The Primal Hunter 4, page 7
*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 111 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*
* ‘DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 112 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*
* ‘DING!’ Race: [Human (D)] has reached level 107 - Stat points allocated, +15 Free Points*
Getting levels always just felt great. So, with deep satisfaction, he lay down on the bloody grass, ignored the toxic miasma all around him, and fell asleep.
Usually, she would be a bit annoyed or even question where he was, but quite honestly, she had become immune to his whims and constant absence and just resolved to do things herself. It worked out fine that way anyhow, and in the moments when it truly mattered, Jake would be there. There was no way he would miss the World Congress because he was too busy hunting, right? Yeah, definitely not. Definitely.
Miranda had just woken up from another journey to the Verdant Lagoon, where she had ended up spending most of the time going through paperwork and dealing with stuff through the system menus, making use of the time distortion to get work done. Creating new quests, taking stocks, and all that. The system even had interfaces for everything, and Lillian had recently unlocked a skill that allowed her to send and receive messages through the powers of the Pylon. This meant she could send information to anyone connected to it, such as Miranda, Phillip, Hank, or anyone else with an official position granted by Miranda or someone she had given the authority to grant positions to. A position-giving position, if you will.
This should also have worked for the owner, but Lillian had tried and found that it failed every time. It was like the skill couldn’t find its destination. Miranda just chalked that up to him having some kind of skill to block it, or maybe he was just too strong. Both seemed like reasonable explanations.
They’d had a meeting earlier that day—they being herself and most of the people with positions of leadership in the city—and agreed on a few things concerning the World Congress. One of the largest subjects of discussion was related to immigration.
Through interaction with merchants and travelers from Sanctdomo, they had become aware that the other city was truly massive and that other, far larger settlements also existed out there. Many of Haven’s current citizens had family or friends elsewhere, and were only in Haven right now because it was the only settlement they had come across that offered at least a modicum of safety.
Many guesses about what the World Congress was all about had been made, and the only real thing Miranda was certain of was that it would allow the different world leaders to interact. The quest had made that quite clear.
Haven didn’t intend to make themselves antagonistic to any forces, but she was damn sure that some other faction would try to cause strife or perhaps even attempt to lay claim and annex the city. Their population appeared to be a weakness, which was why another choice they had made seemed to not make a lot of sense: limiting immigration.
Due to the city’s geography, Haven would never become a metropolis unless they chose to abandon what made it special and ruin the entire atmosphere of the forest. Nobody wanted that, and Miranda was also fairly certain Jake would prefer not to have high-rises surrounding his valley.
At the Fort and the area surrounding the Fort, a proper city could be constructed, and Miranda was even working on having the area influenced by the Pylon extend to there. Once she reached D-grade, that should be possible.
No, they would keep Haven as an area more specialized and—as arrogant as it may seem—reserved for the "elite" and their immediate family. Nobody currently living there would be thrown out, but they would limit how many newcomers could become official citizens.
Haven was placed in the outer parts of a beast-filled forest, and just a few hundred meters outside the area influenced by the Pylon, one could run into beasts. If one delved further in, high level E-grades were aplenty, with D-grades eventually appearing. Miranda was pretty sure Jake was currently out fighting those.
The owner had even mentioned a nearby D-grade dungeon. It was currently closed off, with warning signs still at the cave entrance, and Miranda had even placed down a small alarm spell around the cave to make sure no one entered. Jake clearly wanted to be the first to do the dungeon, and there was no way Miranda would deny him that right. It was also just safer to have someone scout it out and get some general information for subsequent parties. She knew no one better than him to do it.
There wasn’t really any threat of others going to the dungeon currently, though. There were no D-grades in the city other than Jake and the birds. They just stayed in the valley most of the time, and while she knew beasts could enter and do dungeons, they apparently very rarely did. Besides them, no one was really even close to D-grade. Miranda herself was now the second-highest-leveled individual with a race level of 86, with Neil and his party all sitting between 75 and 85, with Neil being the one at 85. She was actually impressed by the continued zeal of the party to keep progressing. She did believe a part of it was due to what had happened at the Fort, as the entire party appeared both ashamed and motivated after being utterly embarrassed by Jake and Mystsong Hawk.
Besides all those decisions, they had also discussed who should go to the World Congress. Based on what she could tell, only two additional people aside from the City Owner and City Lord could enter the Congress per Pylon. The wording was a bit weird, making her wonder if perhaps both she and the owner could bring two people each, but she was now certain that wasn’t true.
As for who they would bring? She wasn’t sure yet. Maybe Phillip would be smart, or perhaps Lillian due to how loyal she was and because she had already signed a system-enforced contract. Neil could also be a good idea, as he was making rapid progress with creating a functional teleportation circle. It would be good if he could meet other space mages to maybe create a teleportation network—something Miranda had learned was quite commonplace on most other civilized planets.
Either way, it all came down to if Jake had any plans himself… assuming he would actually come. He’d said last time he would. Miranda felt a bit bad for doubting him; she knew she really shouldn’t, since she was his inferior in every way, but a small part of her still held doubt.
He still has half a day.
Jake awoke with a great yawn as he sat up and scratched his head. Actually, his body was itching quite a bit all over. It was probably the coagulated blood. Yep, definitely the blood. Who knew blood could be itchy? Jake sure knew now.
He got up and quickly took out a large barrel of water to clean himself up. He had a date with a monkey a bit later, so he would need to look presentable for that, wouldn’t he?
After cleaning himself up, he did a bit of light stretching to get all his sore and newly regenerated muscles up to speed. His entire body felt great, and his resources were maxed out once more. It was actually a bit funny—he found a bunch of empty potions on the ground, but he couldn’t at all remember drinking those. Drinking in my sleep… Am I becoming a potion-holic?
Checking the time, he still had more than twelve hours left until it was time for the World Congress. He had slept for a good ten hours, and he felt fresh as a cucumber.
With everything ready, he began making his way back towards the temple. He noticed how he barely encountered any monkeys on the way, and those he did see were solitary, regular D-grades, or even E-grades.
Jake landed on top of a tree, then stared down at the temple grounds and saw how it was now entirely desolate. There was only a single living being atop the highest point of the ancient temple, waiting, almost baiting him.
[Penta-Lighttail Monkey Prima – lvl 134]
Grown three levels since last time I checked, Jake noted. Perhaps it had seen its interference in whatever Jake was doing as unnecessary, as it progressed its own strength at a rapid pace.
Alright, pal… let’s see what you can do, he thought as he focused on the monkey in the distance, an Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter slowly being summoned.
Chapter 8
Monkey Business
The arrow emerged from his palm as he focused on the monkey in the distance. He had a feeling that it knew he was there, just not where exactly he was hiding. It was just sitting on top of its temple, inviting him to attack—something Jake would gladly do, and even begin with his most decisive blow possible.
On a side note, Jake had tried to use Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter with his new Splitting Arrow, and it still didn’t work. He couldn’t split an arrow fired with Arcane Powershot either. Then again… it would be pretty silly if he could effectively triple the power of a powerful, epic-rarity skill with a rare skill. No, copying the Arcane Hunter’s Arrows didn’t really feel like he was copying an entire "skill."
With the arrow fully summoned, Jake carefully took aim at the monkey. He was far away—several kilometers—and its back was turned, yet he felt like he knew. He couldn’t help but use Identify to once more confirm it was indeed the Prima.
[Penta-Lighttail Monkey Prima – lvl 134]
Yep, that’s the one…
His instincts also made it clear it was the real one… that it wasn’t some mental magic trick or an illusion or anything like that. It genuinely was just sitting there, waiting for him to strike. Was it stupid, overconfident, or did it have a plan in mind? Perhaps all three? Jake didn’t know.
But he was sure as hell about to find out.
He didn’t hesitate to activate Limit Break to 10% as he charged his Arcane Powershot. He released the string just as he felt the Windsoar Bow no longer able to endure it anymore, and with an explosion of arcane mana and stamina, the giant arrow flew forth.
Just before he let go of the string, the Prima sitting atop the building turned around and looked his way. Jake instantly froze it, and just as he did, he noticed how he had frozen it mid-smile.
CRASH!
The two upper floors of the ancient temple collapsed in an accelerated manner, as if the entire building and Prima had suddenly gotten dozens of times heavier. That damn smile was still on the monkey’s face when the arrow passed over its head and harmlessly struck a tree on the other side of the temple grounds.
You little shit.
Able to move again, the monkey didn’t jump or do anything in particular; it just slowly stood up on top of the ruined upper parts of the temple and stared at Jake, who still stood far away on a tree branch. Their eyes met for a moment, and Jake felt the provocation and confidence in the gaze of the Prima—a sentiment he returned in kind.
Neither of them felt like they could lose.
Jake quickly drew a pre-poisoned arrow from his quiver and began charging another Arcane Powershot. In response, the monkey pointed one of its five tails in his direction—a move he had seen the other D-grades make many times before, but never at this range.
The immediate surroundings of the tail distorted for a second, and Jake was forced to jump. A massive shockwave hit the tree below him as he fired his arrow while in mid-air.
His Powershot was intercepted by another wave of force, but clearly one attack was superior to the other. The wave of force was broken as a sonic boom sounded out midway through the arrow’s flight, caused by a small explosion from the clash. The Prima was forced to dodge the powerful arcane shot with a frown and an angry screech, still being scratched even then.
It responded by firing off blasts of force from its three tails, and Jake happily dodged all of them as he returned an arrow for every tree that had a large part of its bark blown off. It was a ranged battle with several kilometers between the fighters. Jake came out on top initially, as the monkey took a few minor injuries. Unluckily, Jake hadn’t managed to land much of his poison quite yet. It was still infected, though.
This whole exchange clearly didn’t sit well with the monkey, which had clearly had its pride hurt. It screeched angrily once more as its golden hair began standing up, and it flew towards Jake. Not jumping or floating or whatever, but truly flying.
Weight and force magic combined? Jake thought as the monkey soared towards him, even faster than Hawkie. It was a speed that would have stumped him before, but Jake had a trick up his sleeve… called having thrown all his Free Points into Agility.
He reacted by summoning his wings of poison and death as he fired another arrow after the charging monkey. It didn’t even attempt to dodge. The exploding arcane arrow split in three, and arcane energy appeared to consume the Prima in a raging flood of destruction as they clashed.
For a second, at least. Then the figure exited the explosion, not a scratch on it. But Jake saw the reason right away. It had a rippling sphere around it that appeared to have perfectly blocked the attack and kept the destructive energy out.
A powerful barrier… but… compared to the King…
Their levels were similar. Both were clearly not average beasts. Every single D-grade Jake met, he compared to the King… He just couldn’t help it. Especially not after the mask on his head had started hinting at some ominous return.
And when he compared any creature to the King, he just found them… lacking. Perhaps it was due to a part of him having inherently overestimated the King, as he, for all intents and purposes, was the only foe Jake had fought that he felt he hadn’t truly "beaten.”
The Prima is not to be underestimated, however.
That barrier was strong, and its speed impressive. He managed to fire one more quickly charged Powershot before it arrived, and he had a stable version of his arrows for that blow. The shot managed to pierce the barrier but missed the monkey itself, as it was deflected slightly by the barrier.
As he had no intentions of entering a melee brawl right away, Jake swiftly took a step to teleport down from the tree he was standing on. The monkey was clearly even better than him at flying, and if it could increase his weight like its brethren, then mid-air fighting wasn’t advised. He could totally see himself being forced down and smashed into the forest below.
The monkey didn’t hesitate to follow, descending like a meteor straight towards him. It looked like it intended to just crush him outright with the sphere around it. Jake wasn’t sure exactly how a direct clash with the monkey would go, and he really didn’t see any reason to find out.
Just before the monkey hit the ground, he took another step away, arcane bolts spinning to life and floating where he had just stepped away from.
BOOM!
Once more, the forest shook as the ground exploded with even more arcane mana, followed by a quick Arcane Powershot straight towards where Mark of the Ambitious Hunter told him the monkey was.
If the screech of pain didn’t tell him he had hit, the new response from Sense of the Malefic Viper sure did. Hemotoxin successfully delivered.
With a swipe of one of its tails, the Prima dispelled the cloud of dust and soil, making Jake see that it had an arrow sticking out of its shoulder. It looked more annoyed than angry as it ripped it out, stared a bit at the poison, and then tossed it aside. It stood in a weird pose, with one hand on the wound and another over its forehead, just looking at Jake.
"Can’t talk, can you?" he asked the beast, as it looked to have calmed down a bit after being infected by the poison. At least Jake thought so, until he felt its real intent. Fucker was just buying time.
It saw that he noticed and smiled at him, removing its hand from its forehead to reveal a glowing, silvery motif. The motif didn’t at all fit the rest of the monkey’s golden hide… and neither did its effects, as just a moment later…
The Prima disappeared.
Not invisibility either, as his Sphere of Perception made him know it truly was gone… Even the Mark was gone, and so was any response from Sense of the Malefic Viper. Jake was stumped. Had it decided to flee?
He stood there, confused for a bit, wondering what the hell to do… then dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding a whip-like tail that would have taken his head off.
Where the monkey had disappeared from, a new figure now stood. It looked a lot like the Prima, but its hide was white, almost silvery, and its tails looked more like those of a Dervish than a regular Lighttail Monkey.
But… Jake’s Identify and instincts made him aware it was the same beast.
[Penta-Lighttail Monkey Prima – lvl 134]
Jake was confused, as this figure was completely unharmed. All the small wounds from earlier were gone, there was no poison in its system, and even his Mark was no longer there… Some kind of double-body skill? Or is it just its long-lost brother?
Ultimately, it didn’t matter… What mattered more was that this new figure was quite different—not just in appearance, but style.
Dervishes were tough due to their three tails constantly attacking… Unsurprisingly, five was a lot worse.
Jake dodged and weaved, blocking with his Scimitar and Venomfang all the time yet still getting hit here and there. The wings on his back were pumping out poison, making the Prima now target those. It moved in closer and momentarily stunned Jake by suddenly making it feel like a mountain was pressing down on his shoulders. He used both weapons to protect his vitals, but this allowed the monkey to go for its true targets.
Like two snakes clamping down, two tails moved and stabbed through the fleshy parts of the wings. With Jake now being unable to move them and distracted, two other tails swept down and severed both wings entirely, making Jake hiss in pain.
Yet he couldn’t be outdone; he took the four tails being busy as a chance to attack. He pushed himself forward and found that, while the beast was faster than him, he won out on pure strength. He stabbed Venomfang into the arm used to block his blow and had his Scimitar blocked by the fifth tail, which left just his final weapon: his teeth.
The monkey looked surprised when it raised its other arm to attack and Jake happily chomped down. His canines were already coated in a highly potent toxin. Yes, while Jake had said he really didn’t think he would ever use that part of Fangs of the Malefic Viper… the opportunity was just too good, and his instinctive way of fighting didn’t really take into account any potential embarrassment after the fact.
