The Primal Hunter

Jake stood defensively in front of Carmen as the Monarch looked at him. The others would be arriving, but it would still take a bit. Carmen had closed her eyes, and Jake felt like her energy had become calmer, making him think she had passed out.

“You have no need for concern. I possess no desire to slay her or you for that matter; I merely need to win and make you leave,” the Monarch said casually.

“Yeah… don’t fault me for not trusting you,” Jake answered, totally fine with talking for now. “Also… you said earlier you sealed off the entrances to this realm. Does that mean no vampires escaped Yalsten?”

The Monarch gladly answered, for some reason not in a rush either, or maybe he genuinely wanted Jake to know the answer. Or maybe, just maybe, it was the gaping hole in his stomach with wriggling flesh trying to heal. “Some did make it out beforehand. Quite a lot, actually. Yalsten also was only one of many places where we vampires lived, just one more sealed off than most others, hence a great refuge and easier to defend from outsiders.”

“To be honest, I would find it odd if an entire race just died off like that. I have a feeling the system or at least interested parties wouldn’t want that.”

“I would agree under normal circumstances… but the vampiric race is not a naturally-occurring one. It is difficult to say to begin with if the system cares for the survival of any race, and as for allies and interested parties… the Malefic Order was one of them,” the vampire said as he shook his head.

“Yeah… again, the Order could be filled with vampires, and I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been there or met any members of the Order, for that matter. At least not any normal members,” Jake explained.

“…How has the Chosen of the Malefic Viper never been in the Order or met anyone from it?”

“Eh, it’s complicated, but as the universe is newly integrated and all that, I haven’t had a chance to go anywhere and have only met him a few times. We do speak quite often, though,” Jake kept explaining, not really caring that much about giving information out.

Jake wasn’t leaving the Hunt, so either he would kill the Monarch or the Monarch would kill him. Either scenario would end in whatever he said not mattering. Also… he didn’t really care.

“You speak directly with the Malefic One?” the vampire asked after trying to figure out who ‘him’ was, being more and more confused.

“On a regular basis, yeah. The last time we met in person, it was to do some alchemy and chill together with him and Duskleaf. We had a good time. The time before that, we had beers and talked about life and all that,” Jake kept saying, dealing mental damage with every sentence.

“…”

The Monarch just kept staring at him, Jake staring back. Carmen lying on the ground was apparently still conscious, and her pained face had changed to one very visibly saying: “what the fuck?”

she had passed out. Turned out she hadn’t. Well then… Nah, it should

a secret anyway, and he didn’t see it causing any problems. Even if it did, he would deal with those problems whenever they arose. There was no reason to make things more difficult than they were. He

have to keep narrating about himself as

him as Caleb appeared, electricity running across his body. The Monarch regarded him as Caleb asked Jake:

“Curse.”

anything more as Caleb threw him a glance. Jake nodded in response as they moved simultaneously. The brothers went in opposite directions, with Caleb picking up Carmen and Jake engaging the vampire.

the truth about not caring about killing Carmen, he sure as hell did want to kill Caleb.

Shadows were on the anti-vampire side?” Jake asked as he appeared in front of the vampire. He

“The Holy Tyrant and her slaves, together with the undead, were our

as he froze the vampire for a brief

had to admit it was powerful. Likely as strong as a fully charged Arcane Powershot with an Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter, if not stronger. Which made sense, considering it was a skill that had clearly left her severely drained afterward, while for Jake, it

guy’s head had already healed like it was never there. Probably still did some good damage, but the vampiric race’s durability and natural regeneration

sure it makes sense to judge the current factions for crimes of the past,” Jake argued, mainly just trying to waste time. He had

hand as blasts of blood magic was released, Jake dancing in between them while the boss answered: “Perhaps, but just as the Will of the True Ancestor echoes true so many eras later, so does the will of Umbra, the Holy Tyrant or the Blightfather. While the mortals may have changed, perhaps even the Pantheons underwent a transformation…

stopped up. “People do change, no matter how ancient. The gods you know of are now more than tens of times older or something like that. That should

path is the deepest creed they follow, their very fundamental principle of life. Their meaning. If your dedication to your path was so weak that something such as time

change, so can many other things. There is nuance to everything,” Jake countered, more just to argue than anything

your family, friends, or anyone else. To him, they are insects that will become dust in the blink of an eye, forgotten by both of you. You say he is a friend… if that is so, the only reason is that he genuinely believes you will become a god, hence worthy of being seen as someone of value. Anyone that does not at least strive with all of their heart to attain immortality is but blips on the canvas of time. Beings that only exist to be forgotten. That is the Patron you serve. You said a long time has passed… but you

it all in… and he couldn’t really outright dispute anything. He didn’t know if what the vampire said was true or not, especially the second half… but the first half sure was spot-on. The Malefic Viper did seem to care little about mortal life, he viewed killing as natural, and he did treat Jake as equal to him in some ways, and Jake had no delusion to think that wasn’t in large part due to his bloodline and

did make Jake think… what exactly was his path? What was something so fundamental to him it wouldn’t change? For the Viper, it was apparently all about getting stronger all the time or something like that, and while Jake was on board for that, that wasn’t really something he would call his path. In fact, just thinking about his path felt like a waste of time. Because while he did like having some conversation once a while…

was far

person

as he seemed to almost skate across the landscape. His stance was strong, and some faint energy from

talk. Either his perception was stronger than expected or… well,

Viper myself, far less what impact of having walked a path for time immemorial can have, then I do know a bit of having walked through life with a single path from start to end. While the fundamental drive and motivation may not change… the person walking it can. His perspective may shift… and his

on the other side, an old human who, even if he was the oldest on Earth, couldn’t be