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.”

the sentiment even without Jake having

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

the Ibis had solved one of the biggest issues: line of sight. Arrows could only fly in a straight line for obvious reasons, and a peck could also normally only go

power. One would think a strike curved into a crescent would be weaker

of arcane orbs and exploded the area to force the Prima away from Carmen and Sylphie as he pursued it. The long-legged bird didn’t seem to care as it allowed Jake

At the same time, he was forced to block or dodge the spear-like beak repeatedly. Their fight was incredibly basic, with one person just

He didn’t actually want to make his own blade somehow long and bendy… no, it was

two of them were several kilometers from Sylphie and Carmen. Jake kept trying to land a hit and

Controllable arrows.

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

influence the trajectory would often just result in him forcing it to slow down. This would

on archery while in the Order. He saw several guides on controlling mana bolts and tried a few of those out, but it always came with the caveat of reduced power

fitting. Some were simply because Jake found himself in quite an unfortunate situation with his arrows in particular: they liked to destroy stuff due to his arcane affinity.

arcane arrows also helped alleviate the effects

unpredictable, but for obvious reasons, that wasn’t quite doable for the current Jake. No, he would

and finally, something happened that changed the situation. Jake jumped away from a beak spear as suddenly another flew for him. He

was pecked in the chest, sending him flying back with a hole through his right lung about the size of a fist. Jake just stared as he had no idea what had just happened. How could it have

had entered open space to pursue him, and now Jake truly saw how it attacked. Before, he had thought the break actually

forward and sent out its beak at such a speed it fired off a mirror image of sorts that looked like the physical beak… a mirror image so “real”

Prima slightly shifted its head, and Jake felt the sheer level of focus that went into the attacks. The beak was extended and curved, always at a consistent angle based on the starting position of the Prima’s head. There was never more than one

technique. He saw the straight beak be aimed towards him once more, but it suddenly seemed to bend as it came from

roots or falling into the river below. The Ibis Prima had already hidden away again and used the

fully focused. He analyzed the Prima’s every move as he tried to mimic what

thought as his arrow bent mid-air and cracked into

Bend.

had fired it

Bend!

to slightly turn, but as it was loosed, the arrow lost its

Bend!

opened wide as he focused. He released his arrow but, at the very end, also infused a large wave of Willpower into it, infusing the arrow with a bit of his 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

and he heard the beast cry out in surprise as

that connection between itself and the beak all throughout the attack, something Jake could not

He would lose momentum if he tried to control them too much… so what if he didn’t guide them? What if he just gave them a slight nudge and changed their fundamental trajectory, still making them fly “straight,” but

just like the Prima had. Rather than try and “program” the arrow to follow

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

saved looking at it for later. For now, he had

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