The Primal Hunter

Sylphie released a challenging screech as Jake smiled in response. Fighting in Haven was naturally a no-go, so they would have to head somewhere else.

“Find a cloud island?” Jake asked the bird, getting an approving screech as she pointed with her wing toward a spot in the sky. Jake narrowed his eyes as he looked that way, and after squinting a bit and piercing through a few normal clouds, he did indeed see a large cloud island. It was only after he nodded at Sylphie that he realized what he had just done.

The island was thousands of kilometers above them and hidden behind several layers of normal clouds and the usual interference caused by environmental mana. Usually, trying to see really far was made blurry simply due to the mana in the air, but with enough Perception, one could still see clearly.

Perception has once more been proven the ultimate stat, Jake told himself as he and Sylphie took to the air. He summoned his wings and began flying and quickly noticed Sylphie getting annoyed at his low speed. Before Jake had a chance to switch to One Step to go faster, he felt the wind at his back.

Not a slight breeze either…

His wings caught the constant buffeting of winds, propelling him forward as Sylphie flew alongside him. The entire area around him had a light tinge of green to it, and Jake felt the intense mana at work as Sylphie used her magic.

This type of flying was still slower than Jake using One Step repeatedly, but it was far more relaxing as the wind just carried them forward. Sylphie also looked like it didn’t bother her at all to use the skill if it even was a skill and not just some magic. Jake truly wasn’t sure what Sylphie was capable of, which was another reason he wanted this sparring match.

He and Villy had gone over it earlier, but Nevermore had different sections. Dungeons for solo fighters and parties both, with the best approach being to do both. For the party dungeon, parties were mandatory, and while it was possible to just bring four weak people for one person to try and do it alone, it would undoubtedly result in a worse outcome than if it had been a full party of powerful individuals.

With that in mind, Jake wanted to collect a party of five. Sylphie was naturally on his list of candidates, but he wanted to test her first to see if she was truly up to the challenge. While he did want to do Nevermore with her, he wouldn’t take her along just for the sake of it. If she proved too weak, she couldn’t go, and he would take this approach with every candidate he had in mind.

From Earth, he also had three other candidates in mind besides Sylphie. Two of which he felt like he had tested enough already to have along. He was naturally talking about the Sword Saint and the Fallen King, both of which were utter powerhouses of their own.

Lastly, he had Carmen in mind. If possible, Jake would actually have preferred to ask Eron as he wanted a healer, but he was gone as far as Jake could tell. There was also the issue of trust, of course. His only worry with Carmen was that she wouldn’t be able to keep up. He could only know after having a bout with her. The actual fighting kind.

But first, he had a murder bird to duel.

Not soon after, they reached their destination, still finding themselves within the non-restricted zone… which is when Jake finally noted something.

Sylphie was not at all affected by the restrictions a C-grade would usually be under. Jake frowned a bit and wondered why this was, but he knew asking her would be useless. Was it because she was born on Earth? Because she had grown to that level of power all on her own? Some other reason?

Humans weren’t tossed out either, so maybe it was all linked to those special items beasts consumed. Oh well, it didn’t really matter.

What mattered was the upcoming duel.

Landing on the cloud island, Sylphie simply stood perched in the air a dozen or so meters in front of him.

“Sylphie, no need to hold back too much, okay? This will help determine if you are allowed to come along to Nevermore,” Jake made clear.

“Ree!?” Sylphie asked, offended by Jake even daring to question her awesomeness.

to show me that awesomeness for me to tell the other potential party members of the awesome stuff you can do,” Jake smirked. He opened his hand as a bow appeared in it, and faint wisps of arcane mana began to appear

just how awesome you are. Maybe

of wind sent Jake flying backward as the small hawk made the first move. Instantly, Jake felt that the environment changed, the wind picked up, and a slight tinge of green was seen here and there whenever a powerful gust appeared. He also knew that if he had

Not that easy.

preparing to face what was next. The wind gathered at several points

Jake retaliated. He nocked an arrow and released it, feeling how much faster he was than before. The speed of the arrow was also incomparable to before, splitting the wind as it headed for the

wind for the most part while in flight, much to the annoyance of Sylphie as she tried and failed to blow it away with a gust of wind. Instead, she had to dodge to

looked on as he decided to also let a bit loose himself. He felt the power boil inside of him as he unleashed some. A blast of arcane energy pushed away the wind around him as more than a hundred bolts formed instantly,

part of the cloud continent was annihilated as Jake was still getting a handle on his newfound power and hadn’t quite gotten the balance down yet, making the explosions larger and less

to his bow, he continued to open fire as Sylphie dodged or blocked them all easily, not really sending anything in return. She gave him a taunting look due to

up the pace a

fired, with Sylphie tauntingly trying to dodge it again, only for it to curve and fly straight into her trajectory, forcing the hawk to do a last-second dodge that still resulted in a

far from done as several more came, all curved and all predicting her movements. Sylphie literally had her feathers ruffled as she decided to go

a familiar skill. Her wing began to glow green as she whipped

blade be pushed by the wind to follow after him. As he prepared to

a slight breeze seemed to be able to

away to avoid the second. The two remaining blades turned in the air, but Jake twisted his body and released a Splitting Arrow towards Sylphie. The small bird dodged, but as she was too busy reacting to Jake, she failed to control her wind blades and allowed Jake to create even more distance and pressure her

quickly assessed. This was as much a test as it was a fight, and he had quite a

Sylphie had great offensive power, but she had always struck Jake as lacking defensively. Small bodies tended to result in more susceptibility to damage, and while she was fast and had some defensive skills, she was still limited as far as Jake could see. Dodging was

Someone like Jake.

but he felt like it would be disrespectful to hold back. Besides, she was a C-grade, and he knew he had no attack

as he began charging his Arcane Powershot. The air shuddered, and the wind all around him

own large blade of wind. At least she tried to. At the very moment she was about to whip her wing to

defensive barrier… but instead, a large gust of wind pushed the frozen Sylphie out of the way of the arrow, just in time as

Not yet.

refusing to not take advantage of the opening. Once Sylphie unfroze, she would need a moment to stabilize, and that would

a bow. Jake himself charged straight towards the hawk that had not become able to move again. He saw her confusion from seeing

up from within as

to dodge. Jake felt it penetrate feathers,

arm continued forward as Sylphie’s body exploded. Jake was momentarily alarmed until he saw the pieces of flesh, bone, and feathers turn into a light green wind. The wind moved far faster than anything the hawk had done before and flew around him in a circle. The dozens of small wisps

a gush of blood flying out of his side as a wing still cut him during her fly-by. Sylphie turned in the air again and went for a second attack. Jake met her head-on and stabbed forward, but the second his blade hit her, she once more exploded into

and pointed, firing a small beam of arcane energy. Sylphie didn’t even move but just turned a part of her body into air

“That’s new?” Jake commented.

“Ree!” Sylphie confirmed proudly.

in response. “Doesn’t that mean you are