The Primal Hunter

”You gotta dodge,” Jake said telepathically as Temlat was attacked by the centaur-like creature. ”Stop trying to block everything or trade blows. That only ever works against those weaker than yourself.”

Jake floated above the clouds nearly a hundred kilometers up in the air as he observed this battle as he tried to stop himself from face-palming.

Below, Temlat held his usual dagger coated with curse energy as he yelled while attacking. His style was hyper-aggressive, which Jake was fine with, as long as the young man didn’t act like he had a Transcendent making him immortal like the Necromancer from the Colosseum of Mortals.

Swinging his dagger, he released waves of dense curse energy that sought to tear apart anything it touched. Temlat was still only level 189, and the centaur he faced was 185, but despite the level disparity, the young man found himself pushed back as his opponent swung his halberd like a skilled warrior. His swings were wide, giving Jake’s little student no space to get close and attack, forcing him to only make his pretty weak ranged attacks.

When Temlat did try to get close, he found himself with a nasty cut or got blasted back as the centaur wielded some wind magic. From an outside perspective, Temlat was clearly on the losing side… but to Jake, that wasn’t the case. Assuming the young half-elf didn’t act like an idiot.

”You wield curses; you’re not some brawler. Curses are not known for their immediate destructive power but are slower and far more insidious. Reign in your own anger and let it loose with purpose and intent to infect your foe. Remember, time is on your side in a fight like this. You just need to last long enough for the curse to do its thing,” Jake sent telepathically once there was a slight break in the fight after the centaur retreated to make some distance.

Temlat listened to Jake for once and restrained himself as he summoned two bolts of black fire. This was something Jake had noticed early on he was capable of, something even Jake wasn’t really sure how to do. Temlat had a class in E-grade that revolved around fire magic, as that school tended to be the most useful in production jobs and whatnot. When he evolved and his curse energy manifested, the young man learned to let his curse energy take the form of flames, even keeping some of the inherent concepts of the fire affinity. It was a good combo with his curse of hatred, as both fire and a budding Wrath Sin Curse had a lot to do with destruction, which made it a shame Temlat didn’t focus more on this direction compared to becoming a good knife fighter.

Throwing two black fireballs, Temlat managed to take the centaur by surprise as it only had time to dodge one, and when it swung to destroy the second, it exploded and bathed its body in black flames. Screaming loudly, the centaur stumbled, but the flames quickly subsided as they seemed to merge with its body.

”Learn when it is your time to land decisive blows. Right now, it’s a slow back and forth, but you need to act without hesitation when you see that one all-important opening. To you, that opening is something you create by yourself as the curse energy accumulates, but you still need to determine when the curse energy is sufficient to end the fight once and for all. If you move too early, you risk your foe eliminating all the curse energy before you win the fight, while if you move too late, you just waste time and resources. So choose your moment of ignition carefully, but not cowardly.”

A constant stream of black flames shot out from Telmat toward the centaur as the creature in vain tried to block with its halberd and wind magic but found itself still afflicted by the curse energy. Its swings got more and more furious as its otherwise calm demeanor changed until finally, the centaur yelled loudly as it charged, eyes red with anger.

It had lost its marbles and no longer acted like an expert fighter but just a dumb beast. The curse energy had thoroughly taken hold of its mind, inflicting it with an uncontrollable surge of anger. Telmat managed to take advantage well as he retreated constantly, and even if he still got hit way more than he should have, he managed to hold on long enough until it was time to land the killing blow.

The centaur had just finished a furious flurry of swings as Temlat simply raised his hand and pointed. Right as he did, black veins appeared all over the centaur’s body as black flames erupted. The curse energy turned against its own temporary vessel with hatred as it consumed the centaur’s body whole. Its arms were hued black before turning to ash as the halberd fell to the ground. Its legs gave out, making it fall to the ground, and all its flesh turned black and wooden before slowly disintegrating.

Yet, despite all this, the centaur kept trying to crawl toward Temlat with only anger in its eyes. There was no sense of self-preservation or instinct to survive, only a singular will to destroy whatever was before its eyes. Even as its eyes turned to black orbs that cracked soon after, its gaze had been full of hate.

to the ground exhausted as he took out one of the healing potions Jake had handed him before going out on this particular training mission. Jake,

that was kind of shit… but I guess he won,” Jake muttered to himself. That amount of curse energy had been crazy overkill, but hopefully,

someone his own

out how the way they placed their index finger was slightly wrong or how they needed to shift their center of gravity when swinging. The best Jake could do was tell someone they

combat. Sure, live combat also carried the risk of the person getting trained dying due to some fuck-up, so most factions wanted to at least have their members reach a good baseline before it was time for life-and-death

been taught. He would throw the young man into life-and-death fights right from the get-go and hope he made it. Temlat knew a bit about how to fight from the streets already, but he

Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found

deemed suitable for Temlat’s practice, was one filled with large plains and different humanoid and semi-humanoid creatures. Their levels were nice and varied, and considering it was a planet that

already pretty good even before Jake took him in as a student, with the profession also acceptable. After Jake had helped him make his curse stronger, he now

One Step, teleported down from up in the air within a few steps before he appeared in front of Temlat. The young man

revenge. These centaurs are nothing compared to even

will do my best,” he quickly

your turning point, and upon evolving, I believe you should become capable

Lord Thayne want me

portal we entered from was?”

man said as he pointed in a direction. Jake couldn’t really fault him for being disorientated, as Jake

way back,” Jake smiled under his mask. “So, meet me back at the

confused enough

alive. That’s what I

as he steeled himself. “I shall

took out a bag of healing potions and placed them

himself while picking up all the potions. Jake kept observing for an hour or so more as his little student seemed to realize Jake was serious and began making his way back slowly and carefully. He seemed to plan on sneaking back,

way, and if he wanted to make it to the portal, he had to make it past it.

things. He had been stuck in that megacity his entire life, and seeing new things like this and experiencing an