Oliver continued to see the extended hand in his direction, furrowing his brow slightly, taking a step back while maintaining a serious expression.

In that dialogue, a few minutes had passed, and Oliver sighed again, saying, "Well, I've confirmed everything I wanted here."

Oliver collected his bow and arrow, lowering his eyebrows as he pulled up his hood, walking back to the weapons he had picked up. Seeing that, the silver-haired woman smiled and said, "I've been rejected twice, and it's starting to hurt me. Why did you refuse again?"

"It's quite simple, the same reasons as last time, and now I have new ones," he replied, taking the vests and stashing them in his backpack, staring at the weapons while he mused, "I also don't aspire to be a hero, I just kill the scoundrels. If you intend to fight this guy's war if he proves useful, I'd rather continue alone than be a part of it."

"And how do you plan to defend yourself against the gunslinger? With these weapons that—" She couldn't finish her sentence before Oliver forcefully bent the barrel of one of the guns with his other hand.

"If it didn't hurt me, it won't hurt him, who's probably stronger from using relics much longer than I have," Oliver finished bending the barrels of all the guns, saying, "In the end, I just wanted to get your attention, hence the weapons and bandages."

The woman continued to gaze seriously while Oliver piled the guns through their bent barrels, creating a stack of submachine guns, and concluded, "Besides, you already have that video, right? I don't think it will leak. After all, whoever wins this duel will be more useful to you." Oliver smiled again, looking at the woman who chuckled softly while scratching her neck.

"I've been defeated," she said, uncrossing her arms and turning away, "It's as you said, I thought making it easier for you twice would convince you that you need help. But this is the last time I make this offer, from now on, you'll be on your own."

"Well, I don't care," Oliver covered his face with the hood, maintaining the smile that soon turned serious again, "If you want me to join you, you know what I want. In the meantime, I'm grateful, but I won't join you."

With a slight smile, the woman shrugged and continued on her way, stopping one last time and looking at Oliver, still facing the vigilante.

Oliver looked back at the woman, who remained still with a smile, but then she turned away, saying, "I'll give you one last tip, take it as a parting gift, and feel free to use it or not." Slowly, she walked toward the tree and stopped nearby, letting out a final quiet laugh. "I usually don't have favorites, but I like you. If you want to survive that man, you'll need to use your bow, but it's not the only relic you have, Oliver."

She looked at the tree as if she saw something different and spoke one last time, "From this confrontation, whoever survives will become much stronger. I'm rooting for you, green-caped boy."

She turned with a smile and walked past the tree, but she didn't appear on the other side, and Oliver only furrowed his brow, thinking, "I don't hear breathing or a heartbeat, the footsteps have also disappeared." He knew she was no longer there, it seemed to be just a display of power or a sign of confidence, but in the end, with a sigh, Oliver turned and headed toward the exit of the park, thinking, "She must like Dungeons and Dragons."

In the end, Oliver abandoned those firearms in front of a police station and returned to his building, stopping on the roof once again.

After reaching his room, he took out his notebook and sat down with the relics already unequipped next to his bed.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

'She didn't know about the flash drive, so she probably doesn't have anyone monitoring me at work. I need to be alert to new hires in case I want to make contact again,' Oliver thought as he looked out the window and then removed the vest, furrowing his brow as he examined the equipment. 'It's of poor quality, it can maybe stop some regular bullets, but I doubt it can withstand a relic with just this.'

With a long sigh, Oliver tossed the vest aside and concluded, 'I need something of better quality.'

Oliver deduced that the silver-haired woman knew about the existence of vampires and the gunslinger, but in the end, she wouldn't intervene so that she could prepare people for the war.

He knew there couldn't be a direct connection between the vampires and the gunslinger, as the gunslinger had started attacking shortly before Oliver emerged as a vigilante.

'He probably came here to erase me since we have the same goal when it comes to the criminals. But I incapacitate, he kills...' Oliver sighed with a heavy heart and scratched his chin in thought. 'Him suggesting a duel reminds me of the last words of that woman...'

Once again, he found himself lost in thought. Would killing another relic user mean something? Would he become stronger by killing other users, or did it only apply to the gunslinger?

If fortifying was the key, why did the gunslinger know, and Oliver didn't? Was she collaborating with the gunslinger and lying?

Various questions continued to swirl in his mind, even after extensive investigation. Oliver had only his own thoughts and everything he had discussed with the silver-haired woman, but it still wasn't enough information for him to use as leverage.

'He doesn't have to worry about me; a bow is just a bow... but a pistol...' Oliver set aside his notebook and lay back, staring at the ceiling. 'He could have anywhere from 5 to 8 bullets; there's no way to know if the gun isn't naturally modified, and there's no reason for it to have an ammunition limit, especially since I don't have one.'

Oliver pulled his phone from his pocket and opened the video he had recorded of the gunslinger's silhouette.

The battle against the vampires had shifted from his priority, and in the end, he concluded that he needed to do something.

Looking at the clock, Oliver saw that it was already past midnight. The fight against the vampires and the criminals had taken quite a while, and it was approaching two in the morning.

Oliver buried his face in his pillow, letting out a long, muffled, and frustrated scream that he muffled. He then removed the pillow from his face with a faint smile.

'I have information, more than he probably has about me. But why am I so nervous?' Oliver sat up again, pulled his notebook closer, transferred the video of the gunslinger, and extracted the best image he could from the silhouette.

'After all I've been through with the swordsmen and the vampires, since I started using these relics, this is probably the first relic user I've directly confronted,' Oliver thought, placing his fist against his chest, feeling his racing heart as he forced a nervous smile.

With the silhouette of his opponent, Oliver tried to enhance the image and improve the quality since it was a front-facing video with slight shakiness in parts of the video due to pain and the shot.

In the end, he couldn't see the complete image of the gunslinger because of that video, but he had a clear image of the silhouette and used it to open a drawing application.

Oliver was sweating with a nervous smile while trembling, making it difficult for him to attempt to draw his opponent's silhouette.

Ultimately, Oliver identified some clothing, noticed clear accessories, and although his drawing skills were limited, he managed to get a clear outline of his opponent's form.

His shape was peculiar and seemed to be intentional. Among the accessories, he could clearly see something around the neck and something around the waist, besides the gun, for which Oliver could manage a basic drawing, and he concluded, 'It does seem to be a Colt, but I can't confirm that yet.' He glanced at his relics and thought, 'The legends of Robin Hood didn't mention a cape, but his last name has some meaning.'

Oliver brought his hand to his chin, still staring at the gunslinger's image, while his mind wandered.

'Maybe they're not exactly like the legend he represents, but there has to be a connection... even if I can't discern the abilities, I can still gain something bigger.' Quickly, Oliver searched for an image of the forest where they would duel on Google and, looking at drone images, he continued to nervously smile as he concluded, 'It's going to be a duel where I'll definitely be at a disadvantage... a fight I've never experienced before.'

It was going to be a much longer week, with less than 5 days left to prepare and gather all the information he could in this short period of time. Once again, Oliver placed his hand on his chest, feeling his heart racing, and in the end, he clenched his fist tightly as he concluded, 'If I run, he will keep killing and try to frame me. And if I don't run, I could end up dying.