The Primal Hunter

Carmen sprinted through the mist-filled halls, smashing down any damn ghoul in the way. It reminded her a bit of the good old days of the tutorial where she smashed zombies day in and day out. She snickered as she turned another corner, and before the ghoul could react, she dropkicked it square in the face, smashing its head between her heavy boots and the wall. She identified the undead-like thing with an oddly squishy head as she leaped back and landed on the ground.

[Vampiric Ghoul Thrall – lvl 114]

Even without its head, it kept swinging. She launched into a barrage of fists before she finally put it down for good as its body was utterly pummelled apart within a few seconds. They were kind of durable, but her attacks were far from simple. Every single hit sent waves of destructive kinetic energy through her foes, destroying them from the inside.

Without slowing down, Carmen kept sprinting forward. She had entered this Treasure Hunt alone and would prefer for it to stay that way. She encountered a few more ghouls, but upon reaching a crossroad, she noticed something. Corpses. Ones not made by her.

Curious, she stormed down the corridor, hoping to find this other person, only finding more corpses than before. Finally, a few minutes later, she reached the exit of the hill… or what had been the entrance of the ghouls’ killer. Cursing under her breath, she turned around and headed back inside after having gone the wrong way.

She stormed through the halls again, this time a bit angry, and she soon reached the same crossroad. Going the right way this attempt, she continued and passed through hall after hall with only dead ghouls. All of them had been cut up or ripped apart by some magic.

Carmen frowned a bit, as some of the wounds didn’t look like they had been made by a human. She found deep holes in the skulls of the ghouls and jagged cuts that looked to be made by a saw or something. Or maybe it was just some magic?

Not seeing it as important enough to think about further, she continued. A big part of her hoped it wasn’t another human – or worse – a party of humans. Should I just kill them if it is? No, they would teleport out, and it could cause trouble… shit.

Yet, she didn’t want to just turn around and leave. With annoyance, she continued onwards and turned a few more corners. She noticed how she was going downwards, and the signs of battle got more and more obvious - deep cuts covered the walls and dismembered ghouls the floor.

Finally, she heard a noise in the distance. A few hallways further, and she caught a glimpse of the action. A ghoul was blasted through the hall, smashing into the wall. Next, it was hit by a barrage of green crescent blades of energy that cut it into several pieces.

Carmen slowed her approach to get a better feel for what she was dealing with. That green magic wasn’t a type she recognized. Another blast later, and she felt the rush of wind blow through the halls. Wind magic of some kind? she asked herself. Nothing she had seen so far was a real threat, so she ultimately just rushed in to get a good look at who it was that was fighting them.

Turning the corner, she saw it. A small figure flew through the hallway ahead at incredible speeds, leaving a green wind in its wake. A small tornado revolved around it, leaving shallow cuts on all the ghouls that got too close, and every time it waved a wing, a crescent green wave was sent out.

The three ghouls fighting it were quickly ripped apart. The last one had its entire mid-section crushed by a single talon that began glowing green and enlarged as the beast grabbed it. Carmen Identified it as she was waiting, getting nothing valuable out of it.

[?]

Frowning, she wondered if this was some hidden boss. It was a beast. A bird of some kind. She wasn’t all that sure about birds. Maybe it was a falcon, an eagle, or a hawk or something. Either way, it was nearly entirely green and damn strong, if not as strong as her. This was one of the few times Carmen wasn’t sure what to do.

Not being able to Identify the beast was not normal, that was for sure, and she hadn’t seen any boss or enemy during the tutorial or in a dungeon in the outside world she couldn’t Identify. Well, not Identify in that she couldn’t see anything. Sure, if it was a lot higher level, not seeing the level was normal, but this clearly wasn’t it.

moment the bird finished off the last ghoul, it turned and looked over at Carmen. It stared at her for a while, and without breaking eye contact, she saw it summon a mana potion using

was now more confused than ever. Was this a participant of the Treasure Hunt? Why

why the hell

walking towards the bird with

her, making Carmen stop. Did it want her to back

Are you alone? You’re sure a

bird slowly calm down and just look her way, tilting its head back and forth, a bit confused. Step by step, she got closer, completely ignoring the many corpses she had to step over. The bird

extended her hand to pet the cute bird on the head. It looked at her hand as she lowered it to pat the bird

give up and tried again, and once more, the bird avoided her head pat. Carmen steeled her resolve as she moved her

this was not a battle she would lose. If the cute bird didn’t want a pat… it

tried to hug the bird, but it jumped back, landing

turning around, just strutting away

in the hall. She chased after it, and just as she turned the corner, she was face to face with a ghoul that had clearly been tossed her way with a blast of wind. The

her, but Carmen easily pushed it away and kicked it into the wall. She didn’t bother staying to kill it but chased after the bird. Now it had done it, and she would be damned if she didn’t get

bird jump down the hallway happily as it flapped its wings. She was certain it was having way too much fun

so minutes were spent with Carmen chasing the bird through the halls as an ever-increasing number of ghouls chased them as the bird kept pushing them back towards her, and

gate with a red rune on it, forcing the bird to stop. Carmen also stopped and smiled triumphantly. Only for a bit, though, as she saw the bird look

settle this after the cleanup,” Carmen said, preparing herself. The bird jumped up beside her as it also prepared itself

was originally heading into. Sure, he was maybe stealing their path a bit,

for this early in the Treasure Hunt, which was why

he was the only one who could kill them. He assumed someone like the Sword Saint and probably a few of the stronger parties around would

up some more treasures on the way, but most were bad. It was a bit surprising the tower apparently held far less than the plains outside. Well,

Jake did get the weirdest message of sorts from Sylphie. Something about making a friend and needing to say hi or something. Jake was a bit worried she had gotten herself into something bad, but decided to be a supportive uncle and took out a small pen and paper from his usual spatial storage and wrote a short message that he

least, that is what the vampires wanted him to think because the otherwise completely normal-looking wall directly ahead of him wasn’t what it seemed. Instead of a solid wall, it was a magical barrier to block out physical stuff and make it feel like a wall and an illusionary barrier, making

his sphere, he could see the faint shimmering on the wall. With his sphere? He looked

his bow and five barrages of explosive arrow later, and it was enough to dispel the barrier ahead. It went from looking like a sightly scratched wall to just a big gaping hole in the wall all at once, with the

sphere and eyes, and the conclusion was unanimous: it was a trap

body, and the entire hall behind him now filled with black spikes glowing with poison, signs

of the hallway. It was a black gate, a bit like the one he had stolen but even bigger and with some very complicated scrips on it,