The Primal Hunter

A few hours earlier, while it was still early in the morning, the base was in full motion. The smiths worked overtime, the tailors doing the last work, and all the warriors readied their weapons and prepared themselves to make sure all their resources were fully replenished.

The order given was to march towards the now deceased Hayden’s base only minutes from now. They had all expected the command to come sooner or later, but it nevertheless came a bit earlier than most would have predicted.

As for Richard himself, he was currently in the large cabin functioning as the headquarter of his base. With him were Caroline and three other influential members of his team. Notably absent from the regular group of leaders was Jacob, who had yet to soften up after the whole Jake debacle.

Richard didn’t sweat it much. They still had more than three weeks remaining, and despite his anger, Jacob had always done his job. Not happily, but he did it. His sense of responsibility seemingly trumping his anger.

Looking around at the other leaders in the camp, he was quite satisfied with himself. He had chosen to have a leader from each starting class present as if to represent their faction. Caroline naturally was the representative of the smallest group, the healers. Warriors had been bundled into one, Richard taking charge of all of them, while the three others were an archer in the Scout, a caster who had recently been replaced by William, and Joanna representing the craftsmen and craftswomen.

His desire to conquer the base of Hayden was still being questioned even now. Especially by the middle-aged woman who saw it all as utterly unnecessary bloodshed.

Richard believed that the light-caster, and former second-in-command, of the enemy faction’s remnants still wanted to fight. The caster likely thought that Richard wouldn’t risk storming their somewhat fortified base, even with their advantage in numbers. It was illogical and unnecessary, just like the craftswoman said.

He would agree, if not for small detail.

Tutorial Quest: A Leader is born

Objective: Become the sole leader of at least 90% of the other humans during the tutorial.

Current progress: 57%

Eliminate other leaders: 1/1

The quest had been obtained on the second day of the tutorial. Before he had even properly established his camp. He had been surprised at the notification, but at the same time excited.

There is no way such a quest wouldn’t reward something worthwhile. Of course, the only obstacle in his way had been Hayden. A man who, as the quest objective showed, also had the same quest as himself. Or at least the man had also been recognized by the system as a faction leader.

His aim was naturally not a measly 90%. He wanted to complete the quest with a 100% completion rate. The quest clearly said “at least 90%” which indicated rewards for having more. A bonus he would gladly claim.

All he needed now was to wipe out what remained of Hayden’s goons and then hunt down that troublesome archer Jake, along with any other stragglers. Striking down any dissidents within his own faction shouldn’t prove much of an issue, either.

Looking about, he saw all of the people as his skill made him aware of their loyalty. Many of the recent defects from Hayden’s camp weren’t considered loyal quite yet, but that was kind of expected.

Richard was also annoyed to see that William, that moron, was no longer considered loyal. He was joining their assault, however, so all was good. He would make use of the teenager to wipe out his enemies and then put him down.

Having concluded their meeting, and William confirmed his tactic, the five people exited the cabin as everyone except the craftswoman went towards the gate.

“Listen up, people!” he yelled as he made his way to the middle of the camp and stopped. “Hayden is dead, but his people remain, and I fear they thirst for revenge. We have given them the chance to step down, but they refused! Tell me, are we going to let them truly start another war again!?”

“NO!” he heard several yells from the group - his own planted people, along with a few others.

“Exactly!” he continued. “We should crush them before they gather themselves and attack! Show them that we aren’t afraid!”

sounded out as he smiled to himself in satisfaction. It was only a

the middle of the base, as the nearly 200 people stood in front of him. Some of them weren’t combatants but had simply come to send off their friends, but most were there

in the front, the warrior smiled to himself - a

am happy to see you join us,” he said

But he hadn’t shown himself to be foolhardy or overly stupid; he should know that Richard would only bring him benefits. He couldn’t imagine the caster turning on him any time soon.

the Smith join us also?”

a fan of stuff like this,” William answered, as he cheerfully laughed. “You know the

hammer would have been more than welcome,” Richard said regretfully. The Smith would have been a great asset, but then again, perhaps it was

you are made of, my friend” Richard laughed as he patted the young man on his shoulder. Feeling metal below the robe surprised Richard a bit, but he didn’t think more of it. He was a caster focusing on metal,

up his fake cheerful smile while he inwardly sneered - sneered, and seethed in rage. Who the fuck does he think he is to call me a friend? That was

the merry band as they made their way towards Hayden’s old camp. William learned on the way that the light caster's name was Desmond.

more than happy with sharing every little tidbit of information they could. While no one knew it for a fact, chances were that some of

other leaders as fast as possible in the good graces of himself, which was also why practically all of them had joined this attack. Besides, it gave

William happily taking on the role of the butcher. And he wasn’t picky on what to put on his

within eyeshot of the wall erected by Hayden and his comrades. Walking closer, they stopped only 20 meters or so from the gate, as they

yelled as the sound boomed out. The volume far above what a human could

few people were peeking over the wall in shock and horror. After only ten seconds or so, Richards

walked towards the wooden gate, “then I am coming

it forward as a shockwave shot out of the shield, easily smashing the fragile wooden gate off its

of other spells as they

in front of their shields, making an impenetrable wall, easily blocking all the spells and

they all started marching

as they slowly backed off and kept firing spells

thrown the other way, but the other side kept retreating as they clearly focused

and sporadic… yet planned. But he didn’t worry much as he spotted the unique robe of Desmond among the retreating people. The caster was also clearly firing light beams here and there, though he seemed to be doing a rather half-arsed

Richard happily let the other side waste their mana. The shields currently deployed by him and the other

better as expected, though Richard was surprised at the lack of people. There were perhaps 40 people in front of him, even though Desmond

his thoughts could go further, he heard an explosion from behind, followed by

turned back. What the

that the man he was currently

son died. He had been overly emotional and spontaneous, which was why Desmond

united the remaining survivors of their camp. Far more quickly

attacking force, the forest shimmered as dozens of people were revealed. Ironically, Richard

deserters turned towards the weaker

Richard having pushed together with a group of other warriors and elites, the mediocre fighters started a desperate struggle as they were

total slouch, however, as he quickly remobilized his

the groups started clashing and mixing. Richard had issues trying to make it back towards Desmond as he had a mix of allies

fillers, people who had barely managed to get their first class evolution,

truly powerful individuals who had

killing Richard’s men one by one. However, he soon met his end as a glowing red arrow fired with a Powershot blew off his head, shattering the mana barrier he had hastily

cleaved in two by a two-handed blade as it descended from a warrior surrounded by weird energy giving off a deadly feeling. A warrior who soon found himself at the other end of a barrage of