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Richard taking charge of all of them, while the three others were an archer in the Scout, a caster who had recently been replaced by William, and Joanna representing the craftsmen and craftswomen.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

to himself in satisfaction. It was only a stupid act, but it had always

Some of them weren’t combatants but had simply come to send off their friends, but

himself - a young man with blonde hair and piercing

see you join us,” he said as he

William. Not in the slightest. The young man had shown himself to be deceitful and powerful. 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. Purely from a pragmatic standpoint,

join us also?” Richard asked

William answered, as he cheerfully laughed. “You know the old man

hammer would have been more than welcome,” Richard said regretfully. The Smith would have been a great asset, but then again, perhaps it was good to leave him behind. He was another of the

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

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

he never believed he would ever have to do, he followed the rest of the merry band as they made their way towards Hayden’s old camp. William learned

were more than happy with sharing every little tidbit of information they could. While no one knew

possible in the good graces of himself, which was also why practically all of them had joined this attack.

faction you belonged to was irrelevant. Today would be a slaughter, with William happily taking

finally stood 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 heard yelling and confusion from

YOU COWARD, GET THE FUCK OUT HERE!” Richard yelled as the sound boomed out. The volume far above what a human could ever do before the

from the base, but a few people were peeking over the wall in shock and horror. After only

aren’t coming out,” he said as he walked towards the wooden gate, “then I am coming

pushed it forward as a shockwave shot out of the

by a string of other spells as they bombarded Richard along with the other warriors

as they all raised their shields. Blue barriers appeared and enlarged in

they all started

struggled as they slowly backed off and kept

side kept retreating as they clearly focused on defense

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

mana. The shields currently deployed by him and the other heavy warriors were skills they had all learned at level 20. The

though Richard was surprised at the lack of people. There were perhaps 40 people in front of

he heard an explosion from behind, followed by screams of

Richard thought, as he turned back.

know was that the man he was

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

was also why he had more easily united the remaining

forest shimmered as dozens of people were revealed. Ironically, Richard had been

to be deserters turned towards the weaker casters as

two forces, and with Richard having pushed together with a group of other warriors and elites, the mediocre

slouch, however, as he quickly remobilized his men as they

make it back towards Desmond as he had a mix of allies and enemies between the two of

barely fillers, people who had barely managed to get their first class evolution, with even a few

meant that the truly powerful individuals who had gotten more powerful classes easily distinguished

by one. However, he soon met his end as a glowing red arrow fired with a Powershot blew off his head, shattering

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