Magic? My Iron Torrent will sweep it all away!

Chapter 28 Shocking the Queen for a Whole Year: This Bow Isn't Magic!

Avenor, the eternal capital of the Elf Kingdom.

This is a magnificent city built on the branches of towering giant trees.

Sunlight filters through the dense canopy, transforming into countless golden spots that spill onto the corridors and spires woven from living plants and white rocks.

Deep within the royal palace, Queen Ellari of the elves sat upon a throne carved from the heart of the ancient Tree of Life.

She was dressed in a moon-white long dress, her silver hair cascading down her back, and wearing a crown of mithril branches. She was dealing with a mountain of government affairs, her expression elegant and focused.

"His Majesty."

A royal guard captain strode into the hall and knelt on one knee.

"A messenger from Lostia requests an audience!"

Ella set down the dossier in her hand, her eyes, which held the wisdom of two thousand years, gazed at the palace gate, and said calmly:

"Come in."

A weary elven messenger stumbled in, his elven etiquette completely forgotten, his face a mixture of exhaustion and fervent excitement.

"Your Majesty!" The messenger held aloft a box tightly wrapped in magic-weave cloth, his voice trembling with excitement.

"Princess Fendona ordered me to present this to you!"

The guard took the box, scanned it with a detection crystal, and after confirming it was harmless, carefully presented it to Ella.

With a slight twitch of her fingertips, Alarui unwrapped the layers of clothing.

Inside the box lay a uniquely shaped bow, a small crossbow, a roll of parchment drawings, and several equally unusual arrows.

"What is this?" Ella frowned slightly.

The bow had an oddly curved arm, with several loops of unidentified "ropes" and pulleys wrapped around it. The crossbow, on the other hand, was as small as a toy.

Ugly, cold, and devoid of any aesthetic appeal. It is filled with a certain... savage pragmatism.

"Your Majesty, these things are called 'composite bow' and 'repeating crossbow,' invented by a visitor from another world, Lord Lin Mo."

The messenger struggled to calm his breathing and repeated the princess's words.

"Princess Fendona said that this item... concerns the survival of our race!"

"Visitors from another world?"

"Humans?"

Upon hearing this, the elven elders inside the hall whispered among themselves, their faces showing obvious displeasure.

An elder wood elf with an intricately braided beard stepped forward, bowed, and spoke with the stubbornness characteristic of an elder.

"Your Majesty, Princess Fendona is still too young."

"How can the fate of my people be entrusted to a human of unknown origin and these...strange iron tools?"

"Elder Archimonde is right," another elder immediately echoed, his voice shrill.

"Our tribe's longbow-making skills, passed down for ten thousand years, are a glory bestowed by the moon goddess, an art flowing in our blood!"

"How could these strange creations compare?"

Ellary did not speak.

She picked up the composite bow, feeling its cold texture and heavy weight.

The design of this thing completely overturned the Elven people's understanding of bows and arrows.

After listening to their explanations, she felt nothing; in fact, she even felt a little like laughing.

Art? Glory?

Besides these things, is there any room left in the brains of these old fogies for food?

When the demon army is at the city gates, should we use glory to move them, or use art to dazzle them?

Thinking of Fendona's personality, she made a decision.

"Further words are pointless," Elari commanded, rising from her throne.

"Take it to the firing range and test it."

range.

An elven archer, known as the "Son of the Wind," stands behind the target line, holding his beloved thousand-year-old purple wood longbow.

He gave the Queen and the elders an elegant bow with his hand on his chest, which drew a murmur of admiration from the nobles.

He nocked the arrow, drew the bow, his movements as fluid as flowing water, the bow fully drawn.

"call out!"

The arrow left the bowstring, making an elegant whooshing sound as it traced a perfect arc, and landed precisely on the bullseye three hundred meters away.

Elder Archimonde stroked his beard, a satisfied look on his face.

"Behold, Your Majesty, this is the true power of our elves, a perfect fusion of skill and nature."

Then, the sharpshooter awkwardly picked up the composite bow.

With the messenger's guidance, he managed to nock the arrow with some effort.

"This thing... is so strange," he muttered, feeling that the force required to draw the string was completely different from that of a traditional longbow.

The first half is strenuous, but once you pass a certain point, the effort suddenly decreases, making it strangely effortless.

The sharpshooter released his grip with some skepticism.

"Buzz—!!!"

A dull, violent vibration of the bowstring, completely different from that of the elven longbow, rang out!

That strangely shaped arrow vanished from everyone's sight in an instant!

next second.

"Bang!!!"

The iron target, 300 meters away, was pierced through in an instant!

A hole the size of a fist suddenly appeared!

The arrow, still powerful, pierced through the second and third wooden targets that were there as backups, and finally embedded itself deeply into the stone wall at the end of the range, with nearly half of the arrow shaft embedded in it!

The firing range was completely silent.

All the elves stared wide-eyed at the iron target with a hole in it, then at the stone wall.

The "Son of the Wind" archer froze on the spot. He looked down at the composite bow in his hand, and then at his "elegant" thousand-year-old purple wood bow.

Elegance... Can elegance put food on the table?

Can elegance pierce the heavy armor of the demon overseer?!

"This...this is impossible!" Elder Archimonde's voice broke the silence, he asserted.

"There must be something strange about this! It's some kind of explosive magic we don't know about! Humans are masters of this kind of deception!"

"Your Excellency, Elder," the messenger said humbly, handing over the repeating crossbow.

"You can try this yourself. It's called a repeating crossbow. It can fire in rapid succession and has no magical enchantments."

Elder Archimonde took the repeating crossbow with suspicion, the thing in his hands like a crude toy.

Guided by the messenger, he aimed at a group of targets fifty meters away.

"Once you've aimed, just keep moving this lever."

The elder curled his lip, a hint of disdain in his expression, and quickly switched the lever.

"Da da da da da da da da—!"

A series of rapid, sharp cracking sounds from the mechanisms, like the roar of a raging steel beast!

Ten crossbow bolts were unleashed in just three seconds, turning the row of targets in front of them into a pincushion!

Elder Archimonde's hand was still on the trigger; he was completely stunned.

Are you done shooting?

That's ten arrows shot! ??

Even his most prized disciple would need at least thirty seconds to complete ten shots!

And this ugly toy only takes... three seconds?

His mind went blank, as if it had been forcibly formatted by something.

Queen Ellari slowly stood up.

She walked quickly to the wall, stretched out her slender fingers, and gently stroked the arrow that was deeply embedded in the stone wall.

It is filled with savage physical violence.

And there was no magical fluctuation whatsoever.

"Wow...what a great composite bow..."

Ella turned around, and a glimmer of light ignited in her wise and calm eyes.