“Shit!” Idris cursed under his breath. Just where the hell did that arrow come from? Did another contestant try to hunt down the zephyrtail as well? Well, in that case, they sure did a pretty terrible job at it. If they’d done their research, they would know that a simple arrow wasn’t going to take down a 4-star monster like a zephyrtail. What were they thinking?! Not only that, they’d just ruined Idris’s shot at the zephyrtail as well.

  Disregarding the origin of the other arrow for now, Idris rushed towards the last place where he’d found the zephyrtail. Then, he activated a spell, “Beastial Senses”, that magically heightened his already sharp senses at the cost of mana over time. With Bestial Senses, even if the zephyrtail was several kilometers away, he’d be able to sense it.

  Idris’s eyes glowed a slight hint of yellowish-orange, an aesthetic side-effect of using Bestial Senses. He turned his head westward, picking up the sounds of the turbulent air caused by the zephyrtail’s sonic booms.

  However, that was not the only thing he sensed. There were also several other contestants nearby—four to be exact, all lurking around the forest in a fairly scattered formation. Idris’s magically enhanced senses allowed him to see the heat signature coming off of them, viewed through his eyes in the form of reddish-orange outlines among a background of blue. Even hiding within the bushes and shrubs would not be enough to obscure their presence from him.

  As much as Idris wanted to teach those other contestants a lesson for ruining his shot, he couldn't allow himself to be distracted from his original goal. He began chasing after the zephyrtail, latching himself up the trees with his Grappling Vine and leaping from branch to branch with acrobatic agility. At the same time, he could hear the four other contestants quickly following from behind, likely chasing after the zephyrtail as well.

  In the midst of the chase, they had revealed themselves, allowing Idris to get a better look at their weapons. All four of them were equipped with bows and arrows, similar to Idris himself. One archer facing off against four other archers. This had turned out to be a more interesting confrontation than he’d initially thought.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  As the chase continued, Idris began absorbing and processing all the information available to him. In front of him, the zephyrtail swift was trying to escape, blasting off in the air at supersonic speed and leaving a series of miniature sonic booms in its wake. Behind him, four archers—likely amateurs due to how they handled the zephyrtail encounter—were pursuing the same target as he was.

  Both groups were trying to go after the same target. In the end, only one shall end up as the victor.

  “Hey, let’s split up!” one of the archers—who was likely the leader of the group—ordered with a shout. “Clint and Meri, go after the zephyr! Kat and I will keep this archer busy!”

  “Got it, Ollie!” the other three archers agreed in unison.

  Following that order, the four archers split into two groups—with Clint and Meri going after the bird while Ollie and Kat face off against Idris. Together, Ollie and Kat fired a volley of arrows at Idris, cutting him off from the zephyrtail’s pursuit.

  Idris managed to dodge out of the way from the incoming arrows, nimbly swinging from one tree branch to another with his Grappling Vine as he did so. Then, as retaliation, he readied two arrows onto his bow and fired them both at once. The two arrows managed to hit both Ollie and Kat in the head at the same time, faux-killing them with two perfectly accurate and simultaneous headshots.

  “Goddamn it…” Ollie groaned, pink particles leaking out the wound on his forehead for he knew he and Kat were going to be transported out of the area and be eliminated from the trial.

  “You still have plenty to learn, lad,” Idris replied with a suave smirk. “Better luck next year.”

  Before even waiting for the two archers to completely fade away into pink particles, Idris turned his head back towards the direction where the zephyrtail and the remaining two archers were headed. With his goal in sight, he grappled himself up to a tree and continued his pursuit.