"An Ice Badger the moment I arrived in the Hidden Borderlands!"
"I finally got the chance to come out and learn from an Awakened, and I ran into these things again."
"What kind of cursed fate is this?"
On the frozen river, Linsey broke into a desperate sprint.
He did not choose to cross on the log. Never mind how much time the wooden bridge might save—its slick surface alone made it likely that he would fall off.
At a time like this, he had to conserve as much strength as possible. He could not gamble his hopes on something like that.
The moment he reached the frozen river, Linsey's feet slipped.
But he had prepared himself for this race between life and death. With a forward dash, he steadied himself and used the slick ice to slide a good distance ahead.
At the same time, three Ice Badgers emerged from the woods.
The one Linsey had provoked with his arrow charged the hardest. It had no time to observe its surroundings and simply pursued the only target ahead, leaping onto the ice as well.
It thus landed exactly where Linsey had slid.
The snow there had just been packed down by Linsey, making it slicker than the rest of the ice.
Caught completely off guard, the Ice Badger immediately slipped and fell.
"Roar!"
Linsey, farther ahead, heard the commotion.
His chance had come!
Without waiting for his momentum to fade, he boldly extended his left hand and planted his short bow against the ground. Using three points of support to steady himself, he turned around.
The Ice Badger came into view, but Linsey first looked at the weapon in his hand.
"Good. No problem."
He breathed a sigh of relief.
The weapon Dan had given him looked utterly ordinary, but it was sturdy enough and had not been damaged.
"Now..."
Recalling the shooting techniques he had learned yesterday and following his skill's guidance,
Linsey gripped the middle of the bow with his left hand, wrapping all four fingers and his thumb around it while fully extending his arm.
Then, with his right hand perpendicular to the bow, he nocked an arrow.
The tail of the arrow was roughly at the center of the string, and he drew it back to his lips.
At that moment, his eye, the arrowhead, and the arrow's tail formed a straight line.
Linsey aimed at the fallen Ice Badger and fired! Snap—
His novice-level archery naturally missed again.
But Linsey's expression did not change. He kept his breathing as steady as possible and drew another arrow from behind his back.
With breaths so tense he could almost hear his own heartbeat,
he drew the string as he inhaled and released it as he exhaled.
Twang—
The bowstring rang, and the arrow flew.
Having adjusted after the first missed shot, Linsey's second arrow struck true.
The Ice Badger, which had just struggled to its feet, was pierced directly in the belly. It wailed and thrashed on the ice, its blood staining the surrounding snow and frozen surface red.
"Roar! Roar! Roar!"
Almost at the same instant, Linsey leaped backward.
The moment he jumped, the other two Ice Badgers fired Ice Cones at his chest.
He had only those few fleeting seconds to strike the enemy.
And life and death hung by a thread.
The Ice Cones did not hit anything vital, but they still carved two bloodstains across Linsey's chest that froze instantly.
"Hiss—"
Agonizing pain shot through him, but Linsey did not dare waste even a second.
Using both hands and feet, he scrambled awkwardly up from the ice, then lurched forward in another sliding step as though he were about to fall.
It looked like he had succeeded with one blow.
But inwardly, Linsey was utterly panicked. He even felt as though time had slowed by a beat.
Pain kept throbbing from the wounds on his chest.
A trace of icy Essence was even invading his body, but it was immediately blocked by Linsey's own Life Source Material.
"Fifteen seconds."
"Two left."
Linsey repeated the experience from his first encounter with Ice Badgers in the forest, counting the two remaining enemies.
Then his thoughts gradually cleared.
At a time like this, staying calm was what mattered most! He had already dealt with one in a three-on-one fight, so his chances of defeating the remaining two in a two-on-one fight were greater.
And while these two beasts were magical creatures capable of casting spells,
at their core, they were merely wild animals that had gained Essence this year. There was no way they could have become especially intelligent in such a short time!
He was already injured, and his stamina could not sustain a long escape.
Linsey's gaze hardened.
Once he calmed down, a plan gradually formed in his mind.
After crossing the frozen river, Linsey ran north with a clear purpose.
The two Ice Badgers chased relentlessly behind him.
Linsey's stamina bar was also steadily shrinking.
But he did not conserve his energy at all. He ran at top speed, repeating the tactics from the first chase as he weaved continuously through the trees, using the dense terrain around him as cover.
Seeing this, the two Ice Badgers grew increasingly frantic in their pursuit.
A few minutes later, Linsey suddenly stopped.
"This is the place."
He looked at his nearly depleted stamina, took a deep breath, pulled the last two arrows from his quiver, nocked them, and fired.
Two whooshes cut through the air, but these attacks missed as well.
Yet the Ice Badgers were indeed enraged. They sped up once more, and two Ice Cones shot toward Linsey in response to his attack.
Only then did Linsey leap forward.
He darted between two birch trees and resumed his escape.
The next second—
"Roar!"
One Ice Badger let out a pained cry.
A Snare Trap set here tightened around its neck and hoisted it into the air in an instant. Its four legs kicked wildly in panic.
The space between those two birch trees was where Linsey had staked victory or defeat.
It was also where Dan had set a trap before!
After checking the condition of a trap, hunters would often reset it.
And Linsey had personally watched the Female Hunter set this snare.
The gap between the two trees happened to be an animal trail, terrain where animals were likely to take the bait. Naturally, it was also the best place for a hunter to lay a trap.
And after Linsey deliberately enraged them, the two Ice Badgers truly kept charging after him without a second thought.
Thus, the one in front
was immediately caught in the snare and hung in the air, struggling in agony.
"Now it's one-on-one!"
With another of the three Ice Badgers gone, Linsey immediately turned and charged fiercely at the last enemy without hesitation.
At this moment, courage mattered most!
Besides, those two Ice Badgers had just attacked him with Ice Cones. Their fifteen-second cooldown was far from over. Right now, it was just a beast with some stamina—he would never find a better opportunity.
Victory or defeat would be decided in this one move! Linsey flung away his short bow with his left hand while drawing his short knife with his right.
At the instant he collided with the lunging Ice Badger, he used every ounce of strength he had to seize its body, then drove his knife into it with his right hand.
The clash between Linsey and the Ice Badger lasted only an instant.
Linsey saw the Ice Badger springing from the ground, saw the soft belly of the magical beast closing in, and saw the sharp point of his knife extending forward.
Then he slashed upward.
He stabbed into flesh from its most vulnerable point, destroying the most crucial fragile organs.
Pfft—
The strike hit a vital point directly. The Ice Badger barely struggled before going limp in Linsey's arms.
Linsey's hand and knife were both soaked in blood.
He quickly stood up and stabbed the Ice Badger's head several more times.
Then he turned at once and slit the throat of the Ice Badger hanging from the snare.
Seeing that all the Ice Badgers before him were dead, Linsey dropped onto the snow and finally let out a breath.
"Ah..."
At that moment, an indescribable sense of accomplishment rose in Linsey's heart.
When he had first arrived in the Hidden Borderlands, he had been chased by a single Ice Badger and could only flee in disarray. In the end, he had relied on good luck to find a suitable place and kill it.
But now—
After only three days of training, combining all kinds of skills and information, he had managed to defeat three by himself.
That sense of accomplishment was beyond words.
Linsey panted heavily, then suddenly realized something and checked his personal attributes.
Danger brought unexpected gains.
After that fight between life and death, the experience points for his Basic Archery had filled up completely, changing from (Novice) to (Proficient). His Blade Technique, which he had used only once at the end, had also risen by one-third.
Among his basic attributes, the gains in Agility and Strength were not as obvious as his skills, but they had also filled by a quarter.
Fighting between life and death truly yielded more experience than simple practice.
Linsey shook his head, both pleased and helpless. "The gains aren't small."
"But compared to facing that kind of danger, I'd rather take things slowly."
As he recovered his strength, Linsey picked up his short bow and arrows. Enduring the pain in his chest, he staggered back toward his original position.
Ju had probably been badly frightened by the sudden danger.
He could not return too late.