"A thing to behold, isn't it?"
Hearing these words, Luther turned around to see that there were 4 individuals standing behind him.
He had been looking out of the large entrance to the ground to see the hundreds of thousands of people who were all cheering, waiting for the first event to begin.
In his hand, he was holding a large bow that was taller than him. It seemed to be made of some kind of wood, but as Luther adjusted it, the sound it made when it hit the ground would make one think that it was actually made of metal.
All in all, it would have looked out of place if it weren't for the fact that the four individuals behind him were also holding similar bows.
The Angarian Longbow. A rarely used weapon because of the impracticality inherent in transporting it and also because of the high skill and power ceiling that was required for one to wield it, the bow seldom made an appearance on the battlefield.
Of course, this competition was the best place to reveal it again to all those who might have forgotten its awesome power.
Of the four individuals, one was a giant, one was an elf and the other two were humans, albeit very well-built ones.
As for the man who had spoken, he was the one with a Raven on his shoulders.
Turning around again, Luther just nodded and chose to stay silent.
Seeing this, the others didn't comment anything as they all knew about the character of this man who was the leader of the commanders of the Kingdom of Lanthanor.
It had only been a few minutes since the 5 rulers had disappeared in the air, and the ground was currently being set up for the first game of the Olympics: the Fighter Archery Competition.
Mages were also part of the team responsible for setting up the ground each time, so their work was done in barely 5 minutes before a loud gong sounded, signaling the participants to enter the ground.
Hearing it, the 4 split part and walked to their respective teams.
According to the instructions they had been given, the first gong was to signal to the teams that they would soon have to come out.
As the second gong sounded, 5 individuals walked out from the entrance to the ground at the same time.
There were only two entrances to the enormous ground, and each entry point was so big that at least 100 people would be able to stand side by side in them.
Hence, it was a simple thing to have the 5 leaders of the 5 teams stand beside each other before walking out.
Seeing the participants finally begin to enter, the cheering which had paused before due to the loud gong began anew.
This resulted in the cheers all morphing into a resounding roar that threatened to sweep away those who were entering the stadium.
Yet, these were all individuals who had been on multiple battlefields and faced many life and death situations. Hence, none of them even flinched at the atmosphere, instead choosing to just walk steadily behind their team leaders.
After reaching the center of the ground, all 5 lines of individuals stopped, and the booming sound of the announcer rang throughout the stadium.
This was a man who was standing a few meters in the air, wearing a black tuxedo with hair slicked back neatly. He seemed to be middle-aged, and dimples could clearly be seen whenever he smiled.
According to what Luther knew, he was apparently the most sought-after announcer in the entire continent. His usual job was announcing battle royale tournaments, so he was the clear option for the Olympics. In fact, the King had even remarked that the man had said that he wouldn't mind working for free, as it was a great honor for him to be the one responsible for calling out the victors of the event.
His voice was deep and powerful, with a certain cadence that made the excitement in those in the stadium grow in anticipation of what was to come.
"Ladieeees and Gentlemen, weeeeelcome to the OLYMPICS! I, Sylvesto am greatly honored to be the one who will be announcing this historic event! Let's get right into the first stage of the event: the Fighter Archery Tournament!"
Unable to hide his smile due to the electric atmosphere in the stadium, the announcer seemed to be enjoying his job today more than any other time in his life.
After giving a pause, he continued.
"First of all, let me tell you all about the rules for the participants! As the name suggests, this is a competition for Fighters only! 10 Mages are actively monitoring everything, so any participant who uses even the slightest amount of magic will be disqualified! Also, only those at or below the level of an Exalted Human can participate! So if there any Warriors standing here, please step out and let me fall at your feet with a humble request to take me on as your disciple!"
This made many in the seats laugh, as they all knew that Warriors were so rare that even they would do just that if one really made themselves known.
Giving a dramatic pause where no one stepped out, Sylvesto continued.
"No one? Alas, my dream remains a dream. Onto the rules for the competition! There are two stages in this competition: Test of Power, and Test of Skill. Would any one of you be kind enough to step forward to demonstrate to the crowd?"
"Me, me, me!"
With a happy shout, the giant who had been attracting a lot of attention from the crowd stepped out, causing happy shouts and applause to break out in the audience.
The bow in the giant's hands was simply enormous, standing at at least 4.5 meters tall. Of course, this was necessary, as a longbow needed to be taller than the wielder who was, in this case, a whopping 4.2 meters tall.
"Thank you, dear giant! First, let's have the Test of Power! For this, I would like to direct everyone's eyes upward!"
As one, everyone looked up and saw that at some point in time, a row of targets had been placed in the air.
They seemed to be floating without any support, but the truth was that they were held in place by powerful Mages who were standing in the air a few meters away.
There were multiple targets which stretched as far as the eye could see, and some targets were so high up that even the best zoom trinkets couldn't view them clearly.
"It's simple. Whoever shoots the farthest target is the winner! Rest assured that conditions are equal for all participants, as we have mages specially controlling the air flow so that it is only your strength which will decide the winner. Each team has 50 participants and there are a total of-"
BOOM
As a loud sound interrupted the announcer, the spectators looked on in shocked silence as they saw an enormous arrow which was at least a meter long fly through target after target before finally stopping at some unknown point in the air.
The sound had actually been that of that enormous bow breaking, leaving the giant smiling foolishly while holding the two parts in its hands.
"Old thing. Need replacement!"
As it said these words, the spell of silence in the stadium was broken, giving way to discussions between the awed spectators who wondered whether the others could even put up a fight.
"Eh-ehem. Thank you for the demonstration, dear giant. Please get back to your team now. As I was saying, there are 50 points to be won in this stage. Each participant will have 3 chances to shoot. After everyone is done, the top 50 will be the ones who have earned points for their respective Kingdoms. If there are ties, there will be a tiebreaker held where the exact length of travel of each arrow will be tested. That's my queue to take my leave, and I'll be back after this stage is done to explain the rules of the Test of Skill! Of course, I'll be in the commentator booth where I will be speaking about everything going on with experienced army veterans. To all the participants, good luck!"
With these words, Sylvesto disappeared, leaving the ground.
As the judges appeared in his stead, the first stage of the first tournament began.
By the awe-inspiring performance of the giant, Arafell was already being said to be the one that would have an edge in this stage.
Yet, a few hours later, the results shocked everyone.
Lanthanor: 12
Black Raven Kingdom:10
Kingdom of Arafell:7
Axelor:147
Eldinor: 4