Hunter's Mark

As the firelight rose in the forest, the Gray Eagle Mercenaries clearly saw the figures of their attackers.

There were probably a few dozen attackers, dressed in uniforms bearing the insignia of the Wolf Hunt Mercenary Group. Most were archers, led by a blond man.

The blond man wielded a battle axe and carried short spears. The spear that had pierced John, shield and all, was clearly thrown by him.

Seeing Cassandra charge forward, the man didn't flinch, but instead met her head-on. At the same time, his skin shifted, quickly sprouting many yellowish-brown scales, making him look like a dragonkin.

"Clang!" In the blink of an eye, Cassandra's greatsword and the blond man's battle axe clashed violently several times. Although the blond man was smaller than Cassandra, their strength was nearly equal.

While Cassandra was being held back, the Wolf Hunt attackers prepared to retreat, launching a final attack on the Gray Eagle Mercenaries, with dozens of arrows flying in succession.

The Gray Eagle Mercenaries retaliated, with shielded warriors charging ahead, hundreds of them shouting as they surged into the forest.

Gagnor was considering whether to join the fray when a faint, strange sensation suddenly came over him.

[Gained status: Hunter's Mark (Level 3)]

Crap!

Gagnor cursed, and without hesitation, he dove to the ground. Hunter's Mark was a common skill for third-level hunters. Once marked, it meant a dangerous attack was coming soon.

"Whoosh—"

The moment he fell, an arrow shot past, piercing a tree behind him.

Cold sweat broke out on Gagnor's forehead. He quickly scanned his surroundings and soon noticed a Wolf Hunt mercenary drawing his bow and aiming at him.

His mind raced. While preparing to dodge, he also drew his bow and aimed at the other man.

Both fired arrows simultaneously, and both dodged at the same time.

"Whoosh—"

Shooting while dodging naturally affected accuracy. Moreover, the other man was also dodging at the same time. Unsurprisingly, the Wolf Hunt mercenary's arrow missed.

Gagnor's arrow was also wildly off.

However, he could correct its trajectory.

With a thought, the arrow in mid-air, influenced by Swift Breeze, immediately turned around and shot towards the Wolf Hunt mercenary again!

The Wolf Hunt mercenary's expression changed slightly, as if he sensed something, but it was too late.

"Whoosh!" The arrow pierced his neck.

[Killed Level 3 Human, Experience +150]

On the other side, the Wolf Hunt Mercenary Group's blond leader suddenly leaped backward, his hand, already transformed into a dragon claw, plunged into the ground and heaved.

A large chunk of earth and rock was ripped up.

"Boom!" Cassandra's burning greatsword arrived immediately, smashing the earth and rock into fragments.

Just then, a Wolf Hunt mercenary behind the blond man suddenly stretched out his arms, and a vortex of air rapidly condensed.

"Boom—"

A gust of wind swept through, and the shattered earth and rock instantly turned into a cloud of dust, which was carried towards the Gray Eagle Mercenaries.

The Gray Eagle Mercenaries' advance faltered.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Wolf Hunt mercenaries, who were already prepared, immediately retreated.

"Cassandra, I believe we'll have a chance to fight again soon!" the blond man said, then disappeared into the dark forest with a few leaps.

Some Gray Eagle Mercenaries wanted to pursue.

Ryan immediately stopped them, shouting, "Don't go, there are traps!"

The Gray Eagle Mercenaries who wanted to pursue were stopped, and the battle ended.

Cassandra watched the direction in which the Wolf Hunt mercenaries had left, remained silent for a moment, and then lightly waved her greatsword a few times.

With her movements, the flames on the greatsword and the surrounding trees were extinguished, and the forest returned to the night.

This was clearly a probing and harassing attack. In total, only twenty-odd people died, most of whom were Gray Eagle Mercenaries.

This was normal. The Gray Eagle Mercenaries were mainly cannon fodder recruits. In contrast, the Wolf Hunt Mercenary Group's attackers were clearly all full members, with a much higher average combat strength.

The Gray Eagle Mercenaries began to clean up the battlefield.

Gagnor naturally didn't want to be left behind.

He first ran to the side of the first victim of his Returning Arrow, and then let out a sigh of regret.

This guy was wearing chainmail, and the Returning Arrow hadn't caused a fatal wound, but he had unfortunately fallen in Cassandra's path of charge and was directly crushed to death by Cassandra's foot.

As a result, Gagnor didn't get a chance to gain the experience from this person.

Seeing that Cassandra wasn't interested in these spoils and had already turned to leave, he didn't stand on ceremony and took all the slightly valuable items from this Wolf Hunt mercenary.

He also took advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention to use the cantrip "Gather Blood" to collect some blood.

Gather Blood could be used on himself or others.

When used on himself, it could spare him the pain of breaking the skin, allowing the blood in his body to seep out of his skin directly.

When used on others, it required the target to be unable to resist first. Surrounded by corpses, there was naturally no resistance. Gagnor quickly collected a large bottle of mixed blood from multiple people and stored it in the non-decaying space of his storage ring.

Then he came to the body of the second victim.

This time, he ran into a bit of trouble.

"What makes you say you killed him?" a new recruit with the air of a Raven Street layabout questioned.

Gagnor's expression darkened slightly as he pointed to the Fletched Arrows in the corpse: "I'm the only one who uses these arrows."

The rogue recruit was stunned, staring at the Fletched Arrows in silence for two seconds. Clearly, he still didn't want to give up the opportunity to seize the loot, but he didn't know how to argue for the moment.

Fortunately, at this moment, a long-haired youth in a mage robe not far away said, "I saw him kill it with my own eyes. You don't even have a bow!"

Seeing the mage speak, the rogue recruit had no choice but to slink away.

Gagnor then began to scavenge for loot.

A scroll caught his attention.

[Item: Spell Scroll of Bow's Loyalty]
[Rank: First Circle]
[Effect: Sacrifice a bow to grant arrows greater power]

Bow's Loyalty. He had considered this scroll when purchasing supplies before the battle, but ultimately didn't buy it.

He'd heard that its power was considerable, but using it not only consumed a scroll but also sacrificed a bow, which was a bit too costly, so he didn't buy it.

However, after scavenging the loot from two Wolf Hunt archers, Gagnor now had three bows, one of which was of even better quality than the Wolf-Sinew Bow, making him want to find an opportunity to try out "Bow's Loyalty."

After stowing away the loot, Gagnor hesitated for a moment, then walked up to the young mage who had spoken up for him earlier. He first thanked him: "Thank you, mage. I'm Gagnor, a second-level apothecary. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Gaye," the mage said his name, while also sounding a bit surprised, "You're an apothecary?"

"Yes, but making Healing Stone is clearly not why I joined the Gray Eagle Mercenaries."

The two chatted briefly.

Until Gagnor changed the subject, politely saying, "Gaye, I have a Hunter's Mark on me. Could you help me remove it? Of course, I can pay."