Chapter 82

Behind Rodi, Nata, who had been hiding in the darkness, had initially intended to leave directly. However, seeing the solitary human, completely unaware of his surroundings, she felt it would be unjust if he were to die so easily. After hesitating for two seconds, she finally raised her short bow, slowly drew the string, and aimed the arrow at the leopard's eyes, which were barely visible in the darkness.

Nata's plan was simple: take the opportunity to shoot the leopard, then turn and leave. After all, prey was everywhere, and the leopard's skin and meat could be a gift to this human... It would be a way to repay the fire that had saved her life.

As she thought this, her finger, which was about to release the bowstring, suddenly froze...

Nata's slightly narrowed eyes suddenly widened—she saw the human, who had been holding a chicken wing in his mouth, casually pick up a short bow from his side, and his right hand was already holding two arrows!

He stood up, turned around, and raised the bow, with the arrow already on the string... His movements were casual and fluid, without any stiffness.

In the instant the leopard suddenly pounced, the human's left hand had already drawn the short bow into a full moon.

The steel-tailed leopard growled as it charged out of the shadows, its muscles taut, and it leaped forward with three powerful strides!

Nata stared wide-eyed at the scene, which happened so quickly that all she saw were blurred images...

The human's silhouette in the firelight made no extra movements, but his right hand moved swiftly, releasing two arrows in succession.

The vibration of the bowstring was barely audible, but the leopard's scream was abruptly cut off.

For a moment, it seemed time had stopped. The human, holding the bow, shifted his body slightly, narrowly avoiding the beast that could have crushed his chest. After the leopard's massive, blood-soaked body flew past, he reached out and pinched the chicken wing still in his mouth, chewing it as if nothing had happened.

This posture was utterly incomprehensible to Nata, as if he had just shot two arrows and was ready to sit down and continue eating.

"Thud—"

As the leopard fell to the ground, Rodi turned around, as if nothing had happened, and continued to turn the roasted chicken over the fire, sprinkling some salt he had brought with him, muttering that it seemed a bit bland.

The crackling of the fire made the atmosphere even more silent, but this silence brought a strange, intense chill to Nata. Her gaze fell on the leopard, and she carefully released the bowstring she had drawn.

Nata's movements were slow, as if she were afraid to make any noise—though she was reluctant to believe it, the reality before her had a profound impact on her young heart.

At that moment, the leopard that had chased her to the brink of death lay motionless not far from her. If she looked closely, she would see that the much larger creature had been hit by an arrow in each eye, lying there as if it had horns on its head...

Nata had witnessed the entire process of the leopard being shot, and the more she thought about that moment, the more she felt a suffocating pressure. In her tribe, her talent, though not the highest, was still above average. But comparing her once-prided archery skills to this human's, she felt a sense of shame, and her usually icy face showed a rare sign of dejection.

Mysteriously failing to hunt, being chased by a leopard, and now being humiliated by a human's terrifying archery skills, this night had been unbearably long for Nata.

The human nearby hummed a tune, took out a knife from his bag, and began to cut the chicken, eating it with relish, as if killing a steel-tailed leopard was no different from picking his teeth. Nata felt her legs go weak from the shock, and her whole body felt drained, but she remembered she was a wood elf and had a hunting mission to complete. She knew it was best to leave as soon as possible.

The human was incredibly skilled, to the point where Nata had to look up to him, but she didn't need to interact with humans. As she thought this, a sense of impulse arose in her—she wanted to remember this human's face, at least so that if she ever met him again, she wouldn't confront him.

With no other thoughts, she raised her gaze and saw the human slightly turn his head, as if glancing at her casually...

Nata almost immediately lowered her head to avoid eye contact.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Nata had a strange feeling that the human had known of her presence all along but had simply chosen not to acknowledge it.

"Ol'kahla."

Just as Nata thought this, the human nearby spoke, his voice clear. She instinctively glanced at the fire, but the figure that had been sitting there was...

Gone.

Her heart skipped a beat, and a sense of extreme danger filled her mind. She turned to flee, but as she took a step, her foot was suddenly tripped, and her body fell forward uncontrollably!

Nata felt like she was going mad because she hadn't seen any obstacle on the ground!

This wasn't a mistake or an accident; she knew she had been ambushed. As she tried to roll away, her left foot was kicked by another foot that appeared out of nowhere...

"Ah—"

In the next second, Nata, who had been lunging forward, lost all her momentum and fell to the ground, flailing her limbs like a fish out of water, in a bizarrely comical manner.

But just before she hit the ground, her arm and waist were grabbed by hands that emerged from the darkness and thrown out—

The scenery spun, but Nata felt a sense of relief. Wood elves have a natural balance similar to cats, so she immediately adjusted her center of gravity and landed on the solid ground, standing steadily.

However, Nata felt increasingly uneasy, as she sensed that the human had done this intentionally.

Glancing around, Nata found herself standing next to the fire, the orange flames casting a glow on her face. Realizing her short bow was useless, she immediately threw it aside and drew her dagger, ready to fight or flee.

A slightly mocking voice came from the shadows in front of her.

"Bringing a leopard over and then trying to leave without a word? Ah, wood elves are really—"

From the darkness, Rodi stepped out, his face showing a "show-off" expression that was almost unbearable. His perfect wood elf language left Nata stunned... but halfway through his sentence, when he saw the wood elf's face by the fire, his words caught in his throat—

"It can't be..." His tone became hesitant. "It can't be this coincidental..."

Rodi stopped, his eyes wide, staring intently at the short wood elf girl, his brows furrowed in a complex expression of both reflection and helplessness. He cleared his throat and asked in a low voice, "G—oh, no... you're not yet... cough, cough, are you—Nata?"

At this moment, Nata was prepared for any sudden event, even the "worst outcome" if she were defeated. But no matter how she tried to imagine, she couldn't understand why this situation had occurred: a human she had never met before had just used perfect wood elf language to say her real name!

Nata began to doubt whether she was in an inescapable nightmare.

She looked at Rodi with a cold expression, appearing calm, but her mind was in chaos. Nata suddenly felt unsure whether to leave or stay... The countless questions in her mind finally formed one sentence—

"Who is this human?"

"Um... it must be you, long time no see—no, that's not right... we haven't actually met before, so this is our first meeting."

Rodi's attempt to act cool had failed. He no longer had the casual demeanor and looked awkward, lowering his head as he took a few steps toward Nata. But seeing her defensive retreat, he remembered it was their first meeting and said, "I'm Rodi, a scout from the Luciferon family."

He showed her a badge, but Nata, still expressionless, only slightly lowered her dagger.

After saying this, Rodi looked at the wood elf girl, his gaze direct. Nata met his eyes but felt no "evaluation" or "lust" in his gaze, only a strange sense of reflection.

"Hah... still the same, cold and uncommunicative like an iceberg."

Rodi shook his head, sighing to himself.

He couldn't believe how coincidental it was that the wood elf girl before him was his "Ranger" mentor in the game!

Wood elves, due to their close bloodline to humans, have a slightly longer lifespan and similar appearance, but they are a mixed race with a connection to high elves, so they generally have the common traits of elves: handsome men and beautiful women. In Rodi's memory, he had chosen to advance his profession in the third year of the game's launch, finding this "ice-cold mentor" in a wood elf village in the Whispering Forest, and thus began his path as a ranger.

The last time he saw Nata was in the year 596 of the Elon calendar, when she was the first ranger hunter in the wood elf village. Her strength wasn't particularly high; she had only crossed the 30-level threshold and stopped training. In Rodi's memory, she was just a mentor NPC.

He had only formally spoken to Nata about ten times, and in his mind, she was just a symbol representing a "mentor." As for her appearance... in his memory, her beautiful face was almost like a mask, showing no other expressions. At first, he thought she was just serious, but later he suspected she might have facial paralysis, as she hadn't shown any other expressions for years.

So in Rodi's mind, she was truly a "three-nothing" iceberg, impossible to communicate with.

Suddenly meeting her now, even though Nata was still young, seeing her expressionless face, Rodi thought that no matter what he said, she probably wouldn't be interested.

He cleared his throat and said, "Well... you do your thing, say hello to Mayor Brudi for me, tell him I killed that scorpion king upstream and sold the venom sac to Kig Town, and... cough, cough, I'll be off, see you, good night."

With that, he packed up his gear in front of Nata, leaving the steel-tailed leopard's body behind, and muttered some confusing words to Nata... and left.

"I'll visit your village when I have time, just don't shoot me then."

Rodi led three horses into the darkness, his words echoing in the forest, gradually fading away.

Nata, standing by the fire, watched his disappearing figure, her body and expression unchanged. But when the sound of hooves faded away, she suddenly let out a long sigh, collapsing to the ground as if paralyzed...

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End of the chapter.