The Primal Hunter

Each level in C-grade mattered far more than those in D-grade. It was just simple math, really. However, there was still one thing that could make up for this gap in stats: titles. Jake had over 70% more in all stats just from titles increasing them percentage-wise, and this was not counting all of the pure stats he got from some of them.

Jake also had a pretty damn good class in D-grade and an excellent profession. The Malefic Viper skills added even more stats, allowing Jake to truly stand out from nearly any other newly evolved C-grade. All of these advantages had already meant that Jake outclassed a level 239 Hive Queen and her Protector by quite a bit, but this Hive Queen was 272, with an even more powerful Hive King at 272. When he last visited, Jake had estimated the Hive King to be quite a bit into C-grade but not mid-tier C-grade. That meant it had probably gotten over forty levels since his last visit. If that speed could be sustained, the Hive King and Hive Queen could be in the late tier of C-grade at least by the time the Prima Guardian arrived, making their bid to take over the planet not at all unrealistic. This showed they were talented and pretty good variants with a bright future ahead of them.

A future they had now put in jeopardy by challenging Jake directly.

Guards came at him from all around, but to Jake, they weren’t much more dangerous than the ones thirty levels lower. They were still big and bulky, proving that the Queen wasn’t all she made herself out to be. Jake dodged a few before allowing one to clash with him directly. He pulled out both katars and countered the moment it attacked. One katar hit it on the side of its head, right through its eye, while Jake twisted his body to stab the other weapon into its side.

The Guard tried to turn around and attack again, but Jake got on top of it and punched down into its neck area. An arcane explosion sounded out as Jake infused mana into the Blackpoint Burst enchantment. The resulting explosion was far weaker than a true Blackpoint Burst, but it still managed to blow up half of the neck. Another rapid stab from Eternal Hunger with Descending Dark Fang severed the head entirely, killing the Guard.

Less than two seconds had passed since Jake had started his attack till the Guard was dead. Standing atop its corpse, he turned to glance at the Queen, seeing the anger on her face. On that note, her having a semi-humanoid form was kind of nice, as he could at least read her reactions far more correctly like this.

Sadly, the humanoid form was short-lived. Quickly, the Queen’s body morphed as the top half of her human body got absorbed into the termite, and its head changed to resemble the Hive Queen he had killed earlier that day. The body of the Hive Queen remained the same size, making her smaller than the other Queen, which he deemed a deliberate choice on her part.

Have it your way, Jake mentally shook his head. Physically he didn’t waste the movement as he had more Guards to deal with, ten or so rapidly coming for him. The one Guard that attacked him had probably just meant to restrain him for the Queen, but upon seeing it die nearly instantly, she switched up her tactics.

The ground beneath him rumbled as walls surrounded him, trying to seal him in. Jake scoffed and blasted a hole through it, swiftly escaping as two termites were hot on his ass. He turned and kicked one of them in the face, releasing a blast of energy to launch himself backward as he pulled out his bow.

Nocking an arrow, he shot off a Splitting Arrow, making it split as much as he could. The goal was to create a lot of large explosions, but explosions of low intensity. All to buy himself some time to get off some good shots. From the previous Hive Queen, Jake knew that simply damaging a Guard was not enough, he had to kill them for good, or they would just get healed.

He also kept an eye on the one being in the cavern he was actually worried about. The Hive King had been marked first-thing, allowing him to know if it ever moved, even if it was outside of his sphere. So far, it stood unmoving beside the Hive Queen, guarding her like the Protector had before.

Jake reckoned that this Queen was a better variant than the one he had killed despite both Queens being called Hive Queens. It was entirely possible that the other Hive Queen only had the Protector while this one was capable of giving birth to a Hive King. It could also have something to do with hierarchy. If this was the Hive Queen that led the hive and had given birth to all the others, then it was possible it was the only one capable of having a Hive King.

Despite being a spawn of the Hive Queen, the Hive King was by far the most dangerous being in the cavern. Besides Jake, of course.

That is why it confused him when the King remained behind, not joining the fight. It allowed Jake to methodically kill the Queen’s Guards one by one, the Queen herself helping out with the usual buffs and heals, but even her efforts felt half-arsed. Jake was almost offended as it felt like they didn’t actually take him seriously yet.

down to nineteen, the fight just getting easier with every kill. Jake began to wonder if the Queen hoped for Jake to tire himself out or something. He also noticed how the Guards fought half-arsed, their magic

can’t

problem with ectognas was that they didn’t really give off any killing intent or bloodlust, as they didn’t have any will of their own. In fact, ectognas like these Guards didn’t even have a Willpower stat as far as Jake knew. They were nothing more than drones working

that it ultimately

by one, not allowing them any recourse. After killing number twenty-two, he stopped and turned toward the Queen. He threw her a look of disdain, mocking her for failing to heal or protect the Guards. Not that he was sure she even tried. Jake guessed that the Queen could just respawn all these Guards in a pretty short period of time

to heal it up for another go. This made Jake burn through both mana and stamina, though he still paced himself, and his

ground, making Jake seriously doubt the level of judgment displayed by the Queen. While they were not dangerous individually, they could still

Jake looked over at the Queen. “What exactly did you hope to accomplish with this? Tire me out? Or

face, he felt something was off.

of a human, with Records surpassing my expectations,” she said while looking him over. “The offer still stands; you have proven yourself worthy of

the time for bullshit was over,” Jake

the more enticing. Now, please do not struggle too much and make it worse than it has to be. Ah, but do

“Go.”

*BOOM!*

weapons as he blocked, barely in time. The Hive King smashed into him, blasting him back several kilometers before smashing into the cavern wall, spreading cracks across it. He braced himself as the Hive King came again and managed to angle himself well enough to

that day and by far the strongest and fastest. It hit the wall hard, spinning its body as it hit with its legs first, allowing it to leap instantly at Jake once more. Jake dodged and tried to cut the King in the side but found his katar just sliding across the black chitin. A wall shot out from the stone, allowing

was forced purely on the defensive as he barely avoided having his arm bitten off, followed by a leg missing his thigh by a few centimeters – an attack that would surely have penetrated

managed a counterattack. The Hive King snapped forward, Jake dodging by

teleport, Jake got some distance and managed to pull out his bow for a quick potshot. The arrow failed to penetrate the chitin as it hit at a bad angle, and the King instantly jumped. Rather than dodge,

least tried to dodge every attack so far, making it predict he would do that again. Jake grinned as he saw the King’s mandibles sink into the Eternal Shadow from behind, only to see the

turned around in the air and skittered across the ground, promptly leaping to continue its assault. Jake was ready, teleporting away as he blasted it again, finally getting some level of a read on the insect. His arrows

magical help was supplied by the Queen, allowing the King to put all of its power into

an edge. The Queen was still an issue, and Jake knew he would likely have to address her before he could finish the King off, but for now, he would focus on the threat in front of him. They clashed hundreds of times in the next few minutes, neither managing to truly land any blows on the other outside of a

opportunity as he feinted the King with a side-step, making it hesitate long enough for Jake to punch his Blackpoint Nanoblade into its lower mouth using Descending Dark Arcane Fang,

can be seen as underhanded, but there was another motive for allowing their death. You see, resources are limited, and I believed it only

several auras suddenly appear within the chamber,