As they walked along, Red had a hard time pretending everything was normal. Rog had to tell him off from looking back in search of his pursuers multiple times.

"Even if you looked, you wouldn't find them." The hunter commented.

Red knew Rog was right, but it was an ordeal to fight against his natural reactions. They continued to move at a slow pace for the next five minutes, and the hunter didn't speak at all during that time. The youth thought this behavior was strange, but he chose to say nothing.

After five more minutes passed, though, the boy changed his mind.

"Are you sure we can lose them like this?" Red asked.

"Not really." Rog shrugged. "I was just weaving my path to see how insistent they are on stalking us. Turns out they're still on our trail."

The youth was surprised by the man's words. The hunter acted completely naturally in his eyes over the last 10 minutes, and Red was unsure of when he got an opportunity to examine their pursuers.

"So, how are we going to escape?" The boy questioned.

"I'm still thinking." Rog spoke casually. "With this boar on my shoulders, it's gonna be hard to hide my tracks."

Red had almost completely forgotten about the prey. The man didn't look weighed down by carrying it, but he knew the boar was probably heavier than the average adult. Sure enough, looking behind at Rog's footprints, the boy was able to see how deep they were.

"Shouldn't we drop the boar then?" The youth proposed.

"And give up on this good haul?" The hunter looked offended. "No way!"

"Then do we just wait until they decide to ambush us?" Although it wasn't apparent in the boy's voice, he was growing increasingly worried about their passivity.

"Hm, I should be able to see them coming." Rog scratched his beard. "But you're right. It's not good to just be waiting around."

"Do you have a plan?"

"Yeah, let's ambush them before they can ambush us." The hunter smiled.

Red frowned. Although he wasn't too keen on picking a fight, it was better than just waiting around.

"How do you intend to do it?" The youth asked.

"We can circle around one of these hills and hide in wait." Rog pointed out. "Once they get to that bend, we shoot them."

"What if they notice something is wrong?"

"Then we improvise." The man shrugged.

Red didn't feel comfortable with the plan. Perhaps Rog had little to worry about with his strength, but it was another matter for the boy. He had other ideas.

"What if we use the boar as bait?" The youth suggested.

"How so?" Rog asked, his voice filled with curiosity.

"We can pretend that we found out we're being chased and dropped the boar to run." Red explained. "But instead of escaping, we'll just hide behind the trees in ambush. When they are distracted examining the boar, we shoot."

"That's..." The hunter's eyes widened. "A great idea, kid! I knew it was smart bringing you along. We'll do as you say!"

"Good, then when are we..."

"Now!"

Red didn't have the time to finish his sentence before Rog dropped the boar and set off in a sprint. The boy froze in astonishment before running off to hide as well.

...

A few minutes later, six men approached the area. All of them wore leather armor and carried weapons. Although their equipment looked to be in a state of disrepair, the group still looked menacing and capable. Anyone with knowledge of the area would know who these people were if they set their eyes upon them.

A group of bandits.

The one in front - a tall middle-aged man carrying a bow - frowned as he looked over the abandoned boar corpse. From the way the group was positioned, it looked as if this man was leading their group.

"Woah, why did they leave this behind?" One of his companions asked as he approached the prey.

The rest of the bandits also looked thrilled at the discovery and followed the example of their companion. The leader of the group, however, began to examine the footprints in the area. A few moments later, the man turned towards the others.

"They noticed us and ran." He declared.

The bandits looked surprised at the revelation.

"How?" One of them asked. This one was carrying a hatchet in hand. "We were tracking them from hundreds of meters away."

"How am I supposed to fucking know?" The leader growled. He looked concerned. "We picked a clever target this time around. Maybe a hunter who came here to teach his apprentice?"

He trailed off and began to ponder the situation.

"What do we do now, boss?" Another bandit asked.

"We chase them, of course." The man replied. "We can't let them run back to the town and tell others about us."

The leader walked around and examined the direction of the footprints.

"At the very least, they're escaping deeper into the forest. We can try to catch them there." He looked at one of his subordinates. "Morrick, go warn the others. Have them encircle our prey from the north."

"Alright." The bandit named Morrick nodded and began to walk off.

"The rest of you get ready to give chase." The leader ordered.

"What about the boar?" Someone asked.

"The boar's not going anywhere. We can-"

"UGH!"

All the bandits heard a scream of pain and turned around. They looked just in time to see Morrick fall to the ground with an arrow through his throat.

The leader's reaction was almost immediate.

"Get to cover!" The man was already diving behind a tree as he screamed.

The other bandits were slower to react. They stumbled over themselves, searching for the nearest cover, but then another arrow flew out from within the treelines. One of the men fell to the ground with a thud. An arrow was protruding out of his chest, and the bandit struggled for a bit before falling still.

The rest of them managed to find cover just in time, and no more arrows came. Gradually, an eerie silence settled over the forest, and only the bandits labored breathing could be heard.

Just like that, there were only four of them left.

The leader looked over at the corpse of one of his subordinates and grimaced. The arrow had pierced the man's heart and burst through the other side. Not only was the shot extremely precise, but it carried a lot of strength to puncture both the armor and the chest of the bandit.

"Boss, what do we do?" A low voice called from a few meters away.

The leader stared at his remaining subordinates. They were all crouched low behind the trees and had apprehensive expressions. However, even with two of their comrades dead, they didn't panic. In fact, they had even managed to identify the direction the shot had come from and choose their covers accordingly.

"The shots came from the hill." Another bandit commented from his prone position. "He has the high ground."

"Do you think you can see him?" The leader asked in a hushed voice.

"I don't know. I can try approaching from a different angle."

"Do it." The man ordered. "He might be moving."

A grunt of affirmation came from his subordinate. The bandit started to crawl through the ground, using the plants as cover. The rest of the group watched their companion progress with bated breath, afraid that another arrow would fly out at any moment.

It didn't come, though. Soon enough, the sneaking bandit had crawled dozens of meters away and crouched behind a different tree cover. He turned around towards his leader as if looking for confirmation. The man nodded back, and the bandit began to peek past the trees in the direction of the shots.

He didn't have the opportunity to scream. An arrow pierced through his eye and out the back of his skull, and the bandit immediately fell dead. The rest of his companions stared at his corpse in shock.

"Fuck!" One of the bandits screamed in fear.

The leader also felt a cold shiver run down his spine. His group was experienced and accustomed to death - it was why they didn't panic when they were ambushed. They had robbed heavily guarded caravans before and even killed monsters in the forest. They had seen their share of strong and well-armed men, but with their skills and knowledge of the land, they always came out on top.

It was clear now, though, that they were dealing with someone completely out of their league.

...

When Red had suggested his ambush idea, he had forgotten to consider an essential factor. He had just learned how to shoot a bow a few hours earlier, so how could he possibly accurately hit a person with it?

It was only when the bandits finally appeared in his vision that the youth recalled that fact. He was still considering what to do when Rog let loose the first shot from a different direction.

The boy had considered helping the hunter out with some shots of his own. However, before he could even take aim, Rog had already managed to kill another one. It became clear to the youth that he had overestimated how much he could contribute to this plan.

Red had little choice but to watch the situation silently. The bandits had managed to procure cover, and not even Rog could shoot what he couldn't see. The boy could see the group moving around from his position, and he even saw one of them crawling across the ground.

He considered warning Rog, but he worried unnecessarily. The sneaky bandit was immediately shot dead as soon as he tried peeking from his cover. Red couldn't help but admire the hunter's strength.

At that moment, though, none of the other bandits dared to move anymore. Another minute of silence went by before one of them spoke up.

"Listen, we can negotiate!" A tall man carrying a bow of his own shouted. "We clearly messed with the wrong guy! You already killed three of us, just let us go now!"

Rog didn't respond.

"We can leave all our belongings behind!" The bandit leader insisted. "We carry plenty of gold with ourselves!"

Still no response. Red could see the bandits becoming restless.

"Look, we are part of Rickard’s band!" The man continued. "You know him, right?! If you let us go, he might reward you! But if he found out you killed his subordinates-"

This time a response came in the form of an arrow. It splintered against the tree the bandit leader was hiding behind, and he couldn't help but curse as he crouched lower to the ground.

"You motherfucker!" The man abandoned all attempts at diplomacy. "You better hope none of us gets out of this alive, or we'll hunt you down!"

Red couldn't help but frown at these words. Why did the boy always find himself new enemies wherever he went? Still, this problem in particular had an easy solution. They just had to make sure none of the bandits got out of here alive.

The youth decided to take the opportunity to act while the bandits were focused on Rog. Sneaking around, the boy sought a clear view of the leader. The man was whispering to his subordinates, clearly planning something. Red wouldn't give them the chance, though.

He nocked an arrow into his oversized bow and took aim at the bandit leader. The youth was too far away to be confident that he could kill in one shot, but he didn't need to hit them. He just needed to scare them.

Red let loose, and the arrow flew towards his target. The man turned around in shock as he heard the projectile, but it was too fast for him to react. It pierced into his thigh, and the leader let out a scream of pain.

"There's another one!" One of the bandits screamed.

That was all it took to send the lot of them into a panic. They immediately sprinted off and tried to run away.

Rog didn't let the opportunity pass him by and rained hell upon the bandits.