The Primal Hunter

Jake observed as Eron stood before the Cursed Monarch unbothered as flames wormed across his body. The Monarch took a step back as he asked: “What are you?”

“A rude welcome followed by a rude question. I have had not the best time these last few days, so please excuse my own rudeness… but I have never seen a more disgusting spark than what glows within you,” Eron said as he looked visibly upset while looking at the Monarch.

“Broken and flickering like the wind can snuff it out at any moment, you burn out your very essence and need to consume the sparks of others to keep yourself alive… disgusting beyond belief. Truly your existence itself is cursed, Monarch or not.”

The white flames exploded out of him as the Cursed Monarch was pushed back, or rather, chose to fly back. He didn’t take much damage from the flames but was still left disturbed. As Jake already knew, then the flames were more eerie than dangerous. A bit of exposure did nothing but some damage to health, but with enough time, Jake could see it becoming lethal.

Jake also learned for the first time today that Eron could also actually heal people. He wasn’t just an immortal wall but a wellspring of health. One that would make this battle even more one-sided as now they also clearly had the advantage in durability and had the resources to outlast the boss.

It was clear to see that the Cursed Monarch hadn’t learned this yet. Perhaps he didn’t believe Eron was truly unkillable, or perhaps he just couldn’t comprehend it even being possible. Without any hesitation, the Monarch attacked the healer that had just called him disgusting. He opened his palm towards the healer and sent out a red wave of energy.

Flying out, it touched Eron’s body and made it erode, yet the man just kept standing there staring at the vampire. A second after the wave passed through, obliterating his body, he was back. This made the Monarch frown even more.

Jake totally got the frustration. He had been faced with it himself. And he was sure the Monarch could figure something out with just a bit of time, but that time wasn’t something anyone else present planned on giving him.

An arrow was nocked and released, a sword brought down, and a fist smashed forward. Black lightning fell from above, and Sylphie attacked with blades of wind, having been told to relax it with her powerful dive attacks.

Once more, the Monarch was on the back foot.

For a while, he tried to keep up the same tactic as before, but the arrival of Eron made that plan unfeasible. Jake noticed how Eron didn’t use any shields or buffs or anything like that; he only healed people. In many ways, his white flames were a kind of reverse healing, too, making it clear the guy really was the purest form a healer could take, with a bit of immortality sprinkled in for good measure.

When it became apparent this passive approach wouldn’t work, the Monarch switched gears. He took a step back after blocking a sword swing and turned to mist.

Jake felt a sense of danger as he stepped down on the platform of mana he was standing on. He appeared on another one a hundred meters away just in time to dodge a red claw trying to penetrate his chest. The Monarch had clearly chosen to switch the focus from the melee fighters and take down Jake first or incapacitate him. Jake felt that the claw the Monarch used wasn’t like any attack used prior. Instead, it gave off a very familiar and much-hated feeling: it was a curse.

One had to remember, this Cursed Monarch was born from the remnants of what had once been an A-grade King of Blood specialized in curse magic. So for him to retain some knowledge and abilities to curse people was only to be expected.

Turning around, Jake fired a potshot that missed as the Monarch turned to mist again. Jake, in turn, dismissed his bow as his scimitar and Nanoblade appeared. Just in time, too, as he blocked a claw coming from behind.

sent tumbling back, being outmatched in strength, but was otherwise unhurt. The Monarch had hit his Nanoblade,

him, but the Monarch purposefully made Jake retreat away from them as he repeatedly attacked. Each time the Nanoblade was hit, he felt it become more and more damaged, but the scimitar took the blows without any problems. In fact, it felt almost

found it funny the guy was still worried about

he counterattacked. The Monarch had a sliver of hesitance within him to attack Jake. A faint opening. A weakness to exploit was blown right open as the infused presence of

hesitated. It was barely there, but that was enough. For the first time, Jake activated Limit Break at 10% and dove in. The Nanoblade was dismissed as the scimitar was stabbed into the arm of the Monarch, making him unable to attack. Meanwhile, Jake

of Jake’s face when a sword narrowly passed by behind Jake’s shoulder, stabbing the Monarch’s hand and pinning it to the

side, twisted the arm, and

kept channeling Touch of the Malefic Viper throughout it all, and he saw the chest of the vampire begin corroding and rotting away as black veins spread from the wound. The Monarch released a red wave of energy, but to the surprise of

but shrank instantly as black lightning ate at it, with Caleb’s staff consuming it. Jake’s brother was blasted back, but he had managed to

them. Casper had come over, hundreds of Shades flying around him. Jake saw the eyes of the Monarch open wide as the many spirits flew towards him and wormed past Jake and the others to enter

as the many spirits entered the body of the boss vampire. The Monarch, in turn, groaned with a pained expression. The five strongest people on Earth were currently holding him down, with

of the vampire as he looked at Jake and smiled

freed hand aimed at Jake’s head. The arm Carmen held was twisted free as he willingly broke it, and his entire body

moved his

taking a small claw attack in return. The Monarch was distracted by the descending blade of the Sword Saint, and a few wooden stakes fired off by Casper,

with Sylphie flying over and cutting his one arm deeply. The Sword Saint managed to land a few more nasty wounds, with Caleb now having regrouped with Casper, and joined him in making range attacks of wooden stakes and needle-thin

shades still weakening the vampire, they all went

lethal to a human, yet the Monarch took it all. The shrieks of the shades slowly died down until suddenly they fell silent

the clawed hand of the vampire flew with incredible speeds as he caught not the blade but the arm of the old man. The Sword Saint’s eyes opened with surprise, but he still reacted swiftly as he

arm to dodge the blade as he opened his palm and fired off a blast of red energy, sending the unprepared Sword Saint flying back. Then, with both hands free, he pointed a finger above his

in its wake. The rest of the humans and

from his Sense of the Malefic

clear as another energy mixed with Jake’s poison, not amplifying it per se, but making anything harmful to the Monarch more effective and harder to

the Monarch had recognized Casper as his

– had predicted this too, and the moment the mist coalesced to his side, the area exploded in black curse energy as a pre-prepared trap triggered. For the most part, the Monarch

and Jake glanced towards Eron and noticed something. The man didn’t even attempt to heal Casper but just frowned…

Shit.