The Primal Hunter

Jake sat on the cloud in meditation as he regenerated his stamina and mana. Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter was as draining as it was powerful, and quite frankly, he wasn’t even sure it would speed up his hunting speed if he used it on more ’regular’ enemies. Though, of course, Jake’s definition of a regular enemy was one many levels above him.

It had been a few days since he got Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter. Since then, he had gained a single level in his hunter class, but the largest gain was how familiar he now was with his new skill. He liked it a lot, but he felt like there was one more test needed…

[Thunder Roc - ???]

As always, the hawk sat with him. He knew it would leave soon as it had been a while since it last did so. And that would be his time to strike.

“Hawkie, I am gonna take this one alone. This is my fight, alright?” he confirmed, looking up at the hawk.

It gave him a glance with doubt, unsure if the human could really handle the giant Roc.

The sentiment that D-grades were far above E-grades was heavily ingrained for everyone, beasts and humans alike. No creature or elemental on the cloud continent, not even those at level 99, dared get close to the D-grades.

But Jake wasn’t just any random creature. He was someone who had stacked titles upon titles, gotten an excellent profession and above-average class designed to fight stronger foes. He had powerful skills beyond someone at his level and grade.

He had felt like he could maybe fight it even the first time he saw the Roc… but now he would try. He wouldn’t earn any more class skills before 100, which was the evolution, and while he could grind up his profession… he shouldn’t need it.

The level of the Thunder Roc had to be below 110 based on how it felt. Weaker than the Indigo Mushroom by a fair bit, but with far more effective attacking methods for sure. It also appeared to be agility and intelligence-focused, making it a good matchup for him.

His scales were good against magic, and with it being not as robust, he believed he could weaken it substantially before the battle even began, especially with a well-placed Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter.

A few minutes later, Jake was in top condition as he flew towards another small cloud island and began summoning the arrow. He had believed Hawkie would leave, but it appeared to want to stay and watch from their old island. That was fine too. Maybe Hawkie could help protect the platform, as Jake had moved away, hoping to leave it intact.

Focusing on his target, he held out his hand, and the arrow slowly began emerging. It was his most expensive arrow so far, draining nearly 3000 stamina and around 2000 mana. More than a third of his stamina pool was instantly gone, but it was fine.

With conviction, he prepared the rest of his equipment for the hunt. Poisoned all of his arrows and even took out his best hemotoxin for the first initial arrow. The ones in the quiver would be Necrotic for maximum damage.

When he was ready, he threw Hawkie one last glance as he turned towards the giant Roc in the distance. A huge grin on his face. He was bubbling with excitement as he felt Big Game Hunter come into effect already, boosting him even further. He used everything as they made up the elements that in concert made this hunt possible to even attempt.

Big Game Hunter

Limit Break

Mark of the Ambitious Hunter

Infused Powershot

Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter

Together, they synergized as he charged up the shot - his tough body allowing him to channel the Powershot for longer, his high magical stats making both the Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter and Infused Powershot stronger.

The distance between Jake and the Thunder Roc was around 14-15 kilometers, but Jake had a clear view of everything.

Breathing in, he felt his body tense up as he reached his limit. Without further ado, he released the giant arrow towards the airplane-sized D-grade beast.

In three seconds, it reached the Roc that sensed it shortly before it arrived. It felt the

a huge wound as the arrow dispersed shortly after

confirmed Jake’s theory that the beast was agility

SCREEECH!

beast screeched in pain as it released a shockwave of sound that hit Jake more than ten kilometers away, making his clothes flap.

mid-air, heading towards

but the second was avoided as it also swiftly dodged the third, but was once more hit with a fourth. Each arrow little more

it prepared its counterattack - one

BOOM

bolt of lightning struck the cloud island where he had just stood, blowing it up entirely. Jake had already jumped to avoid it, but the blast still sent him tumbling. He quickly stabilized with his wings as he

dozens mid-air. More small needle-sized attacks to the giant

begun flying towards him now, sending out torso-wide bolts of lighting aiming to roast him whole. Sadly, his near pre-cognition from

his quiver, making each newly conjured

dominated it was under attack and had even taken a heavy injury from the opening attack. Yet none of them dared to approach

the gigantic beast closer to him. It was injured… but far from enough to bring it down. Even now, he could feel the

its entire body was enveloped by thunder as it

Here it comes

It sped up and appeared in front of Jake with speed surpassing

small human as it attacked with the most predictable kind of attack. It pecked down as electricity revolved around its beak, indicating that it clearly used

be released from the beak,

Feisty one, aren’t ya?

but instead of retreating, he

got close, lighting fired off its body into Jake, but it appeared to just cover the outside of the scales that now covered his entire body. His dagger was already

Dark Fang than usual, and it was showing. The stab exploded with dark mana as the mana was directed straight out of the tip

in the length of its blade, it left a 2-meter deep stab-wound on the Roc, making it screech out nearly as loudly as it had from the first Infused Powershot. Did I

than before, trying to get him off. It was

Come on…

Thunder from a clear sky above descended as the entire beast began humming with power. It looked towards

No… it isn’t

as the beast clearly wasn’t done. Several feathers had been dropped by the bird and were now floating gently through the air all around him. All of them suddenly

to penetrate the human. Simultaneously the beast was about

Not enough.

froze for a moment, ruining the timing as Jake dodged and weaved away from

Viper skill that he hadn’t much before. Green veins on both wings appeared and began glowing as a mist-like substance began

beat of his wings, he retreated from the blast while blowing a cloud of poison mist into the face

only been stopped for a few milliseconds, but in a

Roc had ever truly held the momentum. Jake

Why?

of thunder, but he avoided them one by one. The feathers kept flying around in the air, reminding him a bit of

dodged them as he showed off his prowess in air-combat. Hawkie was still far faster and more agile than him, but the bird would already be long dead if they switched places. It didn’t have Jake’s danger sense, his high perception, and the incredible defenses that allowed

a lot stronger than his time in the tutorial - than his last time truly facing off against a D-grade.

Why is it so…

shot a quick Infused Powershot with it hanging overhead, making the Roc try and avoid but failing due to its large