Chapter 6: The Hunter

  Kade ran, not daring to look back. The thundering footsteps behind him told him everything he needed to know. The hunter was following, closing in with every stride.

  The damp air of Limbo filled his lungs as he pushed his legs to their limit. His focus narrowed to a singular objective: reach the thicker fog. If he could put a hundred feet between himself and the hunter, the mist would swallow him completely. His pursuer wouldn't be able to track what he couldn't see.

  Every stat point he'd allocated to Dexterity now proved its worth, each stride carrying him farther and faster than should have been possible. His body responded with a precision that would have been impossible back on Earth.

  The sword throw he'd witnessed earlier played through his mind—the longsword was at least four feet long, heavy and unwieldy for throwing. How much Strength would someone need to hurl it with such precision? The man must have invested heavily into Strength.

  The fog thickened ahead, promising concealment.

  Kade veered sharply left, deliberately making his path unpredictable. The air clung to his skin as he pushed deeper into the gray void, his heartbeat thundering in his ears and drowning out any sounds of pursuit.

  After what felt like minutes of sustained sprint, he slowed to catch his breath. The plan had worked. He'd escaped into the concealing fog—no human could track another through this impenetrable gray soup.

  This momentary triumph shattered as a figure burst through the fog behind him. The hunter emerged like a nightmare materializing from a bad dream. The man moved with absolute certainty, seemingly unhindered by the mist that should have concealed Kade completely.

  How? The question blazed through Kade's mind as he immediately broke into another sprint. This defied logic. He'd changed direction. He'd put enough distance between them. The fog should have hidden him completely. The hunter must possess some special ability to navigate the fog—perhaps something that allowed him to sense other humans through the concealing mist.

  A burning sensation spread through Kade's muscles as fatigue set in. The initial surge of adrenaline was fading, replaced by the feeling of overexertion.

  His lungs burned. His legs felt like lead. No amount of Dexterity mattered if he couldn't keep running. And unlike his gaming days, there would be no respawning if he died here. He didn’t want to imagine what would happen if he was caught by someone who was double his level.

  The healing potion. The realization struck with sudden clarity. This qualified as a life-or-death situation if anything did, no point saving resources when survival hung in the balance.

  With practiced mental commands from his goblin camp experience, Kade accessed his inventory while maintaining his sprint. The interface appeared in his vision, overlaid on reality without obscuring it. The red vial materialized before him, glowing softly in the dim light. He snatched it without breaking stride and downed the contents in one desperate gulp.

  The effect was immediate.

  The burning in his muscles subsided, replaced by renewed vigor flowing through his limbs like liquid energy. His breathing steadied, lungs no longer screaming for air. The shallow scratch on his arm from the goblin fight knitted itself closed, the skin smoothing over as if the wound had never existed.

  Kade accelerated again, pushing his refreshed body to its limits. Yet the sound of pursuit never faded completely. The hunter matched his pace with terrifying consistency, like a horror movie monster that always keeps up despite never seeming to hurry.

  One more attempt. He sprinted harder than before, every muscle fiber straining with the effort, determined to create maximum distance. When he judged the separation sufficient, he executed an even sharper directional change, nearly doubling back on his path.

  Seconds passed. Only his pounding footsteps and racing heartbeat broke the eerie silence of Limbo.

  The hope died when the hunter emerged from the fog yet again, expression unchanged, as if this chase were nothing more than a mild inconvenience. The man didn't even look winded, his movements as fluid and purposeful as when the pursuit began.

  Despair crashed over Kade like a wave. No matter what he tried, the hunter found him.

  The ground beneath him was perfectly flat, but in his heightened state of stress, Kade's perception betrayed him. His foot caught on nothing, a simple misstep born of fear and divided attention.

  He stumbled.

  In that fraction of a second, that tiny break in his stride, the hunter's arm moved in a fluid arc. The gleaming longsword left his hand, spinning end over end through the air toward Kade's exposed back. The blade sliced through the fog, promising Kade's death.

  Pure instinct took over. Kade threw himself to the ground, every enhanced reflex firing at once. The sword passed overhead, so close that the displaced air ruffled his hair. The blade embedded itself in the ground ahead with a dull thud, vibrating from the impact.

  Lying face-down in the grass, clarity washed over him. Running wasn't working. This predator could track him through the fog with uncanny precision. Every attempt to escape had failed. There was only one option left.

  He had to fight.

  The thought should have terrified him, but instead, a strange calm settled over his mind. If death was coming either way, he'd face it standing, not with a blade in his back while fleeing.

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  With one fluid motion, Kade executed a backflip, landing on his feet in a fighting stance. His hands moved with instinctive precision, drawing both goblin blades in a single smooth motion. The crude weapons felt right in his grip, extensions of his arms rather than awkward tools.

  Across from him, the hunter stood watching, a mixture of surprise and amusement crossing his weathered features. As if responding to an unspoken challenge, he reached behind his back and unsheathed another sword, slightly shorter than the throwing blade but no less deadly.

  "Finally decided to play?" the hunter called, his voice casual, as if they were old friends meeting for a sparring match.

  The man began circling, weapon held at the ready, confidence dancing in his eyes.

  Without warning, he charged, closing the distance with frightening speed. His longsword whistled through the air in a brutal downward arc aimed at Kade's skull.

  A simple plan formed in Kade's mind, born of necessity. With two shorter swords against the hunter's greater reach and strength, his only hope lay in fighting quickly and efficiently. If he could somehow catch the enemy's blade with one of his own, then pivot inside his reach, he might stand a chance. The weight distribution of the goblin blades would allow for faster strikes at close range.

  Reality shattered that illusion in an instant.

  When the swords clashed, the force of the blow sent shockwaves through Kade's arms. His goblin blade caught the longsword at an angle, but the hunter's raw strength overwhelmed any advantage in maneuverability. Kade staggered backward, the vibration of metal-on-metal rattling his teeth. Only by frantically bringing his second blade up to reinforce the block did he prevent the longsword from cleaving through his defense entirely.

  The hunter disengaged with casual ease, stepping back only to launch another devastating swing.

  Kade jumped backward, the tip of the longsword missing his leather vest by mere inches. The air displacement alone felt like a warning brush of death against his skin.

  Each of the hunter's strikes came methodically, one after another. No wasted movement. No flourishes. Just deadly precision.

  The crude goblin swords bent slightly with each block, the metal not designed to withstand such tremendous force. Kade's arms burned from the repeated impacts, each jarring connection sending pain shooting through his shoulders. His speed meant nothing if he couldn't find an opening in the hunter's relentless offense.

  The hunter's breathing remained perfectly controlled, not even a hint of exertion showing on his face as he pressed his advantage. His eyes remained calculating and cold, measuring Kade's every response.

  A glancing blow caught Kade's side, the leather vest absorbing what would have otherwise opened him from hip to rib. The impact still sent pain radiating through his torso, a grim reminder of what awaited if he slipped up even once.

  Despair began to creep into Kade's assessment of the situation. The hunter's stamina seemed inexhaustible, while his own reserves dwindled with each exchange despite the healing potion's effects. The difference in their combat experience was painfully obvious.

  But surrendering meant death. Kade refused that option.

  A renewed burst of energy surged through his limbs—the healing potion still working its magic, refreshing his depleted stamina. He feinted left, then struck with both blades in quick succession, testing the hunter's defensive reactions. The hunter parried the first strike effortlessly and sidestepped the second, countering with a thrust that Kade barely managed to twist away from.

  A smirk flashed across the hunter's face, the expression clearly conveying his assessment of Kade's desperate attempt.

  Another devastating swing came. Kade raised both swords in a cross-block, catching the longsword between his crossed blades. The impact drove him to one knee, arms trembling under the pressure as the hunter bore down, applying both strength and body weight to the blade. The gleam in the man's eyes showed the anticipation of another kill, another absorption of essence.

  Kade's arms began to give way, the crossed goblin swords bending inward toward his face. In seconds, his own blades would be forced into his flesh.

  Pain shot through Kade's arms as the crossed blades inched closer to his face. The world narrowed to this single, desperate moment.

  Something clicked.

  His mind went cold and clear. All the noise, fear, doubt, memories of Earth, vanished. There was only the fight. Only survival.

  He wouldn't die on his knees in this gray hell. Not to this man who hunted others.

  Time seemed to slow, though Kade knew it hadn't actually changed. His perception sharpened to an impossible degree, every detail of the battle crystallizing with perfect clarity. The way the hunter distributed his weight. The micro-adjustments in the man's grip. The precise point where pressure needed to be applied.

  A blue notification flashed in his periphery, but he had no attention to spare for it. His focus remained unbroken.

  Kade twisted his wrists, angling his crossed blades so that the hunter's sword slid off to the side rather than continuing its downward path. As the longsword scraped against the goblin blades and continued past, Kade rolled to his right, inside the hunter's guard.

  The hunter's eyes widened in genuine surprise—the first real emotion Kade had seen from him.

  With perfect clarity, Kade drove one of his goblin swords upward, finding the gap between the hunter's chainmail and leather breeches. The crude blade sank deep into the man's abdomen, just below the ribs. The sensation of blade meeting flesh sent a sickening jolt up Kade's arm, an entirely different resistance than the leathery hide of the goblins.

  The hunter's mouth opened in a silent gasp, his composure finally broken.

  The man tried to react, to bring his weapon to bear, but his momentum was already committed to the downward strike. He was overextended, his balance compromised. Kade pivoted on his knee and drove his second blade into the hunter's side from the opposite angle, completing the attack sequence.

  Blood sprayed across Kade's face as the hunter let out a guttural roar of pain and rage. With astonishing resilience, he slammed his head forward, connecting with Kade's forehead in a brutal headbutt.

  Stars exploded across Kade's vision as he was knocked backward, one of his swords wrenched from his grip, still embedded in the hunter's flesh. The other came free, slick with blood that appeared black in the dim light of Limbo.

  Kade scrambled to his feet, vision swimming with afterimages. He immediately backed several paces away to put distance between himself and the wounded predator. The hunter staggered toward him, one goblin sword protruding from his side like a grotesque decoration, blood pouring from both wounds. His face contorted into a mask of fury and disbelief.

  Blood poured from the hunter's wounds with each heartbeat, soaking his clothes and spattering onto the grass below. Still he advanced, one gruesome step at a time, the gap between them slowly narrowing. The man's Constitution must be incredibly high to remain conscious with such injuries.

  Three steps. Two steps. One.

  With one last desperate effort, the hunter raised his longsword for a final strike, his arm extending to its full reach—but Kade stood well beyond the arc of the blade. The sword fell from nerveless fingers. The hunter's eyes widened, a mixture of shock and rage contorting his features.

  "Impossible," he rasped, blood bubbling at the corners of his mouth. "You're just..." He swayed on his feet, disbelief etched on his face.

  As the hunter collapsed face-first onto the blood-soaked grass, his body twitched once, twice, and then went still.

  [Enemy Slain: Human (Level 9)]

  [Essence Absorption activated: Increased effect due to inner compatibility - 3× Absorption]

  The familiar glow emerged from the hunter's body, particles of light drifting upward before flowing into Kade's chest.

  [Level Up! You are now Level 6]

  [Level Up! You are now Level 7]

  [Level Up! You are now Level 8]

  [You have 9 stat points to allocate]