As I see the archer turn to me I curse my bad luck before putting all my strength into throwing my knife at his chest, but the archer manages to move to the side a bit so it stabs into his left shoulder instead.

  ‘At least he won't be able to draw a bow anytime soon’ i think to myself before he reaches and grabs a knife from his waist using his good arm then he yells to the others

  “Hes over here!”

  He evidently doesn't know he only has 2 comrades left and they are the slowest of the bunch. I lunge forward with the short sword but he manages to push the blade to the side with his knife then slashes at my wrist. In order to avoid the blade I'm forced to drop the short sword and jump back but now I'm completely unarmed.

  “You killed number 4? He must have really let his guard down to let trash like you take him down”

  He doesnt seem to have any anger for his comrade dying, in fact it almost seems like he is mocking him then his face twists into a cold smile. The archer lunges forward but as soon as he moves i kick up the dry sandy dirt into his eyes and grab the nearest palm sized rock, throwing it at his forehead. He manages to dodge but that only gives me time to retreat and pick up more nearby rocks. I begin throwing them with almost the same level of accuracy as my knife as I circle around him, I make sure to aim at his wrist in particular with hopes to get him to drop the knife, some he dodge, some he blocks with his good shoulder but he continues to move closer to me. One manages to ricochet off his shoulder and deal a glancing blow to his head which gives me the chance to finally make it to where he was standing earlier. I reach down and grab the bow he dropped earlier as well as an arrow from the quiver on the ground.

  “Damnit!” the archer says as he lunges at me, not trying to give me any time to draw the bow, but how could he know I've been using a bow since I could walk. I still remember the first bow that my father gave me. It was barely more than 2 feet long and made in a way that was easy to draw but had enough power to kill a squirrel or a rabbit no problem. Even more than that I remember the skills my father ingrained into my very being. As the archer approaches I place the arrow on the bowstring, draw it back and release it in 1 fluid motion as he is only a matter of a few feet away . The arrow lands between his eyes and slumps forward, body landing face first and snapping the arrow in half.

  I let out a sigh of relief as I looked to the bow, finally a weapon I can really use. I grab the quiver and ask Nox where the other two are.

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  “Theyre heading to you, they found the bodies of the swordsman and the dual blade wielder as the archer shouted and are slowly making their way over here, looks like you really gave em a good scare”

  “Hmph i guess its their turn to try and make it here while under fire”

  A cold smile covers my face as I say those words, while I can control my anger much better than most after everything I've been through in the last couple days, I need to vent. I walk up to the formation the archer was firing from and I look over the edge to see two bandits walking towards me about 40 meters out, the bulky man with a shield in front and the swordsman behind him. Both were watching their surroundings and glancing at the rock formation from time to time. I look at the shield bearer, he's the one I need to worry about the most right now. His wooden shield is massive but there is somewhere it doesn't cover, lowering the arrow i aim at his ankle and fire

  The arrow lands square on his achilles tendon and he lets out a scream of pain before angrily shouting as he drops to one knee.

  “Argh, Number 2 what the hell are you doing!”

  From his shouts I guess he thinks the one shooting him is his comrade, but that's fine, he can think what he wants. When he kneels down the shield completely covers him so I quickly draw another arrow and turn to the swordsman, with a clear arc an arrow pierces through his knee. As he falls back screaming and lands behind the shield, using his comrade as a barrier, my eyes narrow. Prey that cannot move are practically dead already.

  I look down to see how many arrows i have and let out a chuckle

  “I should have enough”

  Looking coldly at the shield I fire an arrow at the center where his hand would be and it sticks into the wood albeit barely but it does enough.

  “You can't pierce my shield with some shoddy arrows!” he yells

  In response I fire one arrow after the other into the exact same spot and on the ninth arrow I finally hear a scream as the arrow pierces through and he is no longer able to hold the shield. I put two arrows on the bowstring and held it horizontally. As soon as the shield hits the ground i fire at the two wide eyed bandits and strike them both dead with an arrow to the head.

  Nox whistles before going on to say “ Well then, don't let me get on your bad side when you've got a bow handy. You could have killed that swordsman with the first arrow couldn't you?”

  “Technically yeah, but it's better to guarantee he can't get away by taking away the use of a leg” I say as I shrug.

  I then quickly gather up any arrows left as well as checking the ones that were used to see if any can be reused and luckily a couple were, leaving me with 12 total. I also keep the short sword, retrieve my knife and I back track a little to grab the dagger too. The other weapons don't exactly suit me so I just leave those. I make sure to grab any money or valuables they have on them before I return to the path and head over the last stretch of mountains.