The Primal Hunter

The arrow met the doe’s turning forehead, as it didn’t stop in the least upon encountering the hard skull but cut through like it was made of butter. It went through the brain and, because of the upwards angle it was shot from, into the beast’s neck. There, it went through its throat and out beneath its right hind leg. However, what came out at the end was not an arrow but merely a few remnants of energy.

In its wake, it left everything destroyed. The entire head blew up, and the internal organs were shredded into a paste. No amount of healing could save the doe. It was dead before any of its companions could even react.

Even if they had tried to react, they now had their own issues to deal with. Another, albeit far weaker Infused Powershot, pierced through the air right towards the Great White Stag. It managed to block it with a barrier, but the arrow still shattered it and managed to penetrate a few inches into the stag’s side.

Less than a second later, a third shot arrived aimed at one of the two remaining does. Even with its reduced power, it was not to be trifled with as it hit the beast in its left front leg. The arrow pierced right through, resulting in the doe stumbling to the side.

However, the fourth arrow found no purchase as the last White Doe dodged the blow with elegance.

Jake’s initial assault had held nothing back. With no regard to his stamina and mana consumption, he had managed to kill one and injure two. Despite the two damaged ones only being minor, it was enough to deliver the arrowheads’ liquid death. As he observed, he could already see the necrosis setting in at a visible rate.

Not that he was about to let up just yet. The arrows continued raining down, this time with Splitting Arrows. His aim was on the already injured doe, hoping to capitalize further on its limited mobility. He delayed the splitting of the arrow as long as possible to increase accuracy, forcing it to only clone itself when it got closer - another perk of his increased ability to control energy. Finally, when it was only 30 meters from the doe, it split as Jake could no longer hold back the split’s activation. But he had achieved his goal.

The first barrage managed to hit with five of the nine arrows from the split. The Great White Stag had managed to help its companion in the last moment but only blocked one of the arrows that would have hit. Sadly, the one stopped arrow was the poisoned one - a deliberate move by the stag, no doubt.

With the initial element of surprise over, the beasts started to organize themselves. The wound on the stag was already gone, its hide back to pristine condition once more. The wounded doe was also healing fast as light descended upon it, but it was not in fighting condition yet. The last White Doe had already begun its charge towards Jake.

Something that proved to be a mistake. With the distance between them and the stag still busily focused on healing, the doe was isolated with no support.

Individually the does had never been a big issue; They only got annoying to deal with with a healer behind them. Jake felt no pressure from a single isolated beast.

He kept bombarding it with arrows while it ran towards him. Every shot was a Splitting Arrow and coupled with its momentum, it was unable to avoid all of them. It did, annoyingly so, avoid every single poisoned one.

It only suffered minor injuries here and there before it was only a few dozen meters away. Jake believed he still had time to fire a few more arrows but was interrupted as the doe subverted his expectations.

In a flash of light, the doe did what Jake could only describe as teleportation. Like a beam of light, it appeared right before him - but what surprised him even more was its method of attack.

A bright blade of light was now protruding from its forehead, not an antler-shaped one, but an edge of pure energy. Its head was pointed downwards as the blade was clearly aimed towards his midsection, and with a swipe of its head, it attempted to cleave him in half.

But Jake was fast enough to react in time. He awkwardly jumped backward, resulting in the blade still cutting into his chest with its very tip. Instead of soft skin, it instead encountered dark green scales. The edge was stuck dead in its tracks, its swiping motion interrupted.

The tip of the blade chipped as the blow did nothing, clearly leaving the White Doe distraught. Capitalizing on the momentary display of weakness, his bow disappeared, and a weapon appeared in each of his hands. A sword and a fang-shaped dagger approached the beast from both sides as it still had its head lowered at an awkward angle.

blow. His Venomfang penetrated its

a flash of light. Jake felt a searing sensation on his whole body, but the blow was more physical than energy. Like a bubble expanding

to blow itself up, but it

nearly hit him before he moved slightly to the side, simultaneously summoning another set of scales to protect his flank. The blade scraped under his raised right arm as

down his arm as he put the beast in a chokehold. A Touch of Malefic Viper quickly invaded

once more in the same bubble of light, but his hold was too strong. He kept channeling the Touch as the

in its abdomen with

it seared Jake’s unscaled skin. However, in the end, it succumbed to the

as it dropped lifelessly to the

teleported before him till it died, not even allowing any of the other beasts to engage him. It had been an

detect any enemies within it. He refocused his vital energy, healing one of his eyes as fast as he could. Opening it, everything was blurry, but

his bow once more, he resumed his attack. Without his eyesight, one would imagine that his accuracy would suffer immensely, but it didn’t matter with his tactic. He could feel where

more. He could feel the beast’s reaction instantly, meaning their attention had undoubtedly been on him. But from how slowly the doe avoided the blow, it had to still be wounded. Jake was a bit surprised the Great White Stag hadn’t managed to heal it but didn’t have time

make do. Rushing into melee was an option, but

concentrated on shooting stationary targets. He had improved immensely in technique over the last month or so in the tutorial and learned to hit moving targets far

to the extreme. With 150 meters between himself and his target, he was

an extremely fast Infused Powershot to the left of it. His hope

it moved slightly away from the first arrow, the second far faster Infused Powershot hit it straight in its chest, penetrating all the way through and out the other side. Far less damaging

off. Jake, of course, couldn’t directly see his Infused Powershot hitting, but the beast’s reaction to the shot was enough for him. The notification of the kill two arrows later sealed

all that remained was the Great White Stag. It hadn’t moved at all for quite a while, and he was slightly confused

it should have had ample time to heal it too. But it had only done some quick healing. His vision still blurry; he barely managed to see it and land his Mark. The system

from the shot.

stag did nothing, and he felt that shooting any arrows towards it would be a

on healing his eyes, it only took ten or so seconds for him. Opening

The stars and a single moon was floating far above. Jake’s eyes widened as he quickly looked around. Seven pillars of light sprung up from around the dungeon, all shooting towards the moon above.

light originated from one of the pools around the dungeon. But

spark had been ignited, a pattern of light was drawn on the plains. Each pond connected, each path

in the middle of it all

belly. Its entire body gave off

seriously doubted it was anything good for him. He would have to stop

was to take down the stag. He charged his Infused Powershot, imitating the first one he had shot.