The Primal Hunter

Across the planet, the chaos brought on by the United Cities Alliance and Ell’Hakan continued. Beasts attacked like never before, and millions died within only a week as many settlements fell, unprepared and too weak to resist. Those who held on still took losses, and the survivors all had a newfound hatred. The work that had been made to establish positive relations between monsters and humanity was thoroughly broken.

The problem was that people did not see the actions of beasts as those of individuals but that of a monolith - as a tribe. They put all monsters in a box and vilified them in their minds as aggressors. This was not much different from what humans did to other humans before the system. People loved to hate others, and it was just easier to hate an entire religion, country, or appearance than recognize that each person was an individual making their own choices.

And this feeling was reciprocated by the monsters.

They, too, viewed humanity as something they wanted to wipe out. Their reasons varied, but their goal was the same. Some saw humans as destroyers, having ruined their natural habitats before the systems and thus nothing but a scourge on the planet. Others had been mistreated and abused by humans all their lives. A small part just looked down on humans as weak and pathetic creatures not worth keeping alive. Others still did not truly care much; they just wanted to hunt without restrictions. As with any good hate group, they didn’t need a unified ideology, just shared hatred.

With every beast that killed a human, humanity’s hatred of beasts grew. With every human that killed a beast, the beasts’ resentment of humanity grew. One would maybe think that monsters getting angry at humans killing beasts while defending themselves wasn’t fair, but how was it different from what humans usually did?

Human hunting parties entered the territory of monsters often. They killed hundreds of beasts or elementals or whatever they came across that gave them experience before retreating to their cities. It was so normalized no one questioned it. The monsters didn’t even question it, as fighting and the law of the jungle were just the rules of the multiverse.

What they did question was the Fallen King then coming and trying to tell them they had to leave all human settlements alone. Leaving some alone was fine, but all of them? Would the humans have accepted the same terms? A unilateral ban from entering and hunting monsters within their homes?

The answer was no.

This was not a question of right or wrong but simply reality. Humans and monsters both needed to kill to progress, and humans had a tendency to want to avoid killing other humans, making them target monsters instead. This was how the universe had worked for Eras, and there would never truly be peace between all the different races. Especially when the enlightened races kept their sense of superiority, thinking the life of a human or elf was more valuable than that of a beast. War and conflict were simply inevitable.

Unless, of course, a powerful enough influence could make humanity and all monsters back down and search for prey elsewhere than their own planet.

Miyamoto felt the token in his spatial storage vibrate once more and decided to take it out this time. He had chosen to wait out and assess the situation before making any further moves, but it appeared it was time to discuss their circumstances.

“Ms. Wells, to what do I owe the pleasure?” he answered, allowing her to take the initiative.

“It pleases me to know you are doing well, Sword Saint. To the world, you are still considering missing in action and potentially dead,” she said.

“I am aware,” he answered as he smiled to himself. “And it is intentional. So please, do me a favor and keep it as such.”

“Alright?” Ms. Wells said with some confusion. “May I know what happened after you were presumably attacked?”

followed by information,” the Sword Saint answered

ready as they circled him. Both of them were melee combatants like him, and from their small initial clash, he became fully aware they would not be easily

abilities. One of the greatest counters to water was not extreme heat but extreme cold. It would make his attacks rigid and impede the flow. This opponent was

stepped back to avoid the blow of the other. His original assessment that they were about as strong as the Judge from the Court of Shadows was correct. The difference was that they were both already using their boosting skills, wanting to finish this battle quickly, and even

ice swordsman took a step back, and the other engaged with a curved sword in each hand. The man’s speed was impressive, and the Sword Saint was forced to block until one of the ice blades attacked from behind. Angling himself a bit,

his boosting skill, he only activated it at a low level. His opponents still attacked with an upper hand as they pushed themselves to their extremes. The

Injured and a bit tired, but otherwise, fine. The man had continually frozen and interrupted Miyamoto’s magic and stopped his attacks for the other side to get

this… the Noboru Clan is not part of any religious faction. We are an independent force. Would the United Cities Alliance not want us on

spoke. “You are the only one worth killing here. With you gone, they will fall into shambles, and we are

answering with gusto. “I

the side to avoid the non-magical warrior’s scimitar but still took a nasty cut. In a final gamble, he tried to take down one of them with him, but he was too slow. He managed to cut the shoulder

the notification?” the

second warrior

few seconds passed before he smiled. “It has been conveyed. Let’s get out

hand. The second warrior was stabbed in the back as his eyes opened wide. The corpse quickly stood up as he healed, a head regrowing and his body changing. Rather than an

could relay anything, his arm flew into the air, still holding the token.

to retaliate as the

“Thousand Waves Slash.”

through like paper as the warrior was blasted back. The Sword Saint followed up and landed several blows before cutting off the head of the man he identified as a Nahoom. Turning to the other warrior who

Sword Saint looked at the former Monarch, who sat down

have thought me acting as your doppelganger for so long would come into play like

a long time, acted together. Both were old souls and had a lot in common, with Iskar having a wealth of knowledge stashed away in his head. He did not remember everything, but with time, the former A-grade recalled details. His existence was an interesting one due to its link with the Divine item left by Sanguine, but he was a fully-fledged lifeform when outside of it, and

incredibly vast and varied and included high-level illusion magic coupled with hypnosis. Enough to

leave,” the Sword Saint said as he saw movement from the direction of the Noboru Clan. He planned on staying dead in the eyes of

meant he had a prisoner - a prisoner

explained this to Ms. Wells, not believing there was a need to keep it a secret from her. Jake trusted her, and so far, she had shown herself

own death even to your clan… do

but just people rallying behind me; at least, it has begun to feel like that. They require me to be their Patriarch to continue their existence and rely on me far too much. Moreover, there have been more internal struggles as we have grown. There were even those pushing to join

long time. After his duel with Jake in the Treasure Hunt, he realized he needed to be more selfish and truly pursue what he cared about. His power would be the power of the clan, but it had become too much. They had begun to treat him as more than an elder. However, he still did not want to rule the clan with an iron fist. He could have, but he wanted autonomy and for himself to have some