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.

cried. “I got you all into this

scoffed. “We chose to stick by you, so don’t

into this,” Hank shot back.

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

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

name?” she heard as she looked

as she didn’t care much for the man’s

confess, but she is not the monster you have in your mind. Neil is the reason she

shook her head but couldn’t help but

came to believe she was his equal only to lose in that final unfair test. It broke a small part of her

crude words. As I said, she usually isn’t like this. And I can promise you that if you choose to join us, you and your comrades will be safe.

wondered why the hell he bothered to include being a

on protecting someone you have only known for a few days. I swear that you can find a place with me. Find safety. You have seen what my daughter can do. I doubt she

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

as he looked down on her. She once more felt the disgusting sensation of his gaze going all over her body. “I believe you would be pleasant

how oblivious. To call the vibe the man was giving

she was still thinking about what to say, her facial expression had clearly revealed her thoughts. The look of

good thing here,” he said, a bit colder than before. “Don’t throw it away for silly

seemed to be enough for the

he said, practically beaming. “As long as you serve

could. Where the hell did he get this confidence from? Oh... right. The threat of being able to have her killed

tenth as disdainful as the thoughts Miranda held for the man

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

lodge as she heard Abby yell behind her to ‘take down the damn

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

a run for it?” Eleanor finally

far will we get? And if 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 at her

know…” Eleanor

said, looking up. “Try to escape. Take Miranda, Hank, Louise, and Mark with you. I will stay here and attempt to keep them occupied… I may be able to buy a few minutes

agree that getting killed by that bitch Abby and her creep of

yeah, but,” Christen

all in agreement? Then I am going to

“What?” Hank asked, confused.

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

chance to call him all along?” Christen asked, a bit of anger in her voice. “And will he even be able to

having already thrown caution to the wind. “So

opened the menu with her mind and saw the prompt

to claim

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