The arrow was painful, but only for a second. Scott felt his leg numbing right after the fact, which told him that the situation was far more dangerous than the fact that he'd been pierced by an arrow.
His mind was going haywire from the sudden onslaught of System messages.
Scott had spent a better part of his last decade on Earth trying to get even with the people he'd vowed to kill and subsequently had been in several situations where he'd been ambushed by parties he'd angered to the point of wanting him dead. However, Scott knew what he was getting into the moment he'd submerged himself in vengeance. He knew he'd always be a target and once he'd poked enough Hornet's nest, he knew the angry bugs will start hounding him relentlessly. And that's why the ambushes against him had all failed.
No, he wasn't able to kill all the ambushers and get away unscathed, like the Last Action Hero or something…Most of the times it'd been him escaping with his life teetering on the edge. But regardless, the ambushes did fail, and more often than not, Scott had managed to get the upper hand on them - not because of his 'superior' skills, or providence, or a Deus Ex Machina. It was simply because Scott was always expecting them.
Once he'd been deeply submerged in his mission to exact vengeance, he would always be in a state of hyper-vigilance. He rarely let his guard down, no matter what he did. When he was in a hotel, he would never take a shower - only bathes, and if the hotel room didn't have one, he'd fill up a tumbler and wash himself Indian style. In any establishment, private or public, the first thing he would consider while entering would be the immediately reachable entry and exit points and he would always make sure to place himself in the environment accordingly. He would never listen to music in public. If he was driving a car, he would always make sure to leave enough space between his car and the one in front of him at stop signs, so that he'd never get boxed in and can always drive around if needed.
Since Scott would, in one way or another, always kept expecting an attack on him no matter how unrealistic the situation could be…when he was in an environment where an attack WAS feasible - like a deserted subway or a late-night walk down an alley - his awareness would be cranked to the maximum, and as a result, he was never caught unawares. Sure, he was often at a disadvantage, but he was able to turn the situation around because of the dozens of strategies he would rehearse in his mind and adapt to, at a moment's notice.
When he was portaled to Athionia, he was mentally disarrayed, quite lost and had to spend a significant amount of time to get his bearing. That did compromise his hyper-vigilance to some extent. But since he'd forced himself in that state for a long time on Earth, his subconscious didn't betray him at the crucial moment.
His nerves, although frayed, were steady enough to guide his body through a basic maneuver of self-preservation - finding cover from the archer. The area near his campfire was devoid of any, so he gritted his teeth and ran towards the first tree diametrically opposite to the arrow's direction. The adrenaline in his system made sure he reached the position of relative safety, but Scott gritted his teeth, a cold dread settling in his heart. He could feel the presence of some kind of paralyzing agent in the arrow which was slowly rendering his left leg useless.
<<...User under hostile threat! Advised to take immediate measure to neutralize the threat...>>
'Thank you, Captain Obvious.'
<<...Warning! Paralyzing agent detected in User's blood-stream. Resistance - absent. Auto-analysis of foreign agent commenced…>>
<<… Auto-analysis successful! User has been affected with Lesser Paralysis Poison. Effect: Paralyzes the affected user for 2 minutes. Duration affected by Poison Resistance. Not affected by Endurance. Potency affected by Poison Resistance and Endurance. >>
<<… User's endurance is enough to retain the usage of affected body part for...3 minute, 40 seconds...>>
'So I have a little over three minutes before I get paralyzed for two minutes, huh. Thank god for those points in Endurance I guess? Wait, what am I thinking…this is not a fucking game! Well, not anymore!'
<<...Hostile target approaching from North-East...Advised to take....>>
'Yeah yeah yeah...'
Scott saw a 'mini-map' re-emerge at the top-right corner of his interface. A red dot was rapidly approaching him from the direction mentioned by the system. There was a presence of another red icon, but it was shaped like a triangle and wasn't moving.
'Sweet I get a mini-map in combat. I guess that's the threat detection the System mentioned.'
Scott instinctively knew the red triangular icon to be the archer.
So it was like this...a classic Hunter-Killer combination.
Scott had read about the Hunter-Killer combination in a military journal. The roles are malleable, and could switch at a moment's notice, but usually, one person was responsible for keeping eye on the target and eliminate all areas of his escape - the hunter, and the killer would be going up close, delivering the killing blow. This combination ruled out both the uncertainty of a long-distance sniping, and the potential pitfalls of a one-on-one confrontation, because the Hunter could become the Killer at a moment's notice, if the need arose. Scott was being approached by the 'killer' in this equation, and the hunter was acting as the back-up, as well as a hindrance to his escape.
He need not have bothered, because Scott was not planning to escape.
Scott had no intention of removing the arrow from his leg right now. He didn't know the recovery mechanism of injuries well enough to experiment, and he had very little time before a direct engagement with the enemy. What he needed right now was more cover and a chance at surprising his opponent. While he was definitely skilled and confident enough to hold his own against most one-on-one confrontations on Earth, he could not say the same for Athionia. The only way he could guarantee a win right now was to surprise and kill the approaching 'red circle' while hoping the other one won't join in, at least not immediately. With that in mind, Scott spotted a thick copse of trees with dense branches a few meters away from him and quickly climbed it, hiding himself as best as possible before the enemy is upon him.
<<…2 min, 56 seconds…>>
Scott glanced at the minimap to confirm the position of his enemies. The archer hadn't moved from their original spot but the other one, the 'killer', now shown with an inverted triangle, was really close. Scott was careful enough to avoid rustling the leaves unnaturally and give himself away too soon, but he also knew his position wasn't sustainable. He cannot 'wait out' his enemies in this situation. He had absolutely no illusion of being able to stay out of notice for a full five minutes, the last two of which he would have to spend paralyzed and unable to do anything with his body.
'Welp... here goes nothing.'
<<…2 min, 03 seconds…>>
The enemy was directly under the tree Scott had climbed. He was looking around, a wicked-looking blade (Scott recognized the design to be similar to a Kukri - a machete popular in Nepal and North-Eastern parts of India) gleaming in his right hand. His face had frustration and annoyance etched firmly, he was obviously not expecting his prey to not only dash and get cover but also somehow hide from his sight. Not that he was too bothered, because the only way his prey could go was up and there weren't that many trees around…
…His mouth let out a winded groan as he was pummeled to the ground face-first with a weight on top of his back. The 'killer' was experienced, his mind immediately connected the dots. He was amused at the resourcefulness of his prey. He decided he'd mentally applaud him after he'd thrown him off his body and slit his throat. He tightened his back to do just that…
…and he felt a sharp blow to the back of his head which stunned him. At the same time, he felt his blade-arm being yanked up and twisted. He felt another sharp pain on the cuticles of his fingers that were gripping the blade before he involuntarily lost the grip on his weapon and felt the familiar weight gone in an instant. Then he felt his head being yanked up and twisted….
CRACK.
Even though Scott had acquired a blade, it was not one he was familiar with. Plus, he felt it was a slashing weapon, and the position he had his enemy locked in was not suitable for a slashing maneuver, at least not one that would immediately kill him. Therefore he decided not to over-complicate things and just snapped his neck. He was also lucky that there was a decent-sized rock right next to the ground when he'd jumped, which had allowed him to further improve his chance of survival by bashing his enemy on the head.
<<…1 min, 50 seconds…>>
The entire ordeal was over in little more than ten seconds.
Even though Scott's movements were a little stiff, there was zero hesitation in them. He didn't think he would be able to capture his opponent and interrogate him to find out why he was targeted, so he didn't even bother to take the chance. He had little over one minute to find suitable cover and avoid a confrontation with the archer…at least until the paralysis wears off.
All the time he was on top of the tree, Scott had been keeping track of both the red icons. Only for the 13 seconds, it took for him to dispatch off his opponent, Scott was forced to ignore the red triangle in the distance. He knew he would have to learn to keep useful indicators like that in his peripheral vision in order to use the System properly, but that would still require getting used to. Right now, it would be a distraction for him in the middle of the fight, instead of an aid.
<<…1 min 40 seconds…>>
Scott was about to climb a second tree, its top even denser than the previous one, which would hopefully hinder the archer's arrows…when he saw the red triangle in the distance…receding at a rapid pace.
'What…?'
<<…No enemies found in the vicinity. Threat radar closing…>>
'Whaaat…?'
"No wait, bring it back!"
Scott accidentally spoke out loud as he was frantically trying to bring his mini-map back.
He realized his mistake and immediately went silent and even stopped breathing. Slowly, as he regained his wits, he mentally commanded.
~Show threat radar permanently~
Nothing happened for several seconds…and Scott was about to let it go with a sigh, when the mini-map popped back into existence once more.
<<…User command registered. Displaying Threat Radar regardless of hostility in the User's vicinity…>>
'Oh thank god. Okay, let's see.'
Scott found out that he could mentally zoom the mini-map in and out to a certain extent. A lot of the surrounding areas of the map was just a gray blob, which Scott understood immediately for undiscovered and/or unexplored locations. There was no hostile icon anywhere in the immediate surroundings.
'Why did he run? Did they knew their partner had died? Hmm…That has to be it, otherwise, it makes no sense that he'd give up a vantage point and just…leave. So…does that mean he didn't want a direct confrontation? Or does it mean something else? Ughh…this is annoying.'
Scott decided to trust the System and the mini-map for now, even though that didn't stop him from spending roughly 20 minutes on top of the tree. Of course, he felt his whole body go numb after two minutes and he was absolutely unable to move. He couldn't even wiggle his big toe or blink. Fortunately, he had just about enough time to place his body in a way where he'd not drop from the tree. Even if it was just two minutes, it was the most agonizing couple of minutes Scott had spent since he'd landed on this new realm. He realized that he abhorred this complete lack of control over his body, this absolute state of vulnerability where he could potentially be killed by even the weakest creature, if they tried. He made a mental promise to try his utmost and never let himself be in such a situation again.
<<…The effect of the Paralyzing agent Lesser Paralysis Poison has ended. User has gained Poison Resistance. Poison Resistance - 5%…>>
<<…Endurance increased by 1…>>
'That's sweet. I need to take that arrow out though.'
Scott was about to do just that, when his peripheral vision caught a series of minimized notifications blinking at the top of the screen on the bottom right hand corner.
'Oh that's right, these are the ones I'd ignored while I was killing the guy. Let's check them out.'
<<…Combat: Buff - Ambush successful! Damage and Criticality of the first attack in ambush increased significantly…>>
<<…Skill gained - Stealth Artist…>>
<<…Combat: User has knocked Assailant#1 prone…Effect of Ambush not broken due to Stealth Artist bonus.>>
<<…Combat: User delivers bludgeoning damage to Assailant# with Simple Rock. It is a critical hit! Damage increased significantly. Assailant#1 is stunned for 5 seconds. Effect of Ambush not broken due to Stealth Artist bonus…>>
<<…Combat: User attempts Disarm on Assailant#1…Disarm successful! Assailant#1 has lost ownership of Steel Machete…Effect of Ambush not broken due to Stealth Artist bonus…>>
<<…Combat: User delivers unarmed damage to Assailant#1. It is a critical hit! Damage increased significantly…Effect of Ambush not broken due to Stealth Artist bonus…>>
<<…Combat: Assailant#1 succumbs to death!…>>
<<…Hidden combo performed successfully! Condition to upgrade Skill - Stealth Artist met!..>>
<<…Skill upgrade - Stealth Artist has been upgraded to Shadow Artist…>>
<<…Dexterity increased by 40…>>
<<…Agility increased by 1…>>
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'What the actual…fuck…'
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