BXBX NOVEL Chapter 34: Against an army (3)
Jake could feel that profound feeling of being an archer in his bones, blood, and flesh for so long that it wouldn't have been weird for him to get drunk on it.
Perhaps that was why his luck ran out. After a few successful kills on the other flank, Jake's Death's Lock failed him and only delivered two hundred damage to a monkey.
Undisturbed, Jake nocked another arrow and finished the lucky fellow.
Since his newest skill had no cooldown, Jake activated Death's Lock again and killed three more monkeys in succession with single arrows. From then on, he successfully killed a monkey with one shot every three arrows until he had no more mana to activate his only skill.
'Back to basics,' Jake thought, drawing an arrow. It didn't feel like he had taken down many monkeys, as many still dangled on the trees, throwing stones at him.
Worse, some breached Jake's range and threatened to defeat him with fists. A few blows had sunk into his wolf armor.
Kicking annoying pests away, Jake clicked his tongue and adapted to the battle's flow. He gave up on his spot and moved to the side as fast as he could before returning to his Soldier Form.
'Gotta think outside the box. Just because Soldier Form works the best when I'm rooted to the ground, it doesn't mean I can't change locations… can't be too stubborn about that,' Jake thought as he released a few arrows at the monkeys looming around him, killing them with basic arrows.
Once he had a moment of respite, Jake raised his bow and aimed at the monkey far away, his eyes assisted by Death's Lock as Jake's mana regenerated for a single use.
He took down the foe and repeated the deed three more times before an avalanche of monkeys descended upon him again.
[Your equipment's durability has dropped too low.]
[You have lost fifty percent of your defense stats.]
[You have exhausted more than fifty percent of your stamina!]
[Your strength and dexterity has been affected!]
'Damn it… that's exactly why I didn't want to run around in this equipment!' Jake blamed himself for trying to adapt to the battle against an army despite knowing that moving around in this wolf armor would cost him lots of stamina and strength.
His vision sometimes blurred, and he strained his eyes to keep up with the battle. It felt like his sweat was sneaking into his eyes, which became more frustrating as time passed.
He didn't have time to wipe off the sweat, let alone rub his eyes.
Also, his breathing became erratic and heavy, weakening him more.
Thoughts of giving up whispered to Jake as though he had a devil on his shoulder.
'This is not the place where I can give up!' Jake shouted, telling himself off for thinking like that. He gritted his teeth and raised his bow, releasing arrow after arrow like a last man standing whose fate was to perish once and for all in this lone battle against the monkey army.
That was when the luck once again smiled at him.
[You have leveled up!]
Every negative effect burdening Jake faded into oblivion. Strength, stamina, and adrenaline spurted from the depths of his heart and body, filling his every pore with power.
Jake's eyes gleamed with a bright light that he could see through sweat beads glazing over them. In fact, he seemed to have turned that flaw into a sight as his vision zoomed at the monkeys from far away.
Feeling light and powerful, Jake unleashed his talent, shooting down monkey after monkey. He didn't know how many were there or how many he had killed.
It no longer mattered.
Any monster in his area was his enemy, and he would take it down!
On the other hand, that sudden burst of strength had the monkeys on edge. They threw themselves into motion, dashing on the branches and hopping from one to another, doing their best to avoid Jake's arrows.
In that short moment of the war going in his favor, Jake exerted his archery talent and took down many monkeys.
Nonetheless, his armor remained impaired, and the monkeys still had significant numbers. The waves of battle soon turned against him again.
Jake suffered first health point losses, then. The monkeys' claws and fists scratched his HP one by one.
He threw his armor to the ground and followed the soldier's discipline. No longer feeling the equipment's burden, Jake rashly decided to run around more and stay less rooted to the ground.
He still followed the Soldier and Master's forms to shoot down his enemies.
Because of that stubbornness, Jake developed some muscle memory to descend even faster into either Soldier or Master form after running around. The bubble of his perception skill significantly increased, too.
Roughly thirty minutes later, a silence blanketed the forest of monkeys.
Blood quietly dripped from the trees, and countless leaves had been pulled down by this shiny liquid. The heads of seemingly hundreds of monkeys had long since stopped rolling, and they littered the dark forest along with their headless bodies, all bathing in the rivers of blood.
The trees seemed to have been wiped off with those headless bodies as thick trails of blood rested on their thick barks.
The scent of metal was so heavy here that no air could breeze between the woods.
In the middle of this scene, a lone man knelt with his head hanging low.
The leather quiver on his back was empty.
His breathing was so heavy anyone would have thought he could drop dead at any moment…
Yet, his lips were curved into a wide sneer, and his eyes shone with so much light that coming close to him would take some courage.
The army of monkeys lost.
Jake won.
And he got so hooked on this phenomenal victory that his whispers left the forest trembling.
"You will howl again for me tomorrow, Odin."
Author's note: Hello! In the next month, I plan to upload at least 2 chapters daily. One chap today only because I need to stockpile 6 chapters for tomorrow and upload 2 for my another novel. I've added a second tier for privilege(8 chaps for 199 coins) so that's why 6 chapters tomorrow!