The Primal Hunter

The third round wasn’t like the ones prior. There were no flashy attacks or advanced tactics deployed, no powerful skills used, or anything in that vein. Instead, it was just two opponents duking it out with sloppy blows in a battle of pure endurance and grit.

Jake dodged the wild swings of the golem as he swung his scimitar to try and land hits in return. His blade left shallow cuts on the golem’s body while it seemed to want to take him out in a single smash. He was fine with how little happened because he was just waiting as they slowly fought.

He kept dodging back when he could and fired arrows after the golem. It was a bit awkward as he had to hold the bow with arcane strings or his leg, but he made it work. He had switched to the stable version to deal even more damage, even if they didn't hit as hard when he only had one arm. He had noticed that the arrows could leave clearly visible marks on the body of the golem. When he hit it on the shoulder, he even noted how its swing looked slightly off as if he had done some internal damage.

After several minutes of this, Jake felt it. The cooldown’s over.

He retreated as he took out a health potion. An hour had now passed, and he chugged it down greedily as the warm flow went through his body. He could faintly direct the energy as he focused on healing his internals. Jake quickly felt a lot better within seconds. Well, besides the whole missing an arm part.

The potion had turned the fight from an “I’ll probably win” to “I’ll definitely win” real fast. The golem was running on fumes, and every one of its movements was more sloppy than the one prior. With Jake now filled with renewed energy, he pressed his advantage.

Jake dove in with the goal of disarming his opponent by getting the Pillar away from it. Okay, he had already literally disarmed it once, and while he likely could rip out the other arm, he wasn’t going to risk it. Not when he could rip off something far more important.

He baited the golem into swinging the Pillar in a downward smash, and as it hit the ground, he grabbed it with his hand and kicked the golem. Simultaneously he activated the Arcane Charge within the golem, making its entire body flash for a moment. The flash was so large it looked like a flashbang had gone off, and Jake hoped it would make the golem let go. Unfortunately, that didn’t work, and the golem didn’t even react to the Arcane Charge, even if it did do a lot of damage. Instead, it held on and just sent electricity into the Pillar. His Arcane Charge hurt like fuck when it activated, but if you’re a golem without the ability to feel pain, it apparently didn’t bother you much, much to Jake’s annoyance.

The electricity it pushed into the Pillar was far less powerful than before, and Jake easily powered through as he kicked again, this time with a lot more force as he even made his foot explode in a blast of arcane mana upon impact. That managed to do the trick as the golem let go and was pushed back, staggering as it fell to the ground.

Jake used the staff to smash the golem in the side while it was still lying down, denting its already damaged arm even more. He didn't hit it a second time, instead stepping forward, storing the Pillar, and grabbed the golem's neck.

He pressed down with his hand as it began glowing green. The golem retaliated by punching his arm, but Jake just leaned in closer to take the hits on his back and shoulder. They hurt a bit, but the golem was now far too weak. It tried to electrocute him one last time, and its eyes even glowed as if it tried to fire an eye-beam, but nothing worked.

In the end, the golem’s arm fell powerlessly to the ground as Jake tore his hand upwards, ripping the head of the golem off.

*You have slain [Altmar Census Golem – lvl 150] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*

*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 128 - Stat points allocated, +10 free points*

*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 129 - Stat points allocated, +10 free points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (D)] has reached level 118 - Stat points allocated, +15 free points*

Jake didn’t even have time to go through his notifications before the dungeon reacted. He felt air shift as space mana and the concept of space filled the air, and it seemed to have only one purpose: teleport away the corpse of the Altmar Census Golem.

you

it into his inventory, but it failed. Instead, he released a wave of disruptive mana as he thought fast, but that only slowed down the teleportation. In a final gambit, he created an arcane barrier around himself and the corpse he was currently sitting on top of. He even used the steam-like energy coming off him from Limit Break as he tried to make it stronger, remembering

world. Cut off from everything. Light dimmed, he felt like gravity got less powerful, but more importantly, he felt

teleported away, leaving the torso and head of the golem behind. Jake finally was able to put what remained of the golem into

like his entire body weighed a ton, so he just closed his eyes and entered meditation

Defeat the Altmar Census

dungeon solo. Bonus reward for

down

replayed the fight in his head and went over his fuck-ups. In retrospect, that divebomb move was a terrible idea, but at the time, it seemed smart

loot stolen by the dirty dungeon. Well, he doubted it was the dungeon itself, but likely something more related to the Altmar part of this entire

could. The only time he had ever seen stamina outside of his body was in that mist-like form that covered his skin during Arcane Powershot

he rested, but

hope you enjoyed

Golem. Automatic retrieval system

for

existing relations of the challenger. Challenger has now

more, he had to cut himself off as he practically

is aware of the observations of the Dungeon Monitor despite system-assisted surveillance tools being used. Unknown method of observation… possible divine interference, perhaps? No conclusion for now. Moving on

far from it. A wooden door had also appeared in the surveillance room, looking quite out of place. The projection’s eyes lingered a bit on one of the lockboxes as a smile crept

highly adaptive. Stats put him firmly in the upper echelon for someone his level, but his application of these stats is even more impressive. All kinds of energy control are at an extreme level. High probability of

of magic liberally. No confirmed profession yet. Will ask during the exit interview. Providing additional observations and personal theorizing during the wait for

out. It always felt weird to have it be all wriggly as it regrew. He did notice that it went a bit faster than when he was

out of still stood in the middle of the cube. Looking as ominous as ever. It gave off a certain aura, but there was also something else mixed in. His Sense of the Malefic Viper made him aware that

to it, keeping a relaxed speed as his body still wasn’t back to full power after the prolonged use of Limit Break. He felt like he

sphere. The exterior was just blank black metal, but the inside was entirely different. Jake saw humanoid figures within… a lot of them. Altmar Golems. He wasn’t sure they were the same kind as the Census Golem he had fought, as

dead little hunter if he had to fight hundreds of golems as strong as the Census Golem. Luckily it didn’t seem to even be an option as none of them gave off any

its interior. It truly was some kind of golem-storage facility and even had a lot of technical devices within. Repair equipment, perhaps? All of it

from it. Seeing no other way

was still spinning as fast as before, but the moment he appeared, it did something. A beam

There was now a big hole above the dynamo, so had it just opened a new path? It seemed like a weird way to