Seeing the genuine looking smile plastered on Hector's face, Leone could instantly tell that he was trouble and hence wanted nothing to do with him. With the rejection at the tip of his tongue about to be released, Leone was cut short when one of his younger cousins accepted the challenge on his behalf and said words that made it impossible for Leone to back out.
"Of course big brother Leone accepts. I mean archery and horseback riding are a few of the sports that demonstrate your royal background so there's no way he would reject an offer like this, right brother Leone."
Seeing the subtle smirk on his cousin, Thomas's face, it was clear that this was a scheme well thought of, and by the faint murmurs and cheers of his other cousins it seemed like he had fallen for it.
Left with no other choice, Leone accepted the challenge after all it wasn't like he was bad in archery, on the contrary he was very good and had gone on to participate in some international championships, even once ranking 2nd place in his Junior Division.
Thomas and some other non-participants scurried inside and returned with some bullseye targets, some English longbows and quivers full of arrows.
Being the gentleman he was, Hector allowed Leone to choose his equipment first before selecting his own. Some other cousins who wanted to participate were given the chance to select their equipment after Hector since they weren't really the main event characters.
With the boards set apart with a distance of 10m each, everyone was ready to start the competition.
First up was obviously Leone, who managed to hit the centre with relative ease. When it was Hector's turn, he tapped the ground lightly with his foot, and out shot a wooden arrow, stunning everyone but his lackey Thomas.
It was only now that everyone noticed that Hector wasn't human like they assumed. It needed a lot of focus to notice but after staring at him for a while everyone was able to notice how his ears had a slight, unnoticeable point to it, identifying him as a half-elf.
With grace befitting his race, everyone watched as Hector drew his bow and released the arrow which flew soundless till it hit the target.
With the unasked question about the origin of the earlier arrow answered, some cousins list the will to compete, since even in fantasy stories the impeccable archery of the elven race was always highlighted and praised, much less an elf who could actively control the wood element.
Out of the original 12 participants, only 8 remained showing how effective Hector's performance was with his ability to discourage 1/3rd of the competition.
Time passed and by the time they had reached the 100m mark only 4 participants were left. Hector and Leone were obviously still participants with the other two being, Derek their 21 year old cousin, and Anabelle, their 19 year old cousin and the only girl participating.
Derek and Anabelle were both TIER 1, meaning that they had also come across dungeons since that was the only way to level up. Another similarity they shared was the fact that they were both children of deserters, the unofficial term given to those who had to be brought to the castle, just like Leone and family.
This little tournament had gathered the attention of the Windsor parents who had finished discussing whatever it is they were discussing.
The Smith family was also present, but unlike the Windsors who were standing on the ground, they were lying down on a boulder formed by Mateo, which also had some bedding provided by Carmen whose sloth-like nature required her to have a bed and bedding stored in her dungeon, knowing very well that her dungeon monsters couldn't harm or destroy anything she had declared as her property.
With so many people observing them it was natural for anxiety and nervousness to be abundant but the participants did well not to show it.
At around the 200m mark, arrows started failing to hit the centre but still hit the board, allowing the tournament to go on.
Around the 240m mark, a spectator suggested to start distancing the boards at a 50m interval, a suggestion well received by everyone.
At the 550m mark, Anabelle managed to chip the edge of the target board but unfortunately was unable to progress to the next round due to her arrow's inability to stick in the board as a result of loss of power.
Derek had long stopped caring about elegance but rather, focused on hitting the targets with the raw power of his TIER 1 strength since that was one of the two stats he unlocked.
By the 800m mark, he dropped out due to his arrow flying way off target. Now left with the original two competitors, the match began moving at a faster pace. Hector had also stopped using his mana to create arrows but used it to guide all arrows released to the centre of the board, a testament to both his shamelessness, since he thought nobody could see his mana at such a distance, and the archery skills of one of the races he was made up of.
At 1.2km, Leone felt that the string of his bow was about to snap and so he coated his whole bow with mana, a feat made easy as a result of being part magical beast.
By the 1.5km mark, both participants could barely see clearly and waited for the duo of the bootlicking Thomas, and the stern Wilson to determine if their arrows landed true.
At 1.75km, Hector missed his shot, leaving the victory of the match in whether Leone would succeed or not. A red flag being waved by Wilson showed that he had failed, a situation Leone guessed would happen after seeing the dull brown glow that coated his arrow mid-flight.
With the match over, the parents offered congratulatory words to all participants, making sure to subtly elevate the last two co-champions who managed to hit targets twice as far as their runner up.
Backs turned to leave, they were surprised when an anxious shout rang out and turned to see Leone pulling the arm of Hector towards the blue gate-like structure that appeared out of nowhere.
Everyone present who was the least bit stronger than before knew what it was, a dungeon, the only confirmed means of gaining strength.
Seeing how futile Hector's resistance was, they turned to Daniel, asking him to call his son off in what they thought was a suicidal venture by Leone who wanted Hector to join him.
Getting no response some parents, mainly Aiden, Aidan and their wives ran towards the two boys in an attempt to save them, but they got tripped by Mateo's mini earth wall, a variation of the skill he had spent all his time and mana trying to perfect but had received little results.
The fallen twins and their waves suspected foul play but were more worried about Hector than punish someone.
Running again this time they were being held back by shoulder-high flames whose culprit needed not be found since she was the only one who had a fireball circling her the entire 2hour match.
Through the flames everyone watched as Hector got pulled inside the flickering blue portal, praying that they both made it out alive.