My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 497: Chapter 172: Single Blade Breaks the Bow! Copying the Talent [Master of Archery]

Aoto casually tossed the Pocket Paper he used to wipe the blade onto the ground and said calmly, ”Let’s begin.”

Nagakura nodded forcefully and then raised his large hand, grabbing the sake bottle lying at Aoto’s feet.

In the next instant, Nagakura took a deep breath and violently threw the sake bottle towards the junk heap and in the direction of the three archers!

His burly body was like a large slingshot, his long and sturdy arms were the slingshot’s rubber band, and the sake bottle was the ammunition!

The sake bottle, hurled out with great force, spun and flew, tracing a beautiful parabola in the air before crashing to the ground and shattering into countless pieces.

The sound of the sake bottle smashing heavily was like a gunshot startling countless birds in a forest.

The three archers providing cover for their companions’ retreat had their nerves constantly on edge.

Worrying whether their companions had escaped far enough...

Fear of Aoto’s strength...

These mixed emotions made their nerves tense like wires stretched to the limit, ready to snap with the slightest additional force.

The sudden explosion of the shattered sake bottle was that slight external force causing them to unravel.

Upon glimpsing an unidentified object suddenly flying out from behind the junk heap where Aoto and Nagakura were hiding, the three archers quickly turned their attention, trying to track the ”unidentified flying object” with their eyes.

Seeing the ”unidentified flying object” was merely a sake bottle, the ”bearded middle-aged man” and the young man on his right relaxed their expressions.

But the other young man... standing to the left of the ”bearded middle-aged man,” lacked such strong mental resilience.

Overly tense, he was startled by the flying sake bottle. In his panic, he hastily raised his bow and released the arrow that had been perched on the bowstring for immediate use, hitting the ground not far from where the sake bottle fell.

Unexpectedly having deceived a shot—this was a pleasant surprise for Aoto.

Aoto never intended to use the sake bottle to lure the archers into shooting.

From the start, Aoto’s plan was simply to use the sake bottle to draw the attention of the three archers outside!

At the instant the archers, led by the ”bearded middle-aged man,” had their attention caught by the sake bottle thrown by Nagakura, Aoto sprang upwards abruptly, grabbing the eaves of the house beside him, and in the next moment he flipped like origami, landing on the rooftop.

Then, in the following instant—his talent ”Take the Lead” burst forth!

With his right hand tightly holding the Ghost-Slaying, Aoto dashed across the rooftops towards the ”bearded middle-aged man” and others with the momentum of chasing the wind and lightning!

Skipping over one roof after another, the eaves beneath and the scenery on either side flashed quickly past his eyes... The wind rushing against his face sent his kimono and hakama flapping loudly as he sprinted at high speed!

Since starting to support Mukiwa’s ”Phantom Thief career” as the ”Fox Monk,” and jumping around Edo’s streets at night countless times with Mukiwa, Aoto’s parkour skills on rooftops have unconsciously improved significantly.

The alley was so narrow, and the straight path from their hiding place in the junk heap to the alley entrance where the targets were made it easy to become a sitting duck with no room to dodge.

Therefore, Aoto thought: since he couldn’t approach the three archers from the ground, why not take the rooftops beside the alley instead!

By using the rooftops beside the alley, the archers would have to switch from a two-dimensional ”plane shooting” to a three-dimensional ”stereoscopic shooting,” greatly increasing the shooting difficulty!

This way, the chances of getting close to the ”bearded middle-aged man” and others unscathed would increase significantly!

The sudden appearance of Aoto climbing onto the rooftop and speeding towards them gave the ”bearded middle-aged man” and others a big scare.

The two young archers with rather average skills hastily raised their yumi bows, frantically shooting arrows as if they cost nothing, continuously repeating the cycle of ”shooting-drawing a new arrow-knocking an arrow-shooting again.”

For these two with still underdeveloped skills, hitting a fast-moving target in a three-dimensional shooting scenario was asking too much.

In an extremely short time, they shot a large number of arrows... yet not a single arrow successfully hit Aoto.

One after another, the missed arrows brushed past Aoto, bringing a series of hair-raising whizzes.

Aoto’s focus... was terrifyingly intense now.

His eyes widened, continuously fixed on his target, constantly watching the archers drawing their bows!

The talent effect of ”Gathering Spirit”... must have been fully exerted now.

”Eagle Eye,” ”Gathering Spirit,” ”Lone Brave”—these three talents stacked and combined, elevating Aoto’s dynamic vision to unprecedented heights!

The arrows that appeared as mere afterimages to others were now entirely traceable in Aoto’s eyes!

meters, 18 meters, 15 meters...

Rapidly closing in... this mere 20-meter gap determined whether Aoto’s body would be pierced by arrows or if he would successfully get close to the archers!