The Primal Hunter

Reika manipulated her weapons as she battled the Royal Guard in front of her, the male vampire using an odd mix of blood and water magic against her. The other Royal Guards also assisted him but were otherwise busy as they got swamped by everyone else present.

The people from Valhal were absolutely pummeling one of them, another one being dominated by the party from the Holy Church, and the fourth primarily fighting the undead woman Priscilla and her followers. Behind them, many others assisted or simply killed the many Soldiers also coming in and disturbing their battle.

Durability-wise, the vampires were all high-tier, but they simply didn’t get any opportunities to properly show their offensive might. Especially not after each of them was stabbed by one of the cursed Stakes originally intended for the Counts.

So while the battle still took a while, it was an utterly one-sided affair. Reika had wanted to join the fighting in the air with the Monarch very much but knew it was beyond her. She had caught glimpses of the fight and knew she wouldn’t last long and possibly only be a burden.

Among humans on Earth, she had always thought she was at the pinnacle, but she had to admit that her combat prowess was lacking behind that of others. Reika had perhaps focused too much time on her profession and not enough on actually improving her combat skills. This didn’t mean she was weak, though.

Four swords flew through the air, burning with blue fire as they cut at the barrier of the vampire before her. A Soldier approached from behind, and she directed two of the swords to stop it. They flew towards the vampire, and while one was blocked by an old rusty shield, the other stabbed the Soldier in the arm. The flames instantly began spreading, but instead of heat, they left signs of frostbite.

Reika had formed a cold flame that she used primarily for alchemy, as she found that most of her crafting worked best in low temperatures. She wasn’t an alchemist like Jake or others with a more classical approach. Instead, hers was more modern, at least by human standards, where she used a cold environment to preserve the effects of the medicine more effectively as she combined it through a hardening process.

This flame had also proved very useful when it came to fighting foes. The flames spread on the Soldier as Reika used her hands to manipulate the swords, and at the same time, she drew a simple magic circle using her feet and pure mana manipulation.

Her attack on the Soldier didn’t impede it, as it kept charging her. Reika finished the magic circle just in time as she flew to the side, the Soldier stepping where she had just been. The circle activated as chains of frost emerged, stopping the vampire.

Without further ado, she took out a small crystalline bottle and tossed it at the Soldier. It exploded with a cloud of odd silver dust, and a moment later, she tossed another bottle that exploded in blue light. All of the silver dust was activated and expanded as it froze, forming thousands of localized ice explosions. The soldier, caught in the middle, was completely frozen both inside and out.

With that done, Reika gladly turned her attention towards the Royal Guard again. The vampire had tried to do something but was hit by a blast from the side by the odd ship of the merchant from Haven, making it fail its spellcasting. This gave her ample opportunity to direct all four blades as she spotted one of the Royal Guards be finished off by the fire-using archer named Maria from the party from the Holy Church.

By now, it was only a question of time before the Royal Guards would all be wiped out.

The many Soldiers not faring any better as they were so heavily outnumbered.

Jake fired another arrow, hitting the Monarch on his thigh as he didn’t turn to mist fast enough – courtesy of the Sword Saint trying to cut his head off and Carmen attempting to rupture whatever organs could possibly remain within the Cursed Monarch.

Lyra had reentered the locket with Casper too. Based on him only really attacking after that, he proved Jake’s theory that the two of them were using some combo-attacks together by channeling both their energies.

Caleb and Sylphie kept up their work as strikers, occasionally hitting with powerful glancing blows when the Monarch was unprepared and often at the same time. Finally, the Sword Saint and Carmen kept the Monarch engaged in melee, with Jake shooting his bow from only a few hundred meters away.

unconscious on the ground below, still under the effect of the Monarch’s spell. The vampire had tried to use a spell on the Sword Saint at one point also, but it appeared to have little to no effect. Carmen was affected, but the pain she

– Jake had a feeling this couldn’t be it. The Monarch was around 190 as far as Jake could tell, which

actually. He was clearly severely weakened, and the Cursed part

was also the fact that the Monarch still had a far too casual approach of just dragging out time. He had landed some wounds on them but primarily Carmen, who self-healed. While he had gone for Casper earlier, and even Jake and Caleb had taken some blows, it was nothing serious. It

all holding

to show and were just waiting for it to be required. Blowing your load too

of Jacob. The Augur was still preparing some ritual with hundreds of people below, hidden behind a barrier meant to obscure

Either way, the ritual proved that Jacob was preparing for something that was to come, clearly having at least some sense that there was

made perfect sense… what boss fight was good

for a few more minutes, the Earth-side more dominant everywhere. After the first of the four remaining Royal Guards fell, the others quickly followed as they were swarmed and overwhelmed. The Soldiers were slaughtered wholesale, many of them having ten or even twenty people gang up on them. Rituals from the undead side and the Holy Church activated to blow them up continuously, and the Noboru clan

stabbed the Monarch with earlier was a modified version of the ones used on the Counts, this one able to be used on the Monarch, even though it appeared to

on the Monarch just as Jake hit the vampire in his hand as he tried to block. Carmen, Sylphie, and Caleb also all hit at once, with the final attack made

down. Jake stared up and saw the vampire stand there, his clothes shredded in nearly all places, his body filled with wounds and marks as black veins spread across it.

body is truly not what it once was… if it ever was. I am beginning to question if I am truly a King of Blood or merely a specter formed of his memories. Perhaps a bit of both? I am not certain it matters, but one cannot help but question,” the Monarch said

see what the Monarch would do next if he was perfectly honest. Also, it would not hit for sure, and none of the others seemed to want to attack too right away but just took the breather instead. Jake knew it could be mentally taxing

Legacy of the True Ancestor, hidden here away from

sacrifices for the grand ritual, I was discovered. I was forced to sever all spatial channels leading to the outside world to stop them from getting in and safeguard the treasure. Naturally, this could not be shared with the inhabitants. I just had to say that the curse damaged the channels and eventually broke them. I was even made to kill all those who wanted to leave and make those who stayed behind

as he floated in the air. His wound dripped down blood

not a proud moment but one of necessity. I believed we could restore the connection… do something. But no, the curse ritual was tampered with or failed.

shaking his

utter display of failure. All of it. Now, I am a mere husk of what I once was… but one thing remained with me. For I had kept one promise. To safeguard the treasure left by the True Ancestor. I was unable to do anything with it myself; all vampires were due to the Law of Ancestry… but the rule is gone, it seems. I had hoped to avoid using

opened. A small glowing red item soared up and stopped right in front of the Monarch, him looking at it

“Behold.”

item was revealed to be a necklace. A necklace that held a small

“The Blood of Sanguine.”

the necklace as fast as

[Sanguine’s Blood Legacy (Divine)]

Yet, he could not understand how a divine-rarity item could be present in the Treasure Hunt of D-grades, and he didn’t have time

Monarch looked at the necklace as it responded. Not to him or anyone else, but it simply imposed its own will upon the world around it. The sky became red as it