Capítulo 22: Arrow versus Bullet (END)
The one most shocked by all this was Carzola. He never expected his shot to go through and even deal damage to the unbeatable foe. His mind was working fast as the realization that he could damage the fiend himself dawned on him.
Maybe all was not lost. If he could bring down this giant, the rewards that awaited him were bountiful indeed. Just thinking about it made him lick his lips in anticipation. Letting greed take over, he shot 3 more bullets in quick succession.
No one expected him to go on a firing rampage. The mayi had seen human technology before, and they knew they were terrifying at close range, so they took off running, but one remained. Kassam set himself in between Chege and Carzola, defiantly refusing to let Carzola pass.
Carzola's had had to disable the silencers on the guns. After several years of using gunpowder, humans had discovered that having loud weapons was a boon, so they figured out how to made their weapons loud on demand, and this was what Carzola had done.
His intention was not to hurt but to scare, so he didn't target anyone specifically. Watching the creature stand between him and his prey, he was touched, so he shot him on the leg. If they wanted him hunting shepherds, they had to pay extra.
Kassam tumble down made Kiel scream in agony, but she didn't care, and she rushed out to him. She knew the power human weapons possessed, but she wasn't ready to see her Kassam fall. Disregarding everything, she ran at the assailant screaming bloody murder, but the human's bullet was faster and more accurate. Before she could move 2 steps, she was down.
Seeing his captors fallen, Carzola didn't dally any longer. He grabbed Dr. Hanni by the collar and ran. All this had gone down in a span of a few seconds. The good doctor didn't even know what happened, and he was still rilling from the shock of it all. However, he wasn't holding back.
Chege had a small smile on his face, but it quickly dissipated the moment he saw the fallen allies. Leaving behind the still-standing members to tend to the wounded, he ran after the humans. Having tested himself, he knew that unless a wound was too grievous, he'd naturally heal. This was not a racial trait, for he didn't have such a character trait before ending up on the cliff.
This had been his gambit this whole time. He had deduced that the threat was the human that came out. It did not make sense for a dangerous predator to willingly submit, so Chege was wary of him from the get-go. He had to get the snake to bare its fangs, but how?
That was when he came up with this idea. Arming the human and standing in front of it. Given he'd been watching, he'd know the drill. Part of him wanted to test his new skill against the human, and with his instant healing talent, he had little to worry about.
He was still just a kid though, he didn't think things through. He never saw the potential threat he was putting his people under, nor did he anticipate that they would step in to try and protect him. On some level, he was touched, which made his anger stew even more.
He had his bow and arrows, and he had his spells. He didn't want to incinerate the forest though, so he stuck to just weapons.
By the time he was in the treeline, his wounds had already closed up. Not even a scar was left to show he'd been hurt. That's when he saw a silhouette of the pair running through the trees. Instantly he stopped, nocked his arrow and fired.
Carzola knew he had to work fast. This was not part of the plan, but he took his chances wherever he could. He didn't think he'd make it out safely, which was one of the reasons he grabbed Dr. Hanni.
As he made a turn around a tree trunk, he heard a whistle in the wind. The sound came with an ominous sound, and even before he could turn back, a fast-moving object latched onto Dr. Hanni and pinned him to a tree. The arrow, its speed, and the force it came with almost snapped Carzola's fingers holding on to Dr. Hanni.
Seeing this, Carzola was momentarily scanned. He had honed his battle skills to a point where he could feel when someone targeted him. It wasn't an absolute science but in that range, Carzola should have felt a threat. Hardly was he ever caught off-guard, even in the age of firearms.
Secondly, he had never felt such force coming from an arrow before. The momentum alone almost broke the soft bones in his fingers. As a galactic warrior, his entire body had been reinforced, especially his bones. They were as hard as steel but more malleable. Yet despite all that, they still felt the brunt of the attack. Dr. Hanni had passed out, hopefully not dead.
Carzola ducked behind a tree, but a stab on his back told him how unsafe that was. Looking to examine the cause of the wound in his back, he realized that an arrow had gone through the trunk, drilled its way to his skill.
Carzola wasn't beaten though. His flexibility, dexterity, and agility were at the top of his trade. As an assassin, he could bend his body to astonishing heights. His agility made it seem as though he was flying most of the time. Using parkour, he traversed the forest easily, like a fish in the water.
Chege had a hard time targeting his prey. As a marksman and a good one at that, he knew that prediction was just as important as good eyesight. Being able to track your target's movement and predict where it'd be by the time the arrow got there was what made for a successful shot, but that was easier said than done, especially with his latest target.
Carzola forgot where he was. Very few times would he find himself under such conditions. He wasn't quite in danger, as he knew that if death came his way, he could escape. At the same time, he was not safe, as one would be in training. The threat was real, and he needed to be on his toes to circumvent it.
The current situation notwithstanding, Carzola enjoyed the feel of bouncing off trees, rocks and anything else he could use to aid him in his escape. The fact that the arrows were constantly raining on him excited him further. Never was one more alive than in the face of danger, and one that was so close.
Like rainfall, Chege's arrows didn't stop coming. He had the Reload skill. If not for that, he'd have lost his ammo a long time ago. Moreover, the bow he worked with was imbued with mystical powers that buffed his accuracy, making him more lethal. He couldn't understand how he had not landed a single hit.
Chege himself wasn't that qualified or experienced as a hunter or a mercenary. While he had quite the experience, he couldn't hold a candle over a battle-hardened mercenary who lived and breathed this stuff. He fell short when it came to his reaction and aiming speed. He just couldn't keep up.
Despite being an enormous advantage over his opponent, Chege still fell short of his opponent. He just couldn't keep up with his prey. He couldn't believe he was going to lose. Frustration was seeping in his muscles, and every attempt he made that failed served to add up to his frustrations.
As he brushed a leaf from his sight, he suddenly felt a burst of pain in his forehead. The hit was so hard that it brought him to the ground in an instance. Split seconds later, he heard the report of the gun. Carzola had had enough time to even fire back.
Chege didn't remain on the ground. Frustration was giving way to blinding rage at the attacks, but he was also developing deep-set respect for the one he was hunting. To be able to evade and hurt him like so, this was an obvious elite.
The unfortunate thing about this run was that both had astronomical amounts of stamina. This soon became a battle of stamina more than anything. Every so often, a bullet would hit Chege, causing him to stumble. Never once did Chege have enough fortitude to dodge or predict his opponent's movement for a shot. It was as though he was battling a phantom that never missed.
As these things go, the determining factor was more often than not, luck, and one's ability to maximize it. Still running, Carzola found that he had run out of the forest. More importantly, the area that lay before him looked more like a semi-desert. The shrubbery barely rose to his height. There were little rocks all over the place but they barely offered any shelter against his enemy.
Carzola knew he was at the end of the road, and he didn't want to go due to a shot in the back while running like a coward. All hope was not lost, as such an individual more often had some trump cards they could employ, but Carzola decided against it. He turned to the trees and raised his guns.
Stumbling through the forest, Chege finally managed to catch up with Carzola, but seeing him, he dove to the ground. Even though the bullets were not very harmful by themselves, they were excruciatingly painful when struck, like the sting of a hundred wasps all at once. Chege had learned to avoid them at all costs. Seeing Carzola facing his direction with his guns raised, he thought that he would receive a barrage of bullets.
After some moments, the bullets were not fired, which prompted Chege to look up. Carzola was still standing, his weapons still drawn. Chege rose tentatively, not fully grasping what was going through the human's mind. It didn't take much to guess though, but his first guess had been wrong.
Carzola, in a bid to explain, took out a bullet and span it like a tarp. The moment it fell, Carzola fired into the air, prompting Chege to dodge the phantom bullet again. Despite the embarrassing reaction, Chege got the point.
He nocked an arrow in place and also aimed. For a moment, the 2 looked at each other, not doing anything before Carzola took out a second bullet and span it.
One eye on the bullet, the other eye on the target. Tactical breaths were drawn as the 2 marksmen looked at each other. Carzola took his aim, but he was more concerned with where his opponent's arrow was aimed at. Seeing it aimed at his head, he frowned. Chege smirked and aimed it lower, but that didn't comfort Carzola at all. He found himself wondering if he should have taken his chances at running.
The spinning bullet toppled.
The shots rang.
Both found their mark, and while Chege was again reeling in pain, Carzola found himself dumbstruck. He had tried to shoot at Chege's fingers, curious to see if he could cause permanent damage. Earlier, he had tried repeatedly to hit the eye but never could, so now he sort to make a less-lethal shot.
Chege's finger had been lobbed clean off, but miraculously, another had begun growing in the same spot instantly. His healing was fast and effective. However, this was not what shocked Carzola.
Due to all the shots that had been missed, Carzola assumed Chege was not a good shot. Now he realized just how wrong he was. Chege's arrow had found its mark cleanly, and while he didn't take any damage, he saw just how close to death he had been.
The arrow had tunneled its way through his gun's muzzle, tearing apart the inner workings of the electro-gun. It had fallen short of penetrating the other side, which meant his body.
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