The Primal Hunter's
The Unexpected 2

If only considered an archer, Jake is not something too impressive. He's relatively strong and quick through many levels in his race, but he's still a little behind the guys with an evolved class. He still got the upper hand during the battle due to his lack of doubts and strong bloodline. But overall, against an entire team with a higher grade level than hers would not end well. If one ignores his other main source of power, it is.

However, if one added his profession, the equation changed. The pure stat amount of toughness and vitality it provided made it much stronger than almost everyone, especially in a prolonged fight. But without a doubt, his greatest strength right now was his potent poison. A single arrow or a single wound changed from a small wound to an almost certain death.

And now he had applied the poison. He had not done so since the beginning of the fight for various reasons. First of all, he wasn't sure it would turn into a battle. Second, he wanted more information than anything, and if it did not end in a fight, he would just throw away a bottle of poison. Now, however, the time to talk is over.

From behind the tree, he saw his enemies preparing to flank him once more. Tactics he would be happy to use. Taking out a normal, non-toxic arrow, he picked it up and started charging Powershot. His skills were weak in open combat, usually, but had time to shine. Now is one such time.

With the right timing, as the intermediate soldier entered his firing line, he released his arrow. The man didn't even have time to react before he was hit, his arrow exploded from the impact when it hit his chest. The man was not left in a much better state than the arrow because a large gaping hole had opened in his upper chest, carrying with him his heart and lungs. Needless to say, the man was fine and completely dead.

After the two fell, he switched to the poisoned arrow as his Shadow Vaulted away from the tree once more, seeking refuge behind the others. Those who were unable to trap him were significant advantages that he did not wish to lose. Moreover, while the warrior wearing the plate was undoubtedly strong and had a formidable defense, he got it by having much worse mobility. He will be saved for the last.

Two Shadow Vaults later, and he discovers that the enemy archer has entered his scope. And from the way he moves, he doesn't know Jake's location yet. Seeing him separate from the ice maker, he moved.

He trailed the archer with his ball as a guide while remaining invisible from the three enemies. The other archer moved slowly, just at walking speed, with his bow fully retracted, ready to shoot any sudden movements. His prudence was reasonable but misplaced. Jake never planned to enter his line of sight.

As the archer enters the small open, Jake sees his chance and shoots an arrow right behind the man. He managed to react only at the last moment but still ended up with an arrow hitting his upper back - an annoying wound but otherwise very easy to deal with. If necrotic poisons are ignored, it is.

The archer only had time to open the path and pull out the arrow before he felt something was amiss. At first, he felt a strange numbness, followed by a great pain that seemed to spread throughout his body. Next, he was exposed to the smell of – rotting flesh. In horror, the archer shouted, pulling his comrades who were rushing towards him.

Jake has taken refuge behind a tree once again but remains close enough for the dying archer to remain within his scope. The soldiers and castors managed to reach their dying comrades and both stopped dead when they saw the archers rolling on the ground screaming in an inhuman voice.

As he rolled over, a piece of rotten black meat fell down. The horrifying sight ended shortly after the scream also subsided. It took less than half a minute of the arrow hitting his death. Yet this half a minute was enough to bring endless nightmares to those who saw them.

Before the two, the archer hardly resembled a human anymore. The entire back area and most of the upper body had completely decayed. The entire arm lay to the side, detached as the archer rolled around.

Even Jake from behind the tree had to take a deep breath to calm down. This was the first time he had seen the true results of his poison effect. The only time he did something like this was when he used Touch of the Malefic Viper on an animal. But this was once a human.

He still clearly remembered the water from the second challenge room that almost killed him. The feeling of your limbs slowly decaying, an indescribable pain. She doesn't like it. He doesn't like it one bit. But poison is his best weapon.

In the end, the only thing that could calm him down was that he was not an attacker. They attacked first. He was just defending himself. They were allies of Richard and William, two men who had tried to kill him before. They are his enemies, and to your enemies you show no mercy.

He recalled his conversation with the Malefic Viper during his visit to his territory.

The Viper tells a story from when he was young before he became a god. He talked about how he had just gained the ability to take on a humanoid form and how he was trying to enter the world of civilization and become, well.

Malefic Viper spoke of his naivety back then. He believed that the enlightened humanoid race was not like the beast he was used to, but would have the above value of simply fighting to gain more power. He became close to people, and he trusted them as if he was a gullible child. The beast does not lie. They attack or retreat. The monster that would be your friend to then stab you in the back was unheard of by him.

Until it happens. For the sake of wealth, Malefic Viper is betrayed and his traitor seeks to kill him. Of course, even then, his strength was above most of his peers, and he was not easily thwarted. But then again, he trusted the man when he claimed it was all a big misunderstanding.

So, he saved her. Save him from misplaced compassion and virtue. A virtue returned by having some humanoid friends whom he had made slaughtered. The man had hired a much stronger force to defeat the Malefic Viper than something as simple as pure pride. He had made a contract with a powerful king to hunt down the Viper and steal his treasure.

Of course, the Malefic Viper returned this favor by slaughtering the man, his army, and directing his head towards the foolish king country. By ourselves. In retrospect, Viper admitted it might be an overreaction to let the entire kingdom face its wrath.

It eventually resulted in the destruction of nine planets.

After all this inhumane slaughter, the Malefic Viper was neither shunned nor hunted. Even if he had killed innocents, women, children, parents, he had never been rebuked for any of it. Instead, he was respected for his strength. Praised for his courage. But more importantly, no one dared to help anyone to betray him again, because now the consequences were clear.

The lessons Malefic Viper wants to teach Jake are a few things. The first is not to trust blindly and not to show mercy to the enemy. The second point is that power reigns supreme. Probably true, as someone said. In addition, if someone shows cruelty and the ability to cross certain limits, your enemies will hesitate and falter as they deal with you again.

Jake does not fully agree with this interpretation, as cruelty can also lead to a much stronger response than expected. That the enemy will not despair of battle but instead become much more resolute in destroying you, throwing all caution to the wind.

And that's exactly the situation Jake's in right now. After the initial fear subsided, the soldiers and ice casters did not escape or survive. Instead, they ignored all signs of caution, as they both shouted obscenities.

"Get out of here, you coward!" the soldier shouted, followed by Ice Caster who called him far more insulting things. Not that Jake disagrees with some of their calls. He just really doesn't care. William and Richard's allies had no right to teach him anything about modesty and honor.

Pulling another bottle of poison from his necklace, he prepared himself to attack. Jumping out from behind a tree, he shot an arrow at the delirious woman. As he had expected, the punch was blocked as an ice shield appeared behind him. Automatically activated from what it can see.

Jake was fully aware that ordinary arrows were unable to break through this green aura, so instead, he threw the bottle he had prepared beforehand. While the speed of the bottle was slower than an arrow, it was still too fast for the soldier to avoid.

The bottle hit him as he blocked with his hand, the liquid inside splashed all over his upper body. A hissing sound rang out as the aura began to erode, and the man retreated as he seemed to focus on protecting himself. Jake is aware that the necrotic poison thrown like that is much weaker than being smeared on an arrow, but he has to do it.

With the soldier out of the way, Jake walks towards the ice maker. After just a few steps, the ice spikes that he had started conjuring up earlier walked towards him, prompting him to make the Shadow Vault full force directly through the spikes. He sensed the mana that was quite drained as he went through surge after surge. But the tactic paid off.

He now found himself only a few meters away from the caster whose facial expression had changed from one of pure anger to one of despicable fear. Without giving him a quarter, Jake continues his attack as he steps towards him once more, activating Shadow Vault next time.

The moment he jumped up, the ice wall started to call out, but it was too late. Before the wall can fully form, Jake appears behind the caster and swings overhead, directly to his head.

In the final step, the caster seems to release all mana, sending a wave of ice exploding from it, hitting Jake and freezing the ground around him. Jake, however, does not back down as he instead pushes forward, dropping the dagger on the woman.

Its toughness proved inadequate as the dagger managed to pierce the top of its skull. He did not poison his sword, but he knew this blow was deadly. The notice that hit him less than a second after his attack landed only confirmed that much.

It was not that he had time to look, because one opponent remained. With an explosion of ice and a green aura, the wall created by the previous caster shattered apart as the warrior broke through it. His armor and body had clear signs of poison still remaining, but he had managed to clear most of it from him. This surprised Jake a little, as it showed that the mysterious green aura seemed to have a strong defensive and self-improvement effect.

As the soldier sees the caster die with Jake standing on it, his anger reaches a whole new level.

Completely rampaging, he started swinging his greatsword forward and backward with a strength and speed that was much greater than before. In the end, this did little to help him, because at the same time, all the semblance of the technique disappeared from his attack, ultimately making it much easier for Jake.

Not retreating, Jake engages in melee, avoiding and swerving around the man as he evades each swing. It reminded him of the fight with the boar, even though the boar was weaker and slower. Although at least the beast had the magic to pin Jake down, something the warrior was very lacking.

The fight continues towards the expected conclusion for a few more minutes as Jake feels the green aura around the man getting dimmer. His speed and strength also gradually slowed down, allowing Jake to land small pieces here and there.

In the end, Jake manages to kick the man's arm when he takes an overly predictable downward punch, disarming him. Another kick made the man stumble, as he fell to the ground just a few meters away from the corpse of the caster.

The fact that he lost his weapon and fell down brought back clarity in the man's eyes, prompting Jake to speak.

“According to Richard and William, what can they accomplish by sending people chasing me like this? Except to contribute experience and tutorial points, that is, ” asked Jake, see no reason to be friendly.

"Revenge for what you've done, you lunatic," the man replied in a much quieter voice than Jake had expected. Although he felt obvious signs of weakness from his tone. He also knew that he was dead no matter what.

“Revenge for what? Kill the man Richard sent to chase me, or fight back when that William tried to stab me in the back?” jake said in a mocking voice. How ridiculous are these people?

"To kill ... everyone .. to start this war .." said the man, his voice growing weaker.

Jake could only stand there confused at his words. Something's not right. Faraway. From how he said "everyone," it seemed like it wasn't just for the people he killed sent by Richard. Could it be three ambushes from the first night of the tutorial? No, that's also impossible.

To make matters even more confusing, he was clearly blamed for starting the war. The most likely war that William alluded to between Richard's faction and those others. But why is he being blamed?

“I didn't do anything!” Jake protested while staring at the dying man. He did not hesitate to take the health potion. "Here, drink this health po-"

Before he could finish, the soldier dropped the potion from his hand.

"Why you-" Jake tries again, but the soldier's arm falls to the side, having used the rest of his last strength to take down the only thing that could save him.

Jake just stood there. "Damn it," he spoke loudly.

I'm pretty sure I'll remember starting a fucking war, Jake thought with great frustration. Was their entire fight indeed based on a huge misunderstanding? Was it a mistake against them?

No, Jake shook his head. Even if it was a misunderstanding, they had obviously died to fight it. He had tried to speak, but they had shot down his attempt. He must remember; they are enemies. And he was unable to show mercy to the enemy. That's simple…

Sighing, he sat on the ground. For now, he would not think about it. Next time he will try harder in the diplomacy section. Focus on what you can .

And with that, his focus shifted to his notification screen.