’I really don’t want to kill a human.’
’But I knew that this would happen at some point.’
Kyle took a deep breath and focused his eyes.
’Well, just gotta do it.’
’Got no time for this moral bullshit.’
Kyle listened to his surroundings.
A couple of seconds had already passed, and the assailant could be anywhere by now.
Kyle’s instincts were warning him that he was in danger, but they couldn’t tell him where his enemy was.
’Dude, you always tell me where the danger is. Why can’t you do it when it’s actually important?!’
Kyle heard a very quiet sound, and his instincts took control and made him jump forward.
An arrow hit the tree and got stuck in it.
’Holy fuck!’ Kyle thought. ’These trees are fucking hard, but this arrow still got stuck in one!’
’This guy is no joke!’
The next moment, Kyle heard another sound, and for just a moment, he knew where his opponent was.
His opponent was a couple of trees away.
Sadly, the sound came from the opponent jumping away, making his location irrelevant.
Nevertheless, Kyle charged towards that location.
He zigzagged and searched for the enemy but couldn’t find him.
An arrow pierced Kyle’s abdomen, and his eyes widened.
’Why didn’t I sense this one?!’
"Run!" Theodor shouted.
Kyle didn’t need to be told twice and jumped to the side, dodging an arrow that was supposed to hit his head.
Kyle looked with gritted teeth at the arrow coming out of his abdomen, grabbed it, and pulled it out.
A bunch of blood and flesh left his body, but he had eaten enough earlier.
The wound would be fully healed soon.
"Your enemy is a Fighter," Theodor said. "Fighters are extremely proficient in making use of their environment."
’Great, a Fighter!’ Kyle thought with a roll of his eyes.
Nevertheless, he quickly tried to find his opponent.
Another arrow shot through Kyle’s chest, barely missing his Center.
But instead of jumping to the side and waiting for an opportunity, Kyle immediately charged towards the location from where the arrow came from.
’There!’ Kyle thought as he saw a black shadow jumping to the left.
’If I couldn’t see in the dark, I would be fucked!’
Kyle ran as fast as he could towards the tree the shadow jumped to.
The shadow vanished behind the tree, and Kyle followed it.
When he passed the tree...
’Where did he go?!’ Kyle thought in panic.
It was like the guy had completely vanished.
The next moment, he heard a very quiet sound again, and Kyle ducked.
Another arrow barely brushed past his lowered head, and Kyle charged in the direction of the enemy.
The enemy moved again and vanished behind a tree.
"Oh no, you don’t!" Kyle shouted.
Kyle hit the tree with the pick of his hammer, splintering the wood.
These trees were hard, but Kyle’s hammer was used for mining even harder ore.
The entire tree shook, and the impact echoed throughout the entire forest.
Kyle heard some fumbling from the other side, and he quickly ran around the tree.
The assailant was in the process of jumping to another tree, and Kyle barely missed him.
’Fuck!’ he thought as he charged after the enemy.
He prepared to strike the next tree, but the assailant’s bow and head peeked out from behind the tree.
Kyle’s eyes widened, and he quickly hid behind the tree.
The arrow flew past Kyle, and he ran around the tree...
Just to come face-to-face with a second arrow.
’How?!’ Kyle thought in shock.
How had this guy readied another shot so quickly?!
Kyle moved his head to the side, but the arrow opened a crevice on the side of his neck.
He just gnashed his teeth and jumped towards his enemy, who hid behind the tree again.
Kyle circled the tree, and he could see the black cape vanishing just behind the tree.
"Stop!" Theodor shouted.
Kyle immediately stopped.
An arrow shot past him.
If he had continued, that arrow would have pierced his head!
This shocked Kyle quite a bit, and the assailant managed to escape from his perception again.
"That’s a cape shot," Theodor explained rapidly. "Fighter archers don’t need to see you to hit you!"
While Theodor was explaining, Kyle jumped behind another tree.
"They detach their capes and ready an arrow behind it! If you chase the cape, you will be shot!"
’What the fuck, dude?!’ Kyle thought. ’How do you even do something like that?!’
By now, Kyle’s adrenaline was washing through his entire body.
This was genuinely dangerous.
He had already received three injuries, while he hadn’t even been able to touch his enemy once!
Even more, he had lost his assailant again, and he needed to wait for his assailant to reveal themselves again, which meant receiving another injury.
"You’re outclassed," Theodor said. "A dark forest is the territory of Fighter archers."
"His level is also a bit higher than yours. Most likely Late Adept."
Kyle breathed heavily.
"What am I supposed to do?!" he whispered, looking around for the enemy.
"Learn," Theodor said. "There are ways out of this."
Kyle gritted his teeth.
’I’m fucking dying, and you tell me to learn?!’
At that moment, Kyle jumped to the side.
He didn’t want to wait for his enemy to strike first.
He had to take the initiative.
An arrow pierced his back, breaking two of his ribs.
’Fuck! He was waiting for me to evade first!’ Kyle thought, seeing the second arrow that stuck out of his body.
He quickly looked in the direction from where the arrow had come from, but the assailant was already gone.
’I can’t find an opening!’
’I can’t get to him!’
’If this continues, I will die!’
’I only have so much Ether!’
The assailant never came too close to Kyle.
Whenever Kyle came closer, he fled until he was hidden again.
Then, he struck from a distance, which gave him enough time to retreat in case Kyle decided to charge at him.
’These fucking trees!’
’If it weren’t for these fucking trees!’