Ascension of the Primalist [A Tamer Class, LitRPG]

Seth cautiously navigated through the desert, staying in the shadow of the giant rocks whenever possible. For now, he'd decided to keep Shadow Step as his available spell, but depending on how challenging it was to conceal himself, he would link back Share to Illusionary Emptiness instead. He still had Professor Reat's pocket watch, but the twenty-minute duration was far from ideal.

'There are two ahead,' Nightmare said, already invisible.

Squinting against the blinding sunlight, Seth knelt down and slowly discerned two figures emerging from the heat haze, their forms becoming more precise with every step they took. The creatures' heads bore a striking resemblance to hyenas', with broad snouts and powerful jaws filled with sharp, yellowed teeth that seemed capable of tearing through armor and flesh with ease. Their ears twitched, seemingly trying to pick up every sound in the vast silence of the desert, while their deep amber eyes scanned the horizon.

They both looked shorter than Seth, standing about five and half feet tall with thin, muscular frames. Their coarse fur, mottled with shades of brown and gray, rippled in the desert breeze, contrasting with the dry red land. The Gnolls' makeshift armor, crafted from leather and scavenged metal, gave them a semblance of humanity, protecting their groin and torso. One wielded a curved, jagged blade; the other held a heavy club studded with bone spikes.

Assessing them, Seth briefly connected his awareness to Nightmare, checking for any surge from Danger Sense.

Nothing. All good.

As the direwolf took position on the other side of them, Seth burst into a sprint and cast Intermediate Identify.

The moment the Gnolls caught sight of him, they roared and charged. While continuing his run, Seth channeled Dark Shocking Strike into his gauntlets and activated his Protecting Belt just in case. Nightmare phased out of Illusionary Emptiness and pounced at the Iron one, plunging his teeth into the back of the beast's neck. Dark smoke rushed out of the direwolf's maw and dug into the creature's flesh, causing it to howl in pain.

As the Copper Gnoll swiveled to help its partner, Seth vanished and appeared from its shadow, throwing a powerful punch into its exposed flank. His fist struck the humanoid beast with tremendous force, crushing multiple ribs and sending it flying through the air to land sprawling a dozen feet away. The creature yelped, black lightning arcs coursing through its body as it tried to quickly scramble upright.

Before it could, Seth was already next to it and planted his gauntlet hard into its hideous face, shattering its jaw. Without delay, he then kicked it, launching it in the air once more. Aether surged into his fist as he dashed to the creature and crushed its head with a single blow.

Behind him, the other Gnoll growled, swinging its aether-covered spiked club in wide arcs in Nightmare's direction. Right before getting hit, the direwolf used Shadow Step and sprung out of the creature's shadow just like Seth had with the other one, biting deep into its shoulder. Howling in pain, the Gnoll dropped its weapon, grabbed the direwolf, and hurled him a dozen of feet away. The humanoid beast then snatched his club back up and charged, aether swirling and plunging into the muscles while red lines appeared across on its mottled fur.

Without hesitation, Seth funneled aether into Huntbound Rush and crossed the distance in no time, meeting the Gnoll on its path. Glaring at him, the creature swung its club down.

Driven by his core's instinct, Seth stepped aside at the last second, which let the giant weapon whistle inches away from his face and slam into the ground, shards of rock flying in all directions. Without missing a beat, he lunged in and countered with a flurry of powerful punches, pummeling the Gnoll's abdomen and flanks. The humanoid creature let out a pained growl then tried to bite Seth's face, but he ducked and unleashed two quick blows.

Realizing its club was useless at such close range, the Gnoll tossed it aside in favor of its claws and fangs—yet it was all pointless. Before the beast could hit Seth, Nightmare pounced at it from behind, sinking his teeth into the creature's injured arm. The Gnoll slashed its clawed hand toward the direwolf, but Seth blocked the blow and landed a fierce uppercut on its muzzle, sending it reeling backward.

Nightmare seized the opening and struck again, biting down on its throat, black smoke corroding the flesh. With a loud growl, he then crushed the creature's windpipe and let the limp body fall aside.

Wasting no time, Seth deactivated his Protecting Belt and drew out one of the daggers of the Black Hounds' Rogue to harvest the beaststone of the Copper Gnoll while Nightmare tore open the Iron one's chest.

'Guess you were right,' the direwolf said, cracking the grey beaststone in his maw. 'Your punches really do weaken the rest of their body.'

'Good news, then,' Seth answered, reaching into the other Gnoll's ribcage to retrieve its beaststone.

In Combat Theory a few weeks ago, he had learned that any injury would draw aether from bones and muscles to heal itself, temporarily lowering the Toughness of the rest of the body. The effect was minimal for sharp or superficial wounds—like dagger cuts—which was why it rarely became noticeable until an opponent was already missing a limb or two. But now it was different.

Blunt strikes had less penetrating power than blades, though they left damage over a larger area, amplifying the effect. For that specific reason, Captain Michaelson had praised hammers, encouraging all Guardians to train with them since it could improve the hunting speed of a group during expeditions. The effect wasn't extreme, of course, reducing the Toughness by three or four percent, according to the man—but since Seth hit much harder than a Guardian thanks to his higher Strength, he believed he could do even better with his gauntlets.

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'How big was the weakening effect, would you say?'

'Hard to tell,' Nightmare replied as his body stopped jerking from the beaststone he had just eaten. 'Five percent? Maybe ten? Enough to see a difference.'

Seth's lips pressed into a thin line. It wasn't insignificant… but it wasn't exactly game-changing either. Still, every advantage counts.

'If you can, try to focus on that in the next fight? Just so I can get a more-specific read on that?'

'Sure.'

'Thanks.'

Nightmare let out a small huff, and with that they pressed on, the desert still stretching endlessly before them, the heat rippling in waves on the horizon.

For the next hours, Seth and Nightmare kept moving through the red-clay desert, slaying every Gnoll they encountered. To their surprise, none of them had been a real threat, the strongest pack being composed of a Rank-30 Iron accompanied by two Coppers.

By mid-afternoon, Nightmare had made up his mind on Seth's earlier question and was now confident that his punches decreased the beasts' Toughness from five to fifteen percent, depending on the injuries. The only two times he had hit that upper limit were when he had shattered nearly every rib of the Gnolls.

Initially, they'd decided to also fight other creatures of the desert—Sand Lizards, Stone-Scaled Serpents, and Giant Desert Spiders—but soon found that to be a waste of time. Despite being an overgrown Rift, it was still Iron-Tier, so its outer regions were populated mostly by low- to mid-Copper beasts, which just didn't compare to the Silver-Tier Fishlords Empire.

After ambushing another pair of Gnolls, they continued trekking across the vast desert, but paused when Seth's eyes caught sight of a large black structure looming in the heat-distorted horizon.

'What the hell is that?' Seth said, squinting and shielding his eyes from the sun.

'No idea,' Nightmare answered, already dashing in that direction. 'Let's find out!'

Seth followed him, and as they got closer, the vague outline sharpened and turned into a vast fortress. Devoid of any visible gates, the towering walls were composed of overlapping, rusted metal sheets, and rose up together like a monolith in the desert. At the top, Seth could make out the shapes of two cannons, their barrels pointing outward, ready to fire on anything that dared approach. They appeared to be crafted with the same weathered, beaten metal as the walls, hinting that the Gnolls had been forced to salvage and recycle any scraps they could scavenge.

Seth knew he couldn't underestimate the war tool's power, but it was still hard to take them seriously. "Let's get go—"

Before he could finish his statement, the cannon on the left fired, launching a cannonball toward a large scorpion in the distance. On impact, the shell exploded with tremendous force, obliterating the creature and sending pieces of its carapace and enormous shards of red clay through the air. A strong shockwave then rippled across the desert, and as the cloud of dust settled, the scorpion was nowhere to be seen—a gaping crater now marred the landscape where it had once stood.

"Well, never mind," Seth said, scratching the back of his neck. "Let's, uh, see how many arcane cannons they have first."

Nightmare rolled his eyes beside him. 'Come on. We just need to avoid getting hit.'

"Brilliant plan, Nightmare. You'd make a great war tactician."

'Who needs tactics when they've got fangs?'

Seth smiled, and they began cautiously circling the fortress from a safe distance, analyzing its structure and defenses. In total, they spotted four arcane cannons and a single gate at the back, which was surprisingly open. Using Illusionary Emptiness, Nightmare slipped closer to investigate, then quickly discovered why the thing wasn't shut: a large pole was wedged in the ground inside, matching the exact description Professor Reat and Lyria had given for the Detecting Pillar, one of the Gnolls' devices.

The Artificers' creation set off a ward that would trigger an ear-splitting sound upon sensing anything out of the ordinary, which entirely depended on the human—or beast—who'd crafted it.

From the fortress' size, Seth estimated that over a thousand Gnolls lived inside. So if that thing went off, several hundred Iron ones would likely rush their way.

"Let's see if there are more fortresses around before using all of Toren's devices on that one," he said, turning around.

Over the following five hours, Seth and Nightmare ventured farther into the red-clay desert, encountering four additional strongholds, though none were as massive or heavily guarded as the first. While a safer approach would have been to infiltrate the smaller and less-fortified fortresses first, Seth dismissed the idea—it would make them waste precious time. More Gnolls meant more resources to exchange; if any of them were purchasing humans, it would be the largest one.

Returning to the gargantuan stronghold, Seth prepared a plan of action. He couldn't recklessly use Toren's devices without knowing for sure Theodora and Aran were inside, which meant he needed to first to scout the place using Fog Shroud and run away with Shadow Step and his new bracelet. If he confirmed their presence, he would then come back and use the devices on top of switching Share's bond to Illusionary Emptiness to get inside more easily and facilitate their rescue.

After taking a deep breath, Seth crouched low and crept toward the stronghold. Stealthily, he inched from shadow to shadow as he approached the massive structure of weathered metal until reaching the edge of the open gate. There, he raised his hand and channeled aether into Fog Shroud.

A dense, obscuring mist billowed out, cloaking him and seeping into the fortress. Bursting into a sprint, Seth dashed inside with Nightmare, charging directly toward the heart of the stronghold. The narrow street ahead was flanked by makeshift shelters, towering three to five stories high, their walls crudely pieced together from scrap metal and rusted sheets.

A loud, piercing sound rang out.

Growls erupted from every direction as Gnoll Warriors emerged from their ramshackle dwellings, snarling and gripping their weapons. But the thick veil of Fog Shroud combined with their poor vision and weak aether-sensing abilities allowed Seth to be nearly invisible to them. A few seemed to catch a fleeting glimpse of him but quickly lost track the moment he activated Professor Reat's pocket watch.

Maneuvering through the alleys of rusted metal, Seth kept running while his eyes darted left and right, frantically scanning every corner for any sign of Theodora and Aran. Then, the moment he reached the stronghold's center, a vast, open space cradled by sky-scraping dwellings on all sides, doubt began creeping in his chest. They aren't he—

His thoughts abruptly stopped as his gaze landed on a cluster of figures near a wall: five human shapes, their forms barely visible from the distance, the chains binding them glinting in the dim light.

Then, his breath hitched.

Among them stood a slim woman with short dark hair—Theodora.

Seth quickly moved closer but froze when two unusual Gnolls stepped out from a nearby metal hut. The first one, differing from its kin by his undersized and frail body, brandished no weapons and instead carried a large, weathered leather bag on its back. Its eyes narrowed, flickering with cunning intelligence that hinted at a mind attuned to strategy over brute force.

The Gnoll beside it was the complete opposite: a beast with an aura of raw violence and savagery unlike anything Seth had encountered before. It stood tall as a pillar of pure strength, its bulging muscles rippling beneath its thick coat of dark fur. In its hefty paws it clutched two large and unnerving axes that promised nothing but carnage.

The brain and the brawn, Seth thought.

The moment he started drawing aether out of his Well, Nightmare's voice pierced through their bond.

'Danger!'

Seth's core flared to life and his instinct made him dive to the side just as a cannonball struck where he had been standing a heartbeat before. The impact obliterated a nearby metal shack, sending jagged pieces flying in all directions.

Rolling to his feet, he snapped his gaze toward the two Gnoll leaders and activated Intermediate Identify.

"Run!" Seth shouted, seeing the Rank of the first one. He immediately spun around and bolted away, his form flickering through his pocketwatch's invisibility.

With Nightmare at his side, Seth wove through the chaos, dodging explosions and charging Gnolls, his heart hammering against his ribs. Feral Instinct burned through his veins, sharpening every movement, every reaction—and he needed all the help he could get.

As he neared the fortress' edge, a cannon's shell struck dangerously close. Reacting on instinct, Seth teleported into a nearby shadow, narrowly avoiding the blast, which destroyed several rusted shacks.

Rushing through the open gate, he ducked beneath whistling curved swords and sidestepped swinging clubs before sprinting into the open desert to put as much distance between himself and the stronghold as possible.

The moment Seth thought about stopping, Nightmare appeared next to him. 'That big bastard is still on our tail!'

Glancing back, Seth saw the Gnoll Barbarian in hot pursuit, its dual axes swooshing through the air. Aether pulsed over its fur in rhythmic waves—sinking in and flaring out—fueling each of its stride with power as the giant beast continued to close the gap. Although his new Swift Eagle Bracelet could allow him to escape, Seth knew that killing this creature was inevitable if he wanted to free Theodora and Aran. Better here than in the stronghold surrounded by hundreds of Gnolls.

Clenching his fists, Seth looked at Nightmare. 'Get ready to fight!'