The Primal Hunter

Frogs in all shapes and sizes, birds that ambushed with pecks nearly as fast as Jake’s arrows, and a plethora of other annoying animals hounded Jake, Sylphie, and Carmen as they made their way deeper into the mangrove. The first frogs they encountered were a good indicator of what they would face.

They were all specialized creatures adapted to their unique environment. They all made use of the many ambush possibilities offered by the dense branches and leaves above or the river below. Granted, Jake was the worst kind of opponent for them as the current him would never fall into an actual ambush, but some attacks were difficult to deal with even if you knew they were coming.

The mangrove was also more than a little annoying fighting in, especially for an archer like Jake. The creatures made full use of the winding roots for cover or hid away underwater to avoid his blows. Sylphie didn’t care much and was able to maneuver well enough to sometimes even take advantage of the environment herself. Carmen could do the same, just hiding away behind cover until her opponent was forced to get close or give up.

Jake still managed pretty well with melee attacks and could land some arrows here and there, but the deeper in they got, the more his archery fell off. When they reached their first target within the mangrove, his archery felt borderline useless.

The first target was a Prima Arnold had already scouted out before. It wandered with a small flock in this part of the mangrove and was a terror to most wildlife. When Jake finally saw it, he could get why. It was a bird with incredibly long and slender legs, a smallish body, a long neck, and an even longer beak. Identifying it, he confirmed it was indeed a Prima.

[Spearbeak Ibis Prima – lvl 190]

Its most notable feature was the beak. It was long, almost to the point of looking impractical, but Jake soon saw why that didn’t matter. The two humans and hawk made a plan as they engaged the Spearbeak Ibis Prima and its flock that consisted of seven more ibises, each of them around level 180.

“Same tactic as always?” Carmen asked before they engaged.

“Will try,” Jake said, a bit miffed at how it usually went. He felt like his opening salvo of Arcane Powershot often ended up just missing or being fired way too early as the opponent either noticed him or was just moving already, and with cover never more than ten or so meters away, most beasts could quickly escape his arrows.

The opening attack did go as expected, but Jake was forced to switch his target to one of the followers of the Prima as the damn Ibis walked behind a large root just before he released the string. The arrow tore off one of its legs and made it fall into the river below. Sylphie attacked the Prima together with Carmen but were pushed back as it was joined by the others in its flock near-instantly.

This was also when Jake learned the reason for the long Prima beak. Rather than fight, it escaped behind a root, but it still pecked forward as its beak simply bent around the root and pecked Carmen in the shoulder, sending out a shower of blood.

Jake and the others had fought one other group of Ibises before and knew they were all fast and had powerful attacks, but they had hoped to take advantage of their low durability. The ibises walked on water like it was nothing and could even run and kick off roots to launch themselves around at incredible speeds and even use their wings for further speed and maneuverability while in the air.

The Prima took this to an entirely new level as their group of three fought a foe that had truly made the environment it lived in its own.

There was never a moment when it was exposed as the Prima switched between the trees and dove under the roots all the time. The bird was only about two and a half meters tall, but the beak could extend to be more than fifteen meters when it pecked forward, truly proving the name Spearbeak.

“I can’t get close,” Carmen said as they all retreated a bit and hid behind a mangrove tree. “I go for the weaker birds?”

“Alright,” Jake nodded as he looked up at some of the branches above where Sylphie was hanging upside-down. “Help Carmen finish them off. I will try to handle the Prima for now.”

“Ree!” Sylphie agreed.

“Sure that is a good idea?” Carmen asked. “If I can’t get close, can you?”

Jake shook his head. “Maybe… but that isn’t why I want to handle the Prima alone. I see an opportunity.”

Carmen stared for a moment before nodding firmly. “Got it.”

sentiment even without Jake having

Carmen had said about him sucking at attacking had echoed in his mind all throughout this travel through the mangrove. He honestly didn’t notice it when he fought the beasts… at least not before now. Usually, he would get changes to counterattack or at least use Gaze to get an opportunity, but this damn Ibis didn’t

the Ibis fought similarly to Jake when he used archery. It always tried to keep itself at a distance and attack with ranged attacks. The difference was that the Ibis had solved one of the biggest issues: line of sight. Arrows could only fly in a straight line for obvious

all its power. One would think a strike curved into a crescent would be

away from Carmen and Sylphie as he pursued it. The long-legged

beak

so everchanging. He didn’t actually want to make his own blade somehow

Sylphie and Carmen. Jake kept trying to land a hit and

Controllable arrows.

do telekinesis, so why couldn’t he control his own arrows mid-flight?

slow down. This would make it not hit

even looked up some books on archery while in the Order. He saw several guides on controlling mana bolts and

with his arrows in particular: they liked to destroy stuff due to his arcane affinity. This included

arcane arrows also helped alleviate the effects of wind resistance or any other resistance for that matter. This

flight unpredictable, but for obvious reasons, that wasn’t quite doable for the current Jake. No, he would need to find another way… because there had to

situation. Jake jumped away from a beak spear as suddenly another flew for him. He managed to bend his body, but he was confused because the first

right lung about the size of a fist. Jake

to stabilize himself and avoid any follow-ups. The Ibis Prima had entered open space to pursue him, and now Jake truly saw how it attacked. Before, he had thought the break actually extended, but it wasn’t quite like that. In fact, he seemed to have misunderstood the creature

Ibis Prima attacked, it pecked forward and sent out its beak at such a speed it fired off a mirror image of sorts that

shifted its head, and Jake felt the sheer level of focus that went into the attacks. The beak was extended and curved,

why he had taken inspiration from it. It was a beautiful technique. He saw the straight beak be aimed towards him once more, but it suddenly seemed to bend as it came from an angle, forcing

arrow just harmlessly hitting roots or falling into the river below. The Ibis Prima had already hidden away again and used the cover of the trees to counter as Jake just shot his

the Prima’s every move as he tried to mimic what it

Jake thought as his arrow bent mid-air and cracked into

Bend.

arrow flew off to the side even if he had fired it

Bend!

turn, but as it was loosed, the arrow lost its course and once more

Bend!

intent. It merged with the arrow and bow effortlessly, just like all his prior attempts. When the arrow was pushed forward by the string, it seemed to bend until it was finally let go

glorious crescent, it traveled around the massive root the Prima was hiding behind, and he heard the beast cry out in surprise as it

Prima but found it impossible. The Ibis Prima retained that connection between itself and the beak all throughout the attack, something Jake could not do. No, he had to find

realized fully controllable arrows weren’t something he could do. He would lose momentum if he tried to control them too much… so what if he didn’t guide them?

his own Willpower, just like the Prima had. Rather than try and “program” the arrow to follow an advanced

bent predictably. This did perhaps seem like a flaw, but it was quite the opposite: it preserved

heard the notification that signified he had progressed his archery skill, but he saved looking at it for later. For now, he had a Prima to kill. The beast quickly adapted as Jake began whipping arrows around the roots

magic or mana involved in the process. It looked like Jake was just firing arrows like normal to any outside observer, but they all flew at different angles and bent around the roots. Granted, this did result in them traveling a further overall distance, making the time it took to hit the target longer. This would be a flaw under normal circumstances, but in this kind of environment? Well, there was a reason why