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Richard taking charge of all of them, while the three others were an archer in the Scout, a caster who had recently been replaced by William, and Joanna representing the craftsmen and craftswomen.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!”

he smiled to himself in satisfaction. It was only

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 to join him in his

the warrior smiled to himself - a young man with blonde

us,” he said as he smiled at

that Richard would only bring him benefits. He couldn’t imagine the caster turning

join us also?” Richard asked

like this,” William answered, as he cheerfully laughed. “You know the old man cares more about smithing than anything else in this

have been a great asset, but then again,

what 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

cheerful smile while he inwardly sneered - sneered, and seethed in rage. Who the fuck does he

followed the rest of 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. A soldier who was working under Hayden, who had exemplified himself during

could. While no one knew it for a fact, chances were that some of

get the 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 him an

faction you belonged to was irrelevant. Today would be a slaughter, with William happily taking on the role of the butcher. And he wasn’t picky on what to put on his chopping

by Hayden and his comrades. Walking closer, they stopped only 20 meters or so from the gate, as they heard yelling and confusion from behind the wall.

as the sound boomed out. The volume

few people were peeking over the wall in shock and horror. After only ten

as he walked towards

shockwave shot out of the shield,

by a string of other

he yelled as they all raised their shields. Blue barriers appeared and enlarged in front of their shields, making an impenetrable wall, easily blocking all the

as they

on the other side struggled as they slowly backed off and kept

spells were 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 job as the spells were on the weaker

currently deployed by him and the other

lack of people. There were perhaps 40 people in front of him, even though Desmond should have more

could go further, he heard an explosion from behind, followed by screams of

he turned back. What the

that the man he was currently

especially not after his son died. He had been overly emotional and spontaneous, which was

had more easily united the remaining survivors of their

behind the attacking force, the forest shimmered as dozens of people were revealed. Ironically, Richard had been struck by

thought to be deserters

other warriors and elites, the mediocre fighters started a

had surely underestimated the enemy, Richard wasn’t a total slouch, however, as he quickly remobilized his men as they charged backward once more to face

and mixing. Richard had issues trying to make it back towards Desmond as he had a mix of allies and enemies between

that the majority of the survivors were barely fillers, people who had barely managed to get their first class evolution, with even a few not having them at all. Most only had the basic evolutions, not offering them

who had gotten

stone staff fired spike after spike into the masses, 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

have an easy time either, as he was 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 spells, tearing him to