System: You have been hit by the Arctic Phantomfox, taking 2235 damage.

  System: You have been [Poisoned].

  System: You have been afflicted with [Rend].

  Two damage numbers popped over Kael’s head in quick succession:

  -2236

  -500

  All he saw was a white blur. When his eyes refocused, the Arctic Phantomfox was standing in its original spot as if it had never moved. Two debuff icons now pulsed on his status bar.

  [Poison]

  Take 500 damage per second. Duration: 60 seconds.

  [Rend] (1/10)

  Duration: 5 seconds. The next attack from the Arctic Phantomfox deals +100% damage and refreshes the duration. Stacks up to 10 times.

  Kael had two ways to deal with poison. The first was a standard Antidote Potion he’d looted from the chest. The second was the Potent Antitoxin he’d earned with contribution points from the Blackwind Brotherhood event.

  In this situation, a simple antidote was useless; the fox’s next attack would just poison him again. Without hesitation, Kael consumed the Potent Antitoxin.

  System: You have consumed a Potent Antitoxin. You are immune to strong toxins for 1 hour.

  The real threat was the Rend debuff. It couldn't be dispelled and had to be waited out. But was it possible to avoid being hit for five seconds by a creature that moved like a ghost?

  Of course it was. He just needed Galeharrow’s Silkbind Shot to proc.

  Kael fired another arrow at the incoming fox.

  Miss!

  The fox dodged, reappeared right in front of Kael, and raked him with its claws.

  System: You have been hit by the Arctic Phantomfox, taking 2233 damage.

  -2233

  -1000 (Rend Bonus)

  Orion instantly slapped two healing sigils onto his back.

  +3000

  +3000

  Kael’s health bar barely returned to full. Orion glanced at the fox’s 1.9 million remaining HP, then at Kael’s abysmal accuracy, and couldn't hold his tongue.

  "Boss… maybe we should bail? I don't think we can take this thing."

  That simple, logical suggestion was all it took to ignite Kael’s competitive spirit. He shot Orion a look but said nothing.

  It was time to get serious.

  After taking another hit from the fox, Kael opened the system menu.

  [System: Assisted Mode Disabled.]

  [System: Switching to Manual Mode.]

  The world of Godpath was both a game and a "real" world. By default, all players used Assisted Mode. This system provided numerous benefits, such as automatic target locking and RNG-based evasion checks.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  For an archer, it meant you didn't need any actual skill. You picked a target, fired, and the system calculated whether the arrow hit based on your accuracy stats versus the target's evasion stats. If the roll succeeded, the arrow would home in on the target, even if it moved. If the roll failed, the arrow would miss, even if the target stood perfectly still.

  Manual Mode was the complete opposite. It disabled all system assistance. Arrows flew according to true physics. Whether you hit or not depended entirely on where your target was and where you aimed. It was just like the real world.

  The mode demanded incredible player skill. In Kael's past life, there were no more than three archers who had truly mastered it.

  And Kael had been Number One.

  The controls now felt intensely real, the feedback from his character identical to his own body. Suddenly, the fox charged, closing the distance at twenty yards per second. Kael timed it perfectly and took a subtle step to the side.

  Miss!

  The fox’s lunge hit nothing but air. In the next instant, Kael had drawn Galeharrow and loosed an arrow.

  -23,648! (Silkbind Shot)

  Ethereal threads instantly wrapped around the fox’s legs, binding it to the ground. Without pausing, Kael drew and fired again.

  -5984

  -24,185! (Silkbind Shot)

  -23,346

  …

  Every single arrow hit.

  With its mobility gone, the fox was nothing more than a stationary target. Kael was in Manual Mode; the creature's 50% evasion stat was a complete joke to him now. One moment, he was being torn to shreds; the next, he had the Arctic Phantomfox pinned to the floor, completely helpless.

  Orion, who had been ready to bail, could only stare in disbelief at the sudden reversal. Gradually, his shock turned to excitement. He clenched his fists, his teeth gritted, and began muttering like a mantra.

  "Hit 'em!"

  "Hit 'em!"

  "Get the root!"

  "Root!"

  "Oh—it's about to break free!"

  "Ah! It's out! Watch out!"

  "I got it! Effigy of Substitution!"

  "It's controlled! Keep shooting, boss!"

  …

  With Orion's support, even when a Silkbind Shot proc failed to trigger for a few arrows, the fox never had a chance to move. Under Kael’s relentless assault, its health plummeted.

  When its HP hit the one million mark, the fox’s body swelled in size, its fur bristling with rage.

  [Arctic Phantomfox (Enraged)]: Level 28

  HP: 1,000,000 / 2,000,000

  ATK: 4,200

  DEF: 2,200

  Evasion: 50%

  Movement Speed: 25

  Higher attack, faster movement speed. It didn't matter.

  Kael kept firing. In the real world, beads of sweat were forming on his forehead. Manual Mode was incredibly draining, and even against a stationary target, he couldn't afford a single mistake. His concentration was absolute.

  But when the fox’s health dropped to 500,000, the situation changed.

  The fox threw its head back and let out a piercing shriek. Its body blurred. When it came back into focus, there were three of them.

  Mirror Image.

  Critically, the threads of Silkbind Shot had vanished. The clone ability had cleansed its debuffs.

  The three foxes lunged simultaneously.

  "Holy shit, I can't hold them!" Orion yelled in panic. His Effigy of Substitution was on cooldown. All he could do was watch as the three phantoms converged on Kael.

  In Manual Mode, Kael couldn't possibly hit three targets in three different directions with a single arrow. And yet, his face showed no sign of tension. He focused his gaze on the central fox, tracking its trajectory.

  Suddenly, he fired.

  -51,179! (Silkbind Shot)

  The fox in the middle was instantly entangled. The two secondary projectiles from Galeharrow’s Splintering Arrow ability shot out toward the other two foxes.

  -5028

  -23,721! (Silkbind Shot)

  One of the clones, not rooted by the splinter shot, managed to land a claw swipe on Kael.

  -583

  The damage was negligible. It was definitely a clone. But even so, its on-hit effects were real. Kael now had a fresh stack of Rend on him.

  That was the true terror of this move. The clones dealt little damage, but they could stack the debuff. An ordinary player would quickly find themselves at ten stacks, taking thousands of bonus damage from every hit.

  But their opponent wasn't an ordinary player.

  The hit mechanics for Splintering Arrow were a hybrid. The splinter arrows themselves were system-assisted and would seek targets. However, the accuracy of Kael's main arrow, fired in Manual Mode, dramatically increased their chance to hit.

  The phantoms had low health—only 100,000 each. They were quickly torn apart by Kael's arrows. With the clones gone, the real fox was once again pinned to the ground, howling in frustration.

  When its health dropped to 200,000, it blurred and split again.

  Mirror Image!

  It couldn't escape its fate. Kael went all out. By the time he had destroyed the second set of clones, the fox only had a little over 100,000 health left.

  -6433

  -6151 (Silkbind Shot)

  …

  Kael remained laser-focused, not daring to relax for a second. The fox thrashed violently against its bonds, but could do nothing else.

  Finally, with one last agonizing shriek, the Arctic Phantomfox collapsed and dissolved.

  "Boss, you're a monster!" Orion yelled, running over.

  But before they could even approach the glowing pile of loot, a new voice echoed from the dungeon entrance.

  "Boss, I found the way down! Over here!"