A heartbeat later, her first arrow found its mark. It pierced clean through the grizzly's skull, sending a spray of blood and brain matter into the air. The massive beast remained standing for a brief, unnatural moment before its body gave out, collapsing backward with a heavy thud.
The wolves barely had time to process the sudden death of the large predator before three more arrows reached them.
Sensing imminent death, they instinctively tried to dodge, but two were too slow. Each took an arrow straight through the skull, their bodies crumpling lifelessly to the ground. The last wolf, however, reacted in time, twisting its body mid-leap. Instead of a fatal strike, the arrow only grazed its head, leaving a deep, bloody trail. The injury looked severe but was ultimately superficial.
Yet, despite surviving the initial ambush and its instinct screaming at it to escape, the last wolf didn't make the mistake of running. In the wild, turning your back on a predator was a surefire way to die. Even knowing it was hopelessly outmatched, it remained still, ears perked and eyes darting, scanning its surroundings for the unseen assailant.
Then—movement. A faint blue glow flickered in the trees above.
Its head snapped upward, and for a fleeting second, its gaze locked onto a rapidly approaching blur. But it was already too late.
The arrow reached it in an instant.
A flicker of despair flashed in the wolf's blue eyes just before the projectile punctured its skull, ending its life on the spot.
['Green' Grizzly Bear killed: 10K XP received x1]
['Green' Wolf killed: 5K XP received x3]
[Class: Hunter has leveled up x1]
"Thud."
Amelia smiled at the notification before she dropped from the branch ten meters above the ground, landing with practiced ease before striding toward the fallen grizzly. Without hesitation, she moved past its corpse, her sharp gaze settling on a small crater just behind it.
Inside, an intact arrow lay embedded in the dirt—coated in blood and bits of brain matter.
She grimaced. 'Disgusting…'
With a sigh, she prepared to do what she always did after a hunt—clean her arrows manually. It wasn't exactly enjoyable, scrubbing bits of flesh and gore from her weapons, but she was used to it by now.
She bent forward, reaching for the arrow—then paused.
'Wait… I'm a mage now.'
A small smirk tugged at her lips as she straightened and whispered, "Whisk of purity, cleanse and destroy all that is impure. Clean."
A soft shimmer of mana enveloped the arrow. A second later, the blood and grime vanished, leaving the projectile as pristine as when she first nocked it.
"Really useful," she murmured, plucking the arrow from the dirt and sliding it back into her quiver.
Without hesitation, she repeated the process with the remaining four arrows, swiftly restoring her quiver to full capacity. Wasting no time, and without bothering to climb back into the trees, she moved northward.
Her target? The zone marked by an obelisk radiating a yellow light. She knew that within its boundaries, stronger beasts lurked—beasts that would provide her with far greater experience.
As she had already seen when she effortlessly dispatched the grizzly and the three wolves, the creatures in the green zone were far too weak in comparison to her. If she wanted to grow stronger at a meaningful pace, she needed to move into an area where the prey was actually worth hunting.
Rustle.
The sound of shifting leaves reached her ears, coming from several meters away. A fraction of a second later, a yellow blur burst from a dense bush, fangs bared and claws aimed straight at her throat, intent on taking her down in a single surprise attack.
Amelia caught the movement from the corner of her eye. Instantly, she identified the attacker—a lynx! But unlike the usual small-sized feline of its kind, this one was massive, nearly a meter and 80 centimeters in length, far larger than the typical specimen. Even more alarming was its speed—it was extremely fast. Combined with the ambush, a normal animal or even another predator from the green zone wouldn't have stood a chance.
Yet, against her, it was still not enough.
The lynx's movements were impressive, but it was still slower than Amelia. Even caught off guard, she reacted on instinct, raising her bow and positioning it between herself and the incoming beast.
Thunk!
A sharp crack rang out as the lynx's claws met the seemingly 'fragile' wooden frame of her bow. But instead of slicing through it as one would expect, the bow held firm. Not a single scratch.
A flicker of shock passed through the lynx's predatory eyes, clearly not expecting this small piece of wood to withstand its attack—let alone shield the unknown bipedal creature from harm.
After all, its ambush and sheer speed were enough to take down a fully grown grizzly alone!
But unfortunately for it, Amelia was on an entirely different level.
The moment her initial surprise faded, she retaliated. With a sharp movement, she kicked the lynx away, her seemingly delicate leg containing enough power to send the beast hurtling several meters through the air.
Before it could even hit the ground, an aura-coated arrow was already streaking toward its skull.
Sensing the mortal threat tightening around it , the lynx twisted its body mid-air, desperately raising its front paws in an attempt to shield its head. But the sheer force behind the arrow was overwhelming. It tore off one of its paws, losing some momentum in the process, yet still pushing forward. The second paw managed to slow it further, preventing another complete severing, but the arrow's power remained formidable.
Flesh and bone alone were not enough to halt its trajectory. Despite its desperate maneuver, the lynx barely survived as the arrow grazed past its skull—only avoiding instant death thanks to a last-second tilt of its head.
"Screeeeeh!"
A shrill, agonized scream tore from the lynx's throat as searing pain wracked its body. Yet even in the face of critical injury, it did not retreat. It could not retreat. Turning its back now would mean certain death.
Forcing itself past the pain, the lynx lunged at Amelia once more, eyes filled with unyielding determination.
Amelia, however, remained utterly unfazed. The pitiful cries of the wounded beast barely registered in her mind. After Nexoria's invasion, something inside her had changed—something dark, something ruthless.
Mercy? That notion had long since faded. It didn't matter whether it was a beast or even a human crying out in agony. She would not stop.
What greeted the lynx was another arrow. This time, there was no escape.
Its skull exploded on impact. The sheer force of Amelia's shot had been stronger—less controlled than before, fueled by lingering adrenaline from the ambush. The power behind her arrows had clearly increased compared to when she had effortlessly taken down the grizzly and the three wolves earlier.
['Green' Lynx killed: 6K XP received x1]
Amelia retrieved the two arrows and slid them back into her quiver before pressing forward, venturing deeper into the green zone. Her eyes, however, remained sharp, darting across her surroundings with unwavering vigilance.
The previous ambush had been harmless—but only because of the sheer disparity in strength. Had her opponent been stronger, the outcome could have been very different. She knew this all too well.
Even as she moved, she was already thinking—strategizing. If another unseen threat were to strike, she needed a countermeasure.
'The problem is that I'm in a forest, not an open plain. As an archer, this puts me at a disadvantage—I could get ambushed in close combat at any moment. So how do I fix this?'
Her mind churned, searching for a solution.
'I could have chosen a world that wasn't just one giant forest. That certainly would've helped…' she mused, a wry smile tugging at her lips. 'But honestly, I like this world. It's practical—the "zones" separate weaker and stronger beasts, making it easier to hunt without taking unnecessary risks. And even if it wasn't today, at some point in the future, I'd still end up hunting in a forest. So figuring out a countermeasure now can only be a good thing… But what? That's the question.'
As she walked, she came across a few deer, swiftly taking them down. With each kill, she gained experience, leveling up. Yet, even as she hunted, her mind remained preoccupied with the problem at hand.
'Since I'm now a mage, I could learn a defensive spell like Earth Wall or Barrier. That way, I'd have something to shield myself with in case of an ambush, giving me time to create distance.'
'Another possibility would be to learn a spell or aura technique that grants me an extra pair of arms—or something similar. If I could hold my bow with my "false" arms and wield daggers with my real ones, defending myself at close range would become much easier. Counterattacks would be far more effective too.'
'And the last option… enhancing my perception. If I could develop a technique that lets me detect beasts—or peoples—lying in ambush, I wouldn't need a defense. But this one is tricky… I have no idea where to even start.'
She exhaled through her nose, her thoughts settling.
'Anyway, these ideas are interesting and all, but they're more of long-term projects. None of them are things I can learn in a matter of minutes, and right now, my focus needs to stay on the hunt. For now, the best I can do is maintain a height advantage by sticking to the trees.'
"Swish."
With a few swift jumps, Amelia ascended into the thick branches of an ancient tree, positioning herself twenty meters above the forest floor. Without hesitation, she continued her journey northward.
As she traveled toward the yellow zone, she took her time, hunting any beasts she came across. With each kill, her experience surged, her level climbing rapidly. Within the span of an hour, her Tier 1 Hunter class had jumped from level 6 to level 12.
Before long, she reached the boundary of the yellow zone. A faint glow emanated from the yellow-black obelisk, casting an light over this section of the vast forest—a clear marker of the more dangerous territory ahead.
Without hesitation, she crossed into the new zone, keeping to the cover of the trees. She had barely ventured forward when she spotted her first 'yellow' beast.
Or, more accurately, her first group of 'yellow' beasts, as what she saw wasn't a lone creature. No! Twenty meters below her, a small herd of moose grazed leisurely on the grass. They were all far larger than their typical counterparts. Ordinary moose were already impressive in size, with the largest reaching up to three meters in length, standing at around two meters tall, and weighing over 1,500 pounds. But the four moose below her dwarfed even those figures.
The largest of the group stood motionless, leisurely chewing on blades of grass, its brown eyes scanning the surroundings with a mixture of carelessness and vigilance—the confidence of a creature that knew few threats in this part of the forest. It towered at nearly five meters, with a body stretching between six and seven meters from snout to tail. Its sheer mass could only be measured in tons. The other three moose, though slightly smaller, were still massive colossi that would easily outweigh any normal predator.
Amelia halted for a moment, carefully observing the towering beasts. 'The half-hearted arrows from before won't cut it—that's for sure. I'll need to get serious and use more of my aura.'
With that thought, she nocked an arrow on her bow and drew it back, aiming directly at the skull of the moose that was the farthest from the three others. Thin strands of aura wrapped around the arrow, but unlike before, she poured in far more energy than she had while hunting in the 'green' zone.
She held steady until the arrow was fully saturated with aura, glowing so intensely that it was nearly shining. Then, she let it loose.
'Dividing Shot.'
The arrow shot forward at near-supersonic speed, closing the twenty-meter gap in an instant. Before it could strike the skull of the unaware moose, her technique activated.
Author Note:
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