The Primal Hunter

About twenty kilometers from the center of the plains, six figures suddenly appeared – five humans and one vampire. The vampire instantly turned towards the humans and charged without any hestitation.

Neil blocked the Cursed Soldier with a barrier, giving Christen time to engage it in melee. Levi was already flanking the vampire as Silas cast buffs on Eleanor, who was charging up a Powershot. Neil had managed to teleport them all to the circle he had prepared in the distance, isolating them with the Soldier just as planned.

The Soldier and Christen crashed, but she easily held on as he redirected the sword swing with her buckler. This particular Soldier had a sword and a shield, and while it was quite powerful, it wasn’t very talented at using its weapons.

Levi came in from the side as his sword was aflame. He cut the Soldier across the back, making it growl and turn to hit him. Christen took the opportunity to try and stab the vampire with her rapier but found her blow blocked by the shield.

Neil moved his magic as he created spatial pressure on the Soldier to try and suppress it and allow his comrades to land blows. Eleanor was finally ready just as Neil’s own magic also finished, and with a combined attack, the Powershot empowered by Silas was released as it left a wake of silver light.

The vampire was blasted back, allowing Levi to strike again with a crosscut that sent out a small whirlwind of fire and wind. The rest of them also kept up the pressure as they dominated the Soldier from start to end. They killed it within a few minutes, and once it was done, Neil disappeared.

Ten seconds later, he reappeared and nodded towards Eleanor, who stood ready with a charged arrow. He activated his spell, and space warped as a Soldier was teleported. The Powershot hit it before it could get its bearings, as the group attacked it, using many of the same tactics as the last one.

Neil and his party had naturally chosen to stay and fight, yet they had no delusions about their presence truly having a large impact. They had seen the monsters that would handle the most dangerous foes and knew it was not their place to stand beside them… at least not yet.

Because while they knew they weren’t extraordinary, they were still hopeful. Neil was a space mage, a very good class that took a lot of natural talent to comprehend. The rest of his party also weren’t slouches either, and they had all five managed to get the Perfect Evolution. After they all reached D-grade, things had truly taken off as they grew more in levels than before, their teamwork also improving.

They had constructed a strong foundation and were now building upon it further to improve their strength. Their time in the Treasure Hunt had been very fruitful, with plenty of treasures obtained and levels gained. It had also helped tremendously that they had avoided all human conflict due to their affiliation with Haven, at least after Lord Thayne had that confrontation with the independent factions. Before that, there were some rather passive-aggressive people.

Neil had even spent quite a while with that guy Casper inside a Vault. Neil had detected one that was heavily based on space magic, so he had sought that out as the rest of his party hunted and leveled up against those Reanimated Armors in an abandoned tower.

He had to admit, the undead had some interesting and very different insights into space, but that also meant Neil had actually managed to help a lot. It felt good and affirmed that Neil wasn’t as untalented and useless as he had begun feeling while only spending time in Haven.

There was a strong feeling of inadequacy when he and his party had to compare themselves to Lord Thayne for the longest time. Neil had then seen the World Congress, where he felt like one of the weakest people present. Besides Lord Thayne, there was Arnold, an insane scientist of sorts who Neil wasn’t sure about, but he seemed smart and, of course, Miranda. Then Sultan also came, another man more talented than any of them. Miranda wasn’t a combatant and had always been clear about that. Oh, but it did help when some unaffiliated D-grades began showing up, and Neil began to realize that none of them seemed even close to as good as he and the party were.

But… they still had a long way to go. Neil teleported another Soldier away from the center and to their ambush spot as he took a good look at the battle between the true elites. A stage where they did not belong yet, but one he yearned to stand on.

For now, all they could do was help with the small-fry. The same as thousands of other people who knew directly engaging the foes in the center of the Mistless Plains would be utter suicide.

were foes in all directions, meaning most groups of Soldiers weren’t more than five or six, with many even being alone. Parties of humans had engaged them, some employing interesting tactics, such as Neil

with the Soldiers. They were a good source of experience and fighting experience for those on the weaker side. Instead, he would focus on the Royal Guards

returned to the Monarch’s eyes, and coupled

four Royal Guards moved as a party as they took up a defensive perimeter around

“I see.”

felt the power it held… perhaps vestiges of a being that had once been A-grade. He looked into the horizon, Jake following his gaze. With the mist gone, for the most part, Jake could see the

fallen, its

attention towards the people attacking him, throwing

this my final role? Is this meant to serve as punishment? Tell

Plains was devoid of fighting. Everyone had stopped as the Monarch began talking, with the Royal Guards also doing nothing. The Monarch did not seem to carry any hatred towards those who had come to slay him either, or even that they had killed one

in all white stepped forth from the Holy Church camp, flanked by Bertram and his four party members. It was Jacob, who Jake had

stood there. Jake tried to Identify him on instinct

[Human – lvl ?]

but knew his Identify didn’t fail because Jacob was too high level; the dude had just gotten a skill to resist it. Sadly, Jake didn’t have

feel no trace of lies in your words.. truly so long as passed. Tell me, slave of the Holy Tyrant, have you come to finish the job at the behest of your masters? Or have I simply become

distance frown, his façade falling for a

strike true. A second chance, given as my

Plains as the Cursed Monarch released his aura, and his body began burning

my own future… by

out, one towards Jacob and the other interestingly enough headed straight for Jake. Jake watched it as he fully drew back the string on his already nocked arrow, allowing his perception of time

Arrow barrelling down. It hit the beam and parted it as

It’s on.

was sent flying back with worried gazes upon him. Yet he had barely landed before he stood back up, the wound on his chest already healing, not from some healing spell, but solely due

gotten some pointers from Eron, and Jake also knew the lopsided stats of Augurs gave

charge towards the Royal Guards and Monarch. The same was true for Sven and those from Valhal, Priscilla

her as four swords were summoned above her head as she charged forth. All of the swords burned with intense blue flames,

he appeared several kilometers in the air where he looked down. Jake met

bow and fired an uncharged arrow, which the Monarch easily swatted away, but just after a bolt of black lightning came from below, followed by two kinds of crescent waves – one

had intelligence, so he merely dodged as he turned to mist again,