The Primal Hunter

Jake stood back along with the three others as they allowed the Sword Saint to do his thing. More than seventy combatants remained, and despite being on opposing sides, they had teamed up to face this one swordsman. Nevertheless, the outcome was clear.

Rain fell from the sky, every droplet piercing into their barriers and shields. The swordsman himself fought them in a simplistic fashion as he moved swiftly between foes, never giving them any chance to surround him or catch him out in a vulnerable position.

Even when his sword swings didn’t manage to leave injuries, the piercing rain did. These tens of thousands of small piercing droplets fell every second, making them simply impossible to block. The water itself, even when blocked, also contained the concept of time, weighing and slowing down everyone the more soaked they got. Moreover, Jake knew this was only the first part of the old man’s mythical skill, an extremely powerful move for sure.

The only big downside was that to use this skill, the old man had to be fighting alone… not because it was a requirement, but because it would strike everything and everyone in the area indiscriminately.

When about sixty enemies remained, the Sword Saint used the next move. The rain began to slow down before stopping in mid-air while the old man floated backwards as he took a stance, pointing the blade toward the ground and grasping it with both hands as he knelt. With a slow movement, he began to move the blade upwards, the floating droplets doing the same.

“Rain of Time: Reversal.”

Instantly, he swung upwards, the raindrops following along. The ground below was torn up as every single droplet reversed in time and pierced toward the sky, as it looked like the old man had just swung a blade dozens of kilometers long and wide.

Every single person caught in it was cut up, many of them ripped apart altogether by the powerful strike. Only about twenty of the most powerful C-grades remained, all having used powerful defensive skills or hidden items to survive.

It was the same skill the old man had already shown off quite a number of times before. It had been the mythical skill he gained in D-grade that had downgraded to legendary when he evolved… a downgrade that had now been reversed. Because the old man had upgraded it back up to mythical once more, as the skill was no longer finished even after this move.

Rather than use the skill to restore a bit of the used resources, he activated a second part. Pointing his blade toward the clouds above made of pure water, he spoke once more.

“Rain of Time: Thousand Blades Descent.”

All of the rain that had fallen coalesced into blades far up in the sky as the Sword Saint swung down once more. Every single blade of water descended with his strike, and rather than simply flying straight down, they each aimed for the still-living combatants.

The poor twenty or so survivors tried to defend themselves but were unable to as each was already injured. Limbs were sent flying as every single one of them was cut apart, and many of the blades of water were colored red with blood as they continued down and pierced into the ground, penetrating the rocky ground for dozens of meters as the terrain itself began to look like swiss cheese. Definitely not a good sight for anyone with trypophobia.

Breathing heavily, the old man sheathed his sword before flying back toward the group, looking pretty damn tired. As he got closer, Jake couldn’t help but yell:

“Six hundred and thirty-seven!”

“What?” the Sword Saint responded as he soon reached them, looking quite confused.

“You said there were a thousand blades, but I only counted six hundred and thirty-seven,” Jake said as he shook his head in disappointment. “That’s just false advertising right there.”

“Really?” the old man responded with a tired sigh.

“I call it as I see it,” Jake shrugged and smirked.

“Don’t you have a skill called One Step, Thousand Miles? I’m positively confident I have yet to see you ever travel even a hundred miles in a single step using that skill, much less a thousand,” the Sword Saint shot back.

my defense, I use the skill with a focus on quick activation over range… plus, I didn’t make that skill; it’s a set upgrade path. You made that skill, so the name should at least be accurate. Also, all of my other skills do as advertised,” Jake said with confidence, as all of his

of the Malefic Viper? That, too, is a lie, as I see no sage before me,” the Fallen King decided to team up with the

was getting mercilessly attacked from two directions at

politely accepted the change of subject

fight with the Twinhead Ogre. He had been level 289 in his class and, with this level, had gotten a new

few of the others had also gotten over this breakpoint, but sadly for Jake, he

of Horizon’s Edge] has reached level 285

…

of Horizon’s Edge] has reached level

level 274 - Stat points allocated,

good for sure, but he had gotten less than the others simply because this particular floor didn’t suit his Path that well. Jake wasn’t made for big wars or conflicts; he was instead far more specialized in hunting

asked as the Sword Saint went off to the side to focus on his

are collecting their bone spheres pretty quickly,” Jake answered with a smile as he stopped thinking sad thoughts about his own relative lack of levels. “At least, I guess that’s what they’re doing

“Ree?” Sylphie inquired.

take two weeks more at most,” Jake responded as he focused on the two Hunter’s Marks he had placed

final fight, they naturally needed to know where this ritual would be taking place. Finding this location had once more been tasked to Jake

should you find it on Amazon, report

two bosses. This meeting point was in the middle of nowhere, but when Jake used a Pulse, he understood. A

to warp a bit, and as he had a Mark on them, he saw their Soulshapes shudder ever-so-slightly. Their very souls wanted to merge back together, but the two ogres did some simple-looking magic, stabilizing their souls

Jake turned out to be pretty lucky, as his mark lasted more than an entire month, which coincidentally was also the time between the ogres meeting up. It was a bit annoying that he had to go re-mark them every month, but luckily, he only had to do it a few times before the floor would be over. There hadn’t been that

They began to go to all the old and abandoned battlefields one by one, sometimes even returning to where the giant ritual circle was in between

much all the bone spheres were gathered. Jake and company had also just cleared out the final active battlefield, which meant it was time

toward the ritual circle so we can begin to set things up there,” the Sword Saint said

again?” the Fallen King

with Sylphie assisting us,” the old man

to help as the wind began to gather around them. The Sword Saint was a bit worse for wear after using his flashy and powerful mythical skill that Jake totally wasn’t jealous of. He could only reverse rain and create a torrent of falling swords; how was that even impressive? Jake could stare

of them spoke a bit and went over their plans once more as the Sword Saint also shared a bit about the new skill he had unlocked. It was a defensive one that allowed

Eternal Shadow. Jake’s skill was definitely better there, especially considering the old man’s skill was only of

bit under four days later. Jake released a pulse to inspect the place, and as expected, he found over a hundred totem bone spheres sealed beneath the ground at different focus points of the magic circle. Using his knowledge of ritual magic, he could also see that the two ogres needed just twenty more spheres, and they should

out of Nevermore?” Jake asked the Sword Saint, wanting to

have at least two weeks left when they get here. That

looking at the ritual circle. “It’s

“Do

my head,” Jake grinned as he looked at the old

then let’s get to work,” the Sword Saint nodded in agreement as the two of them went down toward the ritual circle that the Twinhead Ogre had

all his weird golden spheres for recovery. In truth, he and Sylphie didn’t have many things to prepare, as they just made sure

spotted each other from afar and gave knowing looks before they began depositing the Totem Bone Spheres in their assigned spots. Getting everything in place only took about half an hour, a bit quicker than usual, as this time, they didn’t have to be careful and keep