screech!

A heavy swing of the giant sword radiated a flying crimson arc, zooming through the air that obliterated anything on its path. Under the darkness of the night, the sword slash resembled a terrific blood mist that threatened to mow down any life that was unfortunate enough to get into contact.

The slender figure facing the devastating attack did not dare to clash head-on, as she gracefully evaded the peril by sidestepping away from its path. The flying crimson slash left behind a deep crevice on the rocky soil as it continued on its way before striking a small hut in the far distance. The thatched hut was instantly shattered to pieces as if it was kicked by a colossal giant.

shua! shua! shua! shua!

The retaliation from the slender figure came right after she dodged the slash, launching a barrage of dazzling arrows into the sky that swirled around themselves like the vines of a plant, racing towards the burly man in the distance. In contrast to the barbaric sword slash, the volley of arrows resembled elegant brush strokes on a dark canvas, even though their threat levels might be no different.

The burly man clearly couldn't take such a multitude of projectiles that accurately targeted his vital parts. They were meticulously arranged so as if you block or dodge on one side, the arrows from the other side will find your flesh. As he lowered his waist, with crimson mist surging from within his legs, the man bolted towards the sky like a cannonball leaving behind a cracked ground with the arrow volley swishing through the spot he had stood a few breaths later.

screech!

Astonishingly even after this move, two arrows that glowed a dazzling green curved upwards from their original path aimed directly at the airborne brute as if they were shot taking his jump into the calculation. With nowhere to move, the man spun like a top in midair with his giant sword that glowed crimson, swatting away the curving snipes.

The burly man landed with a bang! atop the ground, in the next moment before he dashed like lightning towards the archer as he cleared the distance with just a few strides, striking down the massive sword with an overhead swing.

BOOM!

The nimble woman instantly backpedaled from the spot just before the strike formed a small crater, explosively launching lumps of soil into the air. She glided backward like an ice skater in a zig-zag manner with similar bluish coloured mist rising from her body, creating further distance from the brute all while sniping at the opponent's head in a smooth execution.

swish!

Although the attack was timed perfectly, the burly man was not as weak as the sledgehammer giant and he was able to lift back the even heavier sword from the ground in an instant, parrying the arrow with a metallic ding!

"Tch, so agile. Are you a rabbit or something?" the man muttered while clicking his tongue.

Bojorn and Shreya had already fought many similar rounds within a short amount of time. Even though the bandit chief was far stronger and experienced than his subordinates, Shreya still beat him in terms of agility by a large margin. Furthermore, her masterful archery was like the icing on a cake, not letting the brute to rush in close enough to deliver a fatal blow. The battle had reached a stalemate with either side unable to gain an upper hand.

It would have been far easier for Shreya if the villagers had aided her by tanking this behemoth of a human, just like the in the situation with the other bandits. For an archer mainly suited for ranged combat, a pure power type warrior was the worst matchup. But unfortunately, there are no 'ifs' that could soothe regrets in this world. Were it not for her higher speed and agility, Shreya would already have been flattened under that giant hunk of metal.

The final confrontation between the bandits and villagers didn't last for long. The already bruised and battered personnel couldn't take even half a blow from the new outlaw reinforcements before they succumbed to their deaths. Although Shreya had intended to back the village men, Bojorn didn't let her do as she pleased and within a few breaths of time, the battle had concluded.

The old chief and a handful of others were the final ones to bite the dust after getting hit by one of Bojorn's flying sword slash, with their bodies simply exploding in a bloody mist rather than getting sliced apart. All men of the village had been annihilated with this accident, letting the bandits peacefully enter the settlement while Shreya was caught up in the terrifying death duel with their chieftain.

"You amaze me the more we fight. I have never seen such mastery of art ever before. It seems like a waste for you to die in a place like this, don't you think so?" Bojorn said, hinting at the huntress to think otherwise.

Shreya's expression didn't change in the slightest at the bandit's words. She neither had any plans of surrendering the fight nor any zeal of escaping from it. Although the men of the village had been killed, the tragedy had not yet concluded. If no one stopped these savages, the women hiding behind would come down to become their playthings while the children will be sold to slavery in the black markets for money and resources.

Therefore Shreya had long since determined to kill this chieftain at any cost. At least as long as the snakehead was cut off, she would have many ways to deal with the wriggling tail. Still, several doubts had been floating in her head regarding the situation. Seeing as the bandit did not immediately attack, the huntress slightly lowered her longbow.

"I could ask a similar question along those lines," she spoke. "Just what could someone at your level gain from a place like this."

"Hahaha, it's true this place has nothing worth my attention," Bojorn replied with a burst of hearty laughter.

"Then, why?"

"Hmm, If I have to say, I was told I could get my revenge against a hateful bunch."

'He was told?'

"You people shouldn't have just accepted any random stranger that wanted to settle in these piss poor outskirts," Bojorn hinted with a wide grin.

The huntress' eyes widened at the man's words. Numerous thoughts and conjectures flashed past her mind in no time before she arrived at a reasonable conclusion. Only a bitter smile laced her exhausted visage the moment she was able to deduce the entire series of events that had recently unfolded in the village.

'So we were just caught up in some backstage political struggle. Just how unfortunate...'

Shreya fiercely gritted her teeth, glancing at the disfigured and mangled bodies of the villagers sprawled in the distance. The people she had known for over an entire decade had all been viciously maimed in front of her own eyes. Her heart cried in agony eyeing the tragic sight, even more so after learning the vague truth that had claimed all these innocent lives.

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"So? What are you gonna do? It's already the penultimate one. I doubt you can fight without any arrows in the quiver," Bojorn said, his rotten teeth visible behind the mocking smile.

Shreya contemplated hard with a deep frown, gazing at the monstrous sword that rested atop the giant chieftain's shoulder. And right in the next moment as if conforming her resolve, the huntress threw aside the almost empty quivers strapped on her back much to the bandit's surprise. Then, strangely enough, the long silvery bow in her hands folded in half with a bizarre mechanism, like an open book being closed.

Kacha!

Ignoring her opponent's wide and curious eyes, Shreya strapped the now compact weapon onto her back and unsheathed two short swords from her either side. Bluish mist rose from all over her physique as the huntress lowered her waist in a cat-like stance, glaring at the man ahead with sharp glowing eyes as a reply.

"Hahahaha," genuine laughter of amusement escaped the bandit's throat. "This keeps on getting interesting! Is this why you brought me out into the fields, eh!

"Then! Let's see how well you fare in close quarters!" Bojorn roared, the crimson mist shrouding his giant physique as he rushed towards the sword-wielding archer with ferocious momentum.

Shreya responded to the bandit's call by launching herself towards the approaching man with blinding speed. The two sides created a dazzling spectacle under the night sky, leaving behind glowing trails as they neared each other like comets within the grassy fields.

swish!

Bojorn swung down his sword in a diagonal slash aiming to cleave the agile archer in two. The swing swept a wide arc in the air so as to not let Shreya easily dodge the attack. But the archer's expression didn't falter in the slightest as she accurately timed her jump, dodge rolling into the opposite side of the strike as the massive sword brushed past above her back.

Gracefully picking herself up from the roll right beside the man's left knee, Shreya slashed horizontally with her short sword.

schiing!

As if he had expected it, Bojorn turned about on his right leg-spinning like a top, getting his knee out of the sword's path. Continuing with the rotation, he once again explosively swung down at the huntress kneeling just below.

swish!

The strike didn't connect, slashing only air as Shreya had back stepped just out of the sword's arc the moment her attack had missed its mark. Right as the wide blade went past her with a fierce gust of wind, the huntress pounced like a cheetah, whirling herself in the air with the dual blades.

clang! clang! clang! clang!

Bojorn jumped back during his half swing, barely able to retract the sword to block the assault upon his face. Right after the momentum of Shreya's attacks halted, she was almost standing on top of the wide blade, ready for another thrust aimed at the chieftain's head.

But the brute muscles swelled up at this instance as Bojorn exerted immense strength onto his arms, swinging up the heavy metal hunk along with the weight of Shreya that launched her feather-like body far away into the air. The nimble huntress executed a magnificent backflip before she landed gracefully on the ground almost a dozen meters away.

"Let's see how you deal with ranged attacks now!"

screech!

Bojorn unleashed another vertical flying strike that whizzed past the air in an attempt to disfigure the beautiful archer. What's more, the chieftain himself rushed straight at the huntress right behind the devastating attack so as to not give her any chance to escape.

Previously, because of Shreya's accurate marksmanship, Bojorn had to maintain a constant distance to avoid getting sniped in the vitals. But now with her bow being unequipped, the bandit's constraints had ceased to exist.

"Humph!'

Shreya snorted as she casually stepped into the destructive crimson mist, twirling around the slash as if it were just some random stranger walking towards her. With each of her twirls she swung her glowing short sword upwards, unleashing similar, but smaller and faster bluish flying arcs at the rushing bandit.

schiing! schiing! schiing!

"What!"

The smaller bluish slashes released by the huntress sounded sharper as they tore through the air, unlike Bojorn's heavy and blunt ones. They arrived at the charging man in an instant and due to the element of surprise, the bandit was only able to block a few with his glowing sword while the others slipped past his defense, cutting along the waist and midsection of the burly man, letting a trickle of blood ooze out.

"You can use ranged Aura attacks like a warrior!? Just how many disciplines have you mastered!?"

"Hah! Hah!"

Even though Bojorn was shocked at the huntress' excellent skills that could put professional sword users to shame, he didn't miss the change in Shreya's atmosphere as she heavily gasped for breath.

The entire confrontation had been too mentally taxing for her. It would have been a different situation if she was in her best condition. but Shreya had already fought and killed the first wave of bandits with extreme focus. On top of that, in this fight, unlike her opponent who can just tank a few dozen of her attacks, she absolutely cannot get caught even once in the bandit's explosive swings. Just a little graze of the massive sword would instantly end the fight.

"Haaaaaah!" Bojorn didn't let the huntress take any rest, rushing straight at her.

The intense duel continued without stop, with Shreya rolling around the field to dodge the wide haymakers of the brute before occasionally slipping through, in an attempt for a fatal blow. She had to constantly move to and fro around the behemoth, covering the most amount of distance, unlike the latter who mostly darted ahead in short and straight paths.

As a result, although bloody wounds piled up on the brute's physique, Shreya's response time and speed grew duller by the moment. She was having trouble breathing after a few minutes into the battle and her entire body was drenched in sweat. Bojorn, on the contrary, didn't instigate any hurry during the intense fight as he patiently waited for his chance.

And fortunately for him, it arrived much earlier than he had expected.

"Hah! Got you!"

Shreya watched the wide edge of the sword closing in as it lifted a ferocious gale through its path, the sharp winds smashing against her face. At the tense moment, the huntress grit her teeth hard enough to shatter as she raised the two short swords above her head in the shape of an 'X', the bluish mist frantically getting churned out of her body in the meantime.

The giant sword collided with the small blades with an unstoppable force.

PENG!

Shreya felt as if the bones in her forearms and wrists had turned into fine powder in the instant she received the heavy blow. Blood trickled out of her mouth at the moment as she exerted all of her strength into parrying that explosive momentum away. After an intense clash of a few seconds that felt like an eternity, the giant sword grazed past her head, crashing onto the ground before the huntress hastily escaped from the spot.

boom!

Another deformity occupied the spot where the huntress stood. A few feet away from the place, Shreya had plopped down to the ground with her legs giving away. She had almost emptied her entire strength reserves into deflecting that single strike and her arms trembled from the brunt of the impact. Her wrists felt numb and devoid of power, dropping down the short swords.

She could only helplessly watch the bandit chieftain slowly approach with a wide and satisfied grin. Apart from a few reddish gashes over his bare body, the man seemed perfectly fine.

Shreya knew she had been thoroughly defeated.

"Well, well, it was certainly a great fight. Very rarely do I get to see amazing individuals like yourself. Let alone mastering archery, to think someone even had such talent to shine at the path of a sword. Truly unbelievable.

"Ah, Ah, it is but a pity, unfortunately. Fate has not been kind upon you. It's about time...hmm!!?" Bojorn suddenly halted his footsteps with a perplexed expression.

"Ughh!"

It didn't take long for his face to change into one of horror as the bandit clutched his head with a heavy feeling of dizziness. Cold sweat drenched his body in an instant and his breathing got erratic as he remained rooted at the spot. In almost no time, his healthy complexion had turned pale, greatly resembling that of the worn-out Shreya.

"You!?" he roared with an ugly expression.

"You people underestimate us hunters. Someone thoroughly trained in the tropical lands of the south can be even scarier," Shreya explained with a bitter smile, barely able to get up to her unstable feet. Clutching her swords with trembling wrists, she tried to make a fighting stance.

"When did you?... Was it back then!?"

Hunters adopt a completely different philosophy as compared to other groups of fighters. They never try to fight their prey head-on like a warrior, nor do they simply wait for an opportunity to strike like an assassin.

Hunters make baits. Hunters lay traps.

They don't wait for their prey to lower its guard by itself, but rather make it happen. Often in nature, a predator's guard is the most vulnerable at the instance it thinks it has grasped its prey. That is the precise moment a hunter aims for, the moment when the predator is instantly turned into a prey itself.

Shreya had carefully planned out the trap for a very long time, even before her confrontation with Bojorn. The arrows that had pierced the chieftain at the very beginning right after his explosive entrance... were laced with poison.