"Look at the slaves in the center and the other area! They were able to create fortification!"
"These monkeys got smarter!"
"If many survive then my bet will surely make me rich!!! hahah"
"It seems many will survive this time"
"Don't bet on it, I am sure that the Arena is more diabolical than you think!"
Below the seats, out of the 10,000 slaves plus slaves, almost half had already perished. Meanwhile, with 1,200 Blood Jackals, about 400-500 were left. It is just a matter of time before they get annihilated.
--
Meanwhile, inside the circular formation, Zane saw Old Gramps gave a hug to a white hair senior, this person seemed as old as gramps but still had sharp eyes and a commanding aura. This person is the one sending the orders one by one.
"William! You old coot! It is good that you are still alive!"
"With heaven's mercy, yes, but seeing your old face here makes me feel I am one step closer to the grave again," William laughed.
"Seeing you here seems, the other villages were also affected."
"I tell you that our village was already lucky with some able to survive and become a slave. Before being captured as a slave, many traveling merchants said that the capital of Amross, 30 miles from the village was now a barren city. The city is dead silent, and a kind of mysterious heavy fog covers the whole city."
"Hmm, massacres from city are quite common in this era," commented by Old Zhao.
"That is true, but massacres involve killing, and dead bodies are normally left behind. However, the most peculiar thing is that there is not a single body found."
He continued with his grim tone, "Although signs of extreme violence can be seen all over city, no one knows where they all went or if there are any survivors. An assassin with great skills in tracking was sent to find some clues, but even him was doesn't have a clue.
"Impossible! The City of Amross has about 20 million population, it is impossible to hide that amount of bodies."
"Yes! For some reason, no one was able to come out of the city and send a message. Men, women, children, and even animals just all disappeared. Even the highly nobles having powerful magicians and warriors equipped with arsenals of runes were not sparred," William feeling puzzled and depressed.
"Sirs, although it is good to catch up and all, but almost a hundred pluses of Blood Jackals are running towards us," said by one of the Slave looking up ahead the distance.
William nodded, "Bolster the formation and tell the men who are not participating should come to the center and grab a bow. Let the women and children grab all the arrows and prepare stacks in the center. Send some runners to search and rescue survivors and bring them all here."
Zane who heard the order looked around and searched for some arrows and a decent heavier longbow.
Compared to lighter bows, heavier bows focus on power and speed. Although much straining, his strength, and endurance were almost 3x than average man.
Ashwood Heavy Long Bow
Grade: White (High Grade)
Durability: 6.7
Draw Power: 350-400 lb
...
Back on earth, when he was in high school, students were required to be part of a club. Two choices were given music and sports. Zane being flatly rejected for having broken pitch and terrible timing went grudgingly to archery. Although he is not a competitive type of athlete, he knows his way around archery.
Making his stance, he stands upright, shoulder width apart, and feet at 90 degrees. He gripped the bow handle not too light and too hard with his left hand. Using his right hand, he held the arrow about 8 inches away from the nock end. He positioned his 3 fingers on the string, with the index finger above the arrow.
Searching for an easy suitable target, he found a running Blood Jackal. He pulled back the strings close to his face using his back muscles and inner elbow parallel to the ground. He drew the bow string as much as possible, he breathed, then he released the arrow.
'Woosh'
...
With a smell of concentrated blood of its kin in the air, a Blood Jackal turned enraged, his eyes turned red. It howled in the air and suddenly started running toward the area.
With its full speed ranging about 40 miles/hour, he was 50 meters away when it suddenly heard a whistling sound.
Before it could react, it felt a tearing pain. Looking at its skin, he saw a large tear about 10 inches long on its muscle and skin. Lucky, it is not fatal, the Blood Jackal ' sighed' in relief.
Because of the blood loss and pain, the Blood Jackal enraged feeling was gone. Fear of death, its survival instincts started to kick in.
It decided to turn around and run away with its tail between its legs. However, another 'wooshing sound' followed, and a small circular hole appeared between its eyes. Before it even realized what had happened, dizziness and darkness followed.
...
Few moments ago.
"Dang it! I Missed!"
Realizing that he was not talented nor experienced enough to hit a moving target, he was very irritated.
"The Blood Jackal is running way too fast, it is impossible to hit it accurately."
"Looking at its logs, he saw '2/10 Basic Archery,' remembering he still had 1 skill point remaining, he decided to add it to the archery.
"Basic Archery Learned"
Suddenly, an extreme migraine appeared. Clutching his head, new information like a long line of the script is being ingrained in his mind.
With confidence, he grabbed a heavy long bow, feeling the wind, looking at the Blood Jackal, he shot another arrow.
'+5 experience killing Blood Jackal'
Grinning, he whispered, 'Let the hunt begins!'
...
Few meters away from the first Blood Jackal he killed, he shot another arrow.
"Whoosh"
'+5 experience from killing Blood Jackal'
Looking at the dead Blood Jackal, an arrow was stuck in its mouth and throat.
A little bit to the left, he saw a scout running for its life, and behind him, 2 Blood Jackals. The scout's left arm was missing, and a cloth tied up to stop it from blood loss. He knew that he won't be able to come back to the formation.
He suddenly stopped moving, turning around, he clutched his dagger, "Better to die fighting that miserably dying in its mercy."
Looking at the drooling Blood Jackal, he was ready to take his one last stand till suddenly he heard a whistling sound followed by a choking sound. Looking back at the Blood Jackal, he saw one pierced in the eyes and the other has an arrow in its face to its neck, with blood chocking it.
'+5 experience from killing Blood Jackal'
'+5 experience from killing Blood Jackal'
Zane was really pleased with the Heavy Long bow. Looking at his experience, 15/100, "I need to kill more to level!"
Meanwhile, William seeing how Zane was able to shoot accurately was surprised.
"That boy of yours is quite good in Archery, " William with approval in his eyes.
"Yeah, I am very surprised as well. He might be a prodigy when it comes to archery." Old Grams also questioned himself because this was his first time seeing Zane able to use a bow.
Back in the valley, he was taking care of Zane and he knew that Zane didn't have the time to practice archery, nor one can find a bow in the village.
"With his skill now, he might be better than the ones trained by the castles," William commented.
"If he wasn't a slave, he would have reached greater heights, probably better than ours. Or probably, even be able to break through the Awakening stage." shaking his head.
"For now, it doesn't matter. Keep him in the center then, he will be of great use," William looked intently at Zane.
With fervent eyes, Zane searched the battlefield. Seemingly like the heaven heard his request, about 200+ Blood Jackals can be seen running towards the formation.
Shocked by this amount, he was not sure if the formation would be able to handle it. Remembering that his safety is only guaranteed because of the slaves tanking the Blood Jackals, he started killing Blood Jackals like there was no tomorrow.
'+5 experience from killing Blood Jackal'
'+5 experience from killing Blood Jackal'
'+5 experience from killing Blood Jackal'
'+5 experience from killing Blood Jackal'
'+5 experience..
....