The Monarch stumbled back, four arrows in his chest and a newly made deep cut that nearly severed one of his arms. He reacted by pulling the arrows out and tossing his sword to the other hand as he barely managed to block a blow from the Sword Saint.

His movements were slower, and he didn’t heal as fast anymore. Every action looked draining, and Jake felt how tired the vampire was. However, that didn’t mean he stopped as he and the Sword Saint kept pushing the Monarch repeatedly, making the wounds accumulate.

Everything had been pulled out at this point, and the Monarch was clearly out of tricks. At least it seemed so. Jake and the Sword Saint also weren’t at their full either, far from it, but they had already won several minutes ago. All three of them knew it.

An understanding had been reached, and the Monarch got the final fight he had wanted.

A final clash sent them flying away from each other, and the Monarch stopped in mid-air. His stance made his exhaustion evident, and anyone could see he was on his last legs. Yet, a smile remained on his lips as he chuckled.

“I genuinely thank you… I never thought I would ever get a chance to experience something like this ever again when I entered slumber,” the vampire said as he made a slight bow towards Jake and the Sword Saint.

His body began flaking as his skin peeled off, revealing glowing red energy beneath. At first, Jake thought it was his body had run out of energy to sustain itself, but that was overturned as he felt the Monarch’s aura spike.

“Now, if you will allow me a final moment of vanity.”

Before Jake or the old man could react, the vampire turned into a blood-red mist and appeared down below in the midst of all of the remaining humans. Jake had a very bad feeling and was about to use Gaze as suddenly the Monarch teleported again – taking every single remaining member of the Holy Church with him, including Jacob and the party members of Bertram. In the final moment, before he disappeared, Jake had placed a Mark on Jacob.

Jake felt his Mark reappear several hundred kilometers away, only to disappear a second later. Jacob’s disappeared just a moment before that as he no-doubt left the Hunt. As for the Monarch’s Mark, it disappeared not because the Monarch had dispelled it… but because he died.

*You have slain [Monarch of Blood– lvl 170] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*

*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 141 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (D)] has reached level 136 - Stat points allocated, +15 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 142 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Class: [Avaricious Arcane Hunter] has reached level 143 - Stat points allocated, +10 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (D)] has reached level 137 - Stat points allocated, +15 Free Points*

The levels came in as confusion struck him for a brief moment. At least that is until he saw the red light in the distance.

An earthquake hit the entire Treasure Hunt as space shattered, and a massive shockwave of pure energy washed over him and everyone else present. It was by far the most powerful display of power Jake had ever seen by anything since back during the-

At that moment, it felt like so many things happened at once. The notifications from the kill, the shockwave of power, the realization of what the Monarch had done in his final moments, and the feeling he suddenly got from within himself… or perhaps more accurately, what was connected to his inner-self through the mask on his face.

The first thing he addressed was the thing on his face. Jake ripped his mask off as he stared down at it. The only lucky thing was that no one was looking with the Monarch’s final moment of vanity taking away all of the attention. He stared down at the mask as he got heard a faint murmur in his mind. A familiar voice he had heard many times before whenever he was too deep in meditation or distracted as he remembered the most hectic fight he had ever been in.

“Patience.”

It was a single word, but enough for Jake to go on full alert. Eron had dropped not-so-subtle hints. The description described the King slumbering… but now it was confirmed. The King of the Forest still lived, at least in some form. He identified the mask and instantly spotted the change.

[Mask of the Fallen King (Legendary)] - A mask born from the Records of the one once known as the King of the Forest; a mighty Unique Lifeform that died just as its path began. The mask is made of a wood-like material unique to the lifeform it comes from and does not obstruct vision when worn and regenerates itself from any damage taken. The Fallen King remains within. Enchantments: Living Wood. Passively absorbs mana in the atmosphere, increasing mana recovery rate by a large amount. Increases maximum mana by 25%.

Requirements: Soulbound

“The Fallen King remains within.”

That was all the changes to it, and when Jake probed it further, he felt nothing different compared to before. If not for the changed description, he would have been inclined to think that voice earlier was simply his imagination… but something had changed for sure.

Jake wondered why something had happened now, but as he looked back at his level-ups, he understood. The King of the Forest had been level 136. Now, Jake had finally surpassed the level of the first D-grade he had ever killed. He believed that was it, and his intuition was rarely incorrect about such things. His intuition and danger sense didn’t give him any negative responses towards the mask either… so he decided to just do what the Unique Lifeform dwelling within his headwear suggested.

He would have patience. Also, there were just too many different things to deal with for now. Hence he just tossed on the mask again and decided to deal with it later after the Hunt. For now, he turned his attention to more urgent matters at hand.

In his final moments, the Monarch had struck back at his hated enemy. With every last shred of his power, he had teleported them away, leaving everyone else unharmed, and detonated himself. It was only a few dozen people, but it was all their elites.

He didn’t even bother flying over there as he knew that they had either teleported out or died. That is until he saw a single figure in the distance speed towards the plains surrounded by flames. Jake recognized her as the archer that had been with Bertram, and she flew like a meteor as she crashed down onto the ground. He was impressed she had survived and gotten out and looked down where she had landed. There, he saw her body… which was barely a head and a bit of the upper body. Her entire body was also still on fire.

Just as he considered if he should go help, he noticed that the flames on her didn’t seem to injure her. Quite the opposite. They spread as flesh visibly healed, and Jake recognized that she wasn’t in need of any help. She had no doubt deployed some very powerful life-saving skill to get her out because even Jake wasn’t confident in coming out of that final suicide explosion from the Monarch without heavy injuries. It would likely even trigger his Moment of the Primal Hunter.

Also… for some reason, Jake couldn’t help but chuckle a bit under his breath as he thought about the antics of the Monarch.

“Do share?” the Sword Saint asked with an amused tone.

“Just pretty funny the Holy Church did so much bullshit to get good rewards only to get shafted in the end by a miffed old vampire,” Jake said with a shrug.

“I guess fate wasn’t on their side,” the old man answered in a playful tone.

Clearly, the Sword Saint wasn’t a huge fan of the Holy Church in principle either. Additionally, the old man had clearly also gotten quite a few levels, so it made sense he was in a good mood. Now, Jake just wondered what would happen next.

Just as the thought appeared, the world flashed again. Jake and the Sword Saint both looked up as they saw the Blood Moon still hang above. Within a few moments, it shrank to nothing but a small blip, and a beam fired down and stopped right in front of them as a system notification appeared.

Quest completed: Fallen Monarch

The Fallen Monarch, given back his true form as a Monarch of Blood, has been slain as the Treasure Hunters stand victorious. Not only was the ancient vampire defeated, but the Treasure Hunters even passed the test of the True Ancestor. His Legacy is now theirs to claim.

Rewards will be given upon leaving the Treasure Hunt.

Due to the destruction of the world, the Treasure Hunt will end in: 9:41:41

Both of them had skimmed the message as the item appeared before them. A simple-looking necklace with a single marble of blood attached. Yet as the two humans stood there, they both felt the pressure from it, making it obvious it was no simple item. Jake naturally Identified it.

[Sanguine’s Blood Legacy (Divine)] – A Legacy item left behind by the first-ever vampire and the creator of the vampiric race, Sanguine.

And it told him nearly nothing.

“Does your Identification yield any useful information?” the Sword Saint asked.

“Just that it is a Legacy item left behind by that Sanguine guy,” Jake answered truthfully.

“Same as mine then,” the old man said.

The two of them stayed there for a while, just looking at it. An obvious question was before them… who should get it?

Below them, the tomb the Monarch had slept in was utterly destroyed. There was nothing else to be gained from the Monarch, and with the Monarch’s self-explosion, there wasn’t even any loot from his body to claim. Not that Jake thought there would be anything to begin with. A divine item wasn’t a bad reward by itself, was it?

Cutting it in half didn’t seem possible either. It looked pretty durable.

“So…” Jake tried to break the ice.

“Quite the conundrum indeed,” the old man agreed.

Neither of them made a move to just snatch it up. Jake trusted that the Sword Saint wouldn’t do it, and the man extended him the same trust. The problem was… someone needed to. With how the Treasure Hunt worked, anyone could potentially steal it if they delayed.

“I do believe we had a duel planned?” the Sword Saint said as he turned to Jake with his eyebrows raised. “This looks like a good piece to wager.”

“Deal,” Jake instantly agreed. “Ah, but you can take it for now. Just to temporarily hold onto it.”

The old man looked at him and nodded, and at the same time, also waved his hand as items appeared. To his surprise, Jake saw three ancient-rarity coffins and altars, as well as the three weapons from Counts, and even two legendary-rarity items. Clearly gained from Vaults.

“Then you can hold onto my bounty meanwhile. We shall simply reverse the exchange in the event of your victory,” the Patriarch of the Noboru clan agreed.

Jake didn’t look at all the items as he scooped them up, and at the same time, the old man put the necklace inside his Hunter Insignia. Or at least he tried to, but instead, the necklace reacted as it gave off a faint red light, and a figure appeared in front of it. A very familiar one.

“We meet again,” the projected figure said.

“I thought we just killed you,” Jake pointedly stated as he stared at the clear visage of the Monarch of Blood.

“Technically, I killed myself. But, I shall admit, I did not predict this even if I perhaps should have. It seems like I was only revived due to the Legacy and my existence is inherently tied to it,” the Monarch explained. “The will of the True Ancestor remains even after his demise. By his will, I am to serve as a steward of this Legacy and as a guide for its uses, as well as a teacher for any vampires created from it. Ah, yes, one of the abilities of this Legacy is to allow individuals of the enlightened races to become vampires.”

“Oh. Cool, I guess,” Jake shrugged, not voicing his thoughts of how much a demotion it was to go from Monarch to steward. Ah, he should totally call him the Steward of Blood now. Also… vampire transformation? Jake had to admit, his interest level in that was nearly in the negative. He gave up becoming a half-dragon thing, so becoming a human with sharper canines didn’t seem that attractive. He already had Fangs of the Malefic Viper anyway.

“What causes me to be unable to store the Legacy?” the Sword Saint asked, just taking it all in strides.

“My acceptance. I believe it to be a better outcome if the Chosen of the Malefic One obtains it,” the newly named Steward of Blood said.

“Nah, we agreed on betting it on a duel,” Jake just explained. “I’ll get it if I win.”

“I did hear your conversation; I merely disagree with such an approach. The Legacy of the True Ancestor isn’t something to be wagered so carelessly and is worth more than-

“As I said, we already made a bet. Besides, would it be that bad if the Legacy goes to someone who beat a Chosen?” Jake cut him off.

“No, but if he chooses to renege on the-“

“He won’t,” Jake just stated.

“I also find the insinuation insulting,” the Sword Saint chimed in.

“See, all in agreement.”

With a sigh, the Monarch disappeared, not even bothering to argue with the two unreasonable humans. When the Sword Saint tried to deposit the Legacy this time, it went into his Insignia smoothly.

“We got over nine and a half hours until the Hunt ends,” Jake said. “I don’t know about you, but I would prefer to not fight while tired as fuck.”

Having had Limit Break active at 20% for long over an hour was quite draining. Amazingly enough, he didn’t really feel that strained, though. Probably because his body had just gotten a lot stronger, and in general, the strain from Limit Break after reading D-grade was just far less.

“I concur. Let us take this time to recuperate and fight at our best,” the old man agreed.

With that in mind, Jake and the Sword flew down to the ground with all of the others waiting. Caleb, Sylphie, Reika, and Carmen were all sitting on the ground, with the rest also sitting down on the bare soil that had once been covered by the blue grass.

All of them looked at the two of them, and Caleb gave him an approving nod. Jake nodded back and scooped Sylphie as she flew over to him. He placed her on his shoulder, and she didn’t hesitate for even a moment to rub her head against his cheek.

Jake scratched her little head as he sat down on the ground too. There were only a few hundred people left in the entire Hunt, with most having left earlier during the “Color of Night” spell. Surprisingly enough, many of those had now gotten up and made their intentions clear. They said they would try and go explore a bit more of Yalsten before it totally collapsed.

He himself had no interest as he closed his eyes and began his recuperation process, already looking forward to a nice duel with the old man. Nothing better than celebrating a good fight with another fight.