The Primal Hunter

Jake launched himself into the air to avoid the charge of the four clones, and just in time, as the space he had just occupied imploded from the impact of four paw-swipes infused with potent space magic.

He pushed his wings to fly faster as he felt the approaching beasts. Twisting his body, Jake turned and shot off blasts of arcane mana as he also landed a Mark of the Avaricious Hunter on all four of them. Not for the damage necessarily, but as much to keep track of them.

Four forms flanked him during his ascent. A part of Jake had hoped they wouldn’t bother chasing him, but clearly, they were out for blood. Two usual responses would appear in this kind of scenario. Fight or flight. Jake’s survival instinct was by far his most potent one… and not a single doubt was in his mind at that moment.

Fight.

Blasting arcane energy to one side, he propelled himself into one of the Panthers and took it by surprise. In mid-air, he took hold of its pelt and tossed it towards another of the beasts as he began flying sideways, his wings leaving poison mist in his wake. Taking out his bow, he fired arrows directly ahead of himself, away from the beasts. The arrows flew straight for a while but soon began bending as they did a one-eighty turn and flew back in Jake’s direction as they also split into five each.

Jake flew between several arrows as the Panthers chasing him were hit by arcane explosions. They blocked it, but it bought him enough time to properly turn and shoot a well-placed Arcane Powershot into one of the clones.

It hit the beast, and right away, the poison entered its body. When it did, Jake quickly noticed a difference… these clones were stronger than the one he had destroyed earlier. Not by overly much, but probably around ten percent.

Clones… split power somehow?

Jake wasn’t sure, but what he did know was that the Panthers were done playing around. Before, they had chased him rather cautiously, which indicated they did not have a proper measurement of Jake… which furthermore probably meant there had been no shared memory or memory transfer from the clone. All they knew was that he had killed one.

However, even so, it was clear that the clones could communicate, at least while in close proximity.

Space around Jake suddenly seemed to shrink as he didn’t really move forward as he flew. Dark mana began collecting all around him as black bolts appeared in the warped space. None of which Jake had time to address as he had to rapidly dodge to the side as a Panther teleported in front of him, only to find another one trying to take advantage of the opening. He barely managed to dodge between the swipes of two beasts by twisting his body and creating a platform of mana to step off.

He tried to get away, but the dark bolts bombarded him, and as space constricted even more, he found it difficult to move as he wanted. In melee, the two panthers continued their assault as Jake was on the backfoot, not getting any chances to retaliate.

Need to get distance, Jake gritted his teeth as he tried to break out of the contained space one of the panthers had created. Both melee weapons had appeared at this point, and he managed to land a few minor wounds on the two beasts, but they also managed to hurt him as several claw marks marred his body.

In a gamble, Jake dove forwards between the two Panthers. He spun around as arcane edges expanded from both blades to try and scare the Panthers away. It worked on one of them, but the one he tried to scare off with Bloodfeast Dagger simply swept the edge away and attacked instead.

Jake ducked at the very last moment, turning his body to block with one of his wings. The Panther tore up the flesh on it and promptly bit down on the joint. The teeth sank into the flesh as pain ran through his body. The Panther bit down even more, ready to rip off the wing entirely. He knew the wing was a lost cause, so he decided to make use of it.

to overflow it with energy. In a flash, it began burning with pink-purple energy before promptly exploding in a blast that sent both Jake and the Panther

a wing, and if that was all, he would be ecstatic at the outcome of the exchange, but sadly

Jake barely blocked with an arm that he pushed into the feline’s mouth to avoid the sharp

entirely. He was tossed around, but he managed to not lose the arm

he had taken a lot of damage. He had managed to also do some damage

not engaging him at all. It had just done some space magic, with the one using dark magic being the one he

up in the air had been a terrible move as it quite frankly gave him too much space. He had

Jake was now a stealth archer as well as a

Marks, he kept track as they all followed him. Jake would honestly accept the result if they chose to disengage, but he failed to hold back a faint smile when he saw them chase. His body was hurting, and Arcane Awakening was still burning his energy and health away at a steady pace, putting him on a timer. That

track for a moment. Enough for him to enter stealth once more as they lost track of his position. Jake had already noticed earlier how they needed a moment to locate him whenever he had teleported, proving they clearly didn’t have

far above – the uninjured one. It had not moved but stayed far up, nearly at the clouds. At that distance,

as they searched. Pulses of dark mana passed over him as his Arcane Stealth managed

had passed, Jake found an opening. A Panther had found an unsuspecting D-grade trying to hide and had decided to rip it out of

stuck in it. The moment he attacked, all of the Panthers

passed over him. Less than a second later, a black crescent wave passed, followed by several more as the Panthers tore up the area to find him.

assaulted another area, only for Jake to pop up again and land

worked every time

retreat, but clearly, the beasts were not interested in being made fools of three times in a row. All three charged him

dodge as he ran. Pride of the Malefic Viper activated for the first time as mana began

the air as Jake jumped just as a

exploded and launched Jake backward towards the chasing Panther. Taking it by surprise, Jake managed to land a cut with Eternal Hunger before fleeing once

Fuck.

already distorting as it became clear he had once more been trapped within some kind of spatial seal. However, this one was far more of a barrier to keep him from escaping than the space seal

him not being as fast as he should have been. A Panther teleported, and Jake barely managed to block as two more appeared. The second one he dodged by the skin of his teeth while he was forced to simply take the hit from the last one as his back was ripped up. His cloak and armor, together with the passive shield of Arcane Awakening, managed to take much of the blow, but his equipment was shredded, with five deep gashes still left behind. Jake managed to capitalize on the situation to stab a Panther with Eternal Hunger as he froze another with Gaze. Using all his strength, he spun around and used the

he teleported away. The clones chased him quickly as different spells flew all around him. Jake gritted his teeth as he repeatedly teleported in tandem with the

directions. One right in front of him, one a bit to the side, one above, and so on. The arrows curved around to hit the Panthers, with most of them missing but a few landing as intended

was left behind as Jake suddenly felt

about it, Jake manipulated the shape of the blade slightly as he made it larger and firmly a two-handed weapon. He