Chapter 7: Travel and a Bandit

We are now traveling towards the village, my foot healed 2 days ago, 2 days earlier than the old man’s forecast that it would healed in about 2 weeks’ time. That day, I just can’t endure anymore being bed ridden, so I tried to stand up on my own, I was scared at first, but my frustration not doing any physical exertion has come on top than being scared, I stand up using my left foot first with the support of my left hand, for my right hand was on a sling. I was hopping with my left foot to regain my balance, when I was sure that I had my balance, I gingerly touch my right foot toes into the floor, to test if it will hurt, so far so good, it doesn’t, I slowly put some weight on my toes, trying if it can support me or if it hurts when I put pressure on it, I grit my teeth to prepare if some pain would come, but all the pain I felt was all in my imagination, there’s no actual pain occurring, so I bravely stuck my whole right foot into the floor awhile my center of gravity was leaning on the left part of my body, I slowly straighten up, trying to gauge if my right foot is up for the job, I smiled widely when my right foot can do its job, it still send some stabbing pain, or it was only in my head, I started walking, right foot first, doing it cautiously, when I made my first step I was about to jump for joy, when old man Silan saw me and warn me not to overdo it. Since that day, I started using both of my feet again, but not to the point of exertion, don’t want to strain it and be bed ridden again.

Now we are nearing the village, old man Silan told me that we are going to separate from here on, me and Misha will bypass the village while him getting some things on the village, I told the old man that I want something for myself, I told him that I need some kind of a weapon, since my right arm is quite useless till it heals, he asked me if I want some sword, but I said that my left arm is still not up for a sword, what my left arm need is something simple, not a close range weapon since fighting close range would be disadvantageous to me in my current state. So I ask if he can find me some throwing knives and many iron fillet, about 15-20 cm in length and ten times as thick as a needle. He asked me what was it, if it was like a knitting needle used in knitting wool, I said, something like that and I need many of it, lots of lots of it. He asked what I need it for, I said for throwing and speak no more. He agrees and head off.

Misha and I bypass the village, I can see the village at a distance as we pass thru it. It’s quite big for a village, they have woods for wall and wooden stake atop on it. I couldn’t see any houses except the bigger ones because of the wall. I can see some people rounding atop the walls, must be village guard and watchmen. We arrive at the rendezvous point, which the old man decided for us, while we await for the old man, I noticed some big changes about Misha this past weeks, she’s grown quite a lot, when I first met her, she was just the same height as my knees, now she has grown above my mid-thigh and she got quite longer too, her fur also became much thicker, her fangs has started to show even when her mouth is closed, she may be about 200 pounds heavy by now, and the training she done with the old man, hope it’s not for tormenting me, made her look quite fierce but cute. What kind of training did the old man did for Misha? I wonder.

We waited for about 3 hours before we saw old man Silan heading our way in the distance, he was riding a cart pulled by a horse. I thought that we will ride a horse, I was expecting that I will ride one, it’s every man’s dream to ride a horse like a cowboy. Anyway, as the old man arrive, the horse became wary and almost bolted away when the horse saw Misha, if the old man wasn’t holding the reins maybe the horse has already return to the village, the old man calm the horse for a moment, Misha came near the horse making the horse whinnies and terrified, Misha eyed the horse then smelled it for a moment, she then snorted and walk away showing her disinterest towards the horse, making me sigh in relief, good thing Misha didn’t pounce on the horse making it her lunch, the horse whose terrified earlier now became a little calm seeing Misha’s reaction, the old man let us ride at the back of the cart, I put my pack in the corner of the cart where the old man’s pack is and some other packs he got from the village, which he didn’t told me what was inside it “yet”.

Then we head off for about a kilometer away from the town and stopped, he told us to get down or he told me to get down, since Misha seems enjoying herself in the back of the cart, licking herself, hope you got a fur ball, I thought. The old man get something in the cart then send me a gesture to follow him. We sat by the tree beside the road and show me things he brought. First was the thing I requested before he goes inside the village, it was a leather belt with throwing knives in it. 10 knives in the belt and 5 knives as spare. The knives was an inch wide, half centimeter thickness, and about 5 inch long, it doesn’t have any handles, just an inch and a half grip, which was wrap with cloth or something like cloth, the knives has a simple shape, the knife is as flat as a plank from grip to the blade and is unbalance, not like the usual blades which where balance to have the center of gravity always be at the center, this throwing don’t have that, the grip is much heavier than the point of the blade, it means that I need to hold the lighter part of the knife when thrown.

Next is the knitting needle which was a lot of them, they are a single pointed type needle with a guard on the opposite side, the problem is they are not that pointed, need to sharpen them so it can be deadly. I also need to remove or lessen the guard so it won’t wobble when I throw. I got this idea of throwing weapon when I was bed ridden and can’t use my right hand. As I was thinking, throwing knife is nice, but they are some sort of consumables, like arrows. You can collect them after the fight, but sometimes when you missed or the target dodge it would be lost and cannot be found, or if you are in a rush you’ll just leave it where you throw it. Since throwing knife is quite expensive, I need something cheap other than a throwing knife that can be thrown. I’m a weapon maniac in the previous world, so I study a lot about weapons every time I can spare. Throwing needles is much easier to find and much cheaper than a throwing knife. You can just ask a blacksmith some iron rod or iron fillet, then cut it an appropriate size, sharpen the other point or sharpen both points, and there you have it, a throwing needles.

The only problem is, they are not as deadly as throwing knife, the throwing knife is quite big, has weight, and sharpness than the needle, that even if you missed some vital target, it would be quite deadly wound. While the throwing needle needs good control and accuracy. Since it doesn’t have much weight you need to hit some vital part to do some major damage. The only advantage the throwing needle had was, it’s much easier to conceal than the throwing knife, and you can make excuses like, it’s a knitting needle if it’s been found. A great idea right?

The next thing the old man showed me was a cloak, I already forgot about that. What he showed me was so beautiful that I immediately tried it on, the cloak is made in two parts that is fixed together, first the cape was made in full length, it’s off shoulder that is barely hanging on my shoulder so that my quiver and arrows was sticking out and can be easily drawn while not being hampered, the cape has a small leather belt buckle at the edge that can be adjusted and be locked at the left side of my upper chest so the edges of the cape is lying on top of one another making an inverted “V” shape down on my body, but the cape can still be fully closed because of how wide it is. The hood isn’t any ordinary hood that can be found anywhere, it has a long tail hanging in the back in a “V” like shape reaching past my lower spine, the hood that would cover my head was as wide as my shoulder and large, when I cover my head, it would also cover the quiver and arrows that was sticking out the cape and hiding them, and if anyone don’t look closely enough, they won’t notice that there was something on my back. The whole cloak was made in the black bear’s fur with a trimmed black leather at the edges.

There was only one cloak, I asked why there’s only one cloak, because I was expecting that we would be getting two each, one that can be used in cold and wet weather and one in normal type weather like summer, and the cloak would be a nice gift for the old man for all the things he done for me, but he said he didn’t need one, and the cloak was made to endure cold and can still be used on normal weather, because the maker was really skilled and the material was rare, it was imbued with mana while making it, and the process of making just one cloak took two weeks, that’s why there’s only one cloak. He said instead of cloak, he ask for a bed rolls instead on the rest of the bear fur which was made by the maker’s assistant. And save Misha’s mother fur for some other time.

Aside from the cloak he also gave me a leather hooded mantle, it was also in black color to match the bear’s fur. Now what I wear is my new tunic which is dark green, the hooded mantle, my belts, which is a normal belt where my waist quiver was attached and a small belt pouch, and the throwing knifes belt which holds, obviously, the throwing knives and lastly my new cloak covering my back quiver which hold my bow and arrows. I looked awesome, but there’s one thing that is largely missing, MUSCLES! If I had my muscles I would looked so perfect. Anyway there’s no crying over spilt milk, I just need to train hard so I can reunite with my precious muscle again.

Cloak of the Night BearA cloak made from a rare material by a skilled tailor. It was imbued with mana during the process of making it. It can endure any extreme cold and wet weather but not of extreme heat. Wearer will always feel refresh on normal weather condition.Defense581Durability450/450+50 to Strength

+50 to Agility

+40 to Dexterity

+45 to Constitution

+5 to Water, Wind, Earth, and Dark Resistance

Simple Throwing KnifeA simple throwing knife made from iron oreDamage10-15Durability10/10

Knitting NeedleA tool for sewing wool or yarn

We were traveling for 2 weeks now, our direction, to the mountainous region of this kingdom, we are still using the roads while traveling, but this road is not commonly used, in this 2 weeks, nothing eventful happened, we would always take a rest stop before night came and prepared to make camp, at this time, I would practice my throwing skills with my left hand, even though I trained my left arm during my bed ridden days, it’s still not as good as my dominant arm. As I do my practice throws, all of them would missed the target, which is a big tree trunk, with a large margin, so large that I lost two of my throwing knife in my first night of practice. I kept searching it for an hour then gave up. The next night I ask Misha to smell all of my throwing knife and to remember them. I started practicing again, after throwing all my knife and all of them missing, I told Misha “Fetch” then she bounded off searching for my 13 knives, as I wait for her to find them and get back, I started sharpening the knitting needles, so I can transform them to a throwing needles. Misha seems to think that I’m playing with her, good thing then, two birds in one stone. This were our itinerary for the whole two weeks, travel the whole day, make camp before night fall, doing our own things, dinner, doing our own things again, sleep, wake up, breakfast, pack up, and travel again.

That was until last night, we are our at our last stock of meat, in short we’re running out of meat, the snare we left before to sleep didn’t catch anything or we catch something but somebody is getting at it first, for when we check for the snare every morning if it caught something, we arrive at it broken and blood around the snare, which seems the preys blood. We know who the suspect is, it seems Misha has been practicing how to hunt, her instinct has started kicking off. So the old man decided that he would go off tonight to hunt and would be back in the morning, and since I’m still injured, I can’t hunt so he asked me to just guard the cart and the horse with Misha.

I woke up the next morning noticing that I’m alone, the old man hasn’t returned yet and Misha seems to be goofing around, I stand up to check if everything’s alright, the horse who became accustomed to Misha’s presence has been lazily munching some grass, the cart didn’t change location and everything we left in the cart was still there. After checking I poke and blow the burning coals, the remainder of yesterday’s fire back to life and added some more fire wood, I’m planning to boil some water to make some tea. As I wait for my water to boil, I heard some rustling behind me, it seems the old man or Misha has returned. As I turned back to welcome them back, what I supposed to welcome was not any of them. Instead there was three unknown guys. The guy on the center was short and has a bulky build, he got a sword on his waist, and the sword doesn’t have any good features and he had pack on his back. The guy on his right side is much taller than him by a head and skinny, he only had a dagger on his waist, and the guy on the left side was as tall as the guy on the right but fat, as fat as a cow with two huge front teeth and had a big axe on his back. They all wear a simple tattered tunic and cloak. There’s a large sign about them saying that they are up to no good.

“I told you so Jim” said the fatty guy. “Saw them yesternoon, look filthy rich from the distance, only two of em, one old man and this skinny bastard.” He continued

“Are you referring to me Monty?” Said the skinny guy

“No you dolt, I’m referring to this guy.” Said the fatty, he looked at the skinny guy then point a finger at me.

“Oh, I thought you called me skinny, you know how I hate being called skinny. Wait did you call me a dolt?” asked the skinny guy.

“No, didn’t call you a dolt, I called you stupid, stupid.” Replied the fat guy

“Kay, I also hate being called a dolt, stupid is okay though.” Said the skinny guy

“Enough! Shut up both of you!” Shouted the shorty, and they both shut their mouth. “Monty didn’t you said there was a dog with them?” he continued

“Aye, that’s right, its white dog, and the old man wasn’t with him, maybe he’s with the dog.” Said the fatty. “When I left them yesternoon to tell you what I found, they were still together. Hey where’s the old man skinny?”

“Didn’t see the old man yet Monty, dis would be my first time seeing him.” The skinny said

“I didn’t asked you dolt! I asked the other skinny” said the fatty

“Oh sorry Monty, thought you we’re asking me, wait, did you called me dolt just now?” asked the skinny guy

“I said enough you two! Shut up, let me do the talking” said the shorty “Hey bastard, where’s your companion?” the shorty asked me. I didn’t answer him yet, I was thinking of what will I do.

“Are you guys lost?” I asked trying to get some time and trying to discern if my thought of who are they are true.

“I’m the one who’s asking the question! Bastard like you just need to answer.” Said the shorty

Now I know what this is, this is so cliché. I was expecting of a peaceful traveling, but what you want doesn’t always go the way you want. Sigh~ better be over with this, this will be so very dangerous for me. Misha, old man, please save me.

“I don’t know, oh Misha’s not a dog.” I said then I quickly draw a throwing knife and hurled it toward them, it missed big time, what do you expect from a 2 weeks veteran of throwing, like my first fight with the bow and arrow, I don’t know how hit while moving and I don’t know how to hit a moving target. But unlike the bow and arrow, I only had 2 weeks of almost all-miss experience on throwing, I had a disadvantage of only having 3 usable limbs at the moment and worst of all, I had the disadvantage on numbers. 3 on 1 is a good odds if you’re a part of the 3, but being on the side of 1 is sure way to die. I had the experience of fighting more than 10 people, but they were all normal human, in here, even a weak looking on the outside may be a really strong one on the inside.

As my throwing knife miss, I was already running toward the forest, for I know it will miss, but it was just a distraction for me to have the time to escape. As they were shock at what I did, I was already three steps away from them, and when they recovered from their shock I was already 7 meters away from. The shorty recovered first.

“After him you fools!” he ordered the other two. The other two recovered from his voice and started chasing after me. The skinny was the fastest, he already had his dagger on his right hand.

“Never thought that we will be fooled by an injured person.” Said the fatty, who was just behind the skinny guy. I draw another throwing knife, looked back ward, stop for a moment and hurled it at them. Skinny being at front saw what I did and reacted first at the throwing knife. He dodge to the left, but the fatty being just right behind the skinny guy and being slow, didn’t saw what I did and doesn’t had enough time to react. The throwing knife hit him deadly on the throat, but he was not killed, because what hit him was not the blade but the opposite end of the blade. He choked and kneeled down coughing and seeking breath. At least I paralyzed one of them, I continued running, now the skinny guy has become careful on how to chase me. But this cause him to lose me in the forest.

“Jim I lost him and Dulin is on his knees coughing!” the skinny shouted

“Damn you both, do I need to do everything? Kill him before his companion comes back!” shouted back by the shorty

When I hurled my throwing knife and hit the fatty, I ran as fast as I can, zigzagging trees to lose the skinny guy. I used all the skills I learned from the old man, using silent step while running to lighten my steps and lessen the sound I made, so the skinny guy can’t just follow me. When I hit the fatty, the skinny guy became careful on how to follow me gaining me the time to lose him in the forest. Now I’m hiding using my hiding skills. I can’t hide for long, my first plan was to wait for the old man and Misha to comeback, but I can’t say the definite time they will come back, and time is the thing I don’t have right now. My second plan is to hold on till they come back, but that would be nearly impossible for me, being at a disadvantage with numbers, I don’t know how long I can hold on and they may decide to take the horse and the cart and leave, which is good thing for me at the same time bad thing for us, since all the things we need in this travel was in the cart. So the only thing I can do is use my third plan, which is to face them, since one of them is down already but not for long till he recovers, I must take this chance to incapacitate another one of them or worst comes to worst, to kill them.

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If it comes to kill them, I don’t know if I can, for this would be my first time in killing another person. I won’t know till I do it, I won’t know what would be the outcome for myself if I do it. But one thing is I know for sure, that is, I would do anything to survive even if killing is the only solution for it, dying once is enough for me. As I hide, I fasten my right arm, because it hurts a lot when it sways a bit, but not too tight so I can immediately use it in dire situation, hope it doesn't comes to that. I checked the things that is available for me to use, good thing I always equip my bow and quiver every time I woke up, even though I can’t still use it in my current condition. I only got 11 throwing knives and a pouch of throwing needles, which I only had a few nights of practice, unlike the throwing knives which had a two weeks’ worth of practice. And lastly my hunting knife.

Now that I checked all the things that is available to me, I need to come up a plan and I need it fast. First I must not let them to regroup or to search for me in group, they must always be separated, for I won’t stand a chance if they gang up on me. My first target would be skinny, from what I can judge by his stature, this skinny guy is fast, you can always tell by what weapon they are using, skinny uses a dagger which specialize in being fast, this skinny guy favor speed and close combat. And it seems skinny doesn’t have any tracking ability. With my low level skill in tracking, he can’t even find me. I’m going to use some guerrilla tactics with skinny, and I must avoid to fight any of them in close combat.

With that in my mind, I set to put my plan in motion. I first tried to get closer to skinny, then let myself shown to him. I need to separate him much farther from his other companion. I heard him said “Found him Jim” then he started following me again, not far so he won’t lose me but not near either to let him catch me. When I deemed it far enough, I hide, the skinny arrive at the place where I hide, then he searched the place.

“Come out you bastard, I know you are here.” The skinny said. He kept on searching the place, after a while, he stopped, it seems, he noticed my hiding place, I hold my breath and not letting any sound leak out from me. He approached slowly where I was hiding, he lunged at me dagger first when he was at striking distance, the dagger pierced thru at my hiding place, but what he hit was not actually me but my cloak, before I hide, I remove my cloak and set it up under the tree, then I hide a few meters beside my cloak. This is what they call misdirection, I let him see my cloak so he won’t see me. Now skinny guy is right in front me, I sprung up behind him and stab him with my hunting knife, I stab him right under his right arm pit, the arm which he use to hold his dagger which he let go after I stabbed him. Since he was in stabbing position, it was the right time and the right moment.

If this was a game, I would see the critical sign floating up in my head. For I know that what I did would result being a critical hit. Focus plus Patience skill combined together making a devastating blow. If I stabbed skinny sideways, I am sure my hunting knife would reach his heart. But I didn’t stab sideways, I stabbed upward, now the blade of my hunting knife was protruding in front of skinny from his shoulder. He screamed so loud, I immediately slash my dagger downward, slicing the flesh of his armpit, then stab him 4 times in both of his thigh, 2 times in each thigh, making sure that he was incapacitate for good. He dropped to the ground face first screaming, when he was lying on the ground I immediately kneed him to the face, making him unconscious. I don’t want him dying on me, they said that a panicked person with an open wound would die faster because their hearts beat faster which led their blood to also bleed faster.

“Oh I ‘am not skinny, I’m muscle deprived.” I said reminding him.

I don’t know if what I did was much brutal than immediately killing him, but one thing is for sure, if I can I don’t want to kill a person yet, so instead of being undecided if I’m going to kill someone, I decided to just wound them severely, making sure they won’t cause trouble for me later. This way there is a chance that I can save them later after the fight or they would just die because of the wound before the fight ends. At least I made sure to myself that he won’t be joining the others later on. If I didn’t stab him in the thigh and just made him unconscious, there is a chance that later on in the middle of the fight that he would wake up and help the others, this way, even if he wake ups, he can’t join the others. Brutal or not, to kill or not, I must ensure my survival first. This is my first priority. After I was sure that he was unconscious, I took his dagger from the ground and sheath it in my belt, I hurriedly searched his body for concealed weapon or anything that he has that can used against me, it was hard searching him for I only had one arm to use. What I found is a coin purse and another dagger from his belt, I immediately took them and hide the purse in my clothes and the dagger in my belt. I stand up, pick up my cloak and hide skinny’s body with branches, so his companion won’t find him immediately. I already heard the shorty’s voice from a far, calling for skinny. His voice has a tone tinge with worry and fear.

After I was done hiding skinny’s body, I rushed away from him, my next target is the fatty, hoping he is still down for the count. I must made it sure that he won’t be joining shorty later. So I round back towards where fatty was while making sure shorty won’t find me. I arrive at the vicinity where I hit fatty, as I took a last turn to a tree to look if fatty was still kneeling at the same place, we were both surprised, for what I saw when I turn was fatty already standing, still retching and holding his throat while leaning in the tree. I was hoping that he was still on his knees so it can be easy to deal with him. Fatty was surprise because of my sudden appearance on the tree he was leaning on.

I recover first from the shock of seeing each other, I immediately throw my cloak at him, covering his face, as he was covered, I immediately kick him in the stomach, he step back a few meters from the force of my kick and drop down to the ground butt first. I unsheathe my dagger and slash him at his right calf while he was rolling in pain, I don’t want to stab him because I would also stab my cloak, it’s not that I don’t want to put a hole in it, but I’m not sure if my dagger would pierced thru my cloak, I still don’t know how defense stat work in this world. As I was about to take another slash at him, he kicked me away with his left foot, the kick didn’t hit me but it made me unbalance, which gain him time to remove the cloak and stand up. He was standing but with great difficulty, his body was supported by only his left leg. Fatty draw his large axe but it made him more unbalance.

“I’m going to kill you!” fatty said with anger in his voice

“Can you use that?” I asked which made him angrier than he already is, he tried charging at me which can be called as a snail charge, I waited for him to come near me, when he was at the striking distance of his axe, he swung it at me, which I easily avoided, he swung the axe diagonally from left to right going upward, I avoided it by dodging to my right, the momentum of his swing drag him to the right which led him to use his right injured leg to support his whole fatty weight causing him to scream in pain, I didn’t let this chance go, I tackle him in his left side using my left shoulder, fatty immediately plummeted down towards the ground slamming his whole body. I recover myself after the tackle and rush towards the fallen fatty and kick him into his jaw making him unconscious. When I was sure that fatty is unconscious, I pick up his axe and throw it far away from him. I searched his whole fatty body like what I did with skinny, I only found a purse which I also hide inside my clothes.

One more left, the shorty, I don’t know how I would deal with him but I know I must act with cautious, although I defeated the other two easily, I can’t judge the shorty on how he looks, rephrase that, I can’t judge any being in this world by how they look. After searching fatty’s body, I rush back where I came from, I didn’t hide fatty’s body like what I did with skinny, it would be pointless, aside from being shorty is the only one left, fatty’s body is too big to drag and hide, so I didn’t bother hiding it. I searched for shorty for a moment, while searching I was preparing something, so if worst comes to worst, I had a backup plan. I found shorty still searching for me or for skinny, he was shouting like “Come out you bastard!” or “Monty! Where the hell are you?!” that shouting was like a beacon for me to track him down, I observe him for a moment, he was holding his sword in both hand while looking around the place. By how shorty wield his sword tells me that he knows how to use it, so it won’t be wise to fight him in close range, well I know that already since the beginning. This would be a hit and run. But first I need to know some things from him.

“Hey! Your companion is down already so why not just leave?” I shouted at him while hiding, he immediately turn where he suspects my voice were coming from.

“Come out you bastard or I will kill you” He shouted back. And why would I do that? You’re already trying to kill me when we first met. Are you some kind of stupid? I thought to myself. I change location before shouting back to him.

“Why are you trying to kill me?” I shouted, he turn in different location trying to discern where my voice came from.

“Because I want to before taking your things, then I’ll kill your companion and the dog, I heard that dog meat is good” He shouted back, still looking around the place trying to find me. I change my location again before continuing our conversation.

“Misha’s not a dog, she’s a cat and you can’t kill the old man!” I shouted back, I change my location again. “Are you a well-known bandit?” I shouted again.

“Not yet! But soon! We will be!” He shouted back, while still searching for me.

“Then why are you here, you won’t be known if you are staying in this forest.” Changing my location and shouted back.

“And why would I be telling you that? Come out! You stupid bastard!” He shouted

“I’m just curious on why a soon to be known bandit hiding in this forest” I shouted back, already in different location

“Curious eh? There’s a saying curiosity killed the cat, since you’re going to die anyway it would be okay for you to know then, we were hiding in this forest after stealing something and killing our former companion, we had a camp not far from here when you stupid bastards show yourself, it won’t be nice if you accidentally found us, so we decided to accidentally kill you first before you accidentally found us and tell the soldiers, right?!” he said while still searching for me.

I didn’t answer back, I already know what I want to know. Now I don’t have any more doubts and regrets about them and what I did to them. I sprung up from behind him and throw a throwing knife at him, but my throwing was block, when I sprung up from behind him, he immediately turn, he must notice or felt my presences causing him to turn back, he block my throwing knife with his sword, after my throw, I was already running and drawing another throwing knife, after he block my throwing knife, he immediately run after me. I was running circles around him throwing my throwing knife at him, shorty kept chasing after me and blocking what I throw at him. Shorty was gradually gaining distance at me and my throwing knife aside from its dwindling number has no effect on shorty. I decided to use my throwing needle even though I’m not as proficient in it as my throwing knife.

I draw many 5 throwing needles in my pouch and bit it on my mouth, then I draw a throwing knife, I stopped for a second and throw it to shorty, as usual, he block it, but after I throw my throwing knife at him I repeatedly throw my throwing needles, at distance of 5 meters, it would be impossible for me to miss shorty, even if shorty is short, I practice throwing at 15 meters distance, this is only 1/3 of that distance. Shorty was surprised at what I did, instead of running after I throw my throwing knife, I stand there throwing needles at him, his shock cause him to stop and be hit by my needles, not fatal though, I hit him 5 times, 3 stuck deep at him and 2 just bounce at him, it may be the other end hit him that’s why it just bounce off. The first needle that stuck at him was at his shoulder, it was also the first needle I throw, the other two was at his arms, for he can’t just parry it with his sword, he can’t clearly see the needle coming because of its size and because the forest has only a dim lighting even though its already morning causing the needle to be nearly impossible to see. Unlike the throwing knife who got size which cause it to reflect more light than the needle making it easy for shorty to block or parry it.

Shorty scream in pain and frustration from the wounds he receive, after throwing all 5 needles, I draw another throwing knife and hurled it at him, I aim it at his thigh, shorty who was still in pain and screaming notice the flying knife too late, the knife’s blade buried itself deep into shorty’s thigh making shorty scream much louder than before, while shorty was screaming I run away again, even though shorty has been wounded, I still think that I’m no match to him at close range fight, so I ran and execute the plan, I turn around to see what shorty was doing, he was taking the needles and the knife at his body, then he reach for his pack trying to get something, I don’t know what that is, maybe a healing item or something, I didn’t see it clearly cause I’m too far away already and already take a turn to my destination, after my turn I took a jump and continue running for about 5 meters when suddenly I heard a succeeding explosion from behind me, I turn around to look only to be hit by shockwave, when the shockwave hit me, I felt I was floating backward then I felt my body took a sudden plunge into the ground then my body rolled backward a few time and then took a sudden stop.

I was lying on the ground, dazed at what happened, thinking what made me flying and rolling a half dozen meters to the ground. As I sit up to look for the source of my current situation, what I saw was shorty, a dozen meters away from me, standing at the place where I heard the succeeding explosion, standing at the place where a mini destruction litter the place and smoking, standing at the exact place where I took the turn. Shorty was standing there huffing heavy breathes, leaning on the tree with his left arm while holding his sword, his right hand was raised with open palm and pointing at my direction. There was something glowing at shorty’s right hand, near his wrist that if I remember correctly, it was never there before. It may be the thing he took from his pack.

“Huff~ huff~ Never thought that I will be force to use this in a weakling like you!” He said while breathing heavily. I was still daze and didn’t even understand a word that he said, but what I know was my instinct telling me that I’m going to die if I didn’t move. But my body is still unresponsive from my brains commands. I shake off my head to clear my mind.

“Huff~ I will kill you, then I will wait for that old man and that dog of yours and slaughter them” he said, he took a deep breath and now standing straight but still favoring his uninjured leg, he was not leaning anymore on the tree. “You made me use this bracelet! This bracelet took a lot of mana if you don’t have a mana manipulation skill! For that, I will turn you to ash!” he said shouting, he slowly took a step towards me, slowly limping as he approach me, and right hand raised palm first and still pointing at me. I shook again my head as I done so this past few moments, my mind is starting to clear of, as I shake my head, I saw Misha crouching and slowly approaching shorty from behind in his left, I don’t know if it was my imagination because I’m still daze, but I’m hoping it was not, aside from Misha, I saw my bow into the ground with an arrow nock at it already. I remembered that I had a plan and prepared it earlier, now my mind is already clear from being dazed, I analyzed myself, I don’t need to remove my right hand anymore from its sling anymore, it seems when I was flown away and rolled into the ground, it came off on its own and dangling at my side.

Since the start I know I can’t beat shorty without using my bow, that’s why I prepared it earlier with one other thing before facing shorty. It’s not impossible to use my right arm since it was not dislocated anymore and had already rested for 2 weeks, but since it was not totally healed, it will hurt a lot when I use it. All I need is willpower to endure pain so that I can draw my bow, hope I have that. I slowly took a knee, pick up my bow with an arrow already nock on it with my left hand and ordered my right hand to move. Shorty who noticed my action laugh so loud.

“HA! HA! HA! What can you do? It’s futile to resist!” he said as he slowly limping towards me.

“Really?” I whispered to myself, as shorty took one more step, he stepped on the other thing I prepared earlier aside from bow.

“ARGGGGGGGGH!” Shorty shouted in pain. As shorty shouted, I immediately raised my bow while forcefully drawing it with my endure arm.

“Errrrgghhh” I scream in gritted teeth, enduring the pain as I draw my bow, I aim then I released. The arrow fly true, it was headed to shorty’s right shoulder. Shorty saw what I did and dodge to his left, it was a bit too late, for the arrow only graze him at his shoulder, but that was not the purpose of my arrow, for I know that my injured arm can’t hold it for long, if it was earlier and the explosion didn’t occur, or didn’t hit me, the arrows purpose would be to kill, for I will have the time to prepare myself to focus and draw the arrow. But now, the arrows purpose was for shorty to dodge to his left, because, if Misha was really there then what awaits shorty is not salvation but.

Misha was really there, it was not imagination, as shorty was at his mid-dodge towards left, Misha was already at mid-air towards shorty, claw first, mouth open wide with fangs showing all around it.

“GRAAAAAWL!” Misha roared as she was at mid-air, then she hit shorty at the back, you can see shorty’s disbelief at what was happening, first from my action, then at what he step at making him scream, which is my throwing needles I stuck into the ground at an angled so it won’t just dug deeper when it was step on, this is the other thing I prepared aside from my bow, it was a plan as a distraction as I draw my bow, next is my arrow shot that graze him, and lastly the unknown force that was pushing him from behind. Misha and shorty rolled a few meters together towards me, then they come to a stop a few meters in front of me, shorty lying into the ground and Misha lunge at shorty putting a paw in his chest.

“Oh, Misha’s not a dog, she’s a cat.” I said to shorty’s face, then Misha plunge her jaw at shorty’s mouth and nose then gave it a powerful shake cracking his neck.

“What a lovely cat” I said.