The Primal Hunter

The Monarch stumbled back, four arrows in his chest and a newly made deep cut that nearly severed one of his arms. He reacted by pulling the arrows out and tossing his sword to the other hand as he barely managed to block a blow from the Sword Saint.

His movements were slower, and he didn’t heal as fast anymore. Every action looked draining, and Jake felt how tired the vampire was. However, that didn’t mean he stopped as he and the Sword Saint kept pushing the Monarch repeatedly, making the wounds accumulate.

Everything had been pulled out at this point, and the Monarch was clearly out of tricks. At least it seemed so. Jake and the Sword Saint also weren’t at their full either, far from it, but they had already won several minutes ago. All three of them knew it.

An understanding had been reached, and the Monarch got the final fight he had wanted.

A final clash sent them flying away from each other, and the Monarch stopped in mid-air. His stance made his exhaustion evident, and anyone could see he was on his last legs. Yet, a smile remained on his lips as he chuckled.

“I genuinely thank you… I never thought I would ever get a chance to experience something like this ever again when I entered slumber,” the vampire said as he made a slight bow towards Jake and the Sword Saint.

His body began flaking as his skin peeled off, revealing glowing red energy beneath. At first, Jake thought it was his body had run out of energy to sustain itself, but that was overturned as he felt the Monarch’s aura spike.

“Now, if you will allow me a final moment of vanity.”

Before Jake or the old man could react, the vampire turned into a blood-red mist and appeared down below in the midst of all of the remaining humans. Jake had a very bad feeling and was about to use Gaze as suddenly the Monarch teleported again – taking every single remaining member of the Holy Church with him, including Jacob and the party members of Bertram. In the final moment, before he disappeared, Jake had placed a Mark on Jacob.

Jake felt his Mark reappear several hundred kilometers away, only to disappear a second later. Jacob’s disappeared just a moment before that as he no-doubt left the Hunt. As for the Monarch’s Mark, it disappeared not because the Monarch had dispelled it… but because he died.

*You have slain [Monarch of Blood– lvl 170] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*

*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 141 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (D)] has reached level 136 - Stat points allocated, +15 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 142 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 143 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (D)] has reached level 137 - Stat points allocated, +15 Free Points*

The levels came in as confusion struck him for a brief moment. At least that is until he saw the red light in the distance.

An earthquake hit the entire Treasure Hunt as space shattered, and a massive shockwave of pure energy washed over him and everyone else present. It was by far the most powerful display of power Jake had ever seen by anything since back during the-

At that moment, it felt like so many things happened at once. The notifications from the kill, the shockwave of power, the realization of what the Monarch had done in his final moments, and the feeling he suddenly got from within himself… or perhaps more accurately, what was connected to his inner-self through the mask on his face.

The first thing he addressed was the thing on his face. Jake ripped his mask off as he stared down at it. The only lucky thing was that no one was looking with the Monarch’s final moment of vanity taking away all of the attention. He stared down at the mask as he got heard a faint murmur in his mind. A familiar voice he had heard many times before whenever he was too deep in meditation or distracted as he remembered the most hectic fight he had ever been in.

“Patience.”

enough for Jake to go on full alert. Eron had dropped not-so-subtle hints. The description described the King slumbering… but now it was confirmed. The King of the Forest still lived, at least

wood-like material unique to the lifeform

Requirements: Soulbound

Fallen King remains

changes to it, and when Jake probed it further, he felt nothing different compared to before. If not for the changed description, he would have been inclined

The King of the Forest had been level 136. Now, Jake had finally surpassed the level of the first D-grade he had ever killed. He believed that was it, and his intuition was rarely incorrect about such things. His intuition and danger sense didn’t give him any negative responses towards the mask either… so he decided to just do what the Unique Lifeform dwelling within his headwear

for now. Hence he just tossed on the mask again and decided to deal with it later after the Hunt.

Monarch had struck back at his hated enemy. With every last shred of his power, he had teleported them away, leaving

saw a single figure in the distance speed towards the plains surrounded by flames. Jake recognized her as the archer that had been with Bertram, and she flew like a meteor as she crashed down onto the ground. He was impressed she had survived and gotten out and looked down where she had landed. There, he saw her body… which

to injure her. Quite the opposite. They spread as flesh visibly healed, and Jake recognized that she wasn’t in need of any help. She had no doubt deployed

but chuckle a bit under

Sword Saint asked with

much bullshit to get good rewards only to get shafted in the end by a miffed old

guess fate wasn’t on their side,” the old man

Sword Saint wasn’t a huge fan of the Holy Church in principle either. Additionally, the old man had clearly also gotten quite a few levels, so it made sense he was in a good mood. Now, Jake just wondered what would happen

the Blood Moon still hang above. Within a few moments, it shrank to nothing but a small blip, and a beam fired down and stopped right in front of them as

Quest completed: Fallen Monarch

true form as a Monarch of Blood, has been slain as the Treasure Hunters stand victorious. Not only

be given upon leaving the Treasure

to the destruction of the world, the Treasure Hunt will

necklace with a single marble of blood attached. Yet as the two humans stood there, they

behind by the first-ever vampire and the creator of the

told

Identification yield any useful information?”

it is a Legacy item left behind by that Sanguine

then,” the old

looking at it. An obvious question was

the tomb the Monarch had slept in was utterly destroyed. There was nothing else to be gained from the Monarch, and with the Monarch’s self-explosion, there wasn’t even any loot from his body to claim. Not that Jake thought there

didn’t seem possible either. It

to break the

indeed,” the old

of them made a move to just snatch it up. Jake trusted that the Sword Saint wouldn’t do it, and the man extended him the same trust. The problem was… someone needed to. With how the Treasure Hunt worked, anyone could potentially steal it if

planned?” the Sword Saint said as he turned to Jake with his eyebrows raised. “This

but you can take it for

and at the same time, also waved his hand as items appeared. To his surprise, Jake saw three ancient-rarity coffins and altars, as well as the three weapons from Counts, and

you can hold onto my bounty meanwhile. We shall simply reverse the exchange in the event of your victory,”