Tutotial.21

I had already spotted the one I wanted to act as my messenger. He was a young Fatal Shot, probably no older than seventeen or eighteen years old. I was watching him at that moment and could see and feel him trembling with fear. He kept glancing towards the clearing where the two corpses were.

I decided to ignore the boy and instead started looking for another target. Given how the boy had frozen, I didn't see any scenario in which he would be a problem.

I didn't sense anyone in my sphere as I moved, and I didn't see anything either. I closed my eyes and focused on my hearing. At first, I didn't hear anything but the ambient sound of the wind and the occasional beast or bird, until I caught another more relevant sound – labored breathing.

Silently, I slinked towards the sound of the breathing, and soon the last warrior of light appeared in my sphere. Unlike the others, he had decided to cover himself with leaves and bits of foliage, almost invisible combined with the basic stealth skill while lying on the ground. I doubted he would be able to locate me using Fatal Shot's Eye.

Fortunately, I didn't need my eyes to see him. The man was well hidden if you looked at him, but with an omnidirectional sphere, what he was doing badly counted as hiding. I decided to gain a vertical advantage and climbed a tree to ensure my attack would be lethal.

From up there, I had a clear shot at the man. He had certainly done a decent job hiding, since I couldn't even spot him from above, especially because he was completely still. I prepared an arrow and pulled back my bow, aiming for his head.

I found it interesting how none of the basic outfits for the classes provided head protection. Not even the heavy warriors, with their full armor, wore helmets. The only remotely close thing were the hoods on the cloaks that conjurers, healers, and Fatal Shots wore. But that didn't exactly provide much protection against an arrow to the head.

The only true protection seemed to come from the attribute of resistance, perhaps vitality, and maybe resistance to some extent. I wasn't exactly sure, but I remembered that the Light Warrior class didn't offer any attribute points for resistance and only one for vitality. In other words, their level advantage meant little or nothing if they were hit, except perhaps for one or two levels in race.

That's exactly what led the hidden warrior to die without even knowing how. All that was left was what appeared to be a pile of leaves and twigs with an arrow sticking out of it, a red liquid slowly soaking the grass around the arrow.

Confirming the system notification that I had achieved the kill, I quickly checked my notification list, finding only 4. That meant the Fatal Shot I had exchanged arrows with earlier was still alive. He must have used a health potion, I thought.

I decided to finish off the Fatal Shot, doubting he had gone very far. Although a healing potion instantly restored lost health points, it still took a little time for the body to fully heal. And, judging by where I had hit the arrow, he was hopefully still lying down, waiting for the count.

I descended from the tree and slinked towards the place where I had fought the Fatal Shot. I still needed to be careful of the attack squad leader on the loose. The guy had a decent skill, judging by his quick reactions to the initial ambush, and his accuracy was pretty good, judging by his return shot.

I quickly found the Fatal Shot, who had done nothing but crawl to the other side of the tree where I had left him. He was still gasping for breath, his lungs just healed, and he wasn't in any condition to truly fight.

Although he wasn't exactly an exciting prey, an enemy is an enemy. The Fatal Shot covered his body and face with his cloak and made sure the blood was visibly spread as he tried to remain completely still. Probably hoping to deceive me into believing he was already dead.

I was beside the man, still sneaking, while drawing my bow. The man had his vision blocked by the hood, completely unaware as death approached.

I aimed and shot the arrow. The moment I released the arrow, my danger sense triggered, and I barely managed to move aside as an arrow entered my sphere and hit me in the back. A wave of immense pain hit me, making me grit my teeth, barely able to stumble behind a nearby tree, narrowly dodging another arrow.

I crouched behind the tree and quickly pulled out the arrow still lodged in my stomach and the one in my back. The one in my stomach was narrow, only piercing the muscles, but the one in my back had hit something important. I quickly drank a healing potion and felt a cold sensation spread throughout my body. The potion itself didn't taste like water, not that I had time to think about flavors at the moment.

I couldn't help but smile to myself, despite the pain, while confirming the death notification for the already wounded Fatal Shot. Then, I quickly opened my status page and dumped all my free points into perception. I didn't even have time to look at my stats before my danger sense went off again, as I had to slip around the tree, avoiding another arrow.

My smile widened when I reached temporary safety once again. The Fatal Shot was out of my sphere, even though it had become a bit stronger due to the enhanced perception given by the level-ups and free points allocated.

Whoever this leader was, he wasn't an amateur. He knew how to handle a bow, and unlike many others, he didn't hesitate. I felt the excitement practically simmer in my stomach as I felt my wounds healing. Finally, I had found an opponent worth facing. My terrible taunting and equally terrible acting were one hundred percent worth it.

.

.

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I felt a bit guilty for sacrificing my companion to catch the Fatal Shot, but not because of the death of my former ally. It was more because I had failed to kill the enemy. After giving a healing potion to the wounded Fatal Shot, I decided to hide in a tree about twenty meters away, with a clear line of sight to the injured man.

In other words, I had used my ally as bait.

The enemy Fatal Shot seemed to have some sort of perception skill or something that achieved a similar effect. A way to locate nearby individuals, at the very least. At first, I thought it was the Basic Tracking skill, but I had also seen the Fatal Shot use Basic Stealth. This meant the man had unlocked two skills, probably being above level 10, or he had some other means I wasn't aware of.

In the end, it didn't matter. What mattered was killing the bastard, and my trap had worked like a charm until the very last moment.

As I timed my shot against the enemy Fatal Shots, the man reacted as if he had eyes in the back of his head, dodging slightly to the side, which significantly reduced the damage from my shot. I cursed myself as I fired another arrow, but once again the man staggered to the side, dodging without even turning around. Before I could take another shot, he had already fled to safety behind a tree.

I jumped from the tree I was in and started running to the side, keeping a good distance. Spotting the Fatal Shot once again, I quickly shot another arrow, but, once again, he managed to escape behind the tree.

What followed was a cat-and-mouse game, where I kept shooting arrows whenever I saw the other Fatal Shot as he slowly closed in. Based on his movements, it seemed he had consumed a health potion, which put me on a timer before he returned to full condition.

It was frustrating, and it only got worse when the other Fatal Shot started returning fire. Neither of us seemed inclined to get into close combat range, and with a good twenty meters still between us, we were at a standstill.

I felt much better after avoiding a few more arrows, and even started shooting back. My life was in danger at all times, and I found myself in some tough situations. The other Fatal Shot was faster and stronger than me, but I was savoring every moment.

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