LATEST UPDATES

Published at 12th of June 2022 07:34:03 PM


Chapter 140

If audio player doesn't work, press Stop then Play button again




140 – Sukuna’s Yabusame


 

“So, what is this horseback archery?”

“It’s a mini-game in oni village, each of the 20 targets has a maximum score of 50 points, and you get rewarded depending on how many points you get. The challenge fee is 3,000 Iris per challenge.”

“I see, a mini-game.”

 After listening to Himiko’s explanation, I glanced at the yabusame show.

 I’m not sure if it’s an NPC who’s taking on the challenge right now. Oh, he fell off the horse.

 There are 20 of them with 50 points each, so I guess the maximum is 1000 points.

“By the way, I got 12 points.”

“A thousand points is a perfect score, right?”

“Don’t mention that part… *sob**sob*….”

I’m the one who said it, but she’s definitely aware of her low score. She then covered her face and pretended to cry.

Since I haven’t tried it, I probably shouldn’t say that.





< That’s about one percent.>



“I feel like Sukuna’s viewers are making fun of me. ……”

“They did.”

< Don’t reveal it.>





“Yeah, I think I’ll try it.”

I’ve never played yabusame before. And it’s been a while since I’ve touched a bow.

Rather than a bow, I touch guns and rifles more often.

When I went on a trip to a country that didn’t have a gun law, Rin let me touch a lot of those things.

“By the way, what happens if I get the maximum 1000 points?”

“Hmm… all I know is you’ll get a rare item if you exceed 500 points. I don’t know what you will get at the perfect score because no one has ever got above 700 points.”

“Oh? I’ll give it a try then.”

I was motivated when I heard about the high rarity items. If I can get an attribute crystal class item, then it’s worth doing.

3000 Iris won’t hurt my wallet at all, so let’s do this.



“I’m rooting for you.”









“Well, just watch. I’ll go win some rare items.”

There were a lot of people watching, but not that many actually participating, and there was only one other person in line in front of me.

In order to participate, I called out to the strong-looking uncle of the oni tribe at the reception desk.

“Uncle, I’m next, please.”

“Oh, I don’t mind, but… doesn’t your body hurt?”

While taking the Iris from me, the uncle looked worried when he saw the cracks in my whole body.

You look strong, but you’re kind.

“No, I’m fine now.”

“I hope you’re okay, little girl. Do you understand the rules?”

“Please explain it to me.”

Himiko told me earlier, but just in case.

“Basically, all you have to do is ride the rail horse and shoot through the 20 targets. The closer you get to the center of the target, the more points you get, and the further you get from the center, the fewer points you get. You can use as many arrows as you like, but if you spend more than 20 arrows, you’ll be penalized for each one you use.”

“So, I’ll have to try to use as few as possible. I understand.”

“You can borrow a bow. Use this one.”

“Okay.”

I took the bow from the uncle and stroked the neck of the horse, which seemed to be called Rail Horse.

I’m not sure if he’s a swift horse, maybe he’s not even a draft horse. But he does seem to have a lot of endurance in his muscles.

I’m a little curious about the origin of the name “Rail Horse”, but from the way he’s been running, he seems to be very stable.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Brrrr.”

“Yeah, you’re cute.”

The Rail Horse rubbed his cheek in a friendly manner, which made me a little happy.

I know this is still inside the game, but I’m happy to be allowed to interact with animals.

I wonder if the water dragon kid from some time ago is doing well? I wonder if I can meet him next time I’m in Trillia.

And by the way, I’m relieved to know that the curse doesn’t seem to affect my surrounding in any particular way.

It seems that the Houzuki bracelet is firmly suppressing the curse. I have to thank Hakuyo for lending it to me.



“Now…”

I quickly stepped over the rail hose and stabilized my footing.

When I feel that footing is stable, I tried to lightly stretch the bow’s string. Next, stretch the bow as far as I can and release it.

Okay, I’ve pretty much learned the characteristic of this bow.

It’s a bow and arrow with no special characteristics.

“Let’s get started.”

“Okay.”

“Let’s start …..NOW!”



“I’ve never seen you with a bow before.”

With her the menu card showing Sukuna’s channel, Teppen Himiko sees Sukuna on horseback adjusting her bow at this very moment.

The way she adjusted her bow with such a confident manner made one feel like asking, “Are you a professional?”

It was just a mini-game, and she didn’t seem worked up about it. She looked relaxed as usual.

“It is difficult, isn’t it?”

The minimum score for yabusame is 10 points.

If you can get 200 points, you can make more than the entry fee, and that itself was quite a feat.

However, if you use too many arrows, you will be penalized 2 points per arrow.

Himiko barely hit two targets and used four extra arrows. That’s why her score was 12 points.

“…NOW!”

“UWAH!

Perhaps because she was distracted by her own disappointing results, Himiko couldn’t help but let out a strange voice at the signal given by the oni folk uncle who were managing the reception desk.

While swaying on the galloping horse, Sukuna gently sets up her bow.

The arrows shot from the beautiful, model-like archery style pierced the center of the first target with a light thud, the first five targets were evenly spaced in a flowing fashion.

Sukuna rhythmically shot her arrows, piercing the center of the five targets with five arrows. That was 250 points, 20 times more than Himiko’s.

“Hee….”

Compared to the traditional horseback archery, the distance between the targets was longer, and the speed of the horses was slower.

The distance between the target and the horse is about 15 meters, which in the original yabusame it should be about 5 meters, so in terms of difficulty level, this oni’s yabusame is probably higher.

However, this is a game world. If you consider the unreasonable physical ability called status, this distance may be just right.

Well, it was difficult for Himiko even to shoot her bow properly, so she would have preferred the distance to be about five meters if possible.

The figure of Sukuna was already at a distance that made it difficult to see, and from here on, the screen projected in the air would take the place of the audience’s eyes.

The screen looked like a downsized version of the one that had shown on Defeat the Apostle battle in the last day of the event.



It was said to be a magical device, but Himiko didn’t know the details. Even though she heard that it’s relatively common in various cities, Himiko was carried to the demon village in early stage after she started, won’t ever know if it true or not.

The sixth to tenth targets are not just lined up in a row.

There are five of them, alternating in the order of high to low. Because the bow’s line of fire alternates, you have to aim and fire in a short time.

It’s not uncommon to see a sudden decrease in hits from this point on, but Sukuna hit all five of his shots in the middle.

Himiko could no longer picture Sukuna missing an arrow against a target that was not moving.

Sukuna hit the target with such precision that it wouldn’t be strange if she suspected to use auto-aim.

The targets were evenly spaced, and the horses moved at a constant speed. Her arrows that were fired at exactly the same intervals once again made a pleasant sound.

“This is where it all starts.”

When the first arrow hit the target cleanly, Himiko expected it to be perfect to this extent.

But from here on, the target moved. The first two went up and down, the next two diagonally. The next two would run in a circle.

These six targets were very tricky to shoot down, and you had to hit them before we passed them by since you were riding on a horse’s back.

Moreover, the targets move very fast. To be honest, Himiko wondered if they were even trying to let us hit the target.

However, Himiko theory that the developer had no intention to make people pass from here on is not as far off the mark as it seems.

As Himiko said earlier, if you get 500 points, you can get a high rare class item.

Theoretically, 500 points could be achieved with just the first 10 immobile targets. In fact, Sukuna had just achieved 500 points with ease.

Get as high a score as possible in the first half and prepare for the challenge in the second half of the game.

There are more Yabusame enthusiasts than you might think, and the players who achieved 500 points all earned at least 400 points in the first half.

By the way, the highest record for a player was 610 points set by an archer from the oni race. That player shot 450 points in the first half alone, which was very accurate.

“Hmmm, my 12 points is really nothing.”

Maybe I should ask Sukuna to teach me how to use a bow after the game.

While Himiko was thinking about this, Sukuna entered the target zone.

She pulled the arrow out of the quiver, readied herself, made a slight pause, and then released it.

The sequence of gestures was calm, and the arrow pierced the center of the target, which moved up and down repeatedly as if it were being sucked in.

One more arrow. Although the initial pause was a bit long, the same gesture was used to shoot through the center of the second target.

Rather than the arrow hitting the target, it was as if the target was going to hit the arrow. Sukuna’s shooting was so accurate that Himiko felt such an illusion.

It didn’t matter if the movement was up and down, diagonal, or circular.

The remaining four moving targets were shot through the center so easily.

Because Sukuna was so confident that she would hit the target, she was able to shoot through the center of the target with such ease.

So far, 800 points.

While the other challengers were watching in amazement at her accuracy, the four most difficult targets stood in front of Sukuna.

It wasn’t that Himiko hadn’t expected her level of shooting ability.



Just by looking at Sukuna’s usual throwing skill, even Himiko could tell that Sukuna is one kind of monster.

“But I’m not sure if you can clear this one.”

The last four targets were placed in the middle of a strong wind.

The wind, blown by the wind charm, easily changes the trajectory of the arrows. In addition, it seems that the wind is not blowing from one direction with the same strength, and a complex airflow, like turbulence is formed around the target.

And to be more precise, there was no wind around the target at all, just like the eye of a typhoon. But the wall of the wind was extended 10 meters around it.

Himiko’s arrow bounced off the wall of wind in front of her, and she couldn’t even send it to get close to the target.

It would be difficult for even a Sukuna to hit the target.

As Himiko was thinking this, Sukuna lowered the bow in her left hand, lifted her right hand a little, and spread her palm out.

A very brief gesture before the horse reached the target.

Sukuna nodded her head as if she was in agreement, lowered her hand, and went on to take two arrows out of her quiver and place them in her bow.

Sukuna’s gaze, which had remained unchanged until a moment ago, sharpened.

The force she used to pull the bow was much stronger, but her aim never wavered.

The bowstring made a loud noise, and the two arrows headed toward the wall of strong wind with great force.

But it was so far in the wrong direction.

The two arrows took completely different trajectories between the archer and the target, probably due to the winds.

One arrow went to the left and the other to the right. The two arrows were shot at slightly different heights and danced in the torrent of wind. And each arrow pierced the center of a different target.

THUD THUD.

With such a heavy sound of arrows piercing the target, Himiko can feel that the power that is clearly different from the light-sounding arrows launched up to this point.

Himiko could only guess she needed that extra power to break through the strong winds.

While the audience’s eyes were glued to the two arrows, Sukuna actually had released the third one.

By the time the two arrows overcame the wall of wind and pierced the target, the last arrow almost landed on its target.

With a sharp landing sound, all of her shots pierced the center of the target.

All arrows hit, a perfect 1000 points.

The maximum score of the mini game was too easily beaten by the Sukuna.

“Phew, I’m back!”

Himiko had this thought in her mind as she watched the crowd stunned by the smiling Sukuna who had returned on horseback.

(Amazing, right?)

Himiko, a trained schooner, circled around and silently sympathized with the audience while folding both her arms like a boyfriend who’s proud of his girlfriend.

======.

A note:

Teppen Himiko has turned into an old man boyfriend.

I know how you feel.




Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!