The Primal Hunter

Treants, oh treants. It was a creature type that was present in so many video games, fiction, and general fantasy. No doubt humans from ages past had seen trees and wondered: “what if that massive fucking tree could walk around and smash stuff?” and just let their imagination take things from there.

Yet when Jake finally got to meet them, he got some scuffed broken versions that were far closer to elementals than actual trees. He felt cheated and betrayed that they even kept the treant-tag. They couldn’t even do proper tree magic! No spearing roots, no long vines extending from them, or razor leaves fired after him. Just a bunch of rotting trees that blew up with a single arrow and reassembled themselves using their curse energies.

Jake did what he could as he worked to make the world right. He tore the trees apart one by one, starting with the Lord. It was the biggest of the bunch and the only one Jake hoped would at least give him a bit of entertainment.

Well, the first thing he did was to take out the Root of Eternal Resentment, hoping he could just bonk them to death and be done with it. Sadly it didn’t work, Jake assuming it was because these weren’t truly part of the Yalsten curse… just generally fucked up by curse energy. If the Yalsten curse directed them, wouldn’t they hold more hate for the vampires sitting around the edges of the valley trying to take advantage of the fight than for Jake?

No, even if cursed, they were still directed by the fake-metal-tree-that-wasn’t-even-a-metal-treant tree. That damn tree was a big disappointment too. Sure, Jake got cheated out of fighting real treants, but a mech treant could still be cool, right? But noo, he just had to fight these shitty rotting things. They even smelled.

Still… not as bad as mushrooms.

As for the fight itself, it was just the usual stuff. The wannabe-treants used simple attacks, mainly just trying to smash Jake with a bit of curse magic mixed in here and there. The Treant Lord used its weird tentacles to try and grasp Jake and infuse him with its curse, which was also the reason why he targeted it first. Those damn vines were a bit too mushroomy for his liking. Cursed and mushroomy, even.

What he had to hand to the treants was their durability. He kept blowing them apart time and time again, yet they kept regrowing the broken wood. In the end, Jake blanketed the entire valley in toxic mist and, with his blood-soaked arrows, poisoned the fake treants one after another, whittling them down. While his poison didn’t do much… it did take its toll.

Needless to say, destructive arcane energy also did plenty of damage.

For nearly an hour, the valley was a hellscape of broken and rotting pieces of wood flying everywhere, pink-purple explosions, and a constant poisonous mist blanketing everything. Occasionally the entire valley would light up for a brief moment as a Mark of the Avaricious Hunter was activated, making it quite the show from an outside perspective.

Sadly, all the vampiric observers had taken off in fright, not wanting to get involved at all. Probably a good decision on their part.

In the end, Jake stood in the middle of the valley, destruction all around him as he cleaned his cloak that looked to now be covered in mold. Cursed mold. Good thing he got it upgraded. Altmar technology sure was something, that’s for sure. To his surprise, he had even gotten a level from the entire endeavor.

*You have slain [Cursed Vault Guardian Treant Lord – lvl 150] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*

*You have slain [Cursed Vault Guardian Treant – lvl 140] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*

…

*You have slain [Cursed Vault Guardian Treant – lvl 140] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*

Hunter] has reached level 136 - Stat points allocated, +10

133 -

it probably shouldn’t surprise him. He hadn’t gotten a level after he killed the last Count of Blood, and he had gotten a bit more experience since then too. Granted, the fights hadn’t

creatures Jake could kill relatively easily dozens of levels and hundreds of

time it reacted. It began absorbing some of the energy from all the dead enemies, but only a bit of it. Once it was done absorbing the energy, he put it back in his Insignia and also stored all of the wood that remained of the fake treants.

metal tree and placed his hand on it again. This time, he got an entirely different response. It felt almost like an invitation… and without further ado, he accepted it as he disappeared – teleported into the

through his Sphere of Perception as he now found himself in a perfectly spherical room. He stood on a platform surrounded by a barrier in front of him, with the space behind him filled with furniture and other amenities, like it was a living area. The entire sphere was

assumed were treasures. The issue was… he had no idea how to get through the barrier. He placed his palm on it and felt like it was utterly impenetrable with usual means… maybe he could wear it down with enough time

could finish his thought, a figure suddenly appeared off to the side of the metal sphere. It was a woman in an odd uniform, and Jake instantly recognized that it was some kind of projection and not a

symbol on her forehead, reminding Jake

How dare a mere D-grade enter this place?” she said, her voice filled with venom as she made it sound like Jake had just killed her

claim whatever is stored in this Vault, so would you kindly lower the barrier and allow me to take it all? Yalsten has long fallen, and there will come no one else to claim it,” Jake answered, looking straight into her eyes. If

she took offense

above D-grade. C-grade? Possibly even B-grade? Either way, it wasn’t one with any true intent, just the aura and nothing more.

“Well?” he asked.

Jake. A part of him had assumed this projection wouldn’t show any real intelligence but just be like the Counts or something. That there were pre-determined responses and such… but the look of utter confusion on her face seemed very genuine. So… closer to the Altmar

you?”

taken this time to properly inspect the room, as well as what was behind the barrier. While he couldn’t see through it with his eyes or other magical senses, his Sphere of Perception sure could, and behind it, he saw a few interesting things. One of the items was more interesting than any others, as

decided to take

stared at her as he faked anger and related his own aura. “A better question is who you think you are to ask

happily mixed in a bit of an aura that was normally

motif belonging to the Order of the Malefic Viper. Prominently displayed on

actions were a pure gamble… one that paid

– something he was impressed that a vampire, much less the projection of one, could even do. Jake allowed her to bathe in his aura as he let

a few seconds, she seemed to come to her senses as she

Nalkar line greets the Malefic’s Chosen; I apologize for my disrespect and

which made Jake feel both uncomfortable and amazed at the overdone response. However, he had to keep up his persona as he tossed

and didn’t I tell you to open up the damn Vault already?” Jake said, literally

open if a member of the Nalkar line arrives or someone holding the key…” she said, her own domineering attitude utterly gone as she

his head in fake disappointment. “And here I thought the Nalkar’s were smart… but it appears even your intelligence is merely an