The Primal Hunter

The difference between Knights and Blackguards was slight and primarily laid in the level difference. They even looked the same, with the Knights being slightly slicker and a bit faster and more agile, but that also came with the knights being slightly less tanky.

Now, slightly less tanky didn’t mean they weren’t tanky. In fact, due to their levels, they were tankier than nearly all Blackguards. The only good thing about them was that they were what Jake would classify as trash mobs. Filler enemies that individually would rarely be a challenge to anyone of equal level, who didn’t really possess any interesting skills or dangerous abilities. The only thing the Knights could do was to blow up when they died, just like the Blackguards.

However, what they did have were numbers and their durability. Enough numbers and durability to make Jake pretty much run out of mana after he had killed thirty of them. Luckily, he had a mana potion at the ready and consumed one to keep fighting with close to optimal power.

Even during the previous fight, he used Limit Break at 10% throughout, and now he pushed it a bit further to 20% to finish it off as quickly as possible. He could afford to lose the stamina as his mana expenditure was far larger.

In the end, while the Knights were stronger, Jake was far stronger than even that. One had to remember that these Knights were enemies that could be taken down by the regular parties of humanity, by groups often more than twenty levels below them.

His only struggle was with his resources, but he could kind of keep up by using potions and switching to a more low-maintenance fighting style. He stopped using Splitting Arrow and One Step Mile whenever possible. He limited his use of magic attacks and pretty much returned to an older style of just swiftly switching weapons between melee and ranged. The only active skill he used was his arcane arrows.

Yet to his dismay, they kept coming. The gate that fell apart when he touched it had housed an army of those Knights. He had believed there was perhaps a hundred total with an average level around 135. After killing that number and seeing how more came, he had to reevaluate and realize he had severely lowballed it.

They just kept fucking coming. Jake’s low-maintenance style could keep him going for a while. Still, he did have to make some sacrifices in the form of willingly taking less dangerous hits to avoid wasting stamina or mana on teleporting or making a barrier.

But another, perhaps even larger issue than his resources was just how tiring it was. More so mentally than physically. He had to constantly dodge and filter information from his sphere, constantly consider when to attack and find openings, and even a second of inattentiveness would result in him taking severe damage.

Jake kept retreating inside the mountain, going down hallways as he fired arrows after those who chased him or cut them with his blades. Sadly their self-destruction did nothing to harm their comrades but only cursed Jake whenever he was hit. And he did get hit by the remnants of some explosions, as it simply became unavoidable.

The entire ordeal began taking far longer than it should, as he was forced to constantly flee and wait for the moment he could chug down another mana potion to get another period of serious damage output. His brain ended up going on half-auto pilot as he dodged sword swing after sword swing, narrowly avoiding black waves of dark mist sent his way by spear-thrusts and ducked under arrows surrounded by black mist.

He cut another golem and kicked another as he finally used a mana potion. He also used the oft-forgotten enchantment on his pants - Life Burst - as he was flooded with both vital energy and mana at the same time, giving him a second wind.

Jake pressed the attack as he fired off explosive arrows, cut down golems, and tore them apart one by one. The curse in his body did accumulate, but the scales still on his body took the brunt of it, even if it was yet another source of mana expenditure.

This continued as he killed Knight after Knight. Jake was little more than a machine churning through golem after golem. Hundreds of hallways had been left scarred. The atrium had been passed a dozen times as he circled the building, with clear signs of their battle. Then, finally, he kicked away a golem, it exploding a moment later as he drew his bow and prepared an arrow. Yet he stopped up, a flash of confusion passing his otherwise tired blank eyes.

There was no movement in the hallway.

Jake just stood there with an arrow nocked for five or so seconds as nothing happened. Realization finally struck him as he lowed his bow and dispelled the arcane arrow. He exited his battle haze and only had the energy to summon the same comfy lounge chair he had used in the puzzle room.

He fell back in it as he breathed loudly, not caring about the blood he dirtied it with or the bow that fell on the floor beside him. Jake closed his eyes as he slowly slipped into meditation, which quickly became him just taking a nap.

Hours later, he reawakened, his body still sore from the incredible overuse of Limit Break and from having his pools so strained during the fight. “Fuck those tin can fucks,” Jake muttered. They weren’t even fun to fight; it was just god damn tedious.

Looking at the timer, Jake saw the Treasure Hunt had now officially entered the second day, and by quite a few hours even. He had spent far longer killing those damn Knights and Blackguards than expected, just because he felt a natural treasure somewhere above.

Sadly, he couldn’t just go up right away, as he was still low on resources and felt sore. So he chugged a stamina potion and entered meditation again as he went through all the notifications.

*You have slain [Reanimated Black Knight Golem – lvl 131]*

…

*You have slain [Reanimated Black Knight Golem – lvl 142] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*

*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 132 - Stat points allocated, +10 free points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (D)] has reached level 131 - Stat points allocated, +15 free points*

*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 133 - Stat points allocated, +10 free points*

*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 134 - Stat points allocated, +10 free points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (D)] has reached level 132 - Stat points allocated, +15 free points*

Jake had killed… a lot. Three hundred and eleven Knights in total, two hundred and ninety-two of which gave him any experience points. That had resulted in three whole levels… which meant that in the day since Jake entered this Treasure Hunt, he had already gotten five total class levels. He had to admit that he didn’t think it would lead to this much experience when he entered the Treasure Hunt. However… it wasn’t all great.

good, there was one negative aspect… he had just spent nearly a full day without getting a single piece of loot. The damn reanimated armors blew themselves up upon death, and whatever metal was left behind was rusted and broken like the metal gate that broke apart. It also only fell into smaller pieces and tried to curse him when he touched it. In addition, Jake had

to get something, as he could well and truly say that his idea of speedrunning the Counts had been utterly

surprised not a single person had come to the tower during all this time… but maybe it was because it looked abandoned and the constant mist within? Or they chose to focus on towers closer to the Mistless Plains and their basecamps? According to Reika, all the large factions

and put it back in his inventory, hoping he hadn’t lowered its value too much by getting it bloody. He had also discovered that the reason it was

course, his next course of action was to dive straight into the cursed mist again, scales and arcane barriers at the ready. He

the Malefic Viper or any of his other senses didn’t give him any information about the treasure at all; it was only his boots. He

now, he could only see a dozen meters ahead of him even with his insane perception. He reckoned most

into what he presumed was the Count’s chambers appeared. To his utter surprise, the gate was there, good as new, with the same magic circle as the one he encountered last time that required the Mark

is still intact?

leading into the chamber didn’t look any different. The magic circle seemed utterly unaffected by the curse, and as it protected the gate, no signs were left on that

the Forgotten Sewers before he got used to the dark-affinity. In other words, it wasn’t that he couldn’t see anything. It was that there was too

his instincts told him there was no enemy. He looked up and saw the same words on the gate as the last tower, and Jake promptly summoned the Mark of Blood as it resonated with the

place as the mist oddly enough just skirted around him. It only went a few dozen meters down the

was made up entirely of the cursed mist, and the moment it

narrowed his eyes, and simply by using Identify on the black mist before him, he

Shade of Eternal

squirmed and changed, evermoving, as

do you carry the Mark of Blood yet remain unturned? Who do

Jake could answer, another voice came… followed by a

”It’s a human.”

he

the vampires, is he

to the Pure

he is with the Pure

”I wanna go home…”

”Silence, child.”

you with

”Who do you serve?”

”Who are you?”

”What are you?”

”Identify yourself.”

These were

and as for who I work for? Well, I would self-identify as more freelance than working for anyone,” Jake said, leaving out the part about

followed before the voices came back with

”Enemy of the vampires?”

A

”Slayer of the unclean.”

”Kill them all?”

”Ally?”

has a

said hunter… a vampire

”But does he lie?”

”A liar?

”Lies?”

work for

said he

”He lied.”

”Traitor.”

”We demand proof.”

”Evidence.”

”Show us proof.”

”Proof.”

”Proof.”