The Primal Hunter

The King of the Forest lifted its ivory hand and pointed one of its sharp claw-like fingers at him. Jake’s sense of danger exploded as he dodged to the side. Where he had stood only a moment earlier exploded as if a colossal hammer had just struck. The blast didn’t hit him directly but was still enough to blast him away as he was pelted with rock and dust.

He barely managed to stabilize himself, as the King suddenly was within his sphere - right in front of him. He tried dodging backward, but it was too late. In a movement faster than he could in any way dodge, the creature lifted its finger once more and simply poked his shoulder. Imbedding its claw to its root.

Jake felt the pain as it entered him and then exited out his back as he tumbled backward. The King simply looked down at him, blood pouring out of the hole in the human’s shoulder.

“Where did all the fight go?”

The creature appeared to slide forward as it lifted its foot, kicking the hunter as he was already lying down. Jake flew tens of meters away, hitting the volcano’s inner wall more than sixty meters away.

“Show me. Show me the power of the one who has dared to come before me.”

Jake didn’t respond as he was still reeling from the kick. His ribs hurt like hell after only one half-arsed attack, and his health had dropped by far more than he found reasonable. But he didn’t give up; he refused to.

He quickly jumped up as he activated Badger Jump to get some height. He took out his bow and an arrow as he fired a Splitting Arrow towards the figure below in an attempt t-

“Weak.”

The arrows were blasted away midair, as Jake too was hit by a wave of force sending him into the wall once more, this time far harder than before. Coughing out a mouthful of blood, he tried to put the bow back in his inventory but failed as it flew away from him, straight into the claws of the King.

Lifting the bow and observing it for a bit with the emotionless glowing eyes, the King tossed the bow up into the air.

“An archer without his bow.”

The creature then lifted its palm and fired a wave of force at the weapon. It was blasted off out of the hole at the top of the volcano-like mountain, to who-knows-where.

“How shameful.”

The hunter who had just lost his bow had at this point just fallen down unto the hard stone once more, as he tried to stand up. His entire body was aching from the blast, and he felt like he had just been hit by a truck.

It was looking bad. Really bad.

The King of the Forest lifted its hand once more in Jake’s direction, as the human felt like a hand grabbed him. Unable to resist, he was pulled towards the creature - right into its open claw that closed around his neck.

Jake had both his eyes open wide as his danger sense kept telling him to just fucking run. Something it had done from the very first attack.

Claws closed around his neck, and he felt them slightly penetrate his skin. He stared directly into the two wisps of lights that were in its eyes as it regarded the human. Even without a face, Jake could easily feel the disdain, arrogance, and… playfulness in its eyes.

“I could kill you here and now. But the ‘fight’ is not over yet, now is it? But you appear to have lost your weapon, little archer… “

It lifted its palm and pointed it towards the side of the volcano. Power gathered for but a moment before a blast was released, shearing off the entire side of the mountain. A blast that would have ripped Jake apart if it had ever hit him… making it clear exactly how unserious the King was.

help you go

it had done with the bow. And just like his weapon, it blasted him with a wave of force, sending

damage significantly as he also crossed his arms to

him downwards once more. He fell towards one of the valleys as he braced himself for

nothing. It was nothing to feel happy about, however. His health was down to less than half, and to make it even worse, when he tried to block the blow earlier, he felt the bones in both his arms

quite a lot of the lost HP. His wounds also visibly

that monster that was the King of the Forest was out of the question. He needed a plan if he wanted even a sliver of a chance.

bow was gone, and even if he had it, he was unsure of how much damage his Infused Powershot could do even if he managed to land one undetected. Maybe he could make something

He

he got a powerful premonition of danger. He quickly hid behind a tree as he tried to make himself as small as possible. Advanced Stealth was working overtime to

the creature descend from above, its bony feet digging into the soft soil in his sphere. It was still twenty meters away from him, as Jake

its voice sounded out in his

know you are here. Why hide from the inevitable? Have you finally given up all hope? Seen the

beast fearing the predator that hunts it. A defenseless

in his mind despite being unaware of where he was. At least he believed it to

the King’s words but wasn’t stupid enough to let himself be provoked like that… but it did give him an idea. Suppressing his nervousness and fear, he opened his eyes once more as he stepped out from behind the tree. It was time

little

but simply charged. He thought he saw what he could only interpret as a smirk in the eyes of the creature, but he didn’t mind. In fact, he

merely a regular dagger. One, he swung down towards the King of the

a barrier that stopped the dagger less than a

it taunted him as Jake once more ignored

let go of the dagger that was stuck in the barrier, and the King simply flicked it to the side. However, Jake wasn’t done as he took out yet another weapon and attacked, this time

King of the Forest, this time just sending Jake tumbling back with a shockwave. In the process, he lost the axe’s grip, after which the King caught it out of the air with his telekinesis and flicked

and the weapon disposed of. He could feel the

attacking. Greatsword, axe, dagger, Jake used every single weapon except for his Venomfang and the rare items he had. All of which

of poison at the King, his face full of fear. He heard the creature’s chuckle in his mind as it merely allowed it to hit its barrier, the bottle shattering, and the liquid harmlessly slid

threw a few more bottles, his look of fear and despair increasing with every bottle. Finally, he took out one of the more

and nature. Infuse mana and

front of the King of the Forest as tens of roots swiftly sprouted forth. They entangled up the

“What a fun toy.”

circular sphere of distorted air flew out from the King’s body, the roots shredded in the process, not a single

threw them at the King. Chairs, books,

“How pathetic.”

was to throw another bottle, followed by a piece of wood, a metal gauntlet, and then finally a particular small item mixing

the Forest was enjoying himself immensely as he kept laughing. The items hit his barrier, as he swatted away the larger ones. He didn’t notice, or perhaps didn’t care, about the small black marble that shattered when it hit the

…darkness descended.

of pure dark mana sprung forth from the marble, all of it drilling its way into the body of the King. Jake could feel the resentment and bloodlust in the air, and for the first time, he heard something not pompous