"Damn, damn, damn!"
Arin sprinted through the forest without slowing down. Branches whipped past his face while dozens of footsteps echoed somewhere behind him. The men chasing him were experienced hunters, trackers who had spent decades stalking prey through forests. Unfortunately for them, this was one of the few situations where Arin held the advantage.
This was his element.
Ever since he was young, Arin had been absurdly good at disappearing. Whenever he wanted to read in peace, he would vanish with a book and somehow remain undiscovered for hours. His family used to joke that he possessed stealth skills long before the System arrived. Looking back, they might not have been entirely wrong.
The activated physique only made things worse.
The forest seemed to embrace him whenever he moved through it. Shadows hid his figure, branches broke up his outline, and every step felt quieter than it should have been. Whether that was an actual effect or merely confidence no longer mattered. The result was the same.
The distance between hunter and prey kept growing.
What started as a chase measured in hundreds of meters slowly stretched into kilometers. The men behind him could keep up, but they couldn't close the gap. Every minute that passed shifted more control into Arin's hands. In a pursuit, initiative was everything.
Tracking had always followed a simple rule.
If a target stayed visible, eventually they would be caught. If a target disappeared, the chase became infinitely harder. Give a skilled tracker enough time and they could recover the trail. Give Arin ten minutes and he could become a ghost.
Then he reached the stream.
Recent rain had transformed the normally calm crossing into a rushing torrent. Water surged between rocks while the current pulled debris downstream. At its deepest point, the stream nearly reached neck height. Most people would see an obstacle.
Arin saw an opportunity.
A grin spread across his face as he approached the crossing. Unlike his pursuers, he had prepared this route beforehand. Hidden beneath the water was a line of barely submerged stones used by family members for decades. Normally they were obvious. Today they were almost invisible.
Perfect.
A quick glance behind him showed flashes of movement between the trees. His father was among the leading group and closing steadily. Fortunately, Arin still had enough time. More importantly, he still had one trick left.
Without hesitation, he grabbed a large rock from the riverbank.
Then he sprinted across the crossing.
The wet stones were incredibly slippery, forcing him to balance carefully with every step. One mistake would send him into the current. Despite that, he crossed without slowing down and reached the opposite bank safely.
Then he threw the rock.
The heavy projectile sailed high through the air before dropping toward the crossing. Arin didn't bother watching the result. The moment it left his hand, he disappeared into the trees again. A second later, a loud splash echoed behind him.
Followed immediately by cursing.
His grin widened.
Teun was halfway across the crossing when the stone landed beside him. Water exploded upward and drenched everyone nearby. For only two seconds his attention shifted away from the trail. Two seconds wasn't much.
For Arin, it was enough.
By the time Teun regained his footing and reached the opposite bank, there was no sign of him. No movement. No sound. No silhouette disappearing between the trees. Arin had vanished completely.
"Did he get away?" Teun asked.
Dennis arrived moments later and sighed heavily. "Yeah. He's gone." The answer was frustrating, but nobody sounded surprised. They all knew exactly how dangerous Arin became once visual contact was broken.
"I have to admit," Teun said.
"He's gotten really good."
Several men nodded in agreement. Despite wanting revenge, they couldn't deny talent when they saw it. Escaping a coordinated pursuit led by experienced hunters wasn't easy. Most members of the younger generation would have been caught already.
"The river was planned," Rik said.
Everyone looked toward him.
"The last few kilometers gave it away. He wasn't trying to lose us immediately. He was creating distance and leading us somewhere. That crossing wasn't luck." After thinking about it, nobody could disagree with the assessment.
"He can explain later."
Dennis cracked his knuckles.
"First we catch him."
A wave of laughter spread through the group before quickly fading. Their amusement disappeared the moment they noticed where the trail was heading. Towering pine trees stretched toward the sky ahead of them.
The Forest of Hell.
A forest deliberately planted by their ancestors after a wildfire destroyed part of the original woodland. Over decades it had become one of the family's favorite training grounds. It was also one of the most miserable places imaginable to play this game.
The pine trees grew tall and straight.
Most of their trunks remained bare for dozens of meters before any branches appeared. Shrubs were sparse and natural cover was limited. The result was an environment where sightlines stretched absurd distances. A good archer could spot movement from over a hundred meters away.
"Great."
Someone groaned.
"He's hiding in there."
Meanwhile, Arin sat twenty meters above the ground with a satisfied smile. After entering the pine forest, he had zigzagged another five hundred meters before climbing into the canopy. From below, spotting him would be almost impossible without knowing exactly where to look.
He settled comfortably against the trunk.
"Thank God for the thirty-minute rule."
Without it, he would already be dead.
More than twenty experienced hunters were searching for him. Even if they weren't as talented at hiding, they possessed decades of experience. If shooting had been allowed from the start, eventually someone would have landed a lucky hit.
Fortunately, combat remained prohibited.
For another fifteen minutes.
Arin rested his bow across his lap and gazed down at the forest below. The Forest of Hell was dangerous, but it was also the best hiding spot available. The open sightlines made encirclement difficult and allowed him to monitor large sections of terrain.
No way was he leaving.
Let them search.
He had fifteen minutes.