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.

was used. Probably at a low volume… but it was used. A faint teal mist came out of the old man’s skin, and he pressed forward as now suddenly Jake was on the

and stronger. He pushed Jake

“Thousand Droplets.”

Jake was forced to use One Step Mile, as

of the Malefic Viper to

mana began condensing around him as several bolts appeared, and in

felt like his bolts existed two places at once, and just as he felt that, the old man cut across the water plane. Jake’s arcane bolts completely collapsed as the mana structures fell apart at that same moment, leaving only the arcane energy he had gathered in

as he dodged yet another blow as his One Step Mile took him

constructs,” the old man recognized in an impressed voice

them flying back. In a swift reaction, the Sword Saint had managed to summon a protective layer of water, but Jake still felt like he

they tore up the area even more. None of them landed any blows worth mentioning on the

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

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 hand and more or less threw them in between

magic. Large orbs of water that fired out pressurized blasts tried to block Jake’s blows, and several planes of water appeared 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

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 of water, allowing him to close in and push the old man back, finally landing a good blow for the first time in the

them as he spoke. “I must admit… seeing you fight and facing you is very different. It

who also decided to try and become a water mage at some point.

and it would be

his head. “But between facing your sword and your water magic… they

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

again. “It just feels forced and boring. There is nothing in it. As

said, I am not a mage. Magic is merely secondary

nothing for you,” Jake sighed. “It feels like someone with a gun deciding to toss bullets for some goddamn reason. If you don’t actually care for using water

word to heart, though, as he didn’t use any of his water magic but instead only blocked with his sword. Sure, there were still some water-affinity things… but he wasn’t acting like a low-tier

some simple magic spells and gone with those. It was all low-tier stuff, not tied to what the Sword Saint was all about: his swordsmanship. Jake didn’t feel the slightest tinge of danger from those water orbs, but he didn’t care to take a single blow from

to dispel them with a sword cut, or him making his sword waves jump between

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

attack, showing that contrary to the Sword Saint, he actually cared about his magic. Arcane bolts supported him as he battled, arcane explosions made space where possible, and

even. However… Jake felt that his opponent couldn’t go much higher. That didn’t mean it was easy for Jake, but it did mean that it would be very difficult

the other party to show