[You have killed an enemy of the silver rank in battle and gained 980 shared experience points.]
With her eyes closed, Defu saw the prompt that appeared before her, telling her she had gained a large amount of experience.
"...Huh."
Her lips twitched, and only then did she relax.
That was her pride and joy, an exceedingly accurate, almost artistic arrow... Within a hundred ters, it had darted past countless branches and vines, rely grazing so leaves, not hindered by any obstacle in the dense forest... And with its formidable force, it had struck the only vulnerability, piercing the enemy’s skull.
This was archery that could certainly not be replicated on Earth.
Because she couldn’t see where the enemy was at all.
The leaves blocked Jude’s line of sight, as well as her own.
It was only because of the vision provided by the running wildcat in the dense forest that she could find the single trajectory that could bypass all obstructions.
And it was by relying on the wildcat’s vision that she could hit the enemy with her eyes closed, even within her shooting blind spot.
—It was after analyzing Jude’s attack pattern that she decided to strike.
She was clearly aware... that she indeed had a chance.
She didn’t even inform the child that she was going to counter-attack soon.
The reason was to make the child’s act more genuine, to let Jude lower his guard— to deceive the enemy, one must first deceive one’s own people.
Her speed when escaping had already told Jude that she was not a Transcendent. And she hadn’t retreated into the forest with a longbow on her back because Defu was unaware of how limited the effectiveness of bows and firearms could be in such an environnt...
In fact, it was a trap that Defu had deliberately set.
Jude didn’t lack the intent to kill Defu; it was because he knew he couldn’t stop her once she fled into the forest.
And he couldn’t afford to dive into the dense forest at will... That would be far too dangerous.
The range and attribute of perception are closely related.
When one has more than ten points but less than forty points in perception attribute, it can provide Transcendents with senses other than sight. Starting from ten points of perception attribute, every increase of two points allows one to discern minute details within a spherical radius of one ter in diater without relying on sight or hearing.
This ans, for a silver-rank Wizard... within a range of about a dozen ters, whether it’s approaching traps or enemies attempting a rear attack, they will be easily detected.
The world’s firearms had only been invented not too long ago. Roughly within ten ters, they can ensure a certain hit rate on the torso in combat. Beyond that distance, if one can’t keep both oneself and the enemy still, the hit rate was virtually like drawing cards.
And if it were arrows... In an open space, within a dozen ters or so, that would also be enough distance for him to react.
"Instant Spells" are spells that exist to enable reaction at such distances.
But if one were deep in the dense forest, it’s not a matter of if he could react... In an overly narrow space, there simply isn’t room to maneuver.
From the beginning, Defu knew Jude wouldn’t co after her. Especially with the child covering their rear.
She had already used her good rapport to inquire with Annan about it... Information on the general combat thods of various professions.
Taking into account that Wizards don’t have much mana, and not all Wizards have as low erosion as Annan — To advance, they must endure the "unable to cast spells" debuff nightmare, conquering quite a number of nightmares.
Unless they happen to appear in nightmares of their own school, the strength of Wizards is no doubt the most diminished.
Professional lines like Swordsn, Hunters, and Rogues, who are accustod to fighting in dangerous situations, often react quickly to sudden crises. They have rich combat experience and knowledge on handling ergencies, and they can subdue or assassinate enemies even when unard.
Not to ntion the Priests... Priests have no professional ranking, which ans that in nightmares, their own strength isn’t suppressed by the character model they receive.
—Only the Wizards have this issue.
Particularly the school Wizards, who struggle to perform in nightmares, relying heavily on their combat cycles—this was info Annan had specifically shared with Defu.
Therefore, the erosion of most Wizards tends not to be low... because they often die in nightmares. The rise in erosion also ans their available safe mana becos less and less — unless they maintain a "clear rate" for a period of ti, they can’t bring their safe mana back up.
That’s also why older Wizards are tougher to deal with.
Among the current mainstream professions, Wizards have the second highest demand for nightmares, after Priests. And those older Wizards who have not lost control are, for the most part, veterans who have survived countless nightmares. They are adept at handling various situations and can use their powers rationally.
An experienced bronze-rank Wizard, even with the Transcendent power exemption caused by the rank difference, might well defeat a young silver-rank Wizard.
Defu’s understanding of "people" as animals was also crystal clear.
Although she herself had escaped far away, through the wildcat’s eavesdropping and surveillance, she could also vaguely sense Jude’s emotions and personality:
He gave off the impression of an engineering guy who continued his research after getting his Ph.D. He had an obvious air of arrogance, and his mood hadn’t been great lately. He was sowhat irritable and stubborn, possibly a bit fixated on certain ideas—Jude’s attack patterns were logical but sowhat rigid, betraying a formal education.
Such an enemy...
——could be defeated.
Defu was very clear about that.
She had only one chance to ambush him:
After she fled into the dense forest, Jude would let his guard down.
Since he was so distance away from the dense forest himself, he could always watch for people darting out, which made him even more likely to overlook an attack from this "safe direction."
Jude’s spellcasting radius was about a twenty-ter circle, nearly the sa as his perceptual range. Those vines he created imdiately upon entering combat... Obviously, they were "fences" he made for self-defense.
When Jude realized that the kid’s abilities were completely countered by him... he would gradually relax.
Defu observed twice the monts Jude launched all those vine spears—but she didn’t make a move.
Because arrows need ti to fly, whereas vines retract more swiftly.
In other words, it was impossible to hit the target by attacking after the opponent showed an opening.
And she couldn’t use any marking abilities from the "Hunter" class, nor could she enhance her shot with her own professional powers.
With the perceptual attributes of a silver-tier wizard... A Transcendent ability spanning two soul ranks, the opponent would definitely notice the curse fluctuations from that direction.
Defu’s greatest advantage at the mont was that she was completely "invisible."
But the problem was that her attack power wasn’t enough.
If her strength were greater and her arrows more penetrating, she wouldn’t need to worry about the trajectory. She would just let the wildcat go and keep firing arrows from the dense forest that Jude couldn’t detect.
To kill Jude, Defu had to make Jude walk to a specific position, and only launch his defensive vine spears after Defu’s arrow was in flight, and at the sa ti, his eyes must not see the arrow coming from afar.
Only by eting these conditions could she kill him with one shot—
"——Defu is aweso!"
"——Holy shit, how did you do that?"
"——How did you do it?!"
"——Sit, Xiao Tou is not a cheat."
"——Jude: I got up, one shot killed, what’s there to say?"
Realizing what Defu had done, the few dozen players blew up the chat with their comnts.
It wasn’t just the players.
Even Annan was left agape:
"... What kind of monster is this woman?"
That was a longbow, not a sniper rifle...
You could even say that this silver-tier wizard was assassinated by Defu all on her own, overcoming a two-rank disparity in power... Even if it was partly because the Shaping School lacked defensive asures, it was still terrifying.
For a mont, Annan didn’t know whether to say Jude had lost face or Defu was incredible.
He hesitated for a while then also shot off a couple of comnts:
"——Defu is aweso!
"——Chocolate sister is aweso!!"
Soon, other players started repeating after him:
"——Chocolate sister is aweso!!"
"——Chocolate sister is aweso!!"
"It’s Defu, not Chocolate!"
Annoyed and embarrassed, Defu shouted, "My real na is Defu ah!"
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