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

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

the Monarch or choosing to fight him will nullify this quest.

other Treasure Hunters

will be calculated

of the world, the Treasure Hunt will end

troubled. The only ones who looked unbothered with it all were Caleb

large pros and

get to fighting already and stop chatting? Oh, but I have nothing against vampires; I just don’t

imagine how pissed Miranda would be if he decided to make pretty much all other humans on the planet his enemy. It wasn’t like he would actually kill them and make troubles go away even if he had a momentary lapse of judgment and joined the vampire. They would just leave, and he would return to Earth with everyone hating him. On top of that, he would miss the best

with the

visibly saw the relief of the anxious onlookers, 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,

bit of a miscalculation there, mate, Jake thought. I’m

appeared with her glowing fists as she punched, sending a wave of force out. The

dodged as he turned to the side. With a palm strike, he leaned forward and sent Carmen flying away with a hole in her chest and a trail of blood in

speeds in Jake’s direction. Jake scoffed as he fired a barrage of arrows towards it. The clone was fast, but just as it tried to pass through the projectiles from the Splitting Arrow,

had used an explosive attack, and it worked quite well as the clone clearly wasn’t made to be durable. It was just a distraction allowing the Monarch to continue his attack towards Carmen,

block it, but luckily they didn’t need to. Carmen somehow

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

sword fell two more times, making two large cuts on his arms before the Sword Saint was forced to retreat from the orbs. The old man looked to almost shimmer as he fought, making even Jake

he wanted to 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 Saint, clearly not wanting to block the Arcane Powershot

a distance was hard, and he wanted to at least get within a few kilometers where his arrows would arrive within a second with every shot. Currently, Jake had to calculate every blow far too much, and the last Arcane Powershot was fired on the way. Oh yeah, that was another thing, he had to use Arcane Powershots to make the arrows faster, and that

the Monarch and throwing off his momentum. Jake deliberately avoided using Gaze as he wanted to save it for a more opportune time and not tire

the old man avoided taking any injuries. Caleb and Sylphie were incredibly fast strikers, coming in and landing glancing

the undead, and several others were fighting with a huge advantage against the Royal Guards, who were a member down. Each of the Royal Guards was about as strong as 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

Jake was now only a few kilometers away and had

and Jake 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 was