Chapter 50: Mobile Shooting
The wild boar below charged relentlessly, its fangs swaying and occasionally blocking the arrow’s trajectory, making it even harder for Xilutiya to aim.
Mike gradually lured the giant boar away from Karen and Lei’s direction, running flexibly through the mountain forest, occasionally turning back to throw stones and attract the giant wild boar’s attention.
Once again stepping heavily on the soil after landing, his foot slid slightly, splashing up some soil, then he pushed off with his foot again and rushed forward.
Since his attention was entirely on the giant boar and escaping, he didn’t notice at all that Xilutiya on the other side had already jumped onto a tree.
The enraged giant boar snorted and chased nonstop. Its seemingly massive body was not bloated or sluggish at all; instead, it was like a sturdy spring, rampaging through the forest. Its plump flesh occasionally bumped into large trees, merely shaking them slightly without causing any harm to the giant boar.
No good.
After aiming for a while, Xilutiya lowered her bow. In this situation, she simply couldn’t aim. There were too many interfering and changing factors, and her arrow had to precisely hit the giant boar’s eye to be effective in one shot.
After realizing it wouldn’t work, she jumped among the tree branches again. Thanks to her light body and sharp vision, she could always find branches to land on. But this kind of jumping consumed a lot of stamina and required the breathing technique to achieve the necessary power and speed.
Opportunities were limited; she couldn’t keep dragging this out.
After thinking for a few seconds, she decided to go down to the ground to aim at the giant boar. This angle would be better for shooting, though much more dangerous.
With that thought, she leaped down from the tree, her toes lightly touching the ground, then took a few steps forward to buffer her speed. While running, she drew the bowstring and aimed at the giant boar chasing from the side.
At this angle, she not only avoided the interference from the wild boar’s fangs but could also adjust her own speed to run parallel to the giant boar, reducing the changes in its movement position.
At this moment, Mike finally noticed Xilutiya’s actions. He was surprised at how agile this maiden was and understood it was a critical moment, so he stopped dodging around and ran in a straight line, trying to make the chasing giant boar run straight as well.
Time passed with extreme tension. Xilutiya adjusted her breathing as much as possible to stay in the most stable and calm state, then slowly aimed her arrow at the giant boar running synchronously.
1 second… 2 seconds… 3 seconds…
At the 5th second, Xilutiya finally found that instant opportunity. She jumped into the air, time seeming to slow down. The arrow gradually aligned with the giant boar’s eye over the brief two seconds until it was fully locked on.
The bowstring released, and the white-feathered arrow shot out, threading through gaps in the forest leaves toward the giant boar running in the opposite woods.
A bloom of blood flower erupted on the giant boar’s face as the arrow struck right into its vulnerable eyeball.
（‘Basic Archery’ proficiency +56）
The shaking arrow shaft was soon snapped off by the collision, but the arrowhead remained lodged in the giant boar’s eye. The injured giant boar became exceptionally ferocious, almost blindly changing direction and charging toward Xilutiya. Unfortunately, missing one eye’s field of view, this wild boar couldn’t dodge the trees along the way well and could only crash through them one by one, its thick boar hide scraping flying debris on the trunks.
“Roar—” Its mouth exhaled thick white breaths, followed by a violent roar.
The sound wave made the nearby two people’s hearts shrink, feeling extremely oppressive and uncomfortable. Ordinary small animals or rabbits would probably have their heart meridians shattered outright at this moment.
“Run!” Putting away her bow, Xilutiya quickly left. At this point, Mike also sped up to follow.
With one eye injured, the wild boar’s speed slowed even while chasing, and it was gradually left behind by the two.
Ten minutes later, Xilutiya finally stopped, leaning against a large tree to catch her breath and rest, while Mike directly slumped down against a tree.
The stamina consumed by jogging versus full-speed running was completely different, and now the two could only hope that giant boar wouldn’t catch up.
As if remembering something, Xilutiya reached into the small pouch at her waist, took out the bracelet wrapped in black cloth, and put it on herself.
A warm vitality instantly spread from the bracelet throughout her body, dispelling the previous fatigue and soreness. Even the side effects from using the breathing technique earlier were slowly soothed.
This way, doesn’t it mean she could use the breathing technique for longer each day? No wonder the Blazing Sun nature is one of the top three natures—its effects are so versatile and powerful.
About a minute later, Xilutiya had fully adjusted her state, with her heartbeat and breathing back to normal levels. If not for the slight sweat still on her forehead, no one could tell she had been in a ragged escape earlier.
Mike on the other side wasn’t in as good a state; he barely stood up, recovering some stamina, but the aftereffects of using the breathing technique and muscle soreness still lingered.
“Let’s go.” He knew they couldn’t stay long and walked ahead to lead the way for Xilutiya.
……
Half an hour later, the two met up with the other three, and this thrilling forest trip finally came to an end.
“Let’s go back, go back. I’m never staying here again.” Komiya raised her hand.
“Agreed.” The others had no objections; after all, it had been full of close calls just now.
The five packed up their things and began descending the mountain, but going down was much harder than going up, so their speed was much slower.
The journey was relatively smooth until halfway, when several Ti Lang with orange-red fur burst out from the forest and appeared in front of the five.
“We didn’t encounter a single one on the way here, but now five show up at once.” Komiya couldn’t help but complain.
“Probably smelled the sweat on us.” Karen analyzed. On the way in, they were full of energy and not in a hurry, so they hadn’t sweated much.
“Uh, it works like that?”
“Time to fight, companions.” Karen drew her short sword first; it was too close for archery now.
The five orange-red Ti Lang didn’t idle. As Karen drew her sword, they swarmed forward. Karen first kicked one flying, used her sword to block another’s bite, but couldn’t dodge a third and could only let it bite her bracer, barely holding on.
The situation was critical. Mike rushed forward, drawing his sword to block one wolf behind, but Lei, who should have covered Karen’s other side, couldn’t keep up with the speed and could only watch as that Ti Lang circled around him and charged toward Karen’s back.
However, this Ti Lang ultimately didn’t succeed. Another sharp short sword thrust out, piercing straight through its neck, making it emit struggling whimpers.
Pulling out the sword blade, Xilutiya stepped on the wolf’s body, then thrust the sword into its head again, killing it instantly. She then moved forward to assist Karen in dealing with the remaining Ti Lang.
Soon, through their mutual cooperation, the five Ti Lang were successively killed without a chance to escape. The cost was a shallow bite mark on Karen’s wrist.
After cleaning the wound, Xilutiya carefully bandaged Karen, and only then did the group relax.
“That giant wild boar shouldn’t chase us here.” Karen looked back at the boundless mountain forest.
“And we have five more prey.” Mike counted the Ti Lang on the ground and nodded contentedly.
After settling down, they began tallying their gains. Because they had fled in a hurry earlier, many unimportant prey and items were discarded. What remained was only a bag of lightweight herbs and the five wolf corpses in front of them.
While Karen and Mike skinned the wolves, Komiya finally realized some issues.
“Tiya, you ran so fast earlier, your speed was great, and even your sword technique was impressive!” She rattled off a string of questions.
“Yes, yes.” The maiden sat on a stone with her short sword and longbow on her knees.
“Actually, I know the breathing technique and have some combat ability.” She twirled the hair by her ear as she explained.
“Do you remember the assessment that day? I was originally prepared to go on stage.”
“Teacher Heide told me not to, so I dropped the idea.”
“Although there were chances to explain later, I thought keeping a low profile would avoid a lot of trouble, so I never told everyone.”
“Whoa, doesn’t that mean Tiya is an all-around genius?!” Komiya exclaimed in shock, voicing the thoughts of the others present.
No wonder she could give pointers on combat techniques for me and Lei, Mike figured out the reason.
That’s probably why Tiya learns archery so quickly too, Karen thought.
“Not all-around, just that I’m better at the things we’re learning now.” The maiden shook her head slightly; she understood the principle that there are always people beyond people.
“Plus, Tiya is super pretty!” Komiya pointed out something everyone had overlooked.
Because of the constant running and fighting earlier, those bothersome glasses had long been discarded somewhere, and now Xilutiya had no way to hide her naturally outstanding appearance.
“Yay, the prettiest Tiya, the most genius Tiya, the cutest Tiya~” Komiya circled around the maiden, happily chattering.
For this, Xilutiya could only show a helpless and shy expression, waving her hand for Komiya to stop.
“Okay, okay, I know Tiya is embarrassed, hehe.” Komiya stopped.
After packing the wolf pelts, the five set off again. Along the way, the conversation was almost entirely about Xilutiya—her background, why she hid her appearance back then, where she learned sword technique, and so on.
“Since everyone knows now, let’s find time to train outside the city in the future. It can practice real combat and help Tiya avoid other classmates’ eyes.” Mike and Karen suggested.
“Outside the city? Doesn’t that mean a long walk every time?” Komiya felt a bit daunted.
“Komiya, don’t you want to train your pupil technique? Like trying to mesmerize small animals in the bushes with your eyes.”
“Sigh, yeah, you’re right. In the city, there’s never a suitable target to use it on.” Komiya thought about it and stopped objecting.
The three chatted as they slowly arrived at Jiaoshi City.
“Finally here. What a heart-pounding day.”
“I need to report to the Hunter Guild in the city. That giant wild boar is quite dangerous.” Karen spoke up.
“Yeah, I should check the Adventurer’s Guild too, see if there are any short tasks lately to practice and earn some money.” Mike thought.
There are many beasts in the mountains, and among them, those that have coalesced complete natures are even stronger than humans of the same rank. This is because the individuals that survive and emerge from such environments are the strong ones in their groups.
These ignorant beasts were once the overlords of the Fourth Epoch, the strong rulers of the earth. Unfortunately, time turns, and it’s no longer their era.
——
Nature【Beast Fangs】: The fallen star-gazing beast, degraded struggle and slaughter
