The Primal Hunter

It was war. On one side was a general with his four commanders and an army of soldiers willing to fight and die for their leaders. An organized group that worked together and used synergy to become more than what they were individually. There were thousands of them, every single one towards the end of D-grade.

On the other side were two people. A hunter with a bow and a dragonkin who seemed to finally have found an opportunity to let loose. These two were naturally the heroes of this fight. The brave men who would stand against the evil mushrooms.

It was also a display of something else… the disparity of power even in the same grade and level bracket. Jake was at a lower level than most of his opponents, and Draskil was still lower than a few of them. One would think their numbers would matter, that their synergy would allow them to fight. It didn’t.

Maybe if they had actual tactics and not just sometimes tried to take hits for one another, it would matter. Maybe if they had ritual magic or complex formations. Had healers working together to form large barriers. However, as it was, they had none of these things, which made what transpired next only describable by one word:

Massacre.

Two words?

Justified massacre.

Explosions of arcane power lit up the cavern as Jake bombarded his opponents.

A dense mist of poison hung thick in the air as Draskil and Jake both pumped it out of their wings. Jake killed primarily using explosive arrows that tore mushroom men apart with ease and followed up with occasional kill shots with stable arrows, while Draskil had a far simpler style.

He was more the rip and tear sort of fighter. His entire body was a weapon that none of their opponents could even scratch. His scales offered defenses to nearly all magic, his attacks unstoppable to the mushrooms as he tore their limbs off and ripped up their flesh, leaving rotting wounds behind.

Draskil also showed fighting methods Jake could never even attempt. His tail was like a fifth limb that whipped around and sometimes even impaled his foes. If not, he used it for movement, yanking himself back or using it to push himself, or while he was mid-air as a counterweight to allow him to rapidly reposition.

The dragonkin did not show any magic besides some to strengthen himself. Jake did notice how he also had the Pride skill like Jake, but his version was clearly far more focused on the mental attack aspect and making a domain of intimidation without any of the mana-control amplifying aspects.

Jake was actually pretty certain Draskil had all the of the Malefic Viper skills. He had believed it for a good while, but after the dungeon, it was more obvious. He clearly had Palate based on all he ate and Sagacity to properly store the knowledge. Jake did think Sagacity was still at a relatively low rarity, and Draskil did say that he had some bad skills he was working on. Besides that, he clearly had the wings, claws, and scales skills. These were likely unavoidable racial skills for any Malefic Dragonkin.

Sense of the Malefic Viper was also obvious based on how well he found mushrooms. That just left Blood and Touch. Jake was most unsure about Touch, honestly. Draskil also had Blood based on how he had used some of it as a weapon once, but Jake had yet to see the dragonkin use the familiar glow of Touch of the Malefic Viper. It was possible he had it and just never used it, but it was also possible he didn’t have it or had changed it to a form very different from what Jake used. Like a purely non-combat version or something.

Now, Jake could just ask him, but where was the fun in that? He would rather just try and figure it out himself while slaughtering an army of mushroom men. The human and dragonkin had already killed hundreds before meeting up as Jake turned to Draskil.

“You want the big boss?” Jake asked. “Just remember we need all the Lifecores intact.”

Draskil grunted in confirmation before asking: “We need the small ones?”

Jake shrugged. “Some, but not all.”

Draskil then grinned. “You wanna see my breath?”

guess?” Jake asked. He wasn’t sure what Draskil

dragonkin took a breath, and for a moment, Jake felt all the mana in the environment stop before getting dragged in like Draskil’s mouth was a vacuum. Intense mana gathered at a level

was only a few meters in diameter when it hit the ground and made a grand sweep from one end of the cavern to the other. Not a single mark was left on the ground where it hit…

dozen kilometers, a rotting black line that emanated death and decay had been formed as everything the breath had touched had decayed to nothingness in an instant. It did not matter if it was a plant or mushroom

eerie nothingness. It had simply killed everything it hit, and even more scary was how Jake did not feel a single whisp of mana from where it had hit. It was just… desolation. Jake didn’t

had been hit. Mind you, it didn’t matter where they were hit. As long as a single part of their body had touched the breath, their entire bodies had turned to black sludge

Jake could make, and if he didn’t move before it was released, he would have no way to get out of the way. And if he didn’t dodge in

with

Jake agreed. “Ah, but don’t use it on essential foes… it didn’t leave even a single Lifecore behind. Or

his words. “I kill the

were never meant to anyway. This dungeon was made for members of the Order, not just those who were supremely talented. Jake and Draskil were way

to get some killing done.

end, she agreed to it after she and her friends had

invited people over and had told her that he would just not be there if she did. Meira was still perplexed why someone like the Grand Elder even bothered spending time on her, and it

her friends over was something he had explicitly given her permission to do, and if even the Grand Elder had voiced his lack of concern about doing this, perhaps it was just their way of telling Meira to do it? She wasn’t good at subtle hints and trying to interpret commands, but maybe it was possible he didn’t just allow

asked to bring some books, she then spoke up and said she had been allowed to bring them to the library. Meira felt proud of herself for that and was happy that the three of them had agreed to come. The only one a bit reluctant was Izil, but Nella and Utmal had both agreed that it was about time

friends

gate opened, and out stepped Izil.

for the invitation,” she said courteously as she took out a small basket with flowers in it. “A token of my appreciation to you and the Lord of the mansion. Native flowers of the Altmar empire,

considering he was far above the four of them in status as a black token. Ah, Meira had told them her Master had

she accepted it. “I am sure my Lord will

present?” Izil asked with

other engagements,” Meira answered. She would not have dared to invite them if her Master was there… she barely dared to when he

as they entered the mansion to place the basket of flowers. Just as they entered the house and she had stored the basket properly, Meira saw that the

hope you treat your owner better than guests,” she scoffed once Meira got close. “Or maybe you just consider it acceptable to

a bow. She really didn’t want to be

daggers at Nella. “And if you two had been here on the agreed-upon

as she had apologized. She still wasn’t

her thoughts. “You didn’t

elsewhere,” Meira once more explained

would have loved to meet him. Now, if he is not

Meira said, motioning towards the large mansion. The three of them followed as Meira wanted to keep the mood good, but Izil and Nella had been less and less friendly recently, and Meira really hoped they could get

the mansion, Izil asked: “Are

now and wasn’t truly living there. Also, she shouldn’t share he was there at all. “There is currently only

frown a bit as Izil

was formed. “Meira… I didn’t want to ask before but are you a slave of the owner of this