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.
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*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.
I’ll get the next boss in one shot, Jake assured himself as he reentered stealth and moved on toward another direction. Through a mix of 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 arrow on.
It ended up only 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 more useful as a test target than the yeti had been.
[Targehide Lizard Lord – lvl 308]
This lord looked a lot like an ankylosaurus. Why did Jake know what an ankylosaurus looked like? Well, he, like many others, also had a period of his life where he liked to read online wikis for far too long, giving him more knowledge about ancient dinosaurs than he could possibly ever need.
Anyway, the ankylosaurus was known for 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 and far more durable.
Floating far up in the air, he began his setup for the one-hit kill attempt. First of all, before he even flew up to his attack location, he marked the lizard, revealing the outline of its Soulshape and naturally increasing all the damage he would do to it. As he observed it closely, Hunting Momentum was also building up just a little bit. Not much, but everything counted.
While Jake didn’t have full knowledge of his opponent, he did have a good enough general idea of 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 as countless strings were assembled into an arrow made to pierce the thick natural armor of the dinosaur.
Once the arrow was fully assembled, Jake observed the one-and-a-half-meter-long spear-like arrow and nodded, satisfied. Usually, he would have created the arrowhead with a payload at the front to explode and break apart some of the armor to get through, but from the last arrow, he felt certain that wasn’t needed. This one, he could hide another surprise within.
Taking out a bottle of Heartrot poison, he coated the arrowhead fully, making sure there was plenty for the big body of the dinosaur far down below. Lastly, he moved on to the new step of his preparation phase introduced by the Penetrating Arrow skill.
Holding the shaft, Jake channeled energy into the Protean Arrow. There was no visual effect except for a brief moment where a small gleam of energy ran across the entire arrow. It didn’t feel any different either, but Jake felt the effect as he smiled, took out his bow, and took a deep breath.
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Arcane Awakening activated fully at 60% in the very next second, making his body erupt with arcane energy. As a reminder, using the boosting skill during preparations didn’t really have any effects and often made things harder as his energy was more volatile due to the boosting skill.
Nocking the arrow, Jake took aim at the dinosaur below. It was relaxing, hidden within a small cave on the island, but with the Mark, Jake could easily see 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 dozen meters of un-reinforced rock.
Energy began to spike around him. as he charged Arcane Powershot. Seconds passed as the energy kept building. Several 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 few C-grades his level would ever have a chance of matching.
While it was true that the Sword Saint had the strongest attack in their party with his Glimpse of Spring – not counting the Fallen King’s unique skill - that was only during normal combat. In circumstances like this, the old man simply didn’t stand a chance against Jake’s sheer offensive might, and they all knew it, which was why Jake had been given this task.
Jake continued charging 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. A massive explosion of arcane energy rocked the sky, all of it concealed within the domain Jake created with Unseen Hunter, resulting in no one noticing.
What they did have a slight chance of noticing was the rapidly descending arrow, but even that was mostly hidden by his stealth skill.
Right after shooting his first arrow, Jake shot another, followed by several more in quick succession, all 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 the final nail in the coffin.
Within the cave, the dinosaur noticed the first attack a few moments before it arrived, warned by its instincts. However, right as it tried to mobilize its energy to defend, 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 to Mark allowing him to see the Soulshape, which was more than good enough for Primal Gaze.
Effortlessly, the arrow penetrated through the eight meters of rock before striking the Targehide Lizard Lord on the back, right where the armor was strongest. The sheer impact created a crater and destroyed the entire cave, creating a shockwave that rocked the small island as the beast slammed into the ground. Jake would be lying if he said it didn’t face resistance, but it still managed to pierce through, something the lizard lord had clearly not expected as its eyes opened wide just as it could begin to move again.
The arrow pierced deep into the 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 roared in pain, heavily damaged but not quite dead yet.
Once more, Jake had failed to kill in a single strike, and the dinosaur responded as best it could. The gem-like objects on its armored back began to glow as a powerful white light emanated… only to be instantly suppressed when Jake’s follow-up attack arrived.
An arrow 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 the hide that was significantly weakened and cracked from the first arrow. Coupled with the reduced overall resilience from the “debuff” left by the arrow, Jake’s attacks all did some some real damage.
Yet even when the final arrow landed, the beast still lived, though not for long if a certain hunter had anything to say about it. Jake, still 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 it continued to ravage the beast’s body, and as a final touch, he exploded all the arcane shrapnel within the dinosaur.
It struggled, and Jake knew that 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 last a few seconds later.
*You have slain [Targehide Lizard Lord – lvl 308] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*
Jake nodded as he deactivated Arcane Awakening and let the weakness wash over him. The arcane platform beneath him 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 that solid ground wasn’t ground at all but just air.
After recovering, Jake continued his hunt as he kept tracking down boss after boss. They were all roughly at the same level, and Jake killed them one by one, even having a happy moment when the ninth boss truly did die in a single arrow. Primarily because it had been a lich belonging to the undead natives on the planet, making it a caster with pretty bad defenses.
There were only a few cases where Jake got into a real fight, having to do more than just bombard with arrows from what was probably the stratosphere. He still handled all these pretty smoothly and got away before he was overwhelmed by hordes of monsters coming to the aid of their lord.
As he killed more and more, the other lords did become more cautious, placing more sentries, and defending themselves more. Alas, they couldn’t act cowardly as it would undermine their authority, meaning most still had mostly solo domains. It didn’t help that Jake purposefully tried to avoid going in a predictable pattern, even skipping some lords on purpose to attack some further away from the settlements. Because, oh yeah, there were now more settlements, something he learned as he kept in contact with the others through the Golden Mark. In fact, a second city had been established only a month after Jake left… the reason for this happening so quickly being quite apparent.
“The settler’s leader has shown surprise at the decrease in the frequency of the attacks, almost as if someone had been going around killing the ones in charge of leading these attacks, resulting in the unity between these beast hordes breaking down, creating internal strife as they fight to select a new leader among them,” the Fallen King shared with Jake, obviously amused.
What few attacks did come were easily handled by the four others, as they also actively worked to make the settlements grow faster and did things to speed up the ark’s arrival and, thus, the completion of the floor. Something that came a lot sooner than usual… at least from their perspective.
When Jake had killed so many leaders of these beasts and monster factions that the attacks had pretty much stopped, Jake made his way back to the settlements where the Sword Saint had already made his preparations. Dina had also created quite a few plant soldiers to defend and act as sentries should anything happen as Jake arrived and saw what the old man had cooked up.
One had to remember that the time they had in Nevermore was based on how much time the party spent there from their perspective. Waiting for an ark to arrive wasn’t something they wanted, which was why Jake felt pretty happy they had a guy blessed by the Primordial of Time on their team.
The Sword Saint had created an odd room within a house of the settlement using his painting skills with odd murals on the walls. Jake had been unsure what it was when he first arrived but soon learned it was a damn time dilation chamber. A pretty simple one at that, but it was actually pretty damn effective as when within it, every two hours passing was an entire day in the outside world.
Using that, they passed the seventy-second floor within only eight and a half months. For the settlers, it was more like fifteen months, but time dilation was overpowered. They did still have to go out once in a while when some attacks arrived, but Dina’s summons made them aware every time with ample warning.
Moving on to the next floor, Jake hoped he could repeat the one they had just done… because hot damn, had it been effective in the leveling department as Jake finally did some proper bloody hunting, fully following his Path.
*’DING!’ Class: [Arcane Hunter of Horizon’s Edge] has reached level 261 - Stat points allocated, +50 Free Points*
…
*’DING!’ Class: [Arcane Hunter of Horizon’s Edge] has reached level 265 - Stat points allocated, +50 Free Points*
*’DING!’ Race: [Human (C)] has reached level 260 - Stat points allocated, +45 Free Points*
…
*’DING!’ Race: [Human (C)] has reached level 262 - Stat points allocated, +45 Free Points*
Luckily for him and all the others, the next few floors had far fewer gimmicks but were all pretty much just pure combat and leveling galore.