After swirling and twirling for a while in a tunnel-like space, Hunter was spat out on the other side, feet first, just the way he had been sucked in. His but hit the ground with a thud, and he felt his backside bone creek. Thankfully, the surface he had landed on was lush with undergrowth, which at least cushioned the impact.

However, his problems were far from over.

He felt his head pulsing with blinding pain. his vision was blurred, and worse yet, everything in his stomach began to churn and turn violently before it all came flying out of his mouth. For the next few seconds, held onto life as waves of vomit racked his chest until there was nothing left in his belly.

A blue screen danced before Hunter's dazed eyes almost immediately, and he strained to focus on the text.

[ALERT]

The player is in hostile territory.

Player resource: the red blade

Weapon full efficiency5\10

Weapon current efficiency: 2\10

"Damn!" Hunter swore in confusion. "What the hell just happened?" he exclaimed in exasperation as he gasped for breath. His beat-up brain was trying hard to understand how he had just been sucked into a game. But even worse, he wasn't getting much information from the text he had just read.

"The red blade, huh, with 2 out of 10 efficiency?" he mused. "What a fancy name for such a useless weapon." And where is it, eh? He said as he looked around before checking himself.

That's when he realized the extent of his transformation. The rugged-looking Hunter was gone, and in his place, a tall boy clad in silver armour with leather gauntlets in his hands had taken over. a replica of the avatar he had selected from the device

Except now, he was the man in that armour. However, there was no sword visible in his waist, as he had expected. But then he recalled that the sword from the avatar he had selected had been slung over his shoulders. His hands automatically reached behind his back in high hope.

Hunter's face beamed with a smile, sure enough. The weapon was there, resting comfortably on his back.

With a careful hand, he pulled gently, and the blade hissed out of its scabbard smoothly. Hunter immediately felt a connection to it the moment he laid eyes on it. There was no doubt it was sharp. but it was much more than that. As the sun's rays hit its surface and bounced back, Hunter saw his smiling face through the shining surface of the blade. And his smile broadened.

"My god, it's beautiful," he exclaimed in amazement.

Almost instinctively, Hunter took hold of the hilt in his left hand, feeling the sword's perfect balance, and then, in a show of prowess, he swung it diagonally from right to left and left to right before spinning the blade mid-air and then bringing it down in a downward stroke and letting it touch the ground gently. point fast.

"Hurray!" The dumpster diver turned adventurer was astounded by his mastery of the swordsmanship techniques.

Never before had he held a sword in his hands, let alone practised it. Yet here he was with the blade dancing in his hands like a pro.

Hunter felt an overwhelming feeling in his heart. He was a knight, just like he had dreamed of being in his boyhood days. But how was this even possible? Was this not one of those dreams you had while munching on some KFC only to wake up and find half the mattress gone?

An ugly hiss and a thud, on the other hand, let him know how serious the situation was. He stared at the nearest tree, which was about three meters away, and deeply buried in its stem was a black-shafted arrow. Hunter felt his heart miss a beat. The arrow had passed too close to his left shoulder, which was also his sword hand.

It was too close to have been a miss. That shot alone was enough to make him know he was up against a master.

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He turned the way the arrow had come, but there was no one in sight. Yet the arrow was not an illusion. Someone was there. perhaps preparing their next shot. one that would most likely not miss this time.

Then the rustling of shrubs alerted him of a presence. A figure gradually appeared from the bushes, and Hunter's mouth gaped in surprise. His semi-chauvinistic mind had certainly not prepared him for what he saw.

He had naturally assumed that the mystery archer was a man. But his surprise was palpable when he saw a slim blond girl with a black leather strap across her chest and a similar-coloured strip of linen around her waist...

Even with the distance between them, Hunter could see that the girl was not older than himself. If anything, she was probably younger. Her hair was held back in a tiny bun.

The hunter couldn't tell what colour her eyes were from this distance. He would have loved to look at them. The spell was completed, however, by a bulging chest and an exposed navel. and Hunter was in a trance.

The smile that had disappeared was back on his face, along with the dimples. He involuntarily took a step forward. and that was a mistake.

The girl had been watching him calmly. as if letting him feast with his eyes. but the careless step changed that.

Her hand slowly went to her back, and out came the black menace. Hunter came out of the trance with a jolt. He tried waving his hand over his head in a gesture of peace. but seeing the arrow nocked and drawn in one swift motion, he knew it was time for a default response. flight

He had barely gone more than two steps when the ugly hiss and thud sounded again. this time an inch closer than the last one. The arrow was still aimed at his left shoulder, which meant the girl already knew he was left-handed. She had definitely seen his little show with his sword.

Was this her way of showing her skill as well? But a third arrow missing his right thigh by inches was enough to kill that thought even before it was fully developed. The girl's attacks went deeper than a mere show of skill. Every arrow carried a serious message. "fuck off."

And Hunter suddenly realized the gravity of his situation.

The terrain he was in was almost devoid of cover, except for the few trees up ahead. The closest one was the one where the girl had buried two arrows.

He was screwed, and hard.

His safety now lay on the steep slope behind him. It was a tough choice to make. But turning and seeing the third arrow knocked and drawn forced him to make that decision. He dove toward the slope's edge and began to tumble.

The descent wasn't as favourable as he had imagined, mainly because the slope got steeper and steeper, and thus he kept gathering speed. His face was brushing hard against the small shrubs, and the hunter had to curl into a ball to avoid injuring his face. However, this meant that his back bore the brunt of the damage.

After a while, he began to slow down a little, but he was still moving fast. And then, just when he began to think he was almost reaching safety, he heard it. a deafening rumble of falling water as it crashed down below.

A waterfall!

He tried to uncurl and grab anything that would stop him from reaching the cliff beneath him. but there was nothing except tiny shrubs, which were simply plucked off by the force of his fall.

It is horrifying enough knowing what was awaiting him. but seeing it was something beyond terror. A scream tore out of his throat as his fall abruptly ended and he was thrown into the falling water. His screams disappeared among the roar of the waterfall.

The fall was brief, but when his body hit the water below, the impact made up for everything that the fall might have lacked. Hunter felt all the air being pushed out of his lungs just when he needed it most.

For several seconds, he suffocated as he sank beneath the massive waves made by the waterfall. when his head resurfaced, gasping for breath. He swallowed foam instead and was almost giving up when a gigantic hand reached under his arms and lifted him effortlessly.

Hunter almost shouted in joy—he was safe! Finally. He couldn't believe just how lucky he was.

As his saviour swam for the banks, Hunter took time to regain his breath. He recalled that the system statistics indicated that his luck was three out of ten.

"Fuck that," he cursed internally. But then he recalled that the system had also warned him about being in the hostile territory before the attacks began.

Almost a minute passed before another pair of powerful hands pulled him from the water.

"Got ya, boy," the heavily accented voice said before a blow landed on his jaws and stars began to fly lazily, suddenly too low and too small.

But, before darkness swallowed his consciousness, he noticed the beautiful face dancing too close to his, smelled her hair, and heard music in her voice.

"That was a little too hard, dad," she said with no apparent concern in her voice. but it didn't matter to him. It was a magical voice. He could listen to her forever and never get tired.

"Don't worry, Ari. It was just enough to put him out for a while until we set sail. the man said... but Hunter couldn't care less. He still had a smile on his face...Ari was her name, and she had blue eyes. the color of the sea. blue like the system menu he was now seeing in his bleary eyes indicating.

[player status: captured]