The Primal Hunter

The gap between grades only grew larger and more challenging to overcome the higher one went. For a decently talented E-grade to beat a weak low-tier D-grade was only to be expected, while the same could not be said for a D-tier killing a C-tier.

This did not mean it wasn’t possible or even considered relatively commonplace among those classified as geniuses. In fact, Jake had a high level of confidence he would be able to kill plenty of C-tiers before he eventually reached the tier himself. But even with this confidence, he was still not sure if being level 150 – only halfway to C-tier – was quite good enough.

However, some things did give him a chance. What Jake was walking into was the area of a C-tier Isoptera Queen variant based on his own estimates. He did not hold doubt in his mind it would be significantly stronger than the late D-tiers before, but that honestly mattered less than it should.

If the C-tier Queen acted in the same vein as the D-tiers, there were many things to exploit. The fumigation-stratagem would likely still prove effective, and even if it didn’t, then the Queen was a healer with little-to-no offensive capabilities.

Jake did not think it would be a short fight either way, but he had high confidence in waiting out even a C-grades mana pool if he could force it to waste mana on trying to protect hordes of eggs for an extended period of time.

He also assumed there would be more Guards, but it should be possible to maybe kite them out of the biodome or also use them to consume the mana of the Queen. One thing was certain, though, it was going to be a marathon, and Jake would try to hold back on using any boosting skills unless absolutely necessary.

The thought of getting a bit of melee weapon practice in did occur to him, but he ultimately decided not to as it would be too risky.

Before entering the next biodome, Jake prepared everything. He poisoned stable arrows with his best Necrotic Poison and even had some with Hemotoxin Poison on them in case that proved more effective, as well as a third bunch with Blood of the Malefic Viper.

Without seeing his target, he could not make an Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter, so he would have to go in without that.

As a final moment of preparation, he did something he rarely even considered: planned a path of escape.

He had located narrow tunnels the large Guards could not fit through, and with some Alchemical Flame and arcane beams, he made them longer to allow him to connect to tunnels further above him, effectively giving him shortcuts through the maze that was the termite hive.

With everything ready, Jake made his way over to the sealed-off entrance to the biodome. Jake assumed these termites simply dug their way through and sealed it back up whenever they needed to leave, which was probably rarely. They did not have to eat, so all they needed was to bring in natural treasures and open the hatchery up when a new generation was born.

A path was burned before him as he went through the nearly ten-meter long wall of soil, dirt, and stone, breaking the final enchanted barrier as he entered the biodome. The moment he did so, the mana washed over him as his senses spread out all over the biodome. This one was far larger than any he had ever seen before, spanning perhaps fifteen kilometers in diameter and with more than a kilometer to the ceiling.

There were no eggs right around where he had entered, but he felt them further in as he saw movement. A massive figure mulled across the ground, looking like a moving warehouse. The huge thorax of the termite swayed as some magical mist was expelled onto some eggs, and Jake instantly used his Identify.

[Isoptera Hive Queen – lvl ???]

It was a true-blue C-grade monster - the leader of the termite hive and likely the mother of all the other Queens Jake had seen so far.

Jake scouted the room as he felt its defenders too. Ten figures rose from the soil not far from the Hive Queen, all of them familiar ones as one of Jake’s predictions had been true.

[Isoptera Queen’s Guard – lvl 193]

[Isoptera Queen’s Guard – lvl 195]

…

Guard

of D-grade, but there were no C-grade Guards. Jake had hoped and assumed the Hive Queen was only early C-tier at best, probably between 200 and 210, so it was likely it would not

He had beaten five at once two times, but these were stronger than any of the others had been, and their supporting Queen far

of soil at the hole he had just entered from, making a mental note of where it was in case he needed to flee. Focusing on one

Queen had been aware of his presence but had yet to move. If it was aware Jake had slain three other Queens was questionable as the termites so far had only shown surface-level

as he cut his own arm and willed for the blood to seep out as it formed globes in the air. He

clear acts of aggression, the termites finally moved. Five Guards charged Jake while the rest stayed defensively around the Queen. The arcane bolts with blood were fired at an upwards angle not targeted towards any termite, while he released the Arcane

the resulting explosion was just them shattering, sending bloody shards of arcane energy flying everywhere. This was a tactic he had used against prior biodomes to great success, and this time too, it made the Hive Queen instantly react as barriers were summoned around all the affected

only to get them all blocked before he was forced to dodge away.

to summon barriers to cut him off, but no such thing happened. Jake just kept flying as the poison mist began permeating the room, with Jake making it worse by spraying a bit of his blood here and

flung out, with nothing having done any damage to anything so far. The Hive Queen protected everything from his attacks, no matter how minor, and as

they had no real strategy to their movements but just chased him directly, meaning that as long

to damage a Guard, but it was honestly a waste of time. Barriers would pop up instantly, and

eggs, Jake took out Eternal Hunger as he changed the shape to be similar to a rake. He swung it down towards some eggs and met a barrier as he kept flying,

too fast, and he even purposefully allowed the Guards to get close on many occasions, even making one scratch him with its mandibles. It was all in an attempt to avoid the Hive Queen deciding it

would fall into the sunk-cost fallacy and not throw away the mana it had already spent by sacrificing a few Guards or eggs

of them utterly useless. After around fifteen minutes of this, Jake noticed that his mana pool had

the Queen mixing with the poison mist made the environment absolutely optimal for Jake. Coupled with the increased mana regeneration from the mask and his already high pool, he could wait

his ability to dodge. The Queen had begun doing some different things and had even slightly done something to empower the Guards, which had resulted in Jake finding less time to do damage, just prolonging the

any true offensive abilities as far as Jake could tell. Considering this was his first encounter with a C-grade, he honestly was a bit in two

was a different kind of challenge, and he would take it. As it was currently going, Jake had no idea when the fight would end, but considering he felt like he could do this for a week straight, and that he was sure the Guards expended more stamina than he did, that would never become relevant. Jake barely had to think when dodging the uninspired blows of the Guards, as he just kept flying, kiting, firing out arcane bolts and orbs while occasionally striking barriers with Eternal Hunger to drain a bit of

until the Queen ran out of mana, and he didn’t need it to either. He still had many tools in his arsenal to pull out. So

Jake as he kept up the act. He looked at the Queen as he got an odd feeling. Normally he could get some kind of read of an opponent. Anger, annoyance, impatience… at

presence was barely of any

Fast…

Something was com-

it entered his sphere, and Jake barely had time to use One Step Mile as where he had just stood erupted in an explosion of dust and soil. Jake’s instincts went on full overdrive as his danger sense exploded, and without any hesitation, his body was covered in scales

when on all six legs. Its legs looked like black spears of metal, its body covered in a reflective dark carapace. There

Jake remembered something he had once learned from his grandfather. A little

Termite hives had kings.

King

one was not made

once, he listened as he did the only wise thing:

tried

the Bloodfeast Dagger. He felt the impact on his arm as he hit the carapace of the insect, and

the termite bit down again before he could react as his chest exploded, sending scales and blood