The Lonely Hunter

Chapter 7: Returning A Favor

A marksman's purpose is to shoot high-volume targets in long ranges while maintaining a safe distance. What if a marksman was capable of fighting near distances? Some may agree with this but others will not because we all know that even if a marksman is able to deal a significant damage in short range, the purpose of dealing high damage, accurate shots, and laying low will be restricted and as a result, one will be focused on maintaining defense and evasion to avoid any incoming attacks. 

A marksman's heavy power is able to pierce even the toughest of defense, it all goes down to how high the power a marksman can do. But even if a marksman cannot deal enough damage from afar, just by going shortening the distance to the designated target increases your damage output. Mastering this type of technique would let you deal much higher damage to the enemy while having your guard up.

This was the full purpose of the martial arts "Way of the marksman" though the title didn't match the martial art's contents, the technique was definitely powerful and would let an archer use more of his capabilities than the usual. Recalling what Kal learned, he grab his iron bow and went dashing to a target dummy. Kal was able to use 20 basic arrows which he carried in his quiver. As soon as he arrived two meters at the target, Kal grabbed an arrow in his quiver and fired it at the dummy, because of the iron bow's added steadiness, Kal's accuracy was increased significantly so he was able to aim at the desired weak spots. After firing an arrow, Kal use the hard bottom edge of the bow to smack the dummies left chest cracking some ribs as a result but as soon as he dealt the attack, he use the force in his attack to move from behind and change trajectory, when he spun to face the target, he had already reloaded another arrow and shot it accurately to its nape. A voice then rang from the dummy that informed Kal that it was defeated and a window panel showed up.

">You have defeated the dummy <"

Ting~ 

YOU HAVE GAIN ONE STATUS POINT!

"Woah! This is crazy! To think that I just watched a 3-hour long video I how you can use a bow both long and short range,  and accomplish this much in such short amount of time, my innate talent is too overpowered! I don't even need the martial fluid just to learn new martial arts!" Kal said in delight. His improvement was enough to call him a proper marksman but he still wasn't used of this uneasy feeling in his body, he still had to adjust to the changes since he was mainly using a melee-type weapon, a dagger. He was still new to long range weapons and even with the already comfort of using the bow, he decided to continue in practicing. 

************

Few days had past by, Kal had finally mastered in using the bow, he was now able to fully understand each variant types of bows, from a heavy and steady bow, to a light and flexible bow and to a standard balance of one, he had mastered all of it. He also accumulated all of the points from the practice bow, and got himself 20 points for that which he distributed evenly to his AGILITY and STRENGTH attribute since this were the bases he needed to increase to fully maximize the performance of a marksman.

"I think it's time to test my martial art in the sanctums." Kal then went to the branch manager of the whole store a.k.a the shopkeeper in which Kal likes to call him. With the remaining money he had left after selling the mana stone, he bought an iron bow similar to the bow he used in the training room, some arrows and light protective equipment.

Ting~

DECENT STEEL BOW

Rank: E

Range: 0-1000 meters

Attack: 5-20 (melee)

Durability: 150/150

Passive-Long Shot: Due to its sturdy composition and elastic string, it can fire arrows at long range while maintaining the standard damage output.

"Not bad, it's almost the same as the practice bow." Kal said complementing the bow. The bow was made of hardened steel so which was dyed in silver and it over-all look was similar to a wooden bow in which elves use in films except it had a modern look to it. He also bought a quiver with 40 basic arrows inside and the cheap light-weight armor he bought was enough so people could tell he was a range type hunter. 

Ting~

FLINT ARROW

Rank: F

Attack: 6-12

Durability: 5/5

Ting~

LIGHT IRON ARMOR

Rank: F

Defense: 10-20

Durability: 40/40

"I'm fully set now, let's go hunt some monsters!" Kal said puffing his chest in excitement. When he got out, he had to wear a facemask because he didn't want to seek the attention of the hunters. 

His travel to the sanctum was hassle-free so he arrived at the gate without any worry of being watched by people. Nobody found out who he was and they just saw him as any other hunter. After being checked by the AI, Kal entered the sanctum.  

He didn't waste anytime in the low grounds and went to the deeper parts of the sanctum. He sprinted to the mountains, rivers and valleys without stop and after getting out of a forest, he finally saw monsters he could hunt. In the creak beside a small hill, there he found pack of grey wolves fighting, there were atleast 15 wolves in total in which one that was bigger than the rest was the alpha wolf. Grey wolves were one of the E-rank monsters in the sanctum, although they were weak for an E-rank monster,  since they travel in packs, they were a very hard for to deal with. After a quick observation from a far, Kal realized that they weren't actually fighting amongst themselves, they were actually fighting a hunter wearing an armor covered in monster fur. 

He only found it out because the man blend in with the wolves due to the color of the fur in his armor. Kal continued to observe the hunter from on top of the mountain peak and soon realized that the man was reaching a disadvantage. He saw that the alpha wolf had decided to join the fight seeing that it's fellow brethren were slowly being killed by the man. 

When the alpha wolf was about to pounce to the man, the man immediately tried to dodge the incoming attack but he was bit slower than the alpha wolf by a bit. His helmet was ripped off from his head from the alpha wolf's attack showing his young and white face. The man immediately tried to flee seeing that he was in an disadvantageous situation but the wolves were too fast and they complete surround the man. The man knew he had to fight if he wanted to survive so he gripped his long sword and readied himself in any incoming attack. 

From a mountain peak, there was young man who had his mouth agape in shock. He wasn't shock because he was about to witness a man becoming a feast for the wolves but because Kal knew who the man was.

"Mr. Dontrelle!?" Kal said in disbelief. Dontrelle was a Fil-Am who lived in the Philippines for quite some time. His father was the CEO of a marketing branch dedicated for hunters so he had a powerful background. He is also famous among female because he had good looks and always wore a cold expression in his face giving him a cool vibe. He had just registered as a hunter but he was already taught with martial arts ever since he was young so already, he was a hunter with a good start and huge potential. 

But that was not because of his popularity Kal was surprised, he was in utter shock because Dontrelle was the one who had saved him from the brink of death. 

"I gotta help my benefactor fast! I owe him a lot!" Without any time to waste, Kal grabbed an arrow and fired it to a wolf, the arrow flew at an alarming speed which pierced instantly to its head and to the ground instantly killing the wolf.

Ting~

+110 EXP

Kal didn't care about the notifications popping up and continued to shot barrage of arrows towards the wolves while also going down the mountain as fast as he could. 

Dontrelle who was about to panic was given a shock after seeing an arrow pierce through a wolf's head. He looked at where the arrow had came from but one of the grey wolves leaped and tried to attack him. He immediately swung his sword to defend the attack but before his sword could hit the wolf, another arrow flew pass through him which pierced the neck of the wolf punching a hole in its throat no and instantly killing it. 

'Who's shooting this arrows!?' Dontrelle said in thought as he searched for the trace of the arrow's source. There he found a silhouette of a man from above a mountain that seems to be descending downhill fast but it was still firing arrows as it descends down the mountain. The wolves then stayed alert and when it found the person who had shot it's kin, they began to growl and change their target to the man.

"Growl!" The grey wolves growled furiously. They change their target and sprint directly to the man who assaulted their brothers. Kal didn't spare any thought and continued on 

firing more arrows to the ravaging wolves, each arrows not missing a shot and hitting the target's desired spot, instantaneously killing them.

'Who's that man? How can he shoot such powerful arrows and hitting them accurately? Is it his bow? Is it his arrows or is it both? No it can't be, it should put a strain in his body if he use high ranking weapons since a weapon with higher rank than the beholder would destroy their body if they can't deliver enough mana to the minimal requirement of the weapon.' Dontrelle thought to himself in bewilderment. The reason why anything with valued mana are ranked to tiers is to arrange the respected powers and keep balance on each levels to remove unnecessary constraints to the hunter and fit them into a suitable level in how much the mana is inside their body. 

A hunter couldn't cheat their way to using A-rank items if their rank is lower than the desired tier because the item would demand for compatible mana from the wearer and if this requirement is not given, it could end damaging the person's mana core and as a result would lead them crippled and at worse, death. So to speak, what Kal was doing right now left doubts and bafflement to Dontrelle who believed that he was using high ranking weapons when in fact, he was using the lowest rank of a weapon.

'Let's not think about that now, the grey wolves are slowly charging towards him!' Dontrelle said running towards the wolf.

"Elder brother! I'll aggro them so keep your distance away!" Dontrelle called our to Kal but Kal didn't listen to his words, in fact, he draw himself nearer to danger. 

"Brother! Retreat!" When he saw that he was slowly drawing nearer to the wolves, he couldn't help but cry out to the man who tried to save him. Even with high firepower Kal possessed, there were still a lot of wolves left. It was common sense for a hunter to do their respective roles. A marksman role is to distance himself from danger and attack from the rear but what Kal was doing was the exact opposite.

'What is he doing!? He is not heeding my calls! Is he confident in his abilities or is he just being arrogant and reckless?' He thought to himself. He gritted his teeth thinking that his savior might die in his watch so he tried and hurried his pace. But even if he hurried up, he'd still be too late to help the man.

But the worries eventually disappeared. When a grey wolf was about to gnaw and rip his face off, Kal was fast enough to fire an arrow. The arrow flew to its wide open mouth piercing through its throat and struck in its heart as a result, killing it. 

Ting~

+110 EXP

The dead wolf tumble up in the air and at this moment, two other lunge themselves at Kal from different directions. Kal didn't panic, he quickly move to the side of the  still-airborne-wolf and use it as a meatshield to the pouncing wolf. The wolf's corpse blocked the other wolf's attempted attack colliding both of them into the ground and as soon as they fell to the ground, Kal spun his whole body to face the direction of the other pouncing wolf who was nearing it's sharp teeth to Kal's throat. When the wolf was about to snap its jaw, Kal use the bottom edge of his bow and bash it to the grey wolf's bottom jaw snapping the jaw close which crushed it's teeth to pieces. 

Tak!

The grey wolf back flipped in the air due to the powerful blow and fell to the ground whimping as it slowly crawl to its death. When it crashed to the ground, the previous wolf who crash to its brethren's corpse had just reoccupate back to normal and was ready to attack again but before it tried to leap towards the enemy, Kal had already shot an arrow that pierced through its head immediately killing it.

Ting~

+110

All of this happened in a span of 10 seconds, Dontrelle who was watching the fight from the rear was astonished. Though he had always wore a cold look in his face, this was the first time he had seen a hunter of the same rank move like a true master.

'To master a bow to such a degree, he must have hailed in a powerful family, is he from the Coup family of France? They're the leading masters of using a bow but if one of their family members came here, I could've known that already.' He said to himself in confusion. 

What he did not know was that he person in front of him whom he called a master was the same person he had saved a couple weeks ago. He didn't knew this because Kal was wearing a facemask and even if he did not wore one, the physical change that had happened to him turned him to a complete stranger. 

Being called a master by a prominent figure was something to be proud of, in fact all of this wouldn't have happened without the help of his innate talent, [ANALYSIS]. It's not that he had immediately learned a decent martial art because of it, but due to the effects of the talent, one which is the heightened senses. He was more spatially aware of his surroundings and he could react quickly to what is happening,  and the other one is the special effect of [ANALYSIS], the effect would activate if he could completely discern his target via keen observation, his talent would activate and it would show different retrospects from the targets that he could use to his advantage. 

He could see numbers and percentage in the targets structure telling him it's power level, health, the inflicted damage, strengths and weaknesses, and I could fully discern the target, he'd have a high chance of predicting the target's movements almost similar to foresight where one could have a quick peek to possibke futures. 

He also learned how to increase the experience points of the talent. He just needed to obtain new knowledge so he obtained it by reading books or any source he could find that contains knowledgeable information. But since his level was still low, he couldn't absorb all of the knowledge to his brain  but nonetheless, it still gave him some small amount of experience.

***********

It didn't take long for Kal to annihilate all of the grey wolves,  the alpha grey wolf didn't even mean a challenge to him because he killed it with 3 hits since both his fired arrows and sturdy bow meant fatal for the poor wolf. As a result, Kal gained one level and he was glad to help back his benefactor.

"Uhh...thank..you.." Dontrelle who witnessed the scene unfolding with his own two eyes was still dumbstruck, he couldn't properly mutter the words he wanted to express. He snapped back to reality and went near to Kal and bowed to express his utmost gratitude.

"Thank you for saving my life! I'm fully indebted to you!" Dontrelle said in a tone of respect but what he was doing started Kal.

"Eh!? Please straighten up, I should be the one thanking you after what you had did to me. I'm just trying to return a favor at the best of my abilities and when I saw you in a crisis, I didn't hesitate to help so at the very least, I'd be returning a favor." Kal said politely. He used honorific because the person in front of him was his benefactor and someone with a powerful background, he couldn't be careless to make judgements that could disrespect the man so he ,ad sure to be as kind as possible.

"W-wait, I don't remember being indebted from one of the family members of the Coup Family?" Dontrelle said in confusion.

"Coup Family? I think you must be mistaken by someone else, I'm not from that family, my last name is actually  Nietes." Kal aid to clear the misunderstanding.

"Your not from the Coup family then who are you? I don't remember being indebted by a master marksman." Dontrelle said in shock.

"Ah, you must have forgotten, I'm that young man you saved and brought to the hospital when I was dying, you also paid all my medical bills which removed some burden off my shoulders. Without you, I would've died already." Kal said in a soft tone. He removed his mask and showed his face to Dontrelle but this leaved more shock to him.

"You, you're that guy!? I thought he was melee hunter since the only thing I saw him brought was a bayonet and how did your appearance change, you don't look like that guy, that guy looked thin and weak and he didn't look as attractive as you." Dontrelle said in surprise.

"Your hurting my feelings with your words Mr. Dontrelle. I can't really tell why this happened but all I can say is that I am now walking a new life thst you have given to me which I am forever will be grateful." Kal said with a smile.