The Primal Hunter

Jake didn’t give the man any time to object as he charged forward. He only had a single scimitar and chose to use it here in the opening clash. Both of them had fully restored resources and ensured no potion cooldown or skills were unavailable. Besides Jake not having his second weapon, both of them were at peak condition, and him not having it frankly didn’t matter much.

His first attack was a simple swipe, and the old man easily blocked him… or, more accurately, made him miss. He hit the side of the katana wielded by the Sword Saint and saw his own scimitar be led away as Jake charged past, still making sure to not give the man time to counterattack.

Turning around, he attacked again, this time swinging from a direction where the swordsman couldn’t simply redirect it. Or so Jake thought. His own sword ended up tearing up the ground as he was once more thwarted, and he had to quickly dodge back to avoid getting himself slashed.

“Enjoyment of battle does not give one an excuse to shirk responsibilities,” the Sword Saint said as he took the offensive.

Droplets of water began condensing around Jake, and he responded by creating a blast of mana around his body to quickly dispel them while also swaying to avoid the sword trying to cut him in two. More water began condensing, and Jake finally began to realize why the vampire constantly kept his aura active… it was to deal with the old man’s water magic. However, the water magic was so weak that Jake easily made it useless just with a bit of mana here and there.

Jake jumped back as the old man cut upwards, sending forth a screen of water that tore up the space between the two of them. Sadly for the Saint, Jake had already seen the movements of mana and easily dodged to the side to avoid it.

Screens of water began appearing all around Jake as the old man sent out crescent waves with his sword, but not directly towards him. They entered the screens, and to Jake’s surprise, were reflected and redirected. He dodged the first few and saw them begin bouncing between the water screens. The old man was trying to set up a killing trap or something.

“Neat trick,” Jake recognized. Ultimately, not very effective, though. He reckoned that combination was more a relic of past skills, as it really didn’t work well against foes with his mobility. Jake simply ran forward as he dove under a sword wave before jumping over another one to get free of the trap.

Running straight for the old man, he attacked again as he swung his blade. The swordsman blocked and redirected his blows again and again. It was at this point one thing became utterly clear…

Jake was completely and utterly outmatched in skill. He was stronger and faster, yet he felt like a child swinging a stick in front of a swordmaster… because, in many ways, he was.

Yet, at the same time, he wouldn’t lose. Because while Jake was utterly unable to even get close to landing a wound, the same was true for the old man. Because while Jake sucked at using a sword compared to the Sword Saint, he sure as hell didn’t suck at not getting hit by one.

He knew when dangerous blows approached, and he reacted to those while he blocked weaker blows to not leave an opening. He could do this as he was ultimately still superior in stats and likely also overall skill rarity and methods. Superior in every way but pure skill. Not that any of them had really shown anything else yet.

“You have not wielded cold weapons for long, have you?” the Sword Saint asked.

“Not since the system came unless you count kitchen knives during cooking. And even then, I was a shitty chef,” Jake answered, snickering.

With a deadpan expression, the old man answered. “It shows.”

Ouch, Jake thought as he struck back, this time going a bit harder. Arcane energy revolved around his blade as he upped the power of his blows. This forced the Sword Saint to be even more defensive, and when Jake didn’t let up but kept pressuring him, he was finally forced to go a bit harder in turn.

but it was used. A faint teal mist came out of the old man’s skin, and he

Sword Saint let loose, his blade now faster and stronger. He pushed Jake away as the Sword Saint pointed the tip of his blade towards

“Thousand Droplets.”

like hundreds of needles prickled his body. For the first time, Jake was forced to use One Step Mile, as the area he had just been was suddenly cut through by what he could only guess

recognized. He would, at a minimum, have to use Scales of the Malefic Viper to handle that one, as while each blow was far from a normal stab…

up a notch. Arcane mana began condensing around him as several bolts appeared, and in his hand, concentrated arcane energy gathered as he dodged another sword blow with One Step

himself, reflecting Jake and his bolts. For a moment, Jake felt like his bolts existed two places at once, and

yet another blow as his One

constructs,” the old man recognized in

arcane energy that sent both of them flying

even more. None of them landed any blows worth mentioning on the other as the minutes passed by, yet one thing was clear… this

old man pulled out more and more cards, Jake only had to use half as many. A new tipping point came when Jake decided to give

changed. Jake summoned more mana bolts as he bombarded the old man who couldn’t cut them down fast enough, not even with the water plane. Instead of summoning five simultaneously, Jake quickly made them appear one by one with his

to somewhat successfully block Jake’s magic. He even used reflecting planes to make his pressurized water beams come from different directions. That was just one of his many types of water magic, with large water explosions, more

none of it worked much. Sure, the water beam could cut well, but compared to the sword, it was nothing. Jake ended up still summoning his Scales to take a few blasts

on the wall, the Sword Saint got some distance between them as he spoke. “I must admit… seeing you fight and facing you is very different. It is like

to

one so far, and it would be foolish to

head. “But between facing your sword and your water

a mage and have not invested as much in my mental stats as I perhaps should,” the Sword Saint acknowledged. “We all

head again. “It just feels forced and boring. There is nothing

frowned. “As said, I am not a mage. Magic is merely secondary and

for some goddamn reason. If you don’t actually care for using water magic like this… just stop and don’t insult me by using it pretending to be serious. Stick to what you

blocked with his sword. Sure, there were still some water-affinity things… but he wasn’t acting like a low-tier mage. Jake was fine with using things you were

Saint was all about: his swordsmanship. Jake didn’t feel the slightest tinge of danger from those water orbs,

that supported his swordsmanship was another thing. The reflection of spells to dispel them with a sword cut, or him making his sword waves jump between planes of water? That shit was cool and inventive

to learn how to use spells like that? No… not really, but if you didn’t really care about magic spells, why waste your time on it? Okay, maybe if it was to practice some concept and was a middle-step, but then you shouldn’t use it in combat. Same as how Jake didn’t try to summon weapons out of arcane mana. Maybe he would do it one day… but not yet. Also… ultimately… If it wasn’t fun

Sword Saint, he actually cared about his magic. Arcane bolts supported him as he battled, arcane explosions made space where possible, and the arcane energy revolved around his blade

got a bit faster as he pushed his boosting skill higher, allowing him to keep up and go even. However… Jake felt that his opponent couldn’t go much

Jake forced the other party to show his cards one by one… Jake had yet