The Primal Hunter

For so long, they had waited, generation after generation, era after era. Their hope never died, their conviction eternal. Yet the branches died out one by one. Now only a single hall remained - the once glorious order corroded by the march of time.

For only the gods are immortal. Only the gods can stand against time and preserve what was. Perhaps the only reason why his hall had survived so long was that they had one such god among them.

Here, in this world, they were still respected. They had power, after all. But outside, in the other universes, their once mighty order was nearly forgotten. The Lord Protector, the god who watched over them in place of their Patron, having no desire to leave. So, they could only wait. Wait for the day of his return.

The current Hall Master was one of those waiting. She had been in her position for many generations, and like the many predecessors, she too was patient, never losing faith. Every year she dreamed of their Patron's return. And every year, she found herself saddened when nothing happened.

If not for the Lord Protector and the grand legacy left behind, perhaps even they would have forgotten the Malefic One. Many, even today, still doubted he would ever return. But she believed that the Patron was out there, and as long as they waited, as long as they remained forever faithful, the Malefic One was sure to reemerge.

Suddenly she was awakened from her meditation as an old man teleported into her chamber. He wore a black robe with a snake's motif on it, one similar to her own. However, his snake was not giving off the same aura as the one on hers. One had to distinguish ranks after all.

“What do you disturb my meditation for?” the Hall Master asked, slightly annoyed. If this were another petty squabble with the Brimstone Conglomerate, heads would roll.

“Honored Hall Master, the Lord Protector has ordered you to his realm. Immediately,” the man said, bowing deeply.

The Hall Master kneaded her brows, feeling a mix between excitement and fear. This was only the second time she would meet the Lord Protector. The only other time was during her inauguration as Hall Master, and even then, it was only him making an appearance briefly. She knew that the Hall Master that was before her had only met him twice also, the first being his own inauguration and the second being when he reached the peak of mortality. The Lord Protector didn’t even bother to show up at the funeral.

“I shall go at once,” She answered as she teleported out of her chamber. She couldn’t teleport straight to the entrance of the Lord Protectors realm but had to walk the majority of the way due to all the protective wards and spells put up through the ages. A minor inconvenience compared to the security provided.

As she walked further and further down towards the entrance, her nervousness only grew. But at the same time, so did her hope. Had it perhaps finally happened?

Unlike most other grand orders or churches like theirs, the Malefic Order did not build grand castles or towers that breached the skies. Instead, they built into the ground, making vast networks of caves, which wasn’t to say that the splendor of their order in any way could be belittled. The gloriousness and grandness of their halls were among the best. Caves could easily be far more extensive than some landmasses, especially with a bit of space magic mixed in.

The entrance to the Lord Protectors realm finally entered her sight after only a few minutes of descending. The portal unadorned and straightforward, being merely an archway of stone with a portal in. Taking a deep breath, she stepped through.

This was her first time in the Lord Protectors realm, and her expectations were most certainly met. The realm was not very large, perhaps only the space of a few smaller planets. But numerous reptilian creatures lived on the vast landmass that floated beneath her. Very few buildings stood on the entire continent, and only a single one was of any note - the Lord Protectors abode, she assumed.

“Come, child, come quickly!”

She heard the venerated voice of the Lord Protector as she promptly teleported to the source. The god sounded… emotional.

After teleporting, she found the Lord Protector, all alone with a gleam in his eyes as he stared at a colossal obelisk made of black stone. The Hall Master had never seen this obelisk before, but she instantly knew what it was. And she knew what this meant.

lit up - the only rune on it. A profound green aura shrouded the obelisk, an aura that made even the Lord Protector’s seem weak in comparison. The rune represented a single message. A message they had been waiting

Viper was

knuckles as she started shaking from excitement. Their Patron, their one true god, was coming back to them. After Eras of waiting, the Malefic One would finally return and once more

to reality. Oh no! So many preparations had to be made! They had to get everything in the absolute best of conditions. She had to brief all the other leaders and minor branches around their world. There was so much! She only hoped paradoxically that the

SNAPPY! MISSED

less than a month. Without even thinking about it, he had found himself munching on mushrooms. Much

led to another, and now Jake found himself sitting beneath a tree with a mixing bowl in his hand with moss and mushrooms floating in the purified water. After his fight with the boar and a lot of practice with his new Shadow Vault skill, he

out of bed for. So instead, he had gotten bored and started doing a bit of alchemy. It helped calm his nerves, and he needed to practice using his Alchemical Flame

potions. He hadn’t needed them during the challenge dungeon as he

and the concoctions were some he had trained many times before. He still had plenty of ingredients left in his spatial necklace, so he didn’t really worry

to begin another concoction, he sensed someone looking at him. At first, he thought it was one of the not-bird-birds, but it wasn’t. Raising his head abruptly and turning to

three different kinds of the warrior class and a caster. Jake, with his high perception, used Identify on each of them, as they didn't seem keen on approaching him quite

[Human – lvl 19]

[Human – lvl 20]

[Human – lvl 18]

[Human – lvl 21]

[Human – lvl 20]

were all lower than the caster that called himself William, but that wasn’t grounds to underestimate them. There were five of them, and one of them had a rather mean-looking two-handed sword. That warrior also happened to be the one at level 21 and was even wearing plate armor. Armor Jake guessed was enchanted, either by upgrading it with a token or just

looked quite a bit nicer than his own. All of their armor or cloaks were

posture, they were all clearly on edge - a perfectly understandable response to seeing Jake, a solitary unidentifiable human in the middle of nowhere. If possible, Jake

he had it after all. He then got up and started walking towards the five people in an as non-threatening manner as he could. Which is to say he walked with both hands held out in front of him,

from the group and yelled. “Who are you? Why are you

an archer, and I am alone because I kind of like it that way. Also, it was just a bowl earlier, see?” he said as he

bowl, as their gazes all sharpened when he

Jake?” The caster asked as she stepped forward, glaring at him with quite a bit of

doubt, and while he wasn’t exactly on friendly terms with

name?” he

got instead was a bolt of ice followed by an arrow. The three warriors didn’t stand still either as they all charged the instant they confirmed

his danger sense. What the hell is wrong with

Mickey,

cool and let him run!” the warrior with the big sword said in a stern tone before

the warrior. This had to be some kind of misunderstanding. Perhaps