Archer

I ran quickly behind the carriage and hid behind it.

From here, the mages shouldn't be able to see me unless they had detection magic. They were all fighting at the front, so I didn't worry about them attacking me from behind.

The reason I decided to stay was simply because I could do something. If I ran, where would I run to?

They had managed to track us down already, finding a lonely man in an open forest like this one wouldn't be hard at all.

And so, trying to do something proactive was my best option. Of course I wasn't completely defenceless. I was in the army during the war and thus knew how to defend myself pretty well in most situation.

I peaked to the side, trying to determine exactly what was happening.

There were 6 mages in the enemy camp, they wore black robes and wielded regular wands.

The archer was no where to be seen. Was he one of the mages or had he run away?

Thump

Another arrow shot out of the forest and hit one of the mages in the shoulder. He fell to his knee gritting his teeth before a big fireball engulfed him.

Nothing remained, his cinders were left on the ground, some dust flew into the wind and the rest stayed on the ground, where it would most likely stay forever.

My heart rate started to go crazy, this was a real situation. My mind couldn't hear much noise, just the thumping of my heartbeat.

I had to calm down, I had to help the 3 mages left, they were already fighting them and at this rate they were going to lose.

I closed my eyes and tried to remember from where the arrow was shot. The head of the arrow came from the northeast…

Taking into account the wind, the material of the arrow…

I turned my eyes to the north. The archer was there

Swish

When I focused, I could hear the sound of a new arrow flying.

- ARROW!! NORTH!!

Thankfully the mages seemed to have heard me and dodged.

But now, my location was revealed, I had to now be careful about what I do as well.

- SIR! WE CAN HANDLE THE ENEMY MAGES, TAKE CARE OF THE ARCHER WE CAN'T LOCK ONTO HIM.

- ON IT!

It seemed like they needed to have vision on the archer to be able to deal with him, but their hands were full with the 6 mages, well 5 now as they had gotten 1.

But as he said, I needed to deal with the archer until they were done with the mages.

Of course, not necessarily kill him, but at least distract him.

I turned my attention back to him, he most likely had time to prepare another arrow since the last he shot.

Now… where would he shoot?

The powerful mages, or me, a vulnerable noble?

Swish

The arrow wasn't that quick, well compared to magic it was quick, but not modern weapons. I could see the head of the arrow moving quickly, towards my head.

I sprinted forward, instead of dodging backwards, it was better to go forwards and run for the woods, like that he would be obliged to put his focus on me and not the mages.

Seems like he thought I was an easier target, well il make sure he eats those words… well thoughts.

I managed to get there without problem, hiding behind the trunks wasn't the best option with how slim they were.

Although it did narrow down the options of where I could be shot from.

There was a lot of bushes all around, I had to find where he was, but he was most likely hidden behind one.

The forest was deathly silent, even when considering there were mages fighting, it was weird…

No… I had to focus on the archer…

Swish

The arrow shot out again, I dodged to the left and advanced forward. Walking at a steady speed, keeping my eyes pinned towards where the arrow was shot from.

With the last arrow, the area where he could be at was considerably reduced.

Now, what was your move? Try and ambush me, or shoot another arrow?

Swish

I leaned my head to the side, the arrow grazed me. Since I was closer to the archer, the time to dodge was lower.

I smiled, he messed up really bad, he should have stayed hidden.

But now… I knew where he was… I could see him in front of me.

He wore a cheap version of a ghillie suit. He had green leaves glued onto his clothes, but the clothes themselves were quite nice, not an attire meant for fighting in open combat.

The man himself looked quite strong, clearly, despite his clothes he was trained to fight.

I stared him down; he was getting the next arrow ready.

The next arrow was going to determine the outcome of the fight.

There was about 20m between me and him, based on the speed of the previous arrow and his accuracy, it was going to be hard to get out of it unscathed.

I went to the side, I kept the approximate 20m for now, I kept walking slowly, using my movements to feel him out. I varied my march from time to time, changing direction. Looking at his eyes…

The chance he would most likely aim for is when my vision is obscured by a tree, at that time I wouldn't be able to see the arrow, but I could still be hit by it.

And so, I had to trap him with while knowing that, bait him into taking a shot.

One step at a time, slowly. I had to get closer, make him more anxious.

Slowly, 19… 18… 17…

The gap between the two of us was getting smaller, I could tell he was really starting to get tense.

My eyes darted between his fingers and his eyes. I couldn't guess wrong. I had to be certain of when he would shoot.

Time seemed to slow down slowly, his breathing stopped and his muscles ceased to tense.

I pivoted at 90 degrees, just before I walked behind the tree. I used my hands to push off…

Swish

The arrow went to the other side of the tree.

This was my chance.

I ran towards the archer, as expected he threw his bow to the side and took out a dagger.

As I ran towards him, I looked at his stance, it was a basic defenses stance, but he didn't seem to be comfortable using it.

Hope filled my heart, I could win this. I could win.

I knew how to fight, and he didn't, I just had to bait him into a wrong move. Use his on weight to defeat him since he was much stronger than I was.

As soon as I reached him, he lunged towards me, trying to disbalance me.

But his intent was clear, I sidestepped and tripped him up at the same time.

He fell flatly to the ground, before he could even scramble to get up, I pinned him to the ground took his knife away.

He tried to push me off, but I held him tightly in a lock, his struggle was usless.

I stared at him sadly, although it was the first time I killed someone in this world, it wasn't the first time I had. There were traitors on the human side back on earth, I had to do what I needed to do to defend my comrades.

- I'm sorry… you forced me to do this…

As soon as I said that I slit his throat, in was a quick death, that was the least I could offer him.

But with this I had confirmed that even my basic knowledge of hand-to-hand combat surpassed a vast majority of the people in this region since they relied on magic and thus hadn't developed, they're techniques.

I breathed heavily; I had done it… I had managed to get out of this situation safely.

- I hope the other mages ar…

My vision went blurry.

- Ah… right… my body is a wreck… ughhh

I threw up blood, my body really wasn't in good shape. It seemed like with the adrenaline I didn't notice in how much pain my body truly was.

After pushing it so much, I hadn't properly exercised for ages and this body wasn't the strongest by any means.

Slowly I started to lose my train of thought, I was going to lose consciousness.

Well, I would most likely be fine, the other mages seemed to be capable enough to kill the ones that were left.

So even if I fell asleep here, they would come back and help me out once they see in what state I was in.

My eyes closed slowly, it was dark and there was no sound again… it was so peaceful…