The Primal Hunter

Needless to say, Jake’s question made the entire situation quite tense as he looked at the Second Mistress. She was taken aback and stared at Jake for several seconds, clearly not having expected him to find out.

The moment he had entered the residence of the Second Mistress, he had felt the familiar mana signature of the container with the Secret Scroll inside. Considering the Fallen King had made it clear the Guard Captain still had one, it wasn’t hard to figure out this was the “missing” scroll.

It took her a moment, but the Second Mistress collected herself and sighed. “Why hide it? Why would I not? Would you have helped bring the Prime Consort to me and assist in slaying the Demon Lord if I didn’t have anything to offer?”

“Probably,” Jake shrugged.

She seemed taken aback by his answer. “Why?”

“Why not?” Jake asked. Doing that was bound to give a better achievement, so helping her out only made sense in his head. Of course, she didn’t know about achievements, so maybe it made sense in her mind to keep it a secret for now.

“Why would the Prime Consort give it to you?” the Sword Saint asked. “From my understanding, you were not allies.”

“We are most certainly not. No, she gave it to me because I am not allied with the First Mistress. Or, well, I wasn’t allied with her. The Prime Consort said that she hoped it would foster trust… in reality, I believe she knew I had a distaste for the Demon Lord, and she knew I would never hand a scroll that would empower him to anyone.”

“I see,” the old man nodded, looking to be deep in thought.

The Second Mistress clenched her fists and looked at the Prime Consort. “If you let me kill her… you can have the scroll, and I will even show you how to unlock the containers for when you get the last one from the Guard Captain.”

“Now, wait a second here,” Jake said as he wanted to understand what was going on with all the Mistresses. He looked at all of them for a second as he questioned them. “Nobody gonna protest someone wanting to kill the Prime Consort?”

“Why would we?” a woman smiled. Jake Identified her and saw it was the First Mistress.

[First Mistress – lvl 264]

“She used to be your leader?” Jake questioned.

“That lunatic has needed to go for a long time,” the First Mistress said with disdain, the other Mistresses all nodding. “Also, if it helps hubby, why would we not want that?”

Jake didn’t need to question who “hubby” was as he threw the Sword Saint a glance.

The old man looked at the Prime Consort as he questioned the Second Mistress. “Will killing her like this be wise? Are you certain we do not need her for the Secret Scrolls in any way or see if she knows any other big secrets? Such as what the Secret Scrolls are used for? Jake told us that she said they were created to weaken the Demon Lord in case the Prime Consort lost control of him like you told us before.”

Jake was about to protest that she had also said they could be used to empower him, but he quickly realized what the Sword Saint was doing. He wanted to see if she knew and, if she did know, would share the full truth with them.

“That is one of their uses, yes,” the Second Mistress said. “The other is to empower the Demon Lord’s artifacts. I don’t know why they hold both functions, but the weakening aspect was added later.”

“I see,” the Sword Saint nodded.

Alright, so she does tell some truths, Jake quickly noted.

“Ugh,” he heard a sound from in front of him as the Prime Consort groaned. Jake quickly knelt down and used Touch to give her another rush of alcohol, buying them some time.

“So?” the Second Mistress asked. “Only the Prime Consort, I, and the Guard Captain know how to open the containers with the Secret Scrolls, and as I said, I will teach you how if you give her to me.”

“Well, you three and me,” Jake shrugged, getting looks. “What? She taught me. Not voluntarily, but she opened it right in front of me.”

“Just because you saw her open it once doesn’t mean you can replicate the process,” the Second Mistress protested.

“Pretty sure I can,” Jake said with a high level of confidence.

having found the final scroll, we don’t really need to stay here much longer. Fallen King, I would say it was about time you got everything handled on your end and brought back the scroll from the

own?” Jake questioned. The Guard Captain was supposed to be pretty strong and

have one more loose end… who was

admitted. The full-on NPC energy that the old demon had displayed

Mistresses, and no one knew

and I think she was telling the

added. The wind didn’t know

out that old house while the King handles his business with the Guard Captain then. Are we all happy moving on quickly and just

Affirmatives all around.

“Great. Let’s go then.”

we agree. Bring us the Secret Scroll,” the Sword Saint said

inside her house. Dina had walked over to Jake during this and asked to see Secret Scroll he had gotten from the Prime Consort. The druid read

this is pretty simple. We wouldn’t ever need

just made it weird the demon

get a shot at opening it but

needed one

Demon Lord. In the meanwhile, they allowed the Second Mistress to drag the still unconscious Prime Consort away, quite a few of the other Mistresses also going along. Probably

who originally wanted the Secret Scrolls to see what was up with that, just to wrap up all loose ends. On his way

her revenge on the Prime Consort,

do some fucked up ritual on him, and she had only gotten her just desserts. Now all they needed was for the Fallen King to get done enjoying his time with

here, vice-captain?” the large demon wearing his full plate armor

were quite clear,” the Fallen King insisted. “The rebels have all met here and prepared to launch an attack on the Third Mistress when she returns. This is a prime opportunity

identified the man he was

–

work,” the Guard Captain said as they entered the gate leading into the Third Residence.

said with suspicion. “And where

Instead, his claw began glowing golden as he lunged forward. The Guard Captain was taken by surprise and failed to respond as his back was ripped up,

erupted soon after as the demon tore himself off the

dare you,” he yelled from across the room, his voice infused with Willpower. “To betray

of force and sent it toward the

collateral damage, but when fighting with others, things were not as simple. A large-scale blast would hit indiscriminately, so he had to communicate and try and limit the scope of his blows. Having spent so many years not caring, it

activated his boosting skill. Power erupted

“You-“

surprise as a blast of force hit the man’s shield, sending him back into the wall for a third time. Grasping, he pulled on the wall itself as it began to collapse down on the demon, but

once more by

Not too large or too small, meaning he could keep his opponent constantly within his effective range while still not allowing the melee-specialized Guard Captain

the demon yelled as he landed. “I sentence you to

practically teleported across the entire room, appearing nearly

It hit nothing.

single meter short and looked confused as a golden claw hit

the direct hit. His body was tough. Tougher than the Demon

party was not just about controlling his magic. It was also about how much others relied on it. The Fallen King never needed to care much about being overly accurate, and most of the melee attacks he used had at least an optional long-range aspect. These warriors, like the Guard Captain, needed to be

lot, but when they all moved at speeds able to cross hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye, it suddenly became a distance that could make a significant difference. Distorting the reality others perceived through soul magic was difficult, but the Fallen King could slightly nudge it with these low-Perception creatures. To make a single meter look like two was difficult, especially if he didn’t want the other person to instantly notice. But to make a kilometer look like nine-hundred

Golden claws, constructs, and blasts sent him repeatedly flying like a ragdoll as he never quite managed to land a hit. His durability was high, but his attacks were limited, and what hits the Guard Captain did manage to hit were expected blows the

the most powerful fighter on the floor, was killed without barely being able to fight back in a long

houses were utterly destroyed, and the walls were filled with holes. On the ground before him was

Demon Lord… will