The Primal Hunter's
Den Mother

His eyes widened as the remnants of the dream left him. But unlike normal dreams, he could remember every detail clearly.

Jumping out of bed, he threw it back into his necklace along with the others. Right now, Jake is in a very bad mood.

She's upset. And unfortunately for Ms. Den, it has been chosen as her outlet. Jake is tired of feeling like he's stuck in a big game. Bored of not knowing why people keep playing with him. Even now, he did not know exactly why Richard wanted him dead or why the red-robed spearman believed he had killed his son.

No, on the contrary, he would only do his best: Challenge and improve himself.

Taking out one bottle of hemotoxic poison, he carelessly splashed it into a bundle of arrows in his hand. He called out his bow as he walked towards the beast.

Applying the Ambitious Hunter Mark was done as he lifted his bow, mounted an arrow, and filled the Infused Powershot. He did not aim for the beast's head as it would most likely miss.

Filling him in as much as he could without affecting his combat effectiveness afterward, he released the rope. The arrow is released in a burst of mana and stamina, as Jake doesn't even wait to hit it before hitting the others. He was angry but strangely focused as well.

Perhaps he was offended by his own thoughts - by his own perception of the weaknesses he carried within him. He was angry at himself for believing that he was weak. That the only reason why people wanted to manipulate him was because of his own weakness. And the best way to kill that weak feeling is to prove that he is strong. At least Jake believes so.

At the other end of the cave, Mother Den awoke suddenly as Infused Powershot was released. It instinctively tried to dodge but was still hit by one of its hind legs - a minor injury, but more than enough for the poison to enter its system.

The follow-up arrived much earlier than the beast had expected as well. Five arrows struck him simultaneously, only penetrating slightly, but penetrating, after all. The creature was shocked but not desperate to find its attacker.

Without hesitation, he attacked the arrogant human who dared to attack him. It had been the mother of this group of ferrets for a long time, and now there were humans who dared to disturb its nest? Which even felt much weaker than himself.

He sensed the poison, he knew something was wrong, but he did not have the mental ability to understand what it was. All he knew was that he had to kill the human in front of him as quickly as possible.

The first sweep was successfully avoided by the unlucky human when Jake Shadow Vaulted to the side, still releasing arrows whenever possible. Mother Den had predicted this, as she turned her head and opened her mouth.

Out came a burst of green gas that eroded the land he hit. It enveloped the humans, as Mother Nest happily observed what she believed to be the death of her prey.

Instead, it was greeted by another Infused Powershot that tore off his shoulder and came out from the other side. With that shot, which explosion was common when it detonated all the gas.

Surprised, the giant ferret looked into the human's eyes and felt something he hadn't felt for a long time. The feeling he felt when he saw his Nest Mother in the past, the feeling he felt when the Forest King locked her up in this cave.

Fearful.

That's been misjudging. What was in front of him was not prey; it was a predator, just like himself.

Screaming in fear, he hopes to make Jake lose his balance for a while. A sonic wave passed by him, but he only closed his eyes as he stood motionless, shooting out another Splitting Arrow.

He felt his ears rupture, and blood flowed down the side of his face and into his neck. He felt the pain, but he didn't care. After all he did not need his hearing right now, and his pain was easily suppressed by the pure ecstasy feeling he was feeling right now.

Den Mother is much more powerful than Alpha in every way. It was faster and stronger, its skin was harder, making its arrows produce far less damage, he said, and have far more skills and what seems like a higher level of intelligence. But in this fight, Jake has something lacking in many other fights.

An unshakable belief. Confidence and momentum. For the first time, Jake is the one who is fully seated in the driver's seat. And the beast felt this confidence as it showed signs of doubt in its movements and attacks.

It has fallen into the mentality of the victim. A dangerous situation if it wanted to display all of its strength.

But even with everything that happened to her, it was still Mother Den.

The beast sped up as it leapt towards Jake, forcing him into the Shadow Vault once more. Even in his arrogance, he was not stupid enough to take the beast's huge claws directly.

However, he quickly returned the favor with another barrage of arrows. The wounds of Den Mother slowly grew, as her once beautiful fur now carried a red glow.

Something unexpected happened at that moment. The weasel retreated, a first for Jake. It dashed back to where he had originally pulled her, as it made another scream. This one is not a sonic attack, but something completely different - a mating call.

After shrieking, the ground rumbled as three explosions of the ground fell from the ceiling along with three large bodies.

Three Alphas fell around Den Mother as they guarded her. The Den Mother herself began to give off a faint green luster as Jake felt the effects of her poison diminish with her Sense of the Malefic Viper. Simultaneously, the wounds on his body began to wriggle much faster than before as they quickly began to heal.

The second phase, Jake thought, was not desperate at all.

Fortunately, Jake still has a bottle of hemotoxin poison left, as he quickly takes it out with a few arrows as he douses it. He still could not see the Alpha level, but he could sense that they were all weaker than the others he had faced so far. That's too weak to get help from Den's mother.

Assistance which all Alpha seems to rush when they attack Jake. They take a few seconds, allowing Jake to fire a fully powered Infused Powershot. The weasel in front had no possibility to change direction because its speed was too high. Produces a square punch in the face and is thrown backwards as the arrow explodes.

Jake had taken out one of the common rare arrows, using the kinetic energy from it, instead of the usual arrow penetration power. He knew he couldn't kill him with a single shot, but he could definitely make him roll around on the ground in pain for a bit.

The arrow shattered when it hit the beast, fragments of wood and metal all stuck to his face - some even found their way into his eyes. One could only imagine the pain as the blind beast rolled on the ground, trying to scrape the pieces away.

There are only two alphas left for now. Jake manages to land a hemotoxin poisoned arrow on one of them before they reach it but has no time to shoot the other. He hated to do so, but he was forced to go back to kite-playing once again.

He landed a few arrows but quickly realized something important. The two badgers' teamwork was not excited, to say the least. Every time he Vaulted Shadow, the two beasts struggled to chase after him individually, crashing into each other.

With a flash of inspiration, he realized that ferocious beasts were not allies in the first place. They are competitors. Both of them wanted to get help from the Nest Mother, and the best way to do that was to kill the little human who had injured her. So both of them were more concerned about being the one to land the deadly blow than actually managing to kill him.

A weakness that he would gladly exploit.

Replacing his tactics, he released his bow as he took out his sword and dagger. While a savage beast was stronger than him physically, its gap had only narrowed since he entered the dungeon.

Attacking towards the ferret surprised them a little as they also inadvertently made eye contact with it. They, like Den Mother, felt danger from the human gaze.

Their slight hesitation was enough for Jake to go to one of them with the Shadow Vault, as he stuck an arrow between his ribs. After all, only one of the beasts had been poisoned before, and it was fair to share love.

The beast, of course, did not receive his attacks well as its sharp teeth flicked its jaws at him. He, however, was long gone when he jumped behind him. In one liquid moment, he let go of the dagger for a bit, as a bottle of Necrotic Poison appeared. Catching the dagger once more, he smashed the bottle, making death-liquids splatter on both weapons.

Simultaneously, the other ferret tried to approach him, but his 'colleagues' got in the way, so all he managed to do was try and twist it awkwardly.

Jake started circling around the badger as he landed a small wound here and there. He made sure to always be very close to them, making their large bodies detrimental - necrotic toxins seeped into their flesh.

They become more angry and more angry when they start to become more aggressive and less considerate of each other. The situation becomes even more interesting when the third Alpha invades. It could only use one eye, and from the looks of it, it was the most upset.

Contrary to what one would believe, Jake actually only finds that the fight becomes easier when the others join forces. Like completely wild animals, they try to crawl each other and try to encourage the others to approach them.

Accidentally they also drop each other a few cuts, Jake of course happily accommodates their carelessness. He truly believed fighting one of the monsters would be more challenging than three because of their reckless style.

He had also managed to poison the third as he continued to build wounds on their bodies.

Naturally, he was also unable to avoid the pain. He had taken a few scratches here and there. Fortunately none of them had used that skill to release their poison spikes. Then again, it would probably help him if one of them did, as they would only hurt their ally.

Glancing at Mother Den, she saw that it was getting closer and closer to being healed completely once again. Hemotoxin in his body has indeed shown its efficacy by slowing the healing process significantly.

About a minute later, the first Alpha fell to the ground, the Ambitious Hunter Mark applied a few seconds before it died. Anyway, Jake doesn't want to miss that bonus experience.

Two minutes after that, the second succumbed to blood loss, leaving only one severely injured Alpha left. It was too slow and weak now to pose a real threat, as Jake let him bleed out as he turned his attention back to Den Mother.

Taking the health potion, he quickly downed it as his health started to drop relatively low. The fight was in his favor, but his victory was not cheap.

His entire chest and arms were ravaged with scratches and bites, with many poisons entering his system as well. Although he could withstand most of it, it still burned a bit of his health to be eliminated completely.

Sensing the warm flow of the health potion, his wounds began to heal quickly. All the small scratches disappeared in just a few seconds, but a wider wound remained - including a severe bite on one of his shoulders.

Taking her bow once more, she focused on Mother Den. The beast closed its eyes as it seemed to be very focused on healing itself. The skill he used seemed similar to Meditate, as it did not show the slightest reaction to alpha death, although it was much stronger as it also restored health.

With a smile, Jake prepared to wake her up violently. He usually aimed for the middle of the body when using Infused Powershot to ensure a blow. After all, the arrow flew in a straight line, and even if it was extremely fast, one should not underestimate the instincts of these badgers.

But now, it was completely motionless and unconscious. It had made the mistake of trusting Alpha to buy enough time to heal him. However, the hemotoxins in his system and the sheer number of wounds made this healing process take longer than expected. As Jake prepares his shot, he gets a notification that the last Alpha has run out. With that, he replaced Mark back to Den Mother.

Pasting the arrow with a good dose of some hemotoxin poison again, he began to channel the Infused Powershot. He took his time with this one, bringing the balance right to the limit where his body or bow would break if he went above it.

He aimed right into the beast's eyes. He did not know if he could pierce through his entire skull, but he knew that the eyes of this ferocious beast were extremely weak. Then again, few living things can claim that their eyes are not weak points.

As he unleashed his most powerful arrow, the arrow encountered a barrier surrounding the Nest Mother. It exploded as the arrow struck, making the attack miss, but it also removed any obstacles between him and the dungeon boss.

He started shooting again, Den Mother still did not react. This one, he saw the flies actually attacking Mother Den right in the eyes. It only managed to shudder as the arrow pierced through and entered his skull.

An unprecedented scream came out as it began to thrash around as a purple mist began to pour out from its skin. His shiny skin turned completely purple like mist, as the hair grew sharper and started shooting in all directions just like Alpha did.

But Jake was already over a hundred yards away, and the nails weren't aimed at all. The fog was also too far away to have any effect.

So Jake just started shooting his arrows. He used a Splitting Shot with every single one of them, only piling up damage. His stamina drained quickly, so he kept the split count low to maintain it. He wanted to shoot out the Infused Powershot again, but he already felt pain from the one used before.

This situation shows one of the significant weaknesses of most living things. While health points would prevent a person from dying even if his brain was completely destroyed, the functions that the brain had would still be significantly impaired.

Just as when a chicken is decapitated and can still run, so too will a person lose control of his body. Skills still work, however, independently of the brain, to a great extent. Of course, the senses no longer function properly, making the ferret blind and deaf.

Which means all he can do is thrash around when his body spasms. In desperation, he unleashed all his skills, all for naught. He could not feel the pain, but he knew his health was quickly drained as the arrows hit him one by one.

He tried to crawl away, but his limbs did not listen. His high vitality only prolonged his suffering as he grew weaker helplessly. If it had enough time, it could regenerate the brain, but unfortunately it would never get a chance.

Vital organs take much longer to heal than others. Parts that are completely destroyed, as well as missing limbs, also do so. The beast had a much greater vitality than Jake, so he might be able to heal his brain enough to regain his standard function in just a few minutes.

One must say that the last phase of the fight was somewhat anticlimactic. The badgers still had more skills and strength left to show but never got the chance as it slowly died, unable to even fight back.

Maybe it was just a bad fight for it. Jake had misunderstood his ability while healing. Unlike meditation, it still maintains some standard functions.

It could still sense living beings and which ones entered within 50 meters or so. Unfortunately for that, Jake's arrow doesn't spit out enough mana to wake him up, and he, of course, doesn't have to walk any closer to it.

With an end that does not correspond to Den Mother, the last vestiges of life leave her.

THE NOTE!!

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