Chapter 7: Chapter 7: BOW AND SWORD SYNCHRONIZATION ON THE EASTERN PATH
Hiyaaa!
Arthur let out a battle cry that shattered the silence of the eastern forest. His sturdy body shot forward, closing the five-meter gap between us and the Giant Ant in an instant. The large sword with rough steel polish in his hand swung downward, using the weapon’s heavy momentum to smash into the head of the dark-shelled creature.
Blarrr!
Arthur’s greatsword struck directly between the Giant Ant’s pair of antennae. The loud sound of metal clashing against chitin echoed sharply. Soil and moss fragments flew into the air as a bright yellow damage number appeared above the monster’s head: [-42]. The Giant Ant’s red health bar immediately dropped by about one-fifth.
Hisssh!
The Level 7 monster let out a sharp, rage-filled hiss. Although Arthur’s greatsword strike triggered a small stagger effect that pushed its body slightly backward, its pair of razor-sharp pincer-like mandibles snapped shut quickly, attempting to clamp down on Arthur’s left leg, which was off-balance after swinging his massive weapon.
"Damn, its shell is really tough too!" Arthur cursed while trying to pull his leg back to dodge. However, the movement speed of this insect-type monster on the forest ground was far faster than he had anticipated.
In that critical moment, I didn’t stay idle in the back like he had instructed. I took a deep breath, positioning my feet shoulder-width apart on a large tree root. All the emotions and anxiety of being a paralyzed young man in the real world evaporated from my mind, replaced by the cold focus of an archery athlete who had finally returned to his world.
The slender fingers of my Elf body moved with astonishing speed thanks to my DEX stat sitting at 17. I pulled an iron-tipped arrow from the quiver at my waist, nocked it onto the new hunting bow, and drew it back until it touched the corner of my lips in one incredibly smooth, flowing motion.
My target wasn’t the Giant Ant’s large body, but the small hinge joint connecting its main mandibles to its head, a very tiny weak point that usually escaped the notice of ordinary players.
Ding!
The game’s built-in aim assist system projected a faint green line that vibrated in my vision. However, instead of relying on that line, I ignored it. I trusted my own muscle memory. I slightly shifted the angle of my bow toward the upper right, calculating the direction of the weak forest breeze blowing from the side.
Whoosh!
The bowstring twanged loudly. The wooden arrow shot through the air.
Jleb!
The shot embedded with terrifying precision. The iron tip of my arrow pierced straight into the hinge gap of the Giant Ant’s right mandible, penetrating the soft tissue beneath its hard shell.
[-68! Critical Hit!]
A large blood-red damage number jumped above the monster’s head. The piercing power from my high DEX stat, combined with the Critical damage bonus for hitting a fatal point, made the Giant Ant scream in pain. Its right mandible instantly went limp, losing its ability to clamp down on Arthur’s leg.
Arthur, who had just managed to leap backward, widened his eyes as he stared at the arrow vibrating in the monster’s head, then glanced at me with an incredulous expression.
"Bro... Critical Hit on the joint point?! How can your accuracy be this insane at Level 3?!"
"Stop talking and finish it off!" I said.
The heavily wounded Giant Ant went berserk. With its one remaining functional mandible, it spun around, ignoring Arthur and locking its compound eyes directly onto me standing several meters behind. The creature stomped its six small legs and charged toward me at full speed like a small black bulldozer.
"Syl! Watch out! It’s targeting you!" Arthur shouted in panic, trying to run after it, but the weight of his greatsword slowed him down compared to the monster.
I remained standing firmly in place, showing not the slightest panic. The distance between us shrank rapidly: five meters... three meters... two meters. Under the influence of the Albinism debuff, if this monster managed to ram my fragile body, my measly 60 Health points would likely be drained by half or even send me straight back to the spawn point.
But this was exactly why I had chosen the magic elements that Arthur considered useless.
I lowered my bow with my left hand while raising my right hand forward, palm open toward the approaching monster. I called upon my remaining mana and activated the first spell I learned at the magic shop this morning.
" [Water Ball] " I whispered softly.
Whoosh!
A thirty-centimeter diameter ball of water suddenly materialized in front of my palm, condensing the forest’s moisture in an instant. With a flick of my hand, the water ball shot forward and struck the Giant Ant directly in the face as it charged.
Pyasss!
The water ball burst, soaking the monster’s entire head, antennae, and front body with a thick layer of water. This spell only dealt minor damage of [-12], but its main purpose wasn’t damage. The thick liquid immediately entered the monster’s tracheal respiratory organs, triggering the [Wet] status effect and drastically slowing its fast movement for three seconds.
"Now, Arthur!" I commanded.
Arthur, who was already behind the monster, didn’t waste the golden opportunity I had created. With a loud roar, he activated his signature skill: [Heavy Smash]. His greatsword glowed with blazing golden light as he swung it in a circular motion, striking the side of the slowing Giant Ant’s abdomen with full force.
KRAK!
Arthur’s greatsword blow shattered the monster’s black chitin shell into a thousand cracks. Massive damage of [-85] appeared, and the Level 7 Giant Ant finally collapsed onto the forest floor, its body convulsing several times before disintegrating into digital light particles carried away by the wind.
On the ground where the monster died, it left behind two loot items: a shiny piece of black chitin and a small pouch containing copper coins.
Ding!
[Party Notification]
You and Arthur have defeated [Giant Ant - Level 7].
You gained 45 EXP (Party Bonus).
You obtained: [Giant Ant Chitin] x1, [3 Copper Coins].
Arthur lowered his greatsword, resting the tip of its heavy blade on the ground, then wiped imaginary sweat from his forehead. He walked toward me with an entirely new look in his eyes. He scanned my Elf body from head to toe, shaking his head with an expression of amazement mixed with annoyance.
"Damn it, Bro. I take back what I said about your weird build," Arthur said with a bitter laugh. "That Water magic earlier... you didn’t use it to attack, but to manipulate its movement so I could land a solid hit. And your arrow shots... still as accurate as ever."
I smiled faintly and slung my bow back over my shoulder.
"Don’t underestimate a former archery athlete."
Arthur snorted, but there was a deep respect shining in his eyes. He briefly planted the tip of his greatsword into the ground.
"You monster. No wonder your level reached 3 without killing a single monster. But our hunt has only just begun, Bro. That ant was just the appetizer. Let’s go deeper!"
We continued onward, moving further away from the grassland border zone. The Eastern Forest’s vegetation grew increasingly dense, with ancient giant trees whose roots protruded from the ground like massive snakes. The air around us became more humid and filled with hidden wild growls.
In the next hour, the Eastern Forest became the stage for our unusual synchronization. As a hardcore gamer with massive physical strength, Arthur with his greatsword acted as the perfect defensive wall. He would charge forward first, drawing the attention of two to three monsters at once by slamming the back of his sword against trees or the ground.
Meanwhile, I took a static position on low tree branches or behind safe bushes. Thanks to the passive skill [Slow Walking - Level 11] combined with the sub-skill [Stamina Regen], I could move from one tree to another in absolute silence without triggering aggro from nearby monsters, while keeping my stamina bar at 100%.
Whoosh!
Thud!
My arrow flew from the darkness of a tree branch, piercing the left eye of a [Wild Boar - Level 9] that was preparing to charge Arthur from the side. A critical hit of [-75] instantly made the coarse-haired wild boar collapse, allowing Arthur’s greatsword to cleave its back and kill it.
Not long after, we were surrounded by a pack of three [Forest Wolf - Level 8] with gray fur. Their movements were extremely agile as they leaped from left to right, dodging Arthur’s slow but deadly vertical sword slashes.
"Syl! They’re too agile! My sword blade can’t hit them if they keep jumping!" Arthur shouted while blocking one wolf’s bite on his leather arm guard using his sword hilt.
"Use your defensive skill for three seconds, Arthur!" I replied from atop a tree root ledge.
I raised my right hand high into the air, focusing my magical energy on the second element I had learned. " [Wind Arrow] !"
The Wind element magic manifested not as a physical arrow, but as three transparent, high-speed rotating wind blades shaped like arrows swirling around my fingers. With a tactical wave of my hand, I released the three wind arrows in succession toward the three wolves surrounding Arthur.
Sreett! Sreett! Sreett!
The wind arrows struck the wolves’ bodies. As Arthur had said, the pure damage was indeed small only around [-15] per hit. However, the air compression effect from the Wind element triggered a strong knockback. All three wolves were thrown back two meters, breaking their encirclement formation and creating a massive visual opening.
Without wasting momentum, I drew my hunting bowstring to its maximum limit. This time, I activated my strongest active skill, which consumed a large amount of MP and stamina: [Power Shot - Level 1].
The tip of my arrow emitted a very dense blue-golden glow, spinning and creating a small whirlwind around the wooden shaft. My focus locked onto the alpha wolf in the center, which had just tried to stand up after being knocked back by the wind magic.
BOOM!
The moment my fingers released the bowstring, the twang sounded like a small cannon blast. The arrow shot at twice the speed of a normal shot, tearing through the forest air and leaving a clear straight line through the falling leaves.
Jlesss!
The Power Shot arrow pierced straight through the alpha wolf’s chest, through its internal organs, and continued flying out to embed deeply into a tree trunk behind it. A brutally penetrating shot.
[-145!! Critical Overkill!]
The alpha wolf didn’t even get a chance to let out a death howl. Its body instantly shattered into digital ash in the air. The two remaining wolves, seeing their leader killed in a single shot, were immediately afflicted with the [Fear] status effect. Their defense stats dropped sharply, making it easy for Arthur to slaughter them both with powerful horizontal swings of his greatsword.
The fierce battle against the wolf pack ended with the forest’s silence embracing us once again. I lowered my bow, my large virtual chest rising and falling rapidly as I let out a long breath to recover the stamina and MP I had spent from consecutive Power Shots. My Stamina Regen effect immediately kicked in, refilling the green bar in my vision at 1 point per second.
Arthur rested his massive greatsword on his sturdy shoulder and looked at the pile of scattered loot on the ground with eyes shining with mad excitement.
"Insane... Insane! This is a total jackpot!" Arthur exclaimed with the joy of a true gamer.
He picked up the items one by one: three high-quality [Wolf Hide], a pair of [Wolf Fangs], five pieces of [Wolf Meat], and nearly 40 copper coins in total. For a mid-tier area right after server launch, these materials were extremely valuable. The hides and meat could be sold at high prices to tailoring profession players in the city, while the meat might become useful later if a hunger system update was released to benefit players who took Cooking skills.
However, the biggest surprise of the day had just arrived on my own interface.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
A series of melodious, crisp bell sounds rang repeatedly in my head, accompanied by vertical golden light that wrapped around my albino Elf body three times in succession.
[System Notification]
Your Experience Points (EXP) have reached the maximum limit.
You have leveled up to Level 4!
You gained 3 Attribute Points (AP) and 2 Skill Points (SP).
[System Notification]
Your Experience Points (EXP) have reached the maximum limit.
You have leveled up to Level 5!
You gained 3 Attribute Points (AP) and 2 Skill Points (SP).
[System Notification]
Your Experience Points (EXP) have reached the maximum limit.
You have leveled up to Level 6!
You gained 3 Attribute Points (AP) and 2 Skill Points (SP).
Thanks to the massive EXP gained from slaughtering high-level monsters (Level 7 to 9) in the mid-tier area while my character was still at Level 3, plus the Overkill bonus from Power Shot, my character level jumped three levels at once in a short time, reaching pure Level 6!
I opened my status screen with a satisfied smile on my lips. I now had a total of 9 (AP) ready to allocate, and my Skill Points (SP) had climbed back to a very safe number after the morning magic purchases.
Arthur walked over to me, patting my shoulder with his left hand while his right hand continued supporting the greatsword on his shoulder. He laughed widely.
"Congratulations, Syl! Level 6 in just one hour of hunting in the mid-tier area! With your speed and weird magic-bow combo, the combination of my greatsword frontline and your precise shots from the back it’s so cool."
I looked at my own hand holding the wooden bow, savoring the remaining tension from the battle that felt incredibly real and satisfying. This freedom, this power... it all made me momentarily forget about my paralyzed body lying stiffly inside the glass tube in the real world.
Comments