The Primal Hunter

The vampire Count was truly a peculiar creature. He moved and acted like a fully intelligent and relatively competent fighter. It nearly fooled Jake into believing that he was fighting a smart enemy and not an absolute moron. However, the illusion was dispelled every time the Count opened his mouth.

”This is the part where you fall down and bleed to death!” the vampire yelled as he fired out a crimson wave of energy. Jake dodged it easily, taking far more mental damage than physical from the exchange. The red glowing aura was still there, with the four clawed hands constantly trying to get hold of him. All in all, Jake would call the current attack pattern of the vampire more annoying than dangerous.

And yes, he would call the way the vampire attacked an attack pattern, as he could easily predict the next moves. He didn’t even need his sphere or Bloodline.

Teleport, Jake stepped away as he dodged the blade that appeared from the red mist as the Count of Blood teleported to attack him.

Claws. The four clawed hands chased after Jake’s fleeing figure as he nocked and fired another barrage of explosive arcane arrows, burning away at the aura but failing to actually injure the vampire. It did stop the attack, though.

Ranged blade waves of energy. In response to being pushed back, the vampire sent out more crimson waves of blood that would for sure tear up the nice room. The fight had been going for a few minutes now, and Jake had switched his tactic a little bit by incorporating an important element: stealing shit.

Jake leaped back and touched two very comfortable-looking chairs, making them disappear into his inventory just before the sword waves came. To save all the furniture was impossible, but he would do his best to take what looked the nicest.

His next target was a bookshelf filled with old tomes as he summoned bolts of arcane mana to blow up the grasping claws. This bought him enough time to make a hastily charged Arcane Powershot. The aura around the vampire was resilient but not resilient enough to block even his fastest-charged Arcane Powershot using a stable arcane arrow.

Once more, the vampire was blasted back, an arrow embedded in his shoulder seeping out poison. Said vampire ripped it out and chased after Jake. It was predictable to the level of boredom, but at least it bought Jake enough time to swoop up the bookshelf and even a nice dining table and accompanying chairs.

He didn’t bother with the paintings, though. Too gaudy even for his taste, and all of them depicted the damn Count of Blood in different obnoxious poses anyway. Most of them were him leaning against the sword, trying to look cool. Some would perhaps argue he did… but Jake wasn’t one of those people, though he was somewhat biased.

That is when the Count once more used his most powerful ability.

”I shall paint the carpet red with your blood!” the vampire boss yelled, making Jake cringe back.

”The carpet is already fucking red, you absolute moron!” Jake yelled back.

Balancing his desire just to kill the Count and actually looting stuff in the chamber before it all got destroyed by their fighting was a difficult challenge. Sadly, Pride of the Malefic Viper’s defense against mental attacks didn’t work against the bullshit spewed by the Count.

”Then I shall deepen it as I slit you open like the livestock you are!” the Count rebutted, making Jake groan. Don’t entertain his stupidity… just clean out his room and finish him off… don’t let him get to you…

Before today, Jake had fought only one being that was higher level than the Count. The Heartwarden in the Undergrowth dungeon had been 162, seven levels above this vampire. If Jake were honest, he would say they were about even. Both were a bit strong… but not truly powerful for their level. The Altmar Census Golem was level 150 only, but it was far stronger despite its lower level compared to both the Heartwarden and this Count of Blood. Of course, one had to remember this was from Jake’s perspective. Match-ups mattered a lot too.

Considering how much stronger Jake was now than when he fought the Census Golem, his victory against the Count of Blood was pretty much assured. This was why he had the leeway just to dodge attacks and take potshots while looting everything of value he could.

He had already tried to take the coffin, but that was clearly bound to the Count in some way, so that would have to wait. Besides that, there was only furniture and other knickknacks like chandeliers, candle holders, plates of different metals, a statue here and there, and even a few nice-looking blades that were more for show than combat.

Ten minutes later, Jake felt like he couldn’t find anything more to perfectly legally acquire, as all the valuables that caught his eye were already nicely tucked away in the Hunter Mark storage. With all that settled, it was time to actually finish the battle. The current standstill only continued because, to be honest, Jake hadn’t dealt any significant damage to the vampire but had instead just slowly been emptying out his opponent’s resources.

final blow as he cracked his

upon activating Limit Break at 10%. Energy swirled around him

platform in mid-air. The vampire followed as

*BOOM!*

half-appeared vampire away. Before even seeing if he had hit – he knew he would – Jake drew his bow and fired off a quick

backward was hit square in the chest and was blasted back even more, with a large gaping hole blasted through his mid-section. When the

Count and possibly make the vampire feel

me to go this far is an honor!” the Count of Blood said as he dodged an arrow by teleporting, appearing atop the silver

a more obvious transition to phase two of a

began glowing as deep red as runes covered it. Like a current of blood, each of them spat out energy that entered the vampire, and the Count himself waved his hand as a bottle that looked a lot like a health potion

clothes tore as two leathery white wings sprung on his back along with his muscles growing and becoming far more pronounced. A more powerful aura than before spread throughout the

cut in two as a slit went up between his eyes. A slit that Jake soon came to learn was its damn mouth as the entire front of the face split open to

a Balnar Vampire…

talk. It was now clear mental attacks would have no effect on the moronic vampire, so he would just have

barrage of arrows, waiting to see what tricks the Count

charge him. Jake swiftly adjusted and fired another arrow.

waves of red energy. Jake repeated his tactic of dodging around the room with One Step Mile to

with stable arrows. The vampire once more tried to dodge and again found himself frozen as he got hit by all five. This caused him to fall to the ground as he crashed down and tore up the carpet. The Count quickly got back up with an odd groaning noise and didn’t simply charge

tire of your running… Chains of the

chance to dodge, he suddenly felt himself be weighed down, and he felt like heavy chains were attached to his body. There was

slower than before. He began charging up a disruptive wave of arcane mana, but it was obvious

Fine.

of his blood on them. The Nanoblade appeared in his left hand and the Scimitar of Cursed Hunger in

Have it your way.

the Count wanted a good old melee squabble, Jake was down. Raising his blade, he crashed with the claws

up and left a long thin cut across the chest of the vampire as the Count barely even tried to defend himself. In turn, the vampire clawed at Jake’s shoulder, but he

entire body exploded with arcane mana, blowing back the Count of Blood and leaving light wounds on his chest. Jake pressed his advantage and moved in to leave a few more shallow cuts before being forced

the vampire let out a loud shrill shriek. For a fraction of a second, his entire body tensed up, and he failed to block as he was clawed across

smirked as he didn’t even react to his wound but returned the damage in kind as he cut the vampire. The

overcome the legendary-rarity Palate of the Malefic Viper. Meanwhile, Jake kept inflicting the Count with poison, and clearly, vampiric resistance didn’t beat out viperic resistance. Bad puns aside, the

as he tried to land a possibly lethal blow. Jake responded by freezing the large monster with Gaze simultaneously,

the transformed vampire. The huge winged bulky monster didn’t even need to be frozen this time but

again, sending out a wave of explosive arcane arrows. He rapid-fired after the vampire as he was forced back, the chamber now

Avaricious Hunter made him aware of where the Count was, and he had to admit, the charge