The Primal Hunter

Jake felt like he was suddenly submerged in oil. Everything went completely black, and his entire body felt like he was deep underwater. Even sound seemed to disappear as he was left with nearly no external stimulus. He said nearly as two things still worked - his sphere and his roaring sense of danger at what was heading towards him.

He tried jumping back fast enough but took a deep cut across his chest as he jumped backward. It was followed up by another strike that sought to impale him through his heart. He managed to barely weave to the side of the blade as he felt it brush past him, the dense mana surrounding the huge sword burning his side.

It wasn’t just that Jake had gotten slower. The ratman had gotten stronger and faster. It moved as if it hadn’t taken a single injury during their entire fight. But in his sphere, he clearly saw what was truly going on.

The ratman was burning up with mana. It came out of every orifice, and even the puncture wounds Jake’s arrows had caused earlier. Every vestige of energy was being burned, and it was only a matter of time before it would collapse.

But Jake didn’t have that much time, as he barely managed to avoid a swipe of its sword but was still caught in the wave of dark mana, blowing him back. He felt the dark mana dig into his body as he felt the energy within him being drained. Health, stamina, and mana all took a hit as the mana ravaged through him.

Dodging once more, he used his Shadow Vault to dodge an overhead blow and instantly regretted it. The moment he turned into the ethereal shadow, the dark mana dug into him, draining him at an alarming rate as he quickly disabled the skill. To make it even worse, this resulted in him failing to dodge away as far as he wanted and was blown away by the blade smashing into the ground.

He knew he couldn’t keep it up. He needed to change the status quo. Dodging was not an option, and he was slowed down far too much by the domain of darkness to flee. His evasion skill was more than useless. So, instead of trying to avoid the enemy, he charged.

The ratman was faster and stronger than him, but it did have one major disadvantage; its weapon and fighting style. The heavy sword was great at medium range, and its waves of dark mana allowed it to even fight well at long range.

At short range, it had issues. The blade was too long to properly land hits, and coupled with the Nest Watcher’s giant size; the small human was a difficult target to pin down. However, Jake needed an opportunity to get in close, and the ratman seemed more than content to keep him away. So he played one of his final cards.

He ran straight towards the rat without any intention to dodge - his Venomfang in one hand and his shortsword in the other. The Nest Watcher responded with an overhead smash. The raised blade descended like a meteor as his danger sense exploded out with warnings of him being obliterated.

But just before the blade hit him, it seemed to stop mid-swing. The roaring waves of mana slowed down, the smoke-like mana pouring out from the ratman moving in slow motion.

Moment of the Primal Hunter

Jake, the only one unaffected by the warped time, dodged the blade easily as time resumed to normal once more. The ratman was still confused as the dagger cut into its right knee. The hunter had held nothing back as the Descending Dark Fang penetrated the wound left by an arrow earlier and utterly shattered the kneecap.

Despite the dark mana’s effects buffing it up, the Nest Watcher still could no longer use the leg as he knelt down on the other one. The ratman would likely be able to do a quick repair and resume motion in a short time. If Jake let him.

A sword and dagger cut into it once more from behind, stabbing into its back and shoulder. It tried to swing its sword behind it but failed to hit anything, as the two weapons dug into its flesh again.

Jake avoided the armor covering the Nest Watcher with his blades. It only covered parts of the body, and a lot of it had broken off by now anyway.

After landing two more blows, he decided that enough was enough and retreated backward once more. He had injected far more poison into the ratman, and even if the dark mana was keeping it at bay currently, it would still spell the doom of the Nest Watcher.

tried standing a few times but failed. Soon the domain darkness was dispelled as everything returned to normal once more. As normal as a sewer

knees with the blade dropped to the side.

up at Jake, who stood only a few meters away now, its eyes fixed on

kill King truth?” It asked, the words barely

I die trying,”

Very strong. Trapped nest,” the Nest Watcher said, as it picked up the fallen blade slowly. Jake didn’t react as he could see that it genuinely could barely lift it. “I hate. If

How?” He asked, a bit confused. He doubted the

curse, you kill King,” It said, as it lifted the blade and held it in both

“Sure.”

blade. At the same time, the blade

barely managed to get out before the last remnants of life left

– Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level. 152000

reached level 64

a solemn end, but it

well, Jake thought as he walked up to the dead Nest Watcher. He nodded at the corpse as he accepted the gift it had

hope of the Nest Watcher to get revenge on the King of the Forest. Can be thrown at foes to inflict them with a powerful Curse of Darkness upon shattering. The curse will severely limit perception and drain energy until dispelled. All of

one-time use attack. One clearly made for the King of the Forest, and Jake would happily reserve it for just that. It would maybe give him

bead in his storage. While he planned to face the King all

Incubator. It was still just lying there on the stones, seemingly unaware of

held for the Nest Watcher, its nest

job was done, and

slain [Molerat Incubator– lvl 85] – Bonus experience earned for killing an

[Ambitious Hunter] has reached level 65 - Stat

reached level 58 - Stat points allocated, +5 free

dungeon as he entered a new small room with a wooden door leading into it. The room held two lockboxes summoned by the system, but also many

and dirty, obviously having been there for a long time. It wasn’t hard to conclude that this

- just a bunch of old hides and some rudimentary furniture such as

to live in such terrible conditions… Jake could understand why he hated his existence. It also explained why he had been so slow to react to the hunter’s initial assault, which allowed him to kill two Incubators before he even

own experience in the challenge dungeon. Except the Nest Watcher didn’t have any endgame. He was

the Forest. Perhaps this was the ratman’s intention all along. Find someone powerful enough to possibly stand up to the

with the other one

only covered the hand and only extended a few centimeters up the arm, meaning