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.”

word, but enough for Jake to go on full alert. Eron had dropped not-so-subtle hints. The description described the King slumbering… but

mask is made of a wood-like material unique to the lifeform it comes from and does not obstruct vision when worn and regenerates itself from any damage taken. The Fallen King remains within. Enchantments: Living Wood. Passively absorbs mana in the atmosphere,

Requirements: Soulbound

King remains

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

something had happened now, but as he looked back at his level-ups, he understood. 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

would have patience. Also, there were just too many different things to deal with for now. Hence he just tossed on the mask again and decided to deal

final moments, the Monarch had struck back at his hated enemy. With every last shred of his power, he had teleported them away, leaving everyone else unharmed,

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

need of any help. She had no doubt deployed some very powerful life-saving skill to get her out because even Jake wasn’t confident in coming out of that final suicide explosion

a bit under his breath as he thought

Saint asked with

did so much bullshit to get good rewards only to get shafted in

on their side,” the old man answered in a playful

Church in principle either. Additionally, the old man had clearly also gotten quite a few levels, so it made sense he was in a

looked up as they saw the Blood Moon still hang above. Within a few moments, it shrank to nothing but a small blip, and a beam fired

Quest completed: Fallen Monarch

Hunters stand victorious. Not only was the ancient vampire defeated, but the Treasure Hunters even passed the test

given upon

world, the Treasure Hunt

as the item appeared before them. A simple-looking necklace with a single marble of blood attached. Yet as the two humans stood there, they both felt the pressure from it, making it obvious it was no

behind by the first-ever vampire and the

it told him

any useful information?”

is a Legacy item left behind by that Sanguine guy,” Jake answered

as mine then,” the old

a while, just looking at it. An obvious question was before them…

wasn’t even any loot from his body to claim. Not that Jake thought there would be anything to begin with. A divine item

seem possible either. It looked

Jake tried to break

conundrum indeed,” the old man

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

turned to Jake

take it for now. Just to

also waved his hand as items appeared. To his surprise, Jake saw three ancient-rarity coffins

hold onto my bounty meanwhile. We shall simply reverse the exchange in the event