The Primal Hunter

Jake hastily dodged the arcane beam but was still scratched by it due to its intense destructive power. The remnant energies burned his cloak as Jake felt his left arm singe a little as some of his own damn affinity invaded his body and did damage.

Gritting his teeth, Jake returned fire as he switched it up. The arrow split into five in mid-air as the Hydra only managed to swallow one of them as the four others hit and exploded on its scales. The Hydra roared in anger as it did something Jake had not expected. It stopped and just stared up at Jake, who was flying far above.

Deciding to just shoot again, Jake released another barrage of Splitting Arrow, but this time when the Hydra opened its mouth, something else happened. It was as if space itself distorted when the Hydra breathed in, and all five arrows were swallowed whole as the Hydra didn’t even react besides closing its maw and staring back up at him with both heads.

Waiting.

Jake hesitated for a moment, unsure how to proceed. The Hydra looked relatively calm, too, just staring up at him with one head as the other began scavenging the ground. That is when Jake realized something… the one-hour timer wasn’t just for Jake’s advantage. It was as much for the Hydra, forcing the participant to actually fight.

As it was right now, Jake could just stay up in the air for a good hour and leave the test. The Hydra clearly didn’t bother with him more than necessary, and the problem was that Jake couldn’t see why it should. This stalemate was only to its advantage, even discounting the timer the Hydra probably wasn’t even aware of.

It was just healing as it stood there, and the poison within it was slowly being eliminated. Jake knew he had to do something, so he did. He nocked another arrow as he fired a barrage of stable arrows down. The Hydra swallowed them again with one of its heads, not even bothering to raise the second one from the ground.

Jake shot again as it repeated. For the third shot, the Hydra was just about to swallow as Jake used Gaze of the Apex Hunter, freezing it for a moment. The arrow hit it straight in its mouth, sending blood flying and poison down its throat before it became able to move again.

Finally, he did something to get its undivided attention. Jake shot again, but it swallowed once more. Jake kept going as it now kept swallowed active for longer and used it early too, likely to avoid him repeating the attack. Little did it know Jake would pop his eyes out of his sockets before he could kill the Hydra using Gaze and Powershot or Splitting Arrow.

His current hope was that the Hydra couldn’t keep using that swallowing ability infinitely. He even managed to make it swallowed even more regularly when he sent a directed mist of poison from Wings of the Malefic Viper down towards it. His hope was high for a bit as he saw it swallow nearly constantly while still having a tinge of poison infect it.

A hope that died within ten or so minutes as it just kept going doing the same shit. Perhaps he shouldn’t have bet on something with Perennial Consumption in its name to become unable to absorb within an hour…

Jake gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath. He had yet to take any real damage at all, yet he felt like he was losing. The damn two-headed lizard was just staring up at him, a bit more mad than before. It at least gave him the attention of both heads now. Sure, it sometimes fired his own damn magic back at him, but that never hit.

It probably could fly, Jake reckoned… all D-grades had the basic energy control to do that. But why would it? Jake was just someone annoyingly firing arrows, and from the looks of it, it tolerated his presence for one reason only:

It liked his mana. After a good barrage of arrows, he saw it smack its mouth in satisfaction, which infuriated him. Jake was just burning his own resources at this point, even if he had been smart to downgrade Arcane Awakening to the balanced 30%.

Sighing, Jake decided to change things up again. He began flying downwards as he landed on a tree in the marsh. The Hydra looked towards him, not even moving to attack as Jake was a few kilometers away from the creature that towered over him.

ranged fails, one turns to

The Hydra, surprisingly enough,

as he cut the Hydra’s long neck with Eternal Hunger, releasing a spurt of blood. The second head then came

tear him apart, making it difficult to get close. After a minute or so dancing back and forth, Jake got an opening as he used One Step Mile and dove between the creature's legs, cutting it along its belly as he used One Step Mile again just in time. The

up. By now, Jake was certain… the swallowed ability only worked on mana or at least energy-based attacks. Jake moved forward again as he wanted to press his advantage, but the moment he got close, the Hydra opened one of its maws towards the sky and

Jake barely managed to activate Gaze

away as the Hydra slammed its head down, getting a mouthful of the marsh as Jake went in close again. A clawed foot flew up as it raised a leg to kick him, but Jake was fast and blocked it with the Bloodfeast dagger

the Hydra and could only frown. He had made a few wounds… but they were just pricks with a toothpick to the large Hydra. The poison did help

wasn’t timed, Jake frankly wasn’t confident. But all he could do for now was try and mount the pressure, so he attacked once more as he only managed to land a weak blow every few seconds while dodging the snapping maws. This was only with two heads,

methods the Hydra appeared to have. It was just a massive creature with incredibly high stats and bulk, but nothing really besides its ability

a monstrous creature? Then again… did it need more? Probably not, but Jake still felt like there was a small chance for one reason: stacking damage. With every strike of his weapon, he infected it with poison, and with every arcane attack he managed to sneak in, the Arcane Charge from Mark

began to use other methods as he got more comfortable. Blood of the Malefic Viper spewed out as he cut himself purposefully, and the mist from his wings also still hung in the air. Occasionally, the Hydra did consume some of it, and it even fired a breath of toxic mist back at him,

It was still questionable if he could make it with the timer, but if it went as it

He fucking jinxed it.

suddenly changed as it did something Jake had not seen coming. It retreated a bit away, growled,

quickly charged in and attacked but was frozen by a roar, followed by a second

four to five meters tall, even with its heads, and its body

in every case. Like the Thunder Roc – the first D-grade Jake killed besides the King – size

had done, Jake

reached him within moments as a head flew forward. Jake was

landed and skid across the ground, both arms hurting. But also physically weaker? Or the

he sidestepped the first head, only to see himself faced with the second. He blocked it and prepared to attack as the first head twisted around and came for him again. Dodging once more, he barely managed to swing the Bloodfeast Dagger at the neck before

the narrow wound left by the dagger made him frown. Its scales and underneath hide were both way tougher. The Hydra’s transformation skill was not merely size control but size compression, so even if it had made it

wasn’t like reducing to a third its size made the Hydra three times faster and tougher, but it sure wasn’t an insignificant improvement. And if he was honest, the scales were close to three times more resilient now than

yet another countdown. He gritted his teeth as he tried to figure out patterns, but so far, the only reason he still had his head was due to his precognitive dodging abilities granted by

his boosts, Jake was slower, weaker, and less resilient than his opponent, and moreover, his archery was near-nullified. It was frustrating.

magic, then a hydra scale was the bane of all physical attacks. There was a reason why hydras and dragons were often compared in mythology. Both were

just a