As the arrows flew through the air, Tsukuru noticed that they were flying at speeds that a regular arrow would.
It seemed that unlike the Hobgoblins, who possessed almost the superior strength, these Dark Elves only possessed a normal level of physical strength.
Whereas fighting against the Hobgoblins had been equivalent to fighting against someone like Vorden, it seemed that fighting against these Dark Elves would be the equivalent of fighting Layla.
Tsukuru crouched down as the arrows reached him, causing the arrows to whiz over his head, flying right past him.
While still on the ground, Tsukuru activated his Ability.
The sound of electronic interference could be heard, and pixels began to appear in his hand.
The pixels clustered together into the shape of an arrow.
There was a flash of light.
When it faded, Tsukuru was holding another copy of the Intermediate-Tier Firebomb Arrow.
Tsukuru flung the arrow at the concrete ground in front of the three Dark Elves.
Running on pure instinct, the three Dark Elves all leaped back.
A moment later, flames erupted, engulfing the place that they had been just standing.
The flames reached into the air, slightly obscuring the vision of both the Dark Elves and Tsukuru.
Despite their sight being obscured, Tsukuru could still see a vague outline of the three, and seeing this, he assumed that the Dark Elves could see his outline as well.
Tsukuru grit his teeth, and put his left arm out to his side.
He activated his Ability.
The sound of electronic interference could be heard, and three groups of pixels appeared under his arm.
However, when these groups of pixels clustered together, they didn't form into the shape of his Black Obsidian Daggers.
They formed into the shape of his Knight Sword.
Tsukuru figured that, seeing how the spears that the Hobgoblin used were Basic-Tier Beast Weapons, then the arrows fired by the Dark Elves were Basic-Tier Beast Ammunition as well.
If he threw his regular Basic-Tier Black Obsidian Daggers at them, there was a high likelihood that they would just be deflected by the Dark Elve's arrows.
However, if he fired his Intermediate-Tier Knight Swords instead, there was a higher likelihood that they would break through.
As he had personally seen when fighting Erin, Intermediate-Tier equipment beat Basic-Tier equipment.
There was a bright flash.
When it faded, Tsukuru had three copies of the Intermediate-Tier Knight Sword under his arm.
He activated his Video Stasis Skill, enveloping all three of them in the aura of glitching pixels.
In Tsukuru's vision, his System's "auto-targeting" function activated, with a circular vector appearing over the heads of all three of the outlines.
When they did, the vectors turned from light-blue to red.
Tsukuru then flung his arms out, sending the swords flying towards the Dark Elves like guided missiles.
On the opposite side of the wall of flames, the Dark Elves all had their bowstrings drawn and ready to fire, when they all saw three swords fly out of the flames, hurtling towards them.
The Dark Elf in the middle narrowed her eyes.
She released her grip of the drawstring, sending her arrow flying forward.
However, due to the sheer weight difference between the arrow and the sword, as well as their difference in Tier, the sword sliced right through the arrow.
The arrow split it in half as the sword continued to hurtle forward, losing very little momentum.
Before the center Dark Elf could react, the sword hit her like a projectile, piercing her head right between the eyes.
Instantly, her eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly.
Her fingertips gripping her bow loosened, and it fell to the ground with a clatter.
The other two Dark Elves watched in shock as their comrade fell backwards on her back, hitting the ground.
A moment later, she exploded into pixels.
On the other side of the flames, a System message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[You have killed a Dark Elf. 60 XP received. First Time killing a Dark Elf. First-Time Kill Bonus: 36 XP awarded. XP: 452/1600.]
Seeing that their arrows were useless against the swords, the remaining two Dark Elves elected to leap to the side, avoiding the swords entirely.
The Knight Swords whizzed past them.
The two Dark Elves then released the grips on their drawstrings, sending the two arrows flying out into the fire.
As Tsukuru saw the two arrows flying through the frames, he grit his teeth, and once again ducked down.
'Thank god I have such a high Agility Stat!' Tsukuru thought, still crouching on the ground. 'If I couldn'treact in time to these arrows, I would have been killed five times already!'
It was at that point that the roaring flames finally died down.
As they did, Tsukuru once again came face-to-face with the two remaining Dark Elves, them both having new arrows loaded into their bows, and aimed at him.
Tsukuru grit his teeth, and ran towards the Dark Elves.
As he ran, he held his left arm out at his side, and activated his Ability.
The sound of electronic interference filled the arena, and two groups of pixels began to appear under his arm.
There was a bright flash of light.
When it faded, Tsukuru had two copies of the Frostnet Arrow floating in the air under his arm.
As they began to fall, Tsukuru activated his Video Stasis Skill, freezing them in place.
As soon as Tsukuru started running towards them, the eyes of the two Dark Elves narrowed.
They immediately released their grip on their drawstrings, sending their arrows flying towards Tsukuru.
Instead of dodging, Tsukuru kept running towards the Dark Elves, the arrows hurtling right towards him.
Once Tsukuru was within 5 feet of the Dark Elves, he activated his Video Glitch Skill.
His body began to break down into glitching pixels, and he "glitched" out of existence.
As he did, the two arrows whizzed through the now-empty space that Tsukuru had just been occupying.
The Dark Elf on the left grit her teeth in irritation.
"Oh, you slippery little-!" She muttered, as she and the other Dark Elf reached back to remove another arrow out of their quivers.
However, it was then that the sound of electronic interference could be heard behind them.
However, before they could turn, they felt a sharp, piercing pain in their lower backs.
It was then almost immediately followed by a cold sensation spreading across their bodies.
As it did, they noticed that their bodies felt heavier, and more rigid.
As they looked down, they saw that their upper bodies were becoming encased in ice starting up from their lower abdomens.
The ice continued to spread.
It completely covered their chests and arms, freezing their arms in place, with the ice reaching up to their necks.
And unlike with the Hobgoblins, the Dark Elves did not possess the immense physical strength to break through the ice themselves.
"Damn it!" The Dark Elf on the left replied, as she tried in vain to move her upper body. "I…can't move!"
Standing behind them, Tsukuru looked over, and saw the Intermediate-Tier Knight sword laying on the ground, still in the place where it had fallen after the first Dark Elf had died.
Tsukuru reached his arm out towards it, and activated his Video Stasis Skill.
The sword began enveloped in an aura of glitching pixels.
Tsukuru then used his Stasis Shift Skill on it, causing it to glitch out of existence, and reappear in his hand.
Tsukuru then ran up behind the Dark Elf on the left, and swung the sword in a wide, horizontal arc.
The sword sliced cleanly through her legs, separating her body halfway down her hips.
"Ah!" The Dark Elf screamed, wide-eyed, as her upper body began to fall forward, landing on her front in a hard thud.
The force of the impact with the concrete platform caused the ice on her body to shatter, freeing her.
However, before she could move, she felt another sharp piercing pain in her chest.
A moment later, she exploded into pixels with Tsukuru crouched above her, sword held in both hands and piercing the concrete ground where her heart had been.
Another System message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[You have killed a Dark Elf. 60 XP received. XP: 512/1600]
As Tsukuru turned to face the remaining Dark Elf, her look of irritation morphed into an amused smirk.
"Well done, my liege." She replied, now longer struggling against the ice, and accepting her fate.
After all, she knew her sole purpose here in this arena was to die at Tsukuru's hands.
"I look forward to standing by your side in future when you finally unlock us."
Tsukuru nodded, and picked the sword back up, and threw it at the remaining Dark Elf.
The Dark Elf closed her eyes in acceptance, as the sword pierced her through her chest, breaking through the ice in the process.
She then exploded into pixels.
Another System message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[You have killed a Dark Elf. 60 XP received. XP: 572/1600]
Tsukuru let out a sigh of relief, and he fell back onto his back.
"Damn, every single time one of these new Summons show up, they really give me a hard time." He muttered.
Tsukuru then heard the sound of electronic interference.
Hearing it, Tsukuru let out a groan, and got up to his feet.
'Right.' He thought. 'The Wave's not over yet.'
As he turned to face the far side of the platform, he saw five more humanoid shapes begin to form from the groups of clustering pixels.
Seeing it, Tsukuru's eyes widened in surprise.
'Is this more Dark Elves?' He thought, taking a slight step backwards. 'Or…is it another new Summon?'
There was a bright flash of light.
When it faded, Tsukuru saw two Dark Elves on the left, and three Hobgoblins on the right.
When the group saw Tsukuru, the two Dark Elves loaded an arrow from their quivers into their bows, pointing the bows at Tsukuru, and the three Hobgoblins cracked their knuckles.
Seeing the group of five Summons, Tsukuru felt a cold sweat run down his back.
'Oh…fuck me…" He thought.