The Primal Hunter

Everything was buzzing as she acted almost on instinct. A transparent barrier instantly covered the entire lodge, followed by another bubble overlapping with hers only moments later.

Silas charged forward with his healing already on full display to keep Levi alive. Hank quickly came over to the screaming man and forced a healing potion down his throat, quickly flooding his body with vital energy.

“Well done, Neil, I wanted to rip him apart from mouth to asshole. Nice tilting of the axis there at the end,” they heard Abby’s voice say as she walked up to the barrier separating them.

The calmness in her voice stood out, as she didn’t appear phased at the barrier’s appearance at all. But as she examined it closer, she noticed something a bit off.

“One of space, and another of pure mana? Great, good job wasting my time more than necessary,” she said with a bit of annoyance. She could detect the two barriers blocking her from getting to her desired orb, and while the one of space mana was manageable, the one of mana was quite a bit more tricky.

On the inside of the barrier, the outlook in their situation was far from favorable. Abby had even hoped for a second that the annoying magic swordsman would die but was surprised to see his wounds close instantly.

It was a bit eerie to see the entrails on the steps slowly retract themselves as new skin covered the lower half of his body, making him look like a bilateral amputee. That is until small bumps slowly began growing out beneath him, clearly indicating the regrowth of his entire lower body.

Abby just stared at it in fascination as she wondered exactly how powerful the potion they used was. That or the healer had gotten significantly more competent compared to their last meeting.

What was perhaps even more annoying than the swordsman not dying was that she could clearly see the guy still scream and the others in there talking, but she couldn’t hear quack. But at least they could listen to her based on their reactions. It must be that damn barrier of mana.

They dragged Levi into the lodge, and all quickly collapsed on the ground. Only Miranda was staying outside, keeping an eye on Abby and her army of invaders.

An army that was quickly reorganizing. After the attempt to kill Levi failed, they didn’t have any clear plan of action. Hundreds of people just stood looking questioningly at Abby and her father.

The bearded man began yelling out instructions, and it went more or less as they had anticipated. Everyone backed off, Abby included, as ranged attacks started winding up. Soon after, a barrage of spells, arrows, and other attacks hit the barrier.

This was where the two barriers’ power became apparent, as every single attack was repelled, not leaving a single sign of damage on either. The two barriers were complementing each other just as much as Miranda and Neil had anticipated.

The barrier of mana made by Miranda blocked the magical attacks flawlessly. It could even take in a portion of the atmospheric mana to keep itself healthy for longer. And as the attackers were all relatively unskilled, they released a lot of extra mana into the air for the barrier to absorb.

Then there was the space barrier, which similarly blocked all physical attacks without any issue. It was a nearly impenetrable defense. Based on the furious look on Abby’s face, it even quickly became apparent that she was unable to break the space barrier.

There was one problem, however… time. The many attackers outside didn’t damage the barriers, but they were slowly whittling them down. It would disappear on its own after some time, but it wouldn’t last more than a day or so based on the current rate of attacks.

Inside the cabin, the atmosphere was more than a little bleak also.

“I thought you said you could keep her busy for a while,” Hank said to Neil as he also drank a healing potion.

“I thought I could… but she has gotten even stronger since last. At the end of the tutorial, she was only a bit stronger than me… if she had been this strong back then, we would have never escaped in the first place… damn it,” he said, cradling his head as blood dripped onto the floor from his eyes and nose.

Hank just sighed as he sat down on the floor. Thinking it a bit of a shame that they were spilling blood all over the newly constructed lodge. A whimsical thought, considering that more blood would likely soon flow within. The second those shields go down…

Everyone looked listlessly at the ground, only the two healers doing much of anything. Neil especially looked utterly lost.

he cried. “I got you all into this mess… if only I

stick by you, so don’t go all pity-party on

this,” Hank shot back. “We didn’t need this

any response to that. They had dragged Miranda and

of them stared back at her, too, as the others were hidden from sight

your name?” she heard as she looked up to see the bearded - Abby’s

shook her head, as she

daughter is a bit wild, I confess, but she is not the monster you have in

shook her head but couldn’t help

been the wonder boy of the family. Perfect in nearly everything. This took quite a toll on Abby. She finally came to believe she was his equal only to lose in that final unfair test. It broke a small part of her to lose once more like that. We are only

you that if you choose to join us, you and your comrades will be safe. I am Donald, by the way. Widower even before

hell he bothered to include being a widower. Seemed

silent, Donald kept talking. “Please don’t waste your life on protecting someone you have only known for a few days. I swear that you can

more than anything. The wording was just off, and she couldn’t

the disgusting sensation of his gaze going all over her body. “I believe

this point, warning bells would go off for anyone, no matter how oblivious. To call the vibe the man was giving off

thoughts. The look of absolute disdain and disgust showed only a moment,

said, a bit colder than before. “Don’t throw it

look of apology, and that seemed to be enough for the man to

as you serve

disgust as much as she could. Where the hell did he get this confidence from? Oh... right. The threat

another whore?” Abby asked, walking over. Her voice around a tenth as disdainful as the thoughts Miranda

stern it was insulting. Miranda was finding it more noteworthy how he only saw the words

went into the lodge as she heard Abby yell behind

at the people there. Louise had poured all her mana into the mana barrier; Neil was just

make a run for it?” Eleanor finally asked, breaking

to run. One of us even less than the others,” Christen sneered. Instantly feeling bad afterward for getting mad at her friend. “Sorry, I

Eleanor

up. “Try to escape. Take Miranda, Hank, Louise, and Mark with you. I will stay here and attempt to keep them

disrupting the sad atmosphere. “We all agree that getting killed by that bitch Abby and her creep of a father

yeah, but,” Christen said,

all in agreement? Then I am going to do something

“What?” Hank asked, confused.

works, we will die anyway,” she explained. “I am going to do something that will very likely anger the ‘owner.’ Not sure what his response will be, but I doubt getting killed by him will

“And will he even be able to do anything? If you haven’t noticed, there is an entire army out

having already thrown caution to the wind.

the menu with her mind and saw the prompt appear

the process to claim ownership of Pylon

be uncontested in your claim for at least 30 days while maintaining the support of at least 51% of the