The Primal Hunter

Packing up, Jake looked over his potions one last time. A few dozen health potions, twenty-two stamina potions, and a good nine bottles of Necrotic Poison. Every single one of the potions and poison the most potent iterations he had ever made.

If he had more time, he would have attempted common-rarity health potions, but that was a big if. He didn’t have time. He had four days left to clear the rest of this dungeon, and very likely one more dungeon, the one with the King of the Forest in it. In other words, he was really in a rush.

He had likely actually saved time by his little trick with the Crystalized Essence. A welcome surprise for sure, but he would take anything he could get. With his new Limit Break, he had confidence in being able to do it in time. But not if he dallied around.

His arm and supply of stamina potions were both in peak condition also. It had taken him a few hours to do this alchemy, and he had drunk some potions in between to get back in top shape. In other words, he was back in business.

At first, he had thought himself smart and tried using Limit Break while doing alchemy to get that sweet 10% boost to all stats. But... after only a minute began to feel restless like his body was begging for him to move.

After only a few more minutes, he began to feel spasms coming on, and he had to get up and actually move about. In the end, Limit Break was based on speeding up the flow of stamina... and when he did that, he needed some kind of outlet. Sure, he could maybe just pour a shitload more mana into the concoction or brew, but that would be kind of pointless as it would ruin the crafting process.

In conclusion... Limit Break didn't do anything for him when it came to alchemy.

Rushing forward, he started sprinting towards the gorge. He didn’t fear the beasts charging the other way, as he was pretty sure he could now outrun them.

It didn’t take him that long to run through it, and he found himself in the pillar-filled valley once more. Neither did it take him long to see his first prey.

The boars had once again proven their utter stupidity. Instead of staying together, they were all spread out in the valley. As if they had already forgotten the slaughter that happened only a few hours ago, they were just happily munching away at stone or even lying on the side relaxing.

Only the Horde Leader appeared a bit more aware, as it had erected walls of earth around itself. Jake called it more aware, but in reality, all it really did was block off its own sight of any of its mates while selfishly protecting itself.

Counting his targets, he saw only a total of 14 boars and the Horde Leader. His plan was pretty simple. Pick off the spread out boars one by one, and then finally take down the boss. Easy and simple.

In fact, it actually was simple. The scattered boars made it easy for Jake to take them out without attracting the others. At most, he would have to fight two at a time, which realistically would only be one considering the first would die or be incapacitated by his opening Infused Powershot.

The first boar went down unceremoniously as Jake attacked, and he even used his newly acquired skill.

Limit Breaking to 10%, he felt his stats increase, and his internal energy speed increased likewise. Not that it ultimately would have mattered as the oblivious boar had its head obliterated by an arrow.

The resulting explosion did grab the attention of three other beasts, who all ran towards their dead friend. Little did it matter as Jake had already taken off away from them, making his way towards another boar far away from the first.

Being far enough away, they didn’t detect his light footsteps on the ground. To be extra safe, he had even coated his feet in a layer of mana like when he was walking on water. He didn’t know if it helped or not, but he didn’t see any loss in doing so.

Activating and deactivating his Limit Break was unbelievably easy. It took only a moment, and like a light switch, he could turn it on and off. It did take a bit of time to fully activate as the flow increased, but it was in the milliseconds.

He reckoned it was only for the 10% increase, but that in itself would be more than enough.

picking off the beasts spread out as they were. He got to a boar, killed it swiftly, and then rushed to the other end of the valley where a new unsuspecting victim

out once more after only a few minutes. Jake couldn’t help but find their intelligence, or lack

smarter. Well, maybe the badgers were still pretty damn stupid

smartest enemies he had encountered had to be the stags. While the two ratmen he had met had been rather smart, the Nest Watcher even capable of

attacks, used complicated magic, and made the entire damn dungeon into a huge ritualistic circle. And

normal stags had been clever. They used tactics with the deer surrounding them, healing them from behind as they engaged in melee. It had made them by far the most annoying

at the entire other end of the spectrum. They were just straight-up dumb. Jake could attack them, and only a few minutes later, they would just go back to their daily business, having totally not made the

easily exploitable weakness; one

of the boss lay dead on the ground. Jake had gotten another level after the 6th

down once more, he entered meditation to get up to tip-top shape once more. Before doing so, he consumed a stamina potion to save time. He hadn’t lost

his eyes

and his anticipation high. He felt the Horde Leader still hiding within its shell of stone. Jake didn’t know

of stacked stones relatively close to the dome, he climbed it in a fluid motion. Getting to the top, he began

topmost stones. Several times he made sure he wove the strings into

once more, he found himself standing at the bottom of it. Reaching into his spatial storage, he pulled out an item he hadn’t looked at for a

him due to incompatibility, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t make use of it. It was the closest thing

made the blade’s former owner curse him, Jake began hacking away at the pillar. The stones

boar still hadn’t reacted to anything he was doing. The dome it was hiding within was only a mere 70 meters or so away from him, and it had to feel what he was doing. Yet it remained idle, allowing

the bottom of the pillar was cleaved away. He had made a quite lovely alcove into the huge pillar if he said so himself. Moreover,

ran to the other side of the dome, directly away from the pillar, rope in tow. It didn’t take a genius to figure out

and the foundation of the pillar weakened. The entire

it on top of the big piggie, he thought, his smile as big as the piggy he was about

plan was ready, and so was he. Nearly. He climbed up another pillar directly opposite of the one he had bound up and primed for collapse. It was never

Pulling on his rope of mana,

he felt his entire body filling up with energy as the air around him reverberated with power, and the stone beneath his feet cracking. His sight and

catastrophic, the more than a hundred-meter tall pillar fell over. Thousands of tons fell upon the dome of stone that protected the Horde Leader - a dome

*SQUEAL*

scream from the beast, and at the same time, with Hunter’s Sight activated, he found his opening. An opening between the

of the bowstring, the topmost stone of the pillar he stood on exploded into dust as the explosions of might was directed down into it. As for the arrow, it flew straight through that tiny opening just as

even a second had passed since the

fall so easily. Jake felt it through the stones below him before

Leader made its move. The pillar he was standing on began toppling over, and it was far from the only one. The earthquake extended through the entire valley as nearly every single pillar began cracking and falling

Horde Leader was far

body were pushed away as it turned

covered in wounds, and from how it didn’t put any weight on one of its legs, he guessed

damaging was the massive hole in its stomach. It looked like a cannonball had smashed into it - a crater formed upon its body from the impact. Jake recognized a wound like that easily. Even with his more durable arrows from upgrading it to uncommon-rarity, it was clear that they were still