Charlie moved towards the commotion, the temporary team following far behind him.
The roars of the savage beasts, the shouts of people, the sounds of heavy impacts, the rampant magic, arrows and magic projectiles flying in from unknown directions, erupting into brilliant flashes upon hitting their targets.
Charlie immediately felt like he was right on a real battlefield, the unlucky ones could truly be struck down by stray arrows and lose their lives.
Crack!
Suddenly, a loud crash, 20 meters in front of Charlie, a tree trunk as thick as a bowl abruptly bent forward, exposing the fresh yellow wood, the crown toppling towards Charlie's direction, followed by a massive black shadow rolling over, like a mountain pressing down, kicking up a gust of wind.
Charlie nimbly dodged to the side, taking a closer look, the chip providing estimated data - a 2.4-meter-tall black bear, weighing close to 300 kilograms, its fur matted together like a layer of thick scales, very tough, the claws extending nearly 10 centimeters, properly sharpened, they would make an excellent dagger blank.
Where the black bear rolled, the vegetation on the ground was all flattened, sinking into the mud.
The black bear was riddled with all kinds of arrows, the most eye-catching being a thumb-thick precision steel arrow in its chest, the weight of the arrow alone reaching over 10 pounds, probably only alchemical equipment would have enough force to unleash its terrifying lethality.
This was a fatal arrow, penetrating deep into the bear's chest cavity, the protruding shaft about half a meter long, with every movement, dark red blood gushing from the wound, the heart being its power source, losing heart function meant losing the strength to resist, black blood also constantly oozing from its mouth, it was clearly not going to make it.
The temporary team rushed over, seeing this surprising scene, standing far away, a beast of this level, even without unleashing its innate magic power, relying solely on physical strength, was not something this temporary team could handle, of course, assuming Charlie didn't intervene.
Soon, two well-equipped battle teams arrived, not to mention the equipment, even without their background, just the aura alone made it clear these were experts, experts with the confidence and bearing of experts.
One of them, a bowman, glanced disdainfully at Charlie, spitting out a word, "Scram!"
Charlie frowned slightly, speaking in a deep voice, "Watch your mouth!"
The bowman sneered, "What? Unhappy? Wanting to prove you're different from the others? Right?"
His companion let out a mocking laugh.
The team leader of Charlie's side shouted from afar, "What are you doing?! Don't you remember what I told you earlier? Get back here!"
If Charlie had his original team with him, he would probably have to submit, the situation was clear, now, at most he could just shrug and leave, he hadn't even shown his face, what was there to be afraid of?! As for the other members of the temporary team, they were already anxious.
The black bear lay dying between the two groups, the surrounding crowd silent, the atmosphere suddenly tensing up.
Charlie's mouth curled up in a cold smile, suddenly drawing an arrow quickly, a pale golden streak flashing like a meteor, tracing a beautiful trail of fireflies in the gloomy forest.
Hum!
The moment the pale golden magic shield coalesced, the arrow struck it, pushing out a arrowhead-shaped indent, before finally being blocked, the magic shield's glow also dimming considerably.
This one arrow set off the prelude to a major battle, the other side quickly launching a counterattack, but by then Charlie had already hidden behind a large tree, disappearing without a trace.
The people in the temporary team were stunned, turning and running, the team leader and Yulia cursing as they followed.
The bowman who was attacked by Charlie regained his senses, trembling with fear, then burning with rage, shouting, "Coward! You only know how to run? Do you have the courage to have a fair duel with me?"
A fair duel is often built on a balance of forces, otherwise, don't expect to be treated fairly. If Charlie had been fooled into coming out, it just shows he's too straightforward and simple.
The bowman's roar echoed through the forest, but received no response, as if the brief skirmish had never happened.
Charlie was invisible high up in a large tree, over 20 meters from the ground, his keen senses making this forest his home turf, he was right above those two teams, but they were completely unaware.
Charlie was a person who valued fairness, he doesn't provoke others, but if others provoke him, he must retaliate. That one word "Scram" was not enough to warrant taking his life, but a little punishment was necessary, no one is easy to mess with, especially Charlie.
The people below were still processing the bear's carcass, the magic core, bear heart, bear gall, bear paws and bear fur, all parts of the beast had value, so the processing took a bit longer.
Meanwhile, Charlie took out a magic brush and an unenchanted arrow.
As a mage, Charlie understood the principle of the Holy Light Barrier, for this type of defensive magic, the killing power of the Holy Light Arrow and Split Arrow is limited, he must concentrate all his energy on one point to maximize the impact.
Charlie's idea was to combine the serrated arrow with a small gravity basic rune and a keen composite rune, increasing the arrow's weight to enhance the damage, the two runes combined forming a special type of penetrating arrow, Charlie didn't know if anyone else had come up with a similar inspiration, at least he hadn't seen such an arrow enchantment effect in his studies.
For this new idea, Charlie tried twice before succeeding. The difficulty lies in how to draw some micro-runes on the arrowhead, and the inherent characteristics of this magic brush, designed for scroll drawing, require a more delicate tip for the micro-runes, Charlie needed a second brush.
Then, Charlie inch by inch moved on the tree, approaching the position of the bowman, his body still enveloped in a dim light halo, the residual Holy Light Barrier effect, without encountering consumption, able to last at least half an hour.
And at this moment, the egg-shaped halo fell on the aiming point.
Thud!
A muffled sound, the penetrating arrow silently shot out, passing through the layers of leaves, directly striking the Holy Light Barrier, the pale gold halo instantly shattering, the arrow's remaining momentum still driving it into the bowman's shoulder.
A blood flower bloomed from his right shoulder, the serrated arrow violently scraping against the shoulder blade, the pain bone-chilling, almost instantly disabling the bowman's combat ability, he was shot down to the ground, luckily his body's protective mechanism kicked in, numbing the pain, the entire right shoulder becoming numb.
Lying on the ground, the bowman's heart was pounding frantically, the surging hot blood coursing through his veins, his mind only filled with one thought: was he really going to die this time?!
The sudden situation startled the two teams into a flurry, various colored magic halos flaring up.
Someone from the team charged out, shouting around, "Who are you? Enough already! Really want to push us to investigate this to the end?!"
The hysterical roar still did not get any response, after the chilling arrow's effectiveness, no one dared to underestimate the temporary team they encountered in the wilderness.
The bowman looked up at his companions, bitterly chuckling, "D*mn, this guy is ready to kill without a word! How ruthless!"
A calm young man adjusted his glasses, replying, "You should feel lucky, a man who can embed a cold arrow in your shoulder blade, how could he possibly miss your heart?!
I've told you before, when hunting outside, maintain a low profile, don't underestimate anyone, see? This is the lesson! A bloody lesson!! Twilight Town has never lacked hidden experts, fortunately this opponent has a bottom line, otherwise, not only would you be in trouble, but you would have dragged both teams into crisis!"
A burly man next to him grunted, "What's there to be afraid of, he's only one person, as long as we set our sights on him, he's done for!"
The bespectacled man snorted, refuting, "The arrow just now was shot down from right above us, did you detect his presence before he fired? Can you catch up to him after the shot? Do you know where he's hiding now? Has he escaped? Or is he still here?"
The barrage of questions left the burly man speechless.
"Rangers are the best at concealing their tracks, an enemy who is equally skilled in concealment and pursuit is the most terrifying, so don't provoke a ranger in the jungle, Dudley's behavior is simply courting death!"
Then, a man in a milky white magic robe walked to the open space, speaking loudly, "I am Niss, the captain of the Crimson Team, regarding the unpleasantness that just occurred, I represent my teammates to express our apologies, he has received the appropriate punishment, I believe this arrow is enough to make up for the previous disrespectful word!
When we're out here, one more friend is better than one more enemy, to show our sincere apology, I'll leave this bear gall here, as compensation for my teammate's offense, in the future, I hope we can still be friends!"
As a team leader, his words were reasonable and neither humble nor arrogant.
They could be let off the hook, but the bear gall is not something he's getting back, whether it's a genuine gift or an attempt to lure Charlie out, Charlie doesn't care.