The Primal Hunter

Jake and Sylphie won the race to kill two Beast Kings before Dina, the Fallen King, and Sword Saint. Their victory wasn’t by a little either but by more than two weeks, giving them plenty of time to mess around and catch up with the three others. The Unique Lifeform complained about them being faster at crossing large distances, something Jake just saw as a bad excuse.

After killing all four Beast Kings, they had expected the floor to be over, and if it wouldn’t be, then for there to spawn some Beast Emperor or something for them to fight. None of that happened. Instead, the kingdom they could have potentially allied with teleported over an army with the aim of taking down their party with the reasoning that a group of five capable of killing all four Beast Kings was too dangerous for the kingdom’s political stability.

In summary, the insecure king was afraid they would create trouble, and he hoped that after defeating the final Beast King, they would be hurt or tired. A silly hope indeed.

Jake was all ready for a fight, but the Sword Saint annoyingly so talked down the general of the kingdom and reached an agreement with the contingency that Jake and company would leave the planet while spinning a lie to the populace that they were actually hired by the kingdom to defeat the Beast Kings, giving all the credit for the feat to the kingdom and king.

It was all bullshit, and Jake would have preferred to just blast the bastards for trying to backstab them, but the old man wasn’t a fan of that solution. He talked about how the stupidity of a leader should not lead to the death of the average soldier and that they would get nothing out of slaughtering an army of innocents just for a slight born out of insecurities and fear.

After they had negotiated with the kingdom, they got a group of space mages to help them teleport off the planet and thus floor by using one of the treasures hoarded by a Beast King. Once they arrived in the in-between room, Jake did voice his dissatisfaction, only to get a semi-scolding, semi-explanation from the Sword Saint.

“Think about it from their perspective. Five people of immense power arrive on their planet and instantly volunteer to take down the four Beast Kings that have caused trouble for the kingdom for centuries. Within two months, they then proceed to kill every single Beast King within their lairs, all while refusing to engage or involve the kingdom in any way. We are complete unknowns in their eyes and could, in many ways, be worse than the Beast Kings. At least the Beast Kings stuck to their own territories while we have no such inclinations. What would happen if we decided we wanted to take control? What could they do against us? No, from their point of view, striking us while we were still weak from a fight with a Beast King would be their final hope at retaining their own autonomy from five overlords taking over the only world they have ever known.”

Jake did have to admit that the old man made sense… he just didn’t like backstabbing assholes, no matter how they wanted to justify it.

“Their assumptions were shit. We had done nothing to provoke them or even once mentioned we wanted to take over anything. In fact, I am pretty sure we said we were just going to kill the four Beast Kings and then move on. Can you argue they didn’t trust us and reached their own dumb conclusions? Sure thing, but what am I gonna do with that? Rather than me asking them, they should ask us first to clarify what we actually wanted to do,” Jake shot back.

“When one party is in a higher position of power, it is difficult to approach them and ask their intent in such a straightforward manner,” the old man sighed. “We are in a unique position, not just as people on a floor in Nevermore, but in the multiverse as a whole.”

“So you think we should clarify with anyone who comes to kill us if they are at least doing it under the right pretenses before fighting back and potentially hurting them? Oh, geez, I guess I fucked up when I killed two of Ell’Hakan’s goons when they first invaded Earth. Should have asked them if they were super sure they wanted to fight first, I guess.”

“Now you are just being hyperbolic. Each situation is unique and should be evaluated with such uniqueness in mind,” the Sword Saint said, shaking his head.

Jake was about to say more as the Fallen King cut in.

“I thought we were done with the floors about morals and norms?” the Fallen King questioned in a mocking tone. “And as far as I am concerned, any aggressor is fair game. You may argue they have their reasons, but they also had a choice. While it is true the regular soldier had little choice, there is always some level of choice. If you claim they didn’t truly have any choice, then what choice did these Beast Kings have? What choice did the beasts guarding their territories have? For you never argued the innocence of the beasts you slaughtered on your way to the Beast Kings nor tried to negotiate with them.”

“I can admit that my view is flawed, and I inherently treat the enlightened races differently than beasts or monsters. You are right in pointing out the hypocrisy… but I still think that should there be a chance to choose diplomacy over violence, it is worth the attempt,” the Sword Saint sighed. “Do you disagree with that assessment?”

“No, I am saying that it doesn’t matter either way to me. Spare, kill; I am only here for the Nevermore Points, nothing more, nothing less. So I will do whatever entails earning the most points,” the Unique Lifeform stated pretty plainly. “Things are no different outside of here either. Whichever choice brings the most benefit with the least demerits is the one I will choose.”

will you determi-“

“Ree,” Sylphie interrupted him.

“I think it is-“

“Ree.”

“Bu-“

“Ree.”

Sylphie did have the best philosophy that one could never argue with. A creature

The wind never likes the

the wisdom of the First

the topic… I do wonder where the loot went. After floor forty, it just disappeared without any prompt or

it, but Dina had a theory,” Jake said, nodding to the

with equipment. On many of the floors, you can still gather some

sense,” the Unique Lifeform nodded. “Though I still believe rewards should be given for completing each

grinned. More loot was always better,

forty-six, as an example, the Fallen King had taken one of the unique treasures, while Dina had taken

much of a good thing can ruin the market…”

with the most good things,” Jake grinned to lighten

man just shook his head, and the Fallen

get any loot, but there was probably a reason,

about how much loot they did or didn’t deserve, they dove back into the dungeon. Even if they didn’t agree on everything, they were still all professionals who could put aside

long time to go and many dungeons floors before they hit the cap for how difficult floors they could do… and once they did hit this cap, it was time to do

whatever the fuck that big space lizard decided to call them. Floor forty-one had been a bloody nightmare, and not just because of how creepy the place had been, but because

than any one of them had expected. Ultimately, they had weak links in their

were both bloody excellent and had come out of their one-on-one fights way faster than she had. The problems were the seer and shaman. The shaman had managed to hold on but was too injured to really be of much use for the final phase, and the seer had gotten her ass kicked out nearly instantly when she was alone. She had already been pretty fucking useless in Minaga’s Labyrinth due

the Minaga with some insane suicide attack that ended phase three just as it began. Ah, but it was a bit sad to hear that Caleb’s group hadn’t even been able to face Minaga properly but just had to find another damn Demon Lord with a clone of Minaga only there to occasionally fling in spells to make

One of them was naturally Jake and his ridiculous party, which was really expected, while another was that weird scientist guy named Arnold, who Gudrun had warned her about not making an enemy for some reason. Carmen wasn’t sure why, as the guy didn’t seem that dangerous on the surface, but then again,

agents told them during a brief on the city floor. To see her party members celebrate him

in her and her origins after the Minaga floor… mainly because of the ridiculous intel on her fellow Earthlings, which had led to quite a few questions