Vow of Silver Dawn Chapter 29

====
PDF Link: https://mega.nz/file/mZ1HxIjR#UdIJWJRGv2gHZnr5IYALZVF-olSdEkQv5JuCvGHGTdk
Amazingly, not smart filtered this time. Crazy. Still, should use the pdf.
===
Chapter 29: Hunter and Prey
By 国王陛下, Translated by 74translations


	Shawn had engaged in combat with the pirates outside the asteroid estate, and it was certainly true that he had come out on top, but that victory was more attributable to the weakness of his opponent, and less to his own skill with a blaster. Faced with a genuine master, Shawn was well aware of his shortcomings.

	"Clever, aren't you?" Lü Nan said, watching Shawn make his choice, one of her eyebrows raised, "My turn to pick, then."

	At that, she pulled open a drawer, and one by one picked up the various training guns.

	Shawn took careful notice, Lü Nan's protective gear was covered in belts and metal fasteners, clearly not ornamental, but to serve as holsters for numerous guns.

	Using these, Lü Nan had adorned her upper body with no less than a dozen long rifles, six pistols, with yet another sniper rifle on her back... it was like she had become a human armoury!

	"Alright, follow the lights at your feet to the designated position, and when the green light above your head comes on, your training begins, you got that?"

	Lü Nan spoke matter-of-factly, pointing at the lights at his feet and the light above his head for emphasis, before walking on ahead, clanking as she went, as she made for a spot far into the training room.

	Shawn stared at the meager pair of training pistols he had grabbed, and once again felt that he really was too naive.

	What exactly was he going to do with these toys?

	Then again, as Shawn thought it over, he wasn't wearing special armour, nor did he have the capacity to carry dozens of guns. Grabbing extra blasters wouldn't necessarily be a good thing. In truth, Shawn was curious; Lü Nan nan had covered herself in so many weapons she now resembled a Titalik Sea Urchin, and she certainly looked quite formidable, but it wasn't as though she had three heads and six armsa, that many guns just seemed superfluous.

	In that case, when it came to an actual combat scenario, what was it that made the "best shot in the Qian System" so unique?

	After reassuring himself, Shawn made his way to the designated position——inside a low, buried fortification, and patiently took a look around through the pillbox's loophole while he waited for the indicator light above him to come on.

	The moment the green light came on, Shawn turned and threw himself back.

	At nearly the same time,  a pair of energy bolts from somewhere far away flew through that very loophole.

	Had Shawn not moved when he did, then this match would've been concluded with less than a second elapsed.

	Shawn felt himself grow more and more excited.

	Lü Nan really was a peerless shot! The moment Shawn had managed to get a good look through the loophole, Lü Nan had suddenly appeared from behind a low wall and fired off a shot.

	The woman had moved at lightning speed as though it were nothing, and with barely any time to take aim, had placed a shot through a loophole at three hundred metres!

	Granted, while this training area was her home territory and she likely had committed every tree and blade of grass to memory, the speed at which she placed a precision shot was still nothing to scoff at.

	If nothing else, it was something that was entirely beyond Shawn's capabilities.

	So trading with her at long range was out of the question, Shawn was going to have to quickly close the distance, and deny her that advantage...

	As Shawn thought his strategy over, he was also going over, roughly, the topography of the area he had managed to glimpse in his moment of observation, and roughly worked out where it would be safe to advance to.

	The Jedi Apprentice took in a deep breath, tensed his entire body, and prepared for the next shot.

	A moment later, he stamped a foot downwards with great force, and surged forwards, zigzagging over a slope, over a low wall, and around a tall tower.

	In a flash, Shawn had already crossed a third of the hall's space, and had significantly shortened the distance between himself and Lü Nan.

	Lü Nan had not fired once, and while it seemed like she didn't have the opportunity to do so, it was more likely she was just calmly waiting for her target to slip up.

	The calm felt like a trap, and when faced with such an capable sniper, the lack of blaster fire somehow seemed even more threatening!

	But Shawn didn't let himself be distracted, and instead focused on his target as he rapidly approached.

	He didn't have many options anyways. Against an expert marksman armed to the teeth on her home turf, wielding only a pair of hand pistols, trying to dig in and defend a position was tantamount to suicide.

	Shawn had to think of more ways to get in close, and remove the advantage all those long rifles she was covered in granted her, and then he'd be able to make use of his pistols to win!

	Once he rounded the tower, however, Shawn found an open void. Even though there were trenches and bunkers dotted across the landscape, to Shawn they seemed more like carefully prepared traps. Doubtless Lü Nan would shoot him in the back if he even tried to use them to move or take cover.

	The Jedi Apprentice stood at the foot of the tower, mulling it over, when he was suddenly struck with a revelation.

	The tower at the centre of the training area was probably designed to allow one to fire down from, and from up high, there wouldn't be anywhere that he couldn't fire upon, but aside from this, there was still another use for it.

	Shawn took another deep breath, solidly planted his feet in the ground, and pressed his hands hard against the tower's outer wall... and unsurprisingly, saw the gentle vibration at the base be amplified to a violent swaying as it traveled upwards.

	"Hah, no wonder," Shawn said, unable to help a smile.

	Every installation in this training hall was put together from cheap and portable materials, likely so that Lü Nan could quickly modify the area to her needs.

This kind of cheap material could block a bolt from a training blaster, but could still be damaged by a Jedi Apprentice.


	Channeling the Force through his body, Shawn slammed his shoulder into the wall. The white wall collapsed like a soap bubble, and with a few more impacts, the foundation came apart, and the tower toppled.

	Shawn seized his opportunity. Moving before the tower hit the ground, he crouched low, and in almost a crawl pushed forwards into the collapsed tower, perfectly shielding him from Lü Nan.

	Just as Shawn was using the tower as cover to get to the next bunker...

	Woosh!

	A green energy bolt came whizzing by, having slid through a tiny crack in the tower, barely brushing the edge of Shawn's hea.

	The Jedi Apprentice couldn't help but break out into a cold sweat.

	How in the world had she managed to find an angle here!? Even if Lü Nan did have that home field advantage, this kind of precision shooting was ridiculous.

	That said, this shot too failed to hit its mark.

	Shawn cautiously continued along, keeping his body low enough that when Lü Nan did somehow manage to find an angle, she wasn't able to hit him.

	As the shot failed to land, Shawn's situation seemed to have improved.

	The area ahead was quite advantageous: There were a number of high walls and unbroken trenches, it would be quite easy for him to cross the entire area through blind spots.

	Lü Nan had to be worried, as now it seemed that all the guns she was carrying was more encumbrance than help, as it made it impossible for her to traverse the terrain as Shawn did, which made the next natural strategy for her to defend her position.

	As the distance between them narrowed, the scales of victory increasingly began to shift in Shawn's favour.

	Lü Nan might've also been hidden away in a bunker, but for the observant Jedi Apprentice, given her previous shots, Shawn had already figured out a general location.

	An elevated position, in an empty space surrounded by tall walls.

	That was of course an obvious choice, with all the guns on her person, if there wasn't enough space she wouldn't be able to make use of them.

	Shawn was very nearly there, and as long as he could get past the moat, then he could finally get into his opponent's hideout. Once there, there wasn't going to be much difference between his pistol and her rifle, only that a pistol would be more flexible at close quarters.

	But Shawn also knew that ahead of him lay one last trap... If Shawn had managed to extrapolate Lü Nan's position, then what chance was there that she had not done the same as him?

	The moment leapt over the moat, Lü Nan would take a shot, and while he was in the air, there wouldn't be any way for him to avoid it!

	So in that case...

	Shawn quickly looked around again, and quickly spotted a platform floating above, slowly drifting around.

	Within the training hall there were twenty three such platforms, varying in size, height, and shape, adding additional dimensionality to the battlefield.

	It wasn't that Shawn hadn't already thought about making use of the platforms, but when faced with "the best shot in the Qian System," hanging around mid air seemed like the most unsafe thing he could possibly do.

But now, this wasn't just a floating platform, this was the last rung on Shawn's ladder to victory.

	All he had to do was quickly ascend to the platform, wait for it to slowly float over to where Lü Nan was, and then drop down, and Lü Nan would be hard pressed to find an opportunity to fire.

	And once he jumped down, both parties would be able to fire with accuracy.

	When that time arrived, the advantage would fall into the hands of the more nimble Shawn.

	In his mind, the Jedi Apprentice was rapidly analyzing his plan of action, and after he was satisfied began to climb up the side of the wall without hesitation.

	It was at this moment a green blaster bolt exploded below him, narrowly missing his feet, giving cause for the Jedi Apprentice to once again gasp in astonishment——By his estimation, the process of climbing up and jumping over provided Lü Nan with no opportunities to fire on him, and yet find an opportunity she did.

	Her only mistake was misjudging Shawn's jumping ability, as the speed of his leap was just ever so slightly faster than the speed of her shot!

But this in truth was all according to plan, for when Shawn had fled the bunker, he had not done so with the greatest speed he was capable of, slightly holding himself back the whole way, only revealing his true potential here at the very end!

	This was a trick he had learned from An Ping: When he had suddenly gotten faster in the second round, Shawn had found himself with no time to react.

	By imitating this approach, Shawn had succeeded in making the impossibly-skilled sniper miss another shot.

	Once he got on top of the platform, victory would practically be within his grasp.

	That said, the closer he got to victory, the more calm Shawn got, for if he were to slip up at this critical juncture, it would make all his previous effort for naught.

Standing at the edge of the platform, Shawn could quite clearly see Lü Nan's shadow, elongated by the angle of the light.

	Next, as long as he could drop in somewhere she didn't expect...

	But as Shawn was preparing to jump down, he heard from below Lü Nan's mocking voice.

	"You've kept me waiting."


Translation Notes
a The expression used here, 三头六臂 (sāntóuliùbì) is literally "three heads six arms," and figuratively means a being with amazing powers or having remarkable abilities, but in the context I thought it appropriate, and indeed more amusing, to just go with the literal.

肖恩 - xiāo'ēn - Shawn, Jedi Apprentice
莫斯提马 - mòsītímǎ - Mastema, Jedi Master
李钰 - lǐ yù - Li Yu, Commander of the Silver Knights
白 - bái - Bai, Li Yu’s droid
安平 - ānpíng - An Ping, Captain of the Hongxing Squad
吕楠 - lǚnán - Lü Nan, Hongxing Squad Sniper
许伯 - xǔbó - Uncle Xu, Hongxing Squad Medic
庄原瑛 - zhuāngyuányīng - Zhuang Yuanying, Hongxing Squad (?)

At any rate,

https://74translations.wordpress.com/

Thanks for reading!