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.

you

scoffed. “We chose to stick by you, so don’t go all pity-party

Hank shot back. “We didn’t need this

didn’t have any response to that. They had dragged Miranda and the family of three into it against their

Miranda sat and stared at the ground, deep in thought. All of them stared back at her, too, as the others were hidden from sight within the lodge. Making her the center of

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

as she didn’t care much for the man’s

be rectified. My daughter is a bit wild, I confess, but she is not the monster you have in your mind. Neil is the reason she is like

just shook her head but couldn’t help

Abby. She finally came to believe she was his equal only to lose

you choose to

his name but wondered why the hell he bothered to include being a

that you can

a bit taken aback at his words more than anything. The wording was just off,

gaze going all over her body. “I believe you would be pleasant company. That we could both

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

was still thinking about what to say, her facial expression had clearly revealed her thoughts. The look of absolute disdain and disgust showed only a moment, but it was enough for the

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

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

problem at all,” he said, practically beaming. “As long as you serve me well, all will work out. I am sure the heart

even trying to hide it anymore… she thought, attempting to hide her disgust as much as she could. Where the hell did he get this confidence from?

whore?” Abby asked, walking over. Her voice around a tenth

stern it was insulting. Miranda was finding it more noteworthy how he only saw the words themselves and not the insinuation of the words the bad

she heard Abby yell behind her to ‘take

looked at the people there. Louise had poured all her mana into the mana barrier;

we try to make a run for

you haven’t noticed, we aren’t exactly in a state to run. One of us even less than the others,” Christen sneered. Instantly feeling bad afterward for getting mad

Eleanor smiled

Take Miranda, Hank, Louise, and Mark with you. I will stay here and

all agree that getting killed by

yeah, but,” Christen said,

all in agreement? Then I am going to

“What?” Hank asked, confused.

something that will very likely anger the ‘owner.’ Not sure what

asked, a bit of anger in her voice. “And will he even be able to

thrown caution

and saw the prompt appear - the Pylon right beneath

the process to claim ownership of

City Owner OR be uncontested in your claim for at least 30 days while maintaining