, which are about two kilometers from the shooting range site, because he felt that his training was being treated like a game. There are still 5-meter-tall fragments of amethyst crystal imbedded in the earth there, and they haven't been relocated yet, it turns out. Anthonius ordered the installation of a protective barrier around the crystal because it was too dangerous.

"We'll use this as a target. I'll put each of your rain arrow techniques to the test. So line up neatly!" Javier ordered.

The archers all said nothing.

"Why?" Javier inquired. Javier questioned, "Is the task I assigned too vague?"

"Isn't it quite dangerous to get close? Isn't it risky to approach? For this reason, a magic barrier was established for protection," posed the question to an archer who was getting ready with a bow and arrow.

"Create a distance of 10 meters from the crystal, and apply your best Rain arrow to the crystal. If you are unable to master the Rain Arrow attack magic, I will not be able to teach you this attack magic. Consider this as the initial selection!" Javier remarked.

At Javier's order, the archers started applying Rain-arrow one by one. They targeted the amethyst crystal piece in front of them with their assault spell. Every archer seemed to be constantly shooting arrows in an attempt to find the crystal. There are no indications that the crystal will be even slightly harmed, despite the loud and piercing sound of the magical arrow tips clinking when they strike its surface. Even the archers who had finished their turn re-entered the line. Even though they had expended a lot of manna casting the spell, they were still curious as to why Javier had instructed them to use Rain-arrow on the crystal, which appeared to be immune to their attacks.

Javier declared, "That's enough!" after the archers had been pelting the amethyst crystal fragments in front of them with thousands of magical arrows for almost forty minutes.

"Take note of this!" Javier ordered. Javier took a step forward and moved within 15 meters of the crystal fragment. "The farther the initial distance you take from the target, the greater the damage of the attack you will deliver, although this also requires good accuracy. Second, you need to be mindful of the arrow's size. I want to teach you the fundamentals of this attack. The impact force generated by an arrow increases with its size, which is determined by compressing magical energy. If you can, create an arrow much smaller than a sewing needle, but if not, use one the size of a needle to create a rain arrow for me." Javier stated.

"That... is very impossible. It must have consumed a lot of manna to compress magical energy into such a little arrow. Furthermore, there's a chance that after we finish, we won't have any more manna. Such a situation would undoubtedly be extremely deadly in a conflict. particularly when a team lacks a front line."

It appears that some archers don't agree with Javier's recommendation. Although the attack magic Javier teaches is extremely risky, its extremely low success rate is inversely proportional.

"That's why I asked the archer to perform this attack magic, because you wouldn't be able to fight without the presence of the front guard, and additionally, you can launch a surprise attack while your team is busy distracting the enemy. After you attack, you can hide your magical power so it won't be detected or simply escape using teleportation magic," Javier said.

"A clever tactic!" exclaimed one of the archers.

When Javier heard this, he just grinned. He then instructed each archer to practice utilizing the Rain Arrow by attempting to compress magical energy as much as possible. Since making arrows that small obviously needed a lot of practice and could not be completed quickly, Javier did not aim for the arrows; instead, they had to be the size of a sewing needle.

"Crack...!"

They heard cracking, and they were shooting at it. In order to confirm that the cracking sound was coming from the amethyst crystal they were aiming at, Javier asked all of the archers to halt.

"This is good progress," whispered Javier. "A very good development. Try to form the concentrated magical energy into an arrow and then shoot it as hard as you can. The impact will be more pronounced at higher launch points."