"Look at the path you chose. Now what? We are lost."
"Morouen, did I not choose this path to avoid retaliation from the organization? You agreed back then, so why are you blaming me now?"
"Fine, fine. You have a point, Skog. But if we fail to reach Etorst District before dawn, you will answer for it!"
Reality can be stranger than fiction.
In most stories, the villain manages to escape. Instead, I ran straight into Skog in the middle of a forest, and the only reason it happened was because I was lost myself. It felt like finding prey without even searching for it.
A smile crept across my face.
I could hardly believe my luck. To encounter him here, in this situation, was almost too perfect. Skog, it seems fate has already decided your end.
I pulled a Concealment Talisman Card from my belt and activated it, suppressing my presence before moving quietly toward the voices.
After advancing roughly sixty meters, a glow appeared through the trees. Torchlight. I carried no lantern or torch of my own. My heightened night vision was more than enough to see in the darkness, so the light would only betray them, not me.
From a distance, I counted the lights.
Four torches.
At least four men.
A cold smile formed on my lips. Anyone trained in combat knows how to survive in the wilderness, but numbers alone do not guarantee safety.
I raised my bow and crept closer.
Fifty meters.
Forty meters.
Twenty meters.
I stopped there. Any closer would be unnecessary.
Through the dim light, I clearly saw Skog standing in the middle of the group, guarded by six members of the Military Police. He wore a finely made leather coat and polished deerskin boots. Despite being on the run, he looked more like a nobleman enjoying a hunt.
Soon, that pride would disappear.
"Your corpse will not look nearly as impressive, Skog," I muttered silently.
Beside him stood a middle aged man with a thick beard. He wore a loose long sleeved shirt with the collar open and brown trousers. A short barreled firearm and a knife hung from his belt.
The moment I saw him, my instincts tightened.
Dangerous.
The six Military Police soldiers were nothing special. Firearms were not very useful in dense forest combat. They would be easy to handle.
The bearded man, however, was another matter.
My plan formed quickly. Eliminate the soldiers first, deal with the bearded man next, then finish Skog properly.
Their formation was tight.
Three soldiers walked at the front.
One guarded the rear.
The remaining two stayed beside Skog along with the bearded man.
Most people would target the rear guard first. He appeared to be the easiest kill.
But that was a mistake.
I had studied this exact formation in a hunter's field manual. The rear guard existed as bait, a so called sacrificial pawn. The moment he was attacked, the others would react instantly and form a defensive circle. Once that happened, taking them down would become far more difficult.
The proper solution was to break the formation immediately by killing several targets at the same time.
It was a method that normally required heavy firepower.
Fortunately, I had my own way of doing it.
I took an arrow from my quiver and activated a compound technique, attaching two Explosion Talisman Cards to its shaft.
Slowly, I drew the bowstring and aimed at the three soldiers walking at the front of the formation.
I steadied my breathing.
Then I whispered under my breath,
"Mission must be accomplished."
And I released the arrow.
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