The Primal Hunter

The days passed one by one as Earth had finally begun finding some semblance of stability. Settlements and larger cities had survived the many beasts attacking and made adequate defenses in preparation for more attacks. Some cities still fell here and there, but for the most part, there was peace.

Some smaller teleportation networks had even appeared, linking allied cities to one another. The Holy Church had some up and running relatively fast, allowing them to quickly move between their cities to assist in case of attacks. They were working towards something, and none knew exactly what it was, but it did include many high-level members of the Church making their way back to Sanctdomo - likely one of the reasons why they had rushed to re-establish a teleportation network. Out of all the factions, the Court of Shadows was perhaps the most effective, primarily with their ability to quickly not necessarily link allied cities but link locations of different networks close to each other, and then just melding in and making use of other’s teleporters to move around fast.

And move fast they did. Because another source of stability was, surprisingly enough, a huge number of assassinations. Anyone who wasn’t blind could see this was done with the United Cities Alliance behind the job based on how they always had a candidate ready to take control within mere hours of the current City Lord dying. Candidates who had been in the cities for months and slowly gained a following and influence.

To the surprise of many, the alien invaders that the United Cities Alliance worked with did nothing during this time. They were spotted here and there and did, in some rare instances, step in and help protect cities from attacks. Even then, no one knew what their goal was.

The faction with the biggest change was the Noboru Clan, which had been split into three separate internal factions. One of them supported the United Cities Alliance, one surprisingly wanted to join the Holy Church, and a final one wanted to stay fully independent. Some fringe members also remained, including a group who still believed the Patriarch lived.

This split led to them losing many cities to outside forces and even invading each other using non-violent methods and political scheming. They also dealt with beasts far worse, and the base of the once powerful clan was shaken. Without a singular, powerful leader to unite them, it looked as they were headed towards collapse or, at the very least, being split into smaller factions. So far, at least no significant violence had taken place, and differences were being worked through, but it was a losing battle. Each schism simply had too different goals.

The only place that could be said to have been oddly unaffected was Haven. Even with the City Lord gone, things mostly continued as usual. People from the United Cities Alliance had come but had yet been able to take over the Pylon.

There was also the issue of Miranda having been a very popular City Lord. Surprisingly, then the majority of citizens were indifferent to the true owner of the city as he was never really around. They knew he existed, but that was the end of his involvement. Well, besides that, they did know that Miranda had been appointed by him, meaning he couldn’t be that bad in their eyes.

All of these and more were the reason why the temporary City Lord had not become a member of the United City Alliance but an old leader. Phillip, the former leader of the Fort, had with reluctance agreed to take up the mantle. His reluctance was part of the reason why the United Cities Alliance agreed, and he was also generally not considered part of the Malefic’s Chosen’s entourage. Another reason was the understanding that it was only till an actual City Lord was deployed there.

Be it by the rightful one returning or a newcomer taking over.

Besides that, there was the Fort. A place where nothing at all had happened. There was not really a true local leader of the Fort besides Phillip in Haven, but most would look towards Arnold if they had to name one. Look towards him both figuratively and literally as a large part of the city was a metal dome that housed his personal workshop.

In the section of the world already controlled by the United Cities Alliance, it was also mostly calm. Paradise was a sore spot for many City Leaders, but none dared to challenge them, especially not after Renato made ample use of Sylphie and Carmen both residing there. Even if saying they resided there was somewhat fallacious, considering they had not been there for a long time since leaving for the jungle to hunt.

Finally… we had some people on Earth who didn’t truly know where they belonged, with this conflict only shining a brighter light on that fact.

”You need to,” the woman said in a comforting tone. ”Not for anyone but yourself. You can prepare a thousand more things, but you knew this day would come eventually. You are ready, William. You say the system says you have yet to find your Path… I think this is the final piece you are missing.”

William listened to Ms. Kim, his former psychiatrist, but he still felt a shiver run down his spine. He knew she was right and that she was telling him only confirmed it. He felt like she was the only person he could ever be open around, and it had been hard not seeing her for so long due to all the tasks Master had sent him to do.

haven’t stopped,” William muttered. “The random visions

nothing more than a concept, a representation of fear. If you confront him, you will see that reality isn’t as scary

not immortal or unbeatable; the alien had shown that. Even if it was not a decisive victory, he had come out

before evolving, you risk internalizing it further, truly making it part of who you are. Is that really what you want? No one says you have to beat anyone, just that you have to confront him. I have met him, and while I do agree he is intimidating, he is, in the end, still human,” Ms.

to William since his last conversation about being stuck at D-grade, where he had been told to figure it out himself. This had only added to his anxiety

time, and he had barely leveled his class. Not since returning from Nevermore. In Nevermore, William had killed enough to nearly reach the D-grade cap of his class and made significant progress in his profession. By all accounts, he should be ready after another long period of refining himself. Did he think he was the strongest

“Okay,” William finally relented.

there is no shame in retreat and that you do not go to fight. You go to confront

nodded again as he sighed. It

“Ms. Kim?” William asked.

a bit confused by

it wasn’t true to their agreement, but he couldn’t help

to his surprise, returned his hug. “As I said… just retreat if

let go of him,

were

that. Not the first point,

teleporter as he appeared in a damp cavern. He felt the presence of the C-grade space jellyfish wash over him

a

said. “The moment that he appears send me

the ground as he meditated and prepared himself. He did not know how long it would take before the monster made his presence known, but William knew he had to go there. Not because he feared the monster would die, making him lose his chance to face him. No, that sentiment

Kim was probably right. The monster was the reason he could not evolve, and he would have to face his fears if he wanted to prove his

they came across. Jake had only gotten into a single more fight, and Sandy had mainly digested what had already been eaten earlier on their

sight. Jake had already been spat out of Sandy and was flying alongside the

said as they got closer to the

a dozen of kilometers from the shoreline, Jake saw vast mountains rise, and he knew that in there the Fallen King currently was. It was at the edge of the ocean… and the edge of what was effectively a safety zone for

of the globe. Outside of that territory, there were no limitations on C-grades or anything like that, but inside there were. Jake and Sandy were approaching this safe zone where Sandy, as a C-grade, could

floating in the

“Stupid system rules,”Sandy complained.

his wormy friend again. Sylphie he had a bond with, but Sandy was an entirely different sort of animal. A Cosmic Genesis Worm also traveled a lot around due to its nature of consuming natural treasures in insane quantities, making his C-grade pal even harder to pin down and find