Leveling Up My Bow In The Apocalypse

I dodged and moved between the trees, shooting arrows forward and backward as my opponent did the same, neither of us managing to land a hit. I was absolutely fine with this stalemate. With every move, I felt better, my high vitality helping to heal the internal wounds, making them practically irrelevant.

Although the healing potion had restored my Health Points, it didn't heal the body instantly. That depended on my vitality, a stat I didn't lack, thanks to my [King of Lineage] title.

As we exchanged arrows, we slowly closed the distance. The twenty-meter gap shrank to fifteen, then ten. With less than 20 arrows remaining, the other Fatal Shot finally entered my Perception Sphere, making the physical barriers between us much less relevant. I no longer needed to rely solely on sight.

The forest was beautiful at that moment, with dozens of arrows stuck in the trees. Some were lower, near the trunks, while others were higher up, and periodically, the two Fatal Shots would climb the trees looking for some advantage.

I could feel the growing frustration in my opponent, and when he entered my sphere, I finally saw the scowl on his face. I smiled to myself, feeling a quiet satisfaction.

I shouted, "This is fun, right?"

"What the hell do you want?" he yelled back.

"A name I'd prefer. The name is Alexander!" I replied calmly.

"And why would I care about that?" He yelled again, clearly irritated by the conversation.

I saw that the man was spending his time conjuring more arrows, but it wasn't like I had much to say about it. I was doing the exact same thing. However, he only had eleven arrows left, while I still had nineteen. Given the skill of the other Fatal Shot, he had probably counted the arrows and knew he was at a disadvantage. That's what led him to extend the conversation, trying to buy time.

"It would be a shame to end up just another random experience notification and tutorial points gained, wouldn't it?" I responded, honestly.

He had skill, no doubt. Despite the clear frustration overtaking his mind, he still maintained his composure. His approach was methodical; he never lost emotional control to the point of damaging his performance.

I knew this wouldn't be the last fight where my life would be at stake against a strong opponent, but I at least wanted to know the name of my first adversary. A slight regret passed through my mind for not getting the names of the three aggressors I killed earlier, but in that situation, exchanging names didn't seem like a priority.

"Still trying to act cool, huh? Control yourself; you're making me shiver here," he mocked back. "But if you care that much, then my name is Prity."

"Well, nice to meet you, I guess. Was my teasing really that bad?" I asked, trying to appear more confident. But, after reflecting a bit, I realized I came off more like a teenager trying to act tough.

"Embarrassing enough to make me want to get rid of you, even without Charles ordering it. Seriously, what the hell was that?" Prity replied, counting his stock of arrows. Eighteen.

"Seriously, that bad? Guess I should apologize?" I retorted, more than a little embarrassed. I had felt good at first, but now the sense of having overdone it was bothering me. I won't ever do that again. Never again.

"I'm still going to kill you," Prity responded, seeing he now had two dozen arrows. "You're screwed, you know? You made us an enemy. Do you really think your friends will be safe after I kill you and go back to tell how full of shit you were?"

"Okay, I guess that means the conversation's over," I muttered, both to myself and to Prity.

I knew the conversation wouldn't get us anywhere, but I was satisfied enough to finally have a name to call my opponent. I stepped out from behind the tree and jumped to the side, shooting another arrow toward Prity, who easily dodged.

The goal of the shot wasn't to hit him, but just to interrupt his arrow conjuring.

The shooting game resumed, but Prity quickly realized his disadvantage as the distance shrank. The other Fatal Shot always seemed to know what he was planning, even without a line of sight. We were close enough to bump into each other, but nothing lethal.

Prity briefly considered the idea of fleeing but quickly dismissed it. Running away would leave him too exposed, and even if he managed to escape, it wouldn't matter. A Fatal Shot with considerable skill would still be out there, and next time, he could easily get Prity or one of his allies. It reminded me of how we were ambushed that morning.

And all of this without mentioning Charles's reaction when he found out he had lost his entire squad to a single man. At least, Prity assumed they were all dead by this point, since none of them showed up despite the long battle.

Instead of running or gaining more distance, Prity made a bold decision. He closed the gap between us. As part of his pre-initiation training, he had combat experience, and his skills with a knife were not to be underestimated.

Although he had limited experience with a bow before the tutorial, the system even gave him an upgrade to his one-handed weapon skill once. He chose Fatal Shot because he believed a long-range weapon would be superior to a melee one, though a light warrior might have suited him better in retrospect.

He ran back and forth between the trees, and while the distance was reduced only a few centimeters at a time, as we continued shooting back and forth, he made constant progress toward his opponent.

I was calm with the other Fatal Shot approaching. While I preferred ranged combat, I wasn't afraid of facing the enemy up close. Not because I trusted my skills with melee weapons, but because I fully trusted my instincts at that moment. They weren't perfect, and I had taken some wounds during the fight, but they were still incredibly reliable.

Suddenly, something came to my mind as I dodged another arrow. I kept dodging toward a specific tree, returning fire when the opportunity arose.

When I finally reached the tree, I managed to increase the distance to a good eight to ten meters. I dodged behind the tree while Prity followed closely. It was there that I had killed the injured Fatal Shot at the beginning of the battle.

The fight was so intense that we kept changing positions several times, circling the forest from tree to tree. This meant that Prity couldn't see the dead Fatal Shot where I was. I, on the other hand, was standing behind the tree, next to the still-fresh corpse.

Smiling once more, I lifted the body of the Fatal Shot and leaned it against the tree, preparing. Then, I stepped out from behind the tree and shot another arrow. I stayed around that tree, waiting for Prity to finally arrive.

When he attacked me, while I circled the tree where the Fatal Shot was, he didn't have time to realize what was happening. As he rounded it, I saw the movement and, without hesitation, drove the knife into his throat. I smiled as I felt the blade cut through his flesh while I looked at my opponent's face, waiting to see the terror reflected in his eyes.

What met him instead were the dead eyes of the comrade he had sacrificed earlier. Before he could process what had happened, a knife came from behind the corpse, plunging deep into his chest.

With a blood cough, he fell backward, the knife being torn out in the process. A warm sensation spread from his chest as the blood gushed. He knew his heart had been struck and that he was finished as the blood filled his mouth.

I looked at the fallen Fatal Shot in the soft underbrush of the forest. His eyes were still open, though it was clear he was struggling in vain to stay alive. His vitality still kept him going, but his health points were quickly running out, and death was already upon him.

"Good fight," I said, in a solemn tone.

"Fuck you v—" Prity tried to speak, but a blood cough interrupted his words. He didn't even try to speak again before the last trace of life left him.

I sighed as I saw the notification confirming his death. I went over to him and closed his eyes. No, he was no longer the Fatal Shot, but Prity, the man who gave me the best fight of my life.

At one point, I had considered cutting the leader's head off, to send a clear message to Charles that my threat was real. But I couldn't bring myself to desecrate the corpse of someone who had challenged me so intensely. Besides, it would have been too cliché.

I decided to bury Prity's body, but there were still some unfinished business with the last member of the hunting group. I walked toward the place where the Fatal Shot was, still frozen in fear. He was in the same spot, clearly trying to hide.

I had no respect for that young man, only pity. He was barely an adult, if he could even be considered one, thrown into this chaotic tutorial where beasts, monsters, and people trying to kill him were an everyday occurrence. People like me.

The boy's attempt to hide was futile; his constant trembling made it easy to find him, even without my sphere. He held his dagger in his hand, hidden under his cloak, but he had either lost or discarded his bow at some point.

As I got closer, he began to tremble even more, until he finally gathered the courage to look up. When he saw me, his face showed pure panic as he stared at me, wearing a blood-red cloak that had probably once been brown. Before he could scream, I was quick, and with a simple motion, I disarmed the boy with a strong punch to the stomach, making him kneel as his knife fell to the ground.

"Your friends are dead, kid. Go back to Charles and tell him Prity fought well, and remind him that I was serious when I said I'd kill him if he did anything to my friends. Oh, and tell him he's free to send more people after me, I enjoyed it," I said, looking at him. The boy clearly thought he was going to die right there.

He looked up, his eyes filled with terror, and hesitated at my words. To him, I was a monster in human skin. Out of nowhere, two of his friends had died, and while he tried to understand what was happening, he heard screams around him, panic spreading everywhere.

He froze, not daring to move, fearing that an arrow would suddenly appear and end his life without him knowing how. It wasn't a plea, but a silent waiting, hoping that the others would win and come to get him. But now, everyone was dead, even the seemingly invincible Prity, who even the feared Charles respected as his equal. And worse, now I was standing right in front of him.

"Hello?" I asked aloud since he was just there, trembling. Didn't he hear me?

The boy tensed quickly and then started running uncontrollably, almost tripping on his first steps. He oriented himself and ran forward.

I was a little confused for a moment but just shook my head as I watched him. The boy looked more than a little foolish, bumping into several trees while running, as if the devil were chasing him.

When he finally left my line of sight, I let my body fall to the ground, exhausted. Fighting to the death with someone for almost an hour was draining.

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2011 Words