The Primal Hunter

Jake stared confused as he had a feeling he had really missed something. Also, why did Casper look so weirdly at him? He got Jacob, but even Casper knew? Shit, even Carmen threw him a confused gaze. At least the Sword Saint wasn’t in the loop either…

He tried to focus his voice as he infused some will into it and projected it into the distance towards the Monarch. “Being real honest here, I have no idea what you’re talking about; I’m just here to get treasures. Do feel free to clue me in.”

This only got him more confused stares from everyone, the Monarch too. Jake, on the other hand, was just happy his voice-projection had worked so well.

Casper, in the distance, just began laughing as he shook his head. Jacob face-palmed, and Carmen nodded like his answer made sense.

“Hah…. Ha, I must confess, this is quite the situation. Who would think the system would throw me into such a bizarre situation. Tell me, does the Chosen come here at the behest of Malefic One or of his own volition?” the Cursed Monarch said as he laughed out loud.

“Nope, I’m here all on my own,” Jake answered truthfully, just wanting to get back to the fighting.

“I see… it does sadden me our race is so insignificant that not even his Chosen would know of us… but more than eighty eras have passed, have they not? Perhaps it is to be expected,” the Monarch said, looking disappointed.

Jake was beginning to feel a bit bad for the poor guy. It must suck to be resurrected and find out that your entire race has potentially been wiped out without any way of finding out. Or there probably was, Jake just didn’t know, and even if he did, would it help to tell him?

Also, more than eighty eras… and with what Jake knew, it had to be nearly ninety, as to his knowledge the Viper had been ‘gone’ for more than eighty. He didn’t know the exact timeline yet, and he had never asked Villy as he didn’t want to dig up old wounds by asking about stuff like that.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Jake answered back. “I’m just not the most informed when it comes to matters like that. Besides, does it matter? I reckon if you win here today, you can leave, and if you lose, well, you’ll be dead, so that’s that.”

He really wanted to finish off the conversation, as it was tiring to project his voice like this. The fighting below with the army of Soldiers and even the four remaining Royal Guards was ongoing, so in that sense talking was to their advantage. Humanity and the undead were clearly beating the army of cursed vampires handily, and Jake would lie if he didn’t find the Monarch’s indifference slightly surprising if not downright worrying.

“You may have a point, Viper’s Chosen,” the Monarch acknowledged. “And as you said, the system has given me a new path. I merely need to defeat all of you, making you leave before Yalsten collapses to escape. Meanwhile, I assume you lot have to exterminate me.”

The Monarch didn’t need any answer to get his theory confirmed, as the silence of those present was good enough.

“Chosen, I have a proposition,” the vampire Monarch said as he looked towards Jake. “Assist me in slaying the slaves of the Holy Tyrant and the filthy undead as well as those who side with them, and I shall allow you to finish me off afterward or do anything else you wish with me. My only other request is that if you choose to slay me, then you will at least promise to assist in the survival of the vampiric race in the multiverse, or at least not be their enemy.”

Jake stared at the vampire as the Monarch waved his hand and did something. He was surprised at the proposition and even more so when a quest suddenly appeared before his eyes:

Friend of

has given you a choice. Side with the Monarch to defeat everyone else by either making them

him will nullify this quest.

Defeat all other Treasure Hunters

calculated after the Treasure Hunt

Due to the destruction of the world,

of the Treasure Hunt seemed to change as he felt the gazes of all present and not occupied with fighting. Even Casper looked worried his way, with Jacob looking especially troubled. The only ones who looked unbothered with it all were Caleb and Sylphie. Sylphie just seemed confused as she had also gotten the quest,

pros and cons list, first of

and stop chatting? Oh, but I have

like he would actually kill them and make troubles go away even if he had a momentary lapse of judgment and joined the

with the

Caleb just shaking his head with a wry smile. The Cursed Monarch didn’t look surprised or even mad. Instead, he just nodded in acknowledgment. “Very well… I must admit, to fight the Chosen of a Primordial just after my return… the system

thought. I’m not the

her glowing fists as she punched, sending a wave of force out. The Monarch blocked

to the side. With a palm strike, he leaned forward and sent Carmen flying away with a hole in her chest and a

in Jake’s direction. Jake scoffed as he

as the clone clearly wasn’t made to be durable. It was just a distraction allowing the Monarch to continue his attack towards Carmen, who he had apparently viewed as the one he wanted to

enough to help block it, but luckily they didn’t need to. Carmen somehow punched the red beam, making it explode and sending her smashing into the ground even faster. Her fist was mangled, but she was already self-healing at a

and the Monarch coated his hand in a red aura as he blocked, yet as the sword

blood appeared around him and bombarded the old man, but the swordsman didn’t let up. The sword fell two more times, making two large cuts on his arms

tear the old man to threads, but for the umpteen time during the fight, he was forced to face something else. An arrow came in from far away, making him dodge back and away from the

second with every shot. Currently, Jake had to calculate every blow far too much, and

second as he flew forward, aiming at the Monarch and throwing off his momentum. Jake deliberately avoided using Gaze as he wanted to save it for a more opportune time

Saint more, and with the support of Jake, the old man avoided taking any injuries. Caleb and Sylphie were incredibly fast strikers, coming in and

a Count of Blood, and like the Counts of Blood, could also be weakened by stakes. It didn’t take long for the human side down there to figure that out as each of them was stabbed through, every faction

passed, and Jake was now only a few kilometers away and had stopped to bombard the Monarch from there. After all, as an archer with

faintly felt the Root of Eternal Resentment react within his Hunter Insignia, making him aware those wraiths were like that Shade of Eternal Resentment he had seen back then. Ghosts of sorts born from the curse… and from the looks of it, Casper