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.

The strongest one so far was level 71, and it

“73.”

had already Identified it as he looked out over the wall long

Leader

others, and Levi

Jake said, getting a few confused looks from

to say, the 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 practice to

steal their experience points or challenge. Besides… what is there to gain from slaying a

felt a bit awkward. What was up with their looks? Did he say anything

would they

asked. Once more, Jake felt a bit awkward that he was asking permission, but then again, he had basically just given them an

guardians behind them would negatively affect the soldier’s experience gain, but based on their sighs of

said, 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 get in the way unless you plan

and so did the others. Miranda and Lillian stuck to him while Neil and his party stayed with Miquel and

people running about. The people just living there seemed to

usual thing for the inhabitants of the fort. But if it could occur more than

from above,” Jake said as he motioned to the invisible Mystie. She understood his intentions, and without any warning, Jake

exclaimed, surprised at suddenly

she asked, looking towards Jake

was just pointing towards the air, but she seemed to understand right away as she just nodded slowly. Lillian didn’t have any significant reactions from

horde. Apparently, the thought that the mysterious masked

certain we should not interfere?” Miranda asked, floating well out of range of

are a golden opportunity for these soldiers to earn experience. When else can you sit comfortably behind a wall

show of force?” she asked, looking at the still approaching herd of bovines. They

will also allow us to get a feel for the fort’s overall power-level and abilities. I am personally quite a bit interested in the fighting style they have developed

to have these people be our new citizens, after all,”

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

to make it, he couldn’t help but take notice of the magic

had practiced quite a lot, but he had only 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

Miranda or Lillian knew how to dispel it, but he reckoned most people at a high level did. All it required was to release some mana from

erected a membrane around his feet

Jake was considering why he

his eyes and focused on the mana around him. Mystie lifted herself with the same mana technique she was currently using on all of them, meaning she could clearly lift herself with it too. Jake concentrated, and invisible mana

her a look. The bird understood as

before he