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?”

the fuck do you want?” the other archer

would prefer. Name’s Jake!” he

other man once more yelled, clearly not enjoying their exchange

saw that the man was spending his time conjuring more 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 and knew he was at a disadvantage, leading him to endure

up as another random notification of experience and tutorial

with the 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, at least. He slightly regretted not getting the name of the three assailants he had

are making me cringe over here,” he sneered back. “But if you care

you, I guess. Was my taunt really that bad?” Jake asked. He had tried to make himself seem like a total badass,

to make me want to get rid of you even without Richard ordering it. Seriously, what the

guess I should apologize?” Jake answered questionably, more than a little embarrassed. Never going to

really bad, you know. Making an enemy out of us. Do you really

talk is over,” Jake muttered as much to

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

only

as the other archer seemed to always know what he was planning, despite having no

away but decided against it. He would be far more exposed trying to run, and even if he did manage to get away, it would achieve very little. An enemy archer of considerable skill would still be out there, and the next time he could easily get the drop on him or one of his allies. Much like how

all of that was ignoring Richard's reaction to finding out that he had gotten his entire squad killed by a single man. He at least assumed they were all dead at this point,

a knife were not to be scoffed at. While he had limited experience with a bow before the tutorial, the system had even given him a rank-upgrade to his one-handed weapon skill once. He had picked archer because he believed a

trees, and while the distance was only reduced by inches at a time as they kept shooting back and forth, he

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 sphere while dodging yet another arrow. He kept dodging towards a

eight to ten meters once more. He dodged behind the tree he had

as they both 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 the other

he hoisted up the dead archer, leaning him against the tree in preparation. He then got out from behind the tree, firing yet another arrow. Jake purposefully stayed around this tree, as Nicholas finally got within a couple

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

met him was the dead eyes of the comrade he had sacrificed earlier. Before he could process what had happened, a knife came

fell backward, the knife being ripped out in the process. A warm feeling spread from his chest as blood poured out. He knew his heart had been hit and