Chapter 19 (1/2)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Zhang Heng’s missed shot caught the attention of the jaguar. The latter quickly turned its attention to him.

Bell was still wrestling the other jaguar, which meant that Zhang Heng would have to face this king of the rainforest on his own. If he had this encounter when he first came to the island, he would have been dead meat.

He probably would not even be able to fight a goose, much less a jaguar.

But was not his entire year of archery practice for this moment?

Quickly, Zhang Heng drew another arrow, and placed it on the bowstring. He was not in a hurry to shoot because he and the beast were still quite far from each other.

At this distance, he did not have the full confidence to be able to hit the target. So, he had to rein in the fear he was experiencing and wait for the jaguar to attack first.

This might sound simple but actually doing it was not easy.

Because for a long-range profession, the further the range, the safer it would be. Every shooter should know the kiting [1] technique.

All the same, reality is cruel. Zhang Heng knew for a fact that in terms of agility and speed, his own two legs could never outrun the creature with four. He could kite but what if the jaguar chooses to join its partner and attack the explorer instead?

Then when the two jaguars had him surrounded, Zhang Heng would never be able to leave this forest.

So, both man and cat came into a confrontational stance. Zhang Heng maintained his aim and an upright position as his instructor had taught him, regulating his breathing.

Opposite him, the jaguar’s patience finally ran out, so it arced its body and prepared to pounce.

Panic rose inside of Zhang Heng. This was a completely different situation from hunting a Dodo bird. Even if he missed his target, the consequence would just be not being able to eat meat. But if his arrow misses, with the jaguar’s fleet-foot, he would not even have another chance to reload his bow.

The one who would be eaten was him.

Zhang Heng quickly chased all this jumble of thoughts away, and anch.o.r.ed his emotions. In that split second, the jaguar made a move. It was much faster than Zhang Heng had imagined it to be. Kicking the ground with its hindlegs provided the creature with a frighteningly explosive force.

The distance between them was rapidly shrinking. At less than seven meters, finally came the sound of bowstrings being released.

You could say that this shot was Zhang Heng’s most satisfactory shot so far. After an extended period of preparing and gauging, his mind went into a sort of Zen state, where the world before him seemed to be moving in slow-motion and he could see the motion of the jaguar’s whiskers.

Be it strength, angle or calculation—everything was perfect.

As soon as the arrow left his hand, Zhang Heng knew that it would hit the target.

And he was right.

At such a close distance, and running at a full sprint, the jaguar was unable to elude and could only watch as the incoming wood arrow hit its head.

But what happened next was completely out of Zhang Heng’s expectation. He did not know if it was because the carbonized arrowhead was not lethal enough because he had terrible luck, the arrow hit the cat’s skull but did not go any deeper.

The jaguar let out a shrill cry of pain but the injury to its head was not enough to kill. Instead, it provoked the beast which then proceeded to charge towards Zhang Heng, knocking him to the ground.

Zhang Heng pushed the bow up against the jaguar’s neck to keep it from ripping his throat out but the jaguar was pinning the lower half of his body to the ground and was clawing madly at his shoulder, boring b.l.o.o.d.y holes into it.