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.

land a solid blow. His Venomfang penetrated its neck, while his sword went for its head. It never arrived, however, as the doe was awoken from the

a loud bellow, its entire body exploded in 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 around the beast,

as he relied on his Sphere anyway. At first, he had believed that it had tried to blow itself up, but it seemed only to try and create some distance. The blade of light reformed as it

he moved slightly to the side, simultaneously summoning another set of scales to protect his flank. The blade scraped under his raised

beast in a chokehold. A Touch of Malefic Viper quickly invaded the beast’s body, making it bellow once more, this time in

too strong. He kept channeling

in

doe struggled for only a few seconds, releasing light constantly as it seared Jake’s unscaled skin. However, in the

the beast go as it dropped

the moment the beast teleported before him till it died, not even allowing any of the other beasts to engage him. It

eyes as fast as he could. Opening it, everything was blurry, but it was enough to land his Mark. He landed it on the

imagine that his accuracy would suffer immensely, but

arrow out of his quiver, he nocked it and starting shooting once 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

do. Rushing into melee was an option, but he preferred

before the integration, had concentrated on shooting stationary targets. He had

meters between himself and his target, he was sure to miss

an arrow aimed slightly to the right of the beast, followed swiftly by an extremely fast Infused Powershot to

hit it straight in its chest, penetrating all the way through and out the other side. Far less damaging than his initial Infused Powershot, but the damage

it lethally damaged, the next two arrows quickly finished it 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

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

heal it too. But it had only done some quick healing. His vision

from the shot. If

as the seconds ticked by. The stag did nothing, and he felt that

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

quickly looked around. Seven pillars of light sprung up from around the dungeon, all shooting towards the moon above. Looking at them, he could

of the pools

to give off a faint glow. Like a spark had been ignited, a pattern of light was drawn on the

the middle of it all was

stag stood inside it, the water nearly reaching its belly. Its entire body gave off an ethereal glow as it

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

the first one he had shot. It was his full