The Primal Hunter

Nicholas did feel slightly regretful sacrificing his comrade in order to get the drop on the archer. Not because his former ally died, but because Nicholas had failed in killing the enemy. After he had given the wounded archer a healing potion, he decided to hide in a tree twenty or so meters away, with a clear line of sight to the wounded man.

In other words, he had set up his ally as bait.

The enemy archer seemed to have a perception skill of some kind or something that achieved a similar effect. A way of locating nearby individuals at the minimum. He first thought it was perhaps the Basic Tracking skill, but he had also seen the archer use basic stealth. Which would either mean that the man had unlocked two skills, hence being above level 10, or had some other means he was unaware of.

Ultimately it did not matter. What mattered was killing the bastard, and his trap had worked like a charm until the very last moment.

As he timed his shot with the enemy archers, the man reacted as if he had eyes in his back, and managed to slightly swerve to the side, lessening the damage from the shot significantly. Nicholas cursed to himself as he shot another arrow, but once more, the man stumbled to the side, dodging without even turning around. Before he could fire another shot, the guy had already fled to safety behind a tree.

He jumped down from the tree he had been in and started running to the side while still keeping a good distance. He spotted the archer once more and quickly shot another arrow, but once more, he managed to slip around the tree.

What followed was a cat and mouse game, where Nicholas kept shooting arrows whenever he saw the other archer as he slowly got closer. Based on the movements of the other archer, he must have consumed a health potion, putting Nicholas on a timer before he would be back in top condition.

The entire thing was frustrating and only got worse as the other archer started returning fire. Neither of them seemed inclined to enter melee range, and with a good twenty meters still between them, they entered a standstill.

Jake felt quite a bit better after avoiding a couple more arrows, and he even started shooting back. His life was in danger at every moment, and he had a couple of close shaves, the other archer being both faster and stronger than him. He was enjoying every moment of it.

They both dodged and weaved in between trees, firing arrows back and forth, neither finding any luck. Jake was absolutely fine with this stalemate, as he started to feel better and better, his high vitality helping to heal his internal injuries.

Despite a healing potion's magical effect of restoring Health Points, it did not instantly fix the body. That was all up to the person's vitality. A stat that Jake had no lack of due to his [Bloodline Patriarch] title.

As they shot at each other, they ended up slowly moving closer together. The initial twenty meters became fifteen and then only ten. With less than 20 arrows remaining, the other archer finally entered Jake’s Sphere of Perception, making the physical barriers between them far less relevant as he no longer needed to rely purely on sight.

The forest was quite a sight at this moment, with tens of trees having arrows stuck in them. Some were low on the trunk, while others were closer to their tops, as the two archers periodically climbed them in order to get any advantage.

Jake could feel the other archer becoming more and more frustrated throughout the fight, and when he entered his sphere, Jake finally confirmed the big frown on the man's face.

Jake smiled to himself as he called out. “This is fun, right?”

you want?” the other archer yelled

I would prefer. Name’s

man once more yelled, clearly not

arrows. Not that he had much to say as Jake was doing exactly the same. The other archer, however, was down to only eleven arrows, with Jake still having nineteen. Based on the other archer's skill level, he had likely counted them

up as another random notification of experience and tutorial points gained, wouldn’t it?” Jake replied,

situation, he still kept his cool, had a methodical approach, never losing control of his emotions enough to hamper his performance. This would not be Jake’s last fight with life and death on the line against a strong enemy, but he wanted to know the name of his first,

making me cringe over here,” he

to meet you, I guess. Was my taunt really that bad?” Jake asked. He had tried to make himself seem like a total badass, but, thinking back; it came off more as

without Richard ordering it. Seriously, what the fuck was that?” Nicholas asked, counting his stock of

apologize?” Jake answered questionably, more than a little embarrassed. Never going to do anything like that again.

fucked up really bad, you know. Making an enemy out of us. Do you really think your friends will

means talk is over,” Jake muttered as much to himself

got a name to call his opponent. Jake exited from behind the tree and jumped to the side, shooting another arrow at Nicholas, who

the shot had only been to

he was planning, despite having no line of sight. They were close enough that

An enemy archer of considerable skill would

gotten his entire squad killed by a single man. He at least assumed they were all dead at this point, as none had shown

were not to be scoffed at. While he had limited experience with a bow before the tutorial,

distance was only reduced by inches at a time as they

fine with the other archer deciding to get closer. While he most certainly preferred ranged combat, he was not afraid to meet the enemy in melee. Not because he had any confidence in his abilities with a melee weapon, but because he unconditionally trusted his instincts at this point. They were not perfect, and he had taken several wounds during the fight, but it was nevertheless extremely

sphere while dodging yet another arrow. He kept dodging

distance to a good eight to ten meters once more. He dodged behind the tree he

circled the forest from tree to tree. This meant that Nicholas could not see the dead archer from where he was now hiding. Jake, on

got out from behind the tree, firing yet another arrow. Jake purposefully stayed around

charged for Jake as he circled the tree where the archer was hiding. As he got around it, he instantly saw a person coming towards him, and with no hesitation, he stabbed for the throat. He smiled as he felt his knife sink into flesh as he looked at the face of his opponent, hoping to see

could process what had happened, a knife came out from behind the corpse, penetrating deep into

process. A warm feeling spread from his chest as blood poured out. He knew his heart had