Alex's attention was caught by the small boom, followed by the explosive at the base of the mountains. He immediately knew his shooter was trying to distract him. Of course, he didn't bite. He stood his ground and called back his spear.
He called out the attempt of his shooter but still received no response. He pretended to focus on the direction the explosion came from, baiting his shooter to take another shot at him. But the shooter was smart enough to not fall for his poor attempt at being distracted.
'This is getting frustrating.' He complained inwardly and looked at the timer. About 12 minutes was left before the first hour was over. He wasn't worried about making the cut, as the little he had gathered amounted to 81 eliminations. His attention returned to the other side of the river where the first arrow came from.
'Come on, take your best shot.'
He silently urged the shooter, his guard not lowered even a bit. His wish came true a few seconds later when three arrows appeared from his left, cutting through the air and approaching with speeds much faster than bullets. Within a moment's notice, the arrows crossed the river and were before.
'Gotcha!'
He smiled in delight and waved his spear to deflect the arrows, but he underestimated the power behind the arrows. Each arrow he deflected pushed him back, forcing him to bury his feet into the ground to remain stable.
'Shit!'
He cussed once he deflected all the arrows. He was pushed back by at least 20 metres from his previous position. This delay from him was enough time for the shooter to change locations once more. But this time, he wasn't going to allow the distance to grow too much.
Once he regained his footing, he dashed forward, following the direction the arrows came from. He may not know exactly where the arrows came from, but he had a general area. Close to the mountain base, there was a cluster of trees around that provided a good cover for an archer.
Within a few seconds, he was close enough for another power throw. Unlike the previous one he went all out, this time around, he reduced the power behind the throw. He was only taking out a single target after all.
Once he leapt into the air, approximately 70 feet high, he threw his spear.
BOOOOOM!
A radius of 20 metres around the point where the spear made contact was devasted. The trees shattered, the rocks reduced to rubbles and the small gust of wind generated from the energy transfer sent all the created debris flying.
But his attack did not eliminate his shooter as he planned. While midair, three more arrows came behind him. The archer had instead closed in after she released the first three arrows to draw him in, and it worked wonderfully. Alex noticed the arrows a little bit too late and made a move to evade. Sadly, for him two of the arrows connected.
"Fuck!"
He cussed before landing on the ground. He ran to the surrounding trees that survived his spear throw and found a huge stem to hide his figure. Looking over his shoulder, he saw two arrows embedded in his left shoulder blade, very close to his heart! If not for his much tougher and stronger, he would have been a goner.
He groaned and moaned from the intense pain coming from his back. 'Exposing myself midair like that was a terrible move.' He realized his mistake and looked behind the tree to see if the shooter was approaching but found nothing except for the dust still floating around.
He gritted his teeth and retrieved the arrows one at a time, blood spilling from the wounds like nobody's business. The pain was blinding and unbearable. Because the pain metric was set at 100%, the pain he was feeling was more than anything he had experienced before.
The sparring sessions he had with his friends and during class hours had the pain levels set below 100%, subjecting them to a lesser burden.
'This is what you get from being conceited.' He chided himself for being blinded by his own strength.
He may have not noticed before, but he was slightly drunken from the kind of power he wielded over the rest of the students after his explosive display a little over half an hour ago. Now, he was paying the price for that. A little bit more and he could have been eliminated. Fortunately for him, his speed and reflexes were still superior.
"Being injured at this stage of the battle can't be good. I'm also ill-prepared to treat any injuries." Looking back now, Alex realized he approached this whole battle with the wrong mindset. It didn't even cross his mind that he could be injured like this. He had factored in being surrounded and even coming up with ways to break the encirclement.
But he failed to consider what he would do once injured.
"Hehehe…" He laughed despite the pain he was going through. "That was a good lesson. It's good I realized this sooner." He commented as he placed his right hand over the wound. The blood was still sipping out, but slower than before. He did not carry any bandages with him, and neither was the material his gear was made of suitable to use as such.
"Let's get away from here for now." He recalled his spear and looked over his shoulders again. By now, the shooter must have already changed positions. He still couldn't pinpoint where the shooter was and did not wish to risk it.
Alex then chose a random direction and disappeared, making sure to run in a crisscross manner the reduce the chances of any more arrows coming his way.
...
"Ah, so close."
Abigail felt displeased that her perfect shot did not take out Alex. Her plan for taking him out was very simple but practical. She took advantage of the fact that people, unlike animals, did not use their sense of smell very much. In fact, people barely rely on that.
When she shot those three arrows to draw him in, she closed the distance instead of increasing it. Given the position the arrows came from, the only logical conclusion was the cluster of trees that provided the most cover.
However, what made her move possible was Alex himself. The moment he took to the skies, it was checkmate, well for most people. But as fate would have it, Alex wasn't that strong for no reason.
"Well, it can't be helped." She muttered and left the scene, understanding that was her best chance at eliminating him. Of course, Alex was not aware that she left way before he did.