Well that was a shock.  Tailpin stood still for a long moment while staring at a small screen that had appeared in front of him.  He got the final blow rewards for that bear.  That was luck, not power.  There was an item though, Bear Sinew Bow.  He accepted the item and equipped it quickly when he noticed that it had more than three times the power of his current bow.  But, he shouldn't have been able to equip it.  It had a minimum level of two.  He was still level one, wasn't he?  Nope.  On closer examination he saw that he had indeed gone up to level two.  With the added damage bonus from this new bow and the stats from his new level he might actually be able to do something significant now.

That was the thought that immediately preceded him noticing that one of the fighters was running into a wooded area in pursuit of the fox.  No, he can't be that reckless.  It's a monster.  They don't fear for their lives.  They just follow algorithms.  If it was running into the forest then there was an aggressive reason behind it.  It had to be a trap!  But, that side of the battle was outside his range.  I can't strike that... He moved his new bow into line and saw the indicator in his vision.  It had longer range too.  I can almost reach!  But, this spot has outlasted it purpose.  The main battle area was almost completely clear of beasts and there were foxes to hunt.

Tailpin jumped and slid down the slope's steeper side toward the battle, running straight into the middle of everything as soon as he hit the ground.  He had no time to waste.  He raised his bow.  His eyes snapped to brilliant green as he used his spot skill, the most advanced skill he had at this point.  There was that player and there was that... no... there were two foxes!  He pulled the arrow back and primed his Impact Sidewinder.  Then both the player and one of the foxes exploded into shards that glittered under the shade of the trees.

Tailpin's hands shook.  His pupils dilated.  He tracked the remaining fox with his bow, dragging the prediction line across the forest like a searchlight as the fox swiftly ran through underbrush trying to evade detection.  It was trying to set up another ambush.  [i]No you don't.[/i]  His gut felt heavy and sick.  His thoughts felt sharp and hard.

"You die!"  He shouted without realizing it as he loosed the shot.  

It swept through the battle and vanished into the trees.  It hit hard, striking the fox in the eye and landing a critical hit.  Tailpin could see his target thanks to his spot skill, without it he couldn't have seen it through the shadows.  He couldn't see what exactly happened but the fox flew away from him as a result of the impact before suddenly stopping.  It lost more hit points from the impact.  It was already in the yellow.  That's right, Impact Sidewinder cuts damage by 75% in exchange for doubling the impact force.  He pulled the next arrow back.  There would be no skills this time.  It was a straight draw and he loosed immediately.  Before the arrow even struck the staggering fox another arrow was being drawn.  This monster would kill no one else.  He loosed again.  The first arrow struck, lodging behind the fox's near side foreleg.  It's hit points dropped into the red.  Was it actually weak to arrows?  The second arrow struck near the center of mass.  The fox finally died, shattering into shards.

"I didn't really know you.  But there's the first part of your vengeance.  The rest will be carved into Kayaba's corpse."  Tailpin's eyes lost their green glow as he spoke and he glanced around at all of the people who had been entangled in this monster trap set by that wretch, Kayaba.  That was the first person that he had seen die in this world.  He swallowed hard.  Even though none of the other players were in real danger of death any longer he still felt sick and heavy.  He blinked a few times and then spoke up loudly enough for everyone to hear, not really knowing who to speak to.  "Whoever went into those trees was ambushed by two giant foxes.  The foxes are dead. But, the player... didn't make it."