The Primal Hunter

Jake had to admit that the fort was really well-positioned when it came to defending against enemies approaching on the ground. He had seen the beasts nearly ten minutes before they would get there as they were approaching from a slight downward angle.

With Jake’s insane perception, it was effortless to spot anything getting close. From a small watchtower, the sniper that had yelled out earlier had also finally been able to spot the beasts, and now the entire fort was in full swing.

Jake just stood there with Lillian as people ran around him, looking out at the approaching beasts. The soldiers all narrowly avoided him, and he heard Phillip and Miranda in the courtyard below making their way towards him.

“Does this happen often?” he heard Miranda ask as they moved closer.

“At least once a day… it is exhausting, but it allows us to rake in levels and materials,” Phillip answered, walking up the small rampart to the wall together with the woman.

“Is it always a horde like this?”

“Yes… it’s always a stampede of weaker beasts, few reaching above level 30. Sometimes stronger ones up to level 60 are present, but the strongest so far was 71, so we have yet to encounter anything we couldn’t handle. But it is getting worse…” Phillip said with a bit of resignation.

“Well, just a better reason to go with us,” Miranda smiled.

Phillip smiled back as he subconsciously made a small nod.

It looks like Miranda is doing pretty well, Jake thought, seeing the man borderline convinced already. Well, they had spent a few hours in the building, and it seemed like he just needed the final push to agree.

As they got onto the wall, Phillip and Miranda spotted Jake, and both went over. They seemed relatively relaxed despite the apparent panic of the soldiers earlier. Well, the man was a higher level, and from what he had seen, the charging beasts were pretty damn weak.

He Identified one of them for the heck of it, and it was a bit disappointing.

[Roughhide Bovine – lvl 33]

“Sir,” Miranda greeted, bowing slightly towards him. We really need to find something else to call me, Jake thought. Wait, did she even know his name? Thinking back… he had never introduced himself, and when he signed the contract back then, he did it with a cursive abomination his dad taught him to make. Because apparently, the more illegible your signature, the more professional it is.

Phillip gave him a nod, too, as he turned his gaze to the approaching horde.

“More Roughhides… most seem to only be standard bovines, with a few bulls mixed in. No Herd leaders spotted as far as I can tell,” he said as he scouted the group, speaking out loud to both Miranda and some of the other men that had followed him.

Turning to the young man they saw in the workshop with the machinery earlier, he ordered: “Get a drone in the air and try to get an estimate of how many there are.”

The man nodded as he brought out the same small drone he used earlier. It flew up quickly, and the man somehow projected a screen in front of him showing all the drone saw. Very neat, Jake approved internally.

Jake looked at the screen and saw the horde from above. Well, he could just summon his wings and go for an aerial look himself, but it was pretty entertaining to watch the screen instead.

There really were a lot of them. He also spotted quite a few larger versions of the normal bovines, and he assumed those were the bulls. Finally, towards the back, they saw one larger than any of the others.

Herd Leader…” Phillip said with a bit of resignation before explaining to Miranda. “The Herd Leaders are far tougher than the others and higher level too. The strongest one so far was level 71, and it took quite a while and many injuries to bring it down. It was a miracle we didn’t

“73.”

out over the wall long ago. Identify didn’t

Leader – lvl

and Levi cockily spoke up. “Heh, worst

a few confused looks

fact that the fort would be attacked during their visit was not a part of their strategy and thus not discussed. So Jake was not going by

would be rude of us to butt in and steal their experience points or challenge. Besides… what is there to gain from slaying a bunch of weak beasts? Have the ones who

looking at him at his point, and Jake honestly felt a bit awkward. What was up with their looks? Did he say anything unreasonable? It wasn’t like he was telling anyone to go die or anything; he just said

would they gain any

if it gets dangerous?” Neil asked. Once more, Jake felt a bit awkward that he was asking permission, but then

reckoned having guardians behind them would negatively affect the soldier’s experience gain, but based on their sighs of relief, he got the feeling they

getting the attention back to him. “I believe we should get in formation. You are all free to stay and observe, but please do not

stuck to him while Neil

as they tried to stay out of the way of the many people running about. The people just living there seemed to barely react

the inhabitants of the fort. But if

the invisible Mystie. She understood his intentions, and without any warning, Jake and

exclaimed, surprised at suddenly

asked, looking towards Jake as

of view, it looked like he was just pointing towards the air,

the thought that the mysterious masked man with a D-grade beast following him around

should not interfere?” Miranda asked, floating well out

When else can you sit comfortably behind a wall and have the prey run headfirst

display a show of force?” she asked, looking at the still approaching herd of bovines. They would soon be within the range

to. This will also allow us to get a feel for the fort’s overall power-level and abilities. I

unnecessary deaths. We do hope to have these people be our new citizens, after all,” Miranda

not intending to interfere still. They could handle this, and he would just be the observer. He wanted everyone to at least hold some power. If he always had to be around to address minor issues, he wouldn’t have

waited for the herd to make it, he couldn’t help but take

really done it with inanimate objects. For a stone, he could just inject mana into it through a tether and lift it like that, but

instead of injecting mana into an individual, she erected a membrane of mana around the person. The mana

that he could dispel it with little to no effort. He wasn’t sure if Miranda or Lillian knew how to dispel it, but he

also reminded him of another technique he had developed: his water-walking. When he walked on water, he basically erected a membrane around his feet with

was considering why he hadn’t taken

the mana around him. Mystie lifted herself with the same mana technique she was currently using on all of

a look. The bird understood as she dispelled the mana that kept

he fell a few centimeters before he stopped.