‘What the hell is th….’ Colt began to think before a look of panic crossed his face. ‘Shit!’

Colt’s shield appeared on his left arm as he swivelled to face the doorway to the temple. A golden arrow sped through the air and slammed against his shield! Colt’s feet slid across the floor as he held his ground.

‘Another player?’ Colt’s eyes went wide as he analysed what had just happened. ‘This is a PK attempt! Damn it! I’ve been ambushed!’

“What was that?” Ania squealed as the arrow embedded in the shield disappeared into motes of light.

“You saw that?” Colt asked in surprise.

“Of course! It was a golden arrow! Who could have missed… Oh… Is it another God?” Ania’s voice went from angry to scared.

At first, she thought that someone in the village had attempted to attack Exile, but then she realised the problem with that. She was the only one that could see him and the arrow held the same golden glow as Colt!

“Ania, stay behind me and keep an eye out. This God seems to want to kill me, but they might try something else. Their Oracle could be around and aiming for your head so pay attention!” Colt frowned as he considered what his opponent’s next move might be.

‘Since they used a Divine Spell, they definitely have at least one follower. But what’s the point of starting a fight at this point in the game? That spell should have been Minor Divine Arrow. That’s right, its damage and cost were equal to the amount of DP the caster had available!’ Colt grinned when he realised his opponent had banked everything on their first attack!

Colt eased himself towards the doorway, keeping his shield raised as his axe appeared in his right hand. Before he could properly look outside and try and pinpoint the assailant, another arrow entered his view!

‘Damn it!’ The arrow let out a heavy thud as it struck the shield. Vibrations ran up Colt’s arm making it feel slightly numb.

As he planted his back against the wall by the doorframe, he cursed internally. ‘They tricked me! I can’t tell if that’s actually a spell now!’ Colt was stuck wondering if there was more than one enemy due to the cost of using Minor Divine Arrow, or were they just regular arrows fired from a bow that had been offered to the God assaulting him?

‘I need to assume the worst-case scenario and think of them as being something the enemy won’t run out of.’ Colt frowned as he tried to figure out what he should do.

Meanwhile, the villagers of Eraldsfen were beginning to point towards the sky as dark clouds started to gather overhead. Bjorn studied the clouds coming from all directions. ‘It’s not natural… The Gods are angry! Where’s Ania?’

“Ania! Stay behind cover! If someone you don’t recognise comes in, pray to me!” Colt yelled before he rushed outside with his shield raised!

Colt peered over the rim of his shield as he roared, hoping to prove his opponent into firing another arrow! Which they did, except this one struck Colt in the leg! As soon as it did, Colt felt as if he had gotten weaker as some information flashed in his mind!

[Divine Power Damage Check… Enemy Speed 3. Endurance of area struck 3. Divine Power Tied. -1 HP]

Colt frowned as he read the information in his mind to understand how combat damage worked in this game. ‘They’ve really made this simple! Ok, so damage doesn’t depend on your gear at all. It comes from your stats. Whereas equipment can modify your stats to increase damage.’

‘By the looks of it, Strength, Speed or Authority can be used to decide the damage, but they either have to tie or be higher than your opponent’s Endurance. It’ll probably take 1 HP off for each point of difference, starting with a tie. But I shouldn’t blind myself into believing that’s all there is to it. If I had to guess, then there’s probably attacks that require Authority or something else to defend against it instead of Endurance.’

However, Colt frowned when he realised something else! ‘It never gave me the enemy’s name! Is that a stealth-like skill, or is it just normal? If it’s normal, then PK’ers will have a field day in this game!’

Colt pushed on towards the direction where the latest arrow had come from. However, another arrow struck his other thigh.

[-1 HP]

‘They’re on the move! Damn it! They’re trying to kite me!’ Colt adjusted his trajectory to try and cut off his opponent’s path. Before he even moved another ten metres, another arrow struck his leg.

[-1 HP]

Colt gritted his teeth through the stinging sensation in his legs and kept moving. Of course, another arrow soon landed on him.

[-1 HP]

Colt grinned at this point. ‘Minor Blessing!’

[You have healed for +4 HP]

The stinging sensation disappeared, as did the arrows that were poking out from his legs. The two extra points of Endurance from his equipment worked well with that spell since it brought his total HP up to twenty. ‘I can use it two more times which means I can negate another eight points of damage before it they can even threaten my HP properly!’

“You’re quite the tough one, aren’t you!” At that point, a lithe woman appeared from between the trees.

Colt studied her figure and noticed that she was still wearing the starter clothing. Besides that, she had a short wooden bow in her hands, but the quiver on her back appeared to be empty. The woman dropped the bow and drew the hunting dagger at her waist.

“It seems like you’ve found a rather good follower. The village behind you looks pretty nice too. I hope you don’t mind if I take it for myself!” The player called Silkyhair shouted as she sprang towards Colt!

“Take it if you think you can!” Colt snarled as thunder rumbled throughout the dark clouds overhead!