The Primal Hunter

A vast grassland filled with flowing hills, some of which were kilometers tall, stretched as far as the eye could see. Large piles of dirt were further stacked atop many of the tallest hills as monsters sat there, watching the horizon.

The grasslands themselves were filled with beasts of all sorts. They populated the area as many made small nests or caves to call their own, as they took in the dense natural mana filling the environment. In some of the deep valleys between the hills, forests could be found, creating natural barriers to defend the beasts within while also serving as focal points of natural mana gathering. These small forests were where the strongest beasts were gathered, as they absorbed the environmental mana to grow stronger while at the same time allowing their kin to function as meat shields should there ever be an invasion.

Within the deepest of all these forests, a powerful being sat in a clearing, as it munched on fruit that could only be classified as valuable natural treasures. It was a large beast, about four meters tall, with two arms and legs, incredibly thick fur, and two curved horns growing on each side of its head. It was incredibly bulky, and the long hair and hide looked more suited for a cold environment, which wasn’t overly surprising when one saw its race.

[Woodland Yeti Lord – lvl 310]

It was a creature that had likely left the cold northern pole of the planet and evolved with time to become the local lord. With its power, it had become an overlord of these vast plains, leading and commanding them to attack the newcomers who had come and begun to encroach on its domain. So far, it had only sent the weaker of its kin, but with time, it would no doubt send more, perhaps even joining the assault on this new settlement itself. Naturally, it would also have to consider the movements of the other lords first so as to not weaken itself needlessly.

For now, there didn’t seem to be any rush as the yeti ate the fruit and absorbed the energy within. The plains were peaceful, and the guards hadn’t reported anything wrong. Not that the Yeti Lord wouldn’t know if something was wrong even without those weak guards. This was its domain, after all. It had skills that made it impossible for anything to strike her unnoticed from any-

The warning from her danger sense arrived too late, and even when it tried to move… it couldn’t, as it felt its very soul shake with fear as some powerful apex predator’s eyes landed on it.

An object struck the Woodland Yeti Lord on top of its skull before it barely had time to move its neck. A passive skill of the yeti activated as its hide and long hair got significantly more durable, but the sharp object still easily pierced through, hardly meeting any resistance.

Blood flew out but was annihilated by the purple-ish destructive energy surrounding the attack as the sharp attack went into the yeti’s skull and continued its descent through its entire body before striking the ground beneath, sending up an explosion of soil, rock, blood, and flesh, all embraced by destructive energies as hundreds of trees all around the clearing fell over from the shockwave left by the impact.

The Woodland Yeti Lord tried to fight back against its certain death, but as if to rub salt in the wound, a powerful toxin had quite literally been rubbed into all of its wounds, making the situation more than a little bleak.

Still, a late-tier C-grade lord was not to be trifled with. A powerful skill activated as the yeti’s body grew in size and was empowered as the yeti used its ultimately boosting skill in a last-ditch effort to-

A second attack arrived as a second explosion rang out within the forest. The yeti, who was already almost dead, fell over on the soil that pulsed with powerful veins of destructive energy, never to get up again. In such a fashion, one of the powerful lords of the planet fell in the midst of its own domain. Slain without anyone ever even noticing that a hunter had chosen it as prey.

*You have slain [Woodland Yeti Lord – lvl 310] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*

Jake stood in mid-air as he stared down at the scene far below and the carnage he had wrought. Several hundreds of kilometers beneath him, a clearing had been destroyed as there now was a crater with a dead yeti in the middle; all the trees around this clearing tipped over away from the crater. Four more arrows fell atop the corpse in the following second or two, having been unnecessary in the grand scheme of things, but Jake had shot them just to make sure. It took a while for his arrows to arrive, after all, so he couldn’t wait to see the results before deciding if he had to shoot more.

At that moment, Jake was feeling both happy and a small tinge of annoyance. Happy that he had killed a boss monster of the Nevermore floor so easily, but a tad annoyed he hadn’t done so in a single shot. It was the peak of first-world problems, and Jake knew it, but he had still hoped to kill the yeti in one shot. Things were only made worse by it being so bloody close to being enough with only a single arrow.

a ridiculously high Perception stat, his tracking skill, and just looking at where monsters tended to gather, Jake sought out the next lord for him to test his newly empowered most powerful

taking him a few more days before he arrived at a big lake with a few smaller islands in the middle, the largest of which had a big lizard in it, just chilling there in its home. When Jake saw it, he was happy because it had really thick scales, which was helpful when testing his new Penetrating Arrow. At least

Lord

a period of his life where he liked to read online wikis for far too

its incredibly thick armor, especially on its back. This Targehide Lizard was exactly the same, with a back covered in thick plates of tough hide with small studded gem-looking dots spread throughout. Despite being two levels lower than the yeti, this one was definitely stronger

outline of its Soulshape and naturally increasing all the damage he would do to it. As he observed it closely, Hunting Momentum was

what he needed as he began to construct his Protean Arrow. Everything was being done far up in the sky within Jake’s stealth field from Unseen Hunter

at the front to explode and break apart some of the armor to get through, but from the last arrow, he felt certain

sure there was plenty for the big body of the dinosaur far down below. Lastly, he

for a brief moment where a small gleam of energy ran across the entire arrow.

content warning: this tale belongs on Royal

his body erupt with arcane energy. As a reminder, using the boosting skill during preparations

through the rock. The eight or so meters of rock the arrow would have to pierce through before hitting the dinosaur didn’t really matter, courtesy of Penetrating Arrow. Due to its increased bonus from Unblemished arrows, the destructive arcane energy surrounding the arrow would be enough to easily shear away a few

skills were working in tandem, reinforcing and stacking on top of one another. Big Game Hunter, Unblemished Arrows, his archery skill, Mark, Steady Aim, Arcane Supremacy, Stealth Attack, and several others… all to unleash one devastating strike

the Fallen King’s unique skill - that was only during normal combat. In circumstances like this, the old man simply didn’t

his arrow for a dozen more seconds before he felt his body become unable to hold on. His skin flayed, but as always, he pushed himself just to the very edge before he released the string.

they did have a slight chance of noticing was the rapidly descending arrow, but even that was mostly hidden by his

using Arcane Powershot. He only stopped when he felt like something in his shoulder would break if he shot one more. Besides, it was also time for

it found itself fully incapacitated as Jake’s eyes glowed orange from Primal Gaze. This was one of the hidden bonuses from Mark… despite the physical barrier, Jake still had clear visual contact due

a shockwave that rocked the small island as the beast slammed into

beast, but its sheer resilience ultimately proved too much, as the arrow only got about halfway before stopping. Luckily, Jake had partly expected this to happen as he unleashed his little surprise hidden in the Protean Arrow. The large arrowhead exploded in the very next moment while deeply embedded within the dinosaur, leading to a devastating result. Fragments of sharp, stable arcane mana coated in Heartrot Poison blasted out from the exploding arrowhead, filling the inside of the beast with what was effectively poison-coated shrapnel. The beast

The gem-like objects on its armored back began to glow as a powerful white light

rain slammed down as dozens of arrows exploded the entire immediate area, doing little damage due to the high durability of the beast but still managing to momentarily stop it in its actions. The next many follow-up stable arcane arrows hit the lord directly, penetrating into

standing far up in the air, reached out as his hand began to glow dark green. From afar, he used Touch of the Malefic Viper to further amplify the Heartrot Poison he had inflicted the boss with as

no matter what, the boss was already doomed. Activating the arcane charge from Mark, the beast below flashed with energy for a second before it finally went still, breathing its

lvl 308] – Bonus experience earned for killing

had long been destroyed, but even without pouring in any energy, Jake still stood solidly on the ground… because, yeah, that was another benefit of his newly upgraded boots. When they said he would always find solid ground, they meant it, even if