The Primal Hunter

Jake understood that in the grand context of the multiverse, him caring about Chris could be viewed as genuinely weird. He and the builder had never been that close, and Jake only really knew him on a surface level before he’d died. Sure, Jake had a good impression of the young man for standing up to Abby and Donald way back then, but that was it.

In this war so far between Jake and Ell’Hakan – and even more if one counted the one between Villy and Yip - millions had died. Far more than Jake even knew about. Many of those were people Jake had seen or known before, though still not closely. Yet he’d never felt anything particular when they died. That’s likely why Ell’Hakan was so confused. In his view, Chris was just a worker who Jake employed to make a monument for him. He had no way of knowing Jake and Chris had any kind of personal relationship, as the only people who knew about how the two met were was only Miranda, the few survivors from Abby’s group, and Neil’s party from back. It wasn’t something easily found out, was the point.

Maybe it also just wasn’t something Ell’Hakan – someone who evaluated others based on how useful they were as assets - could understand in the first place with his mindset. Because the real reason Jake viewed what Ell’Hakan had done as unforgivable was for one simple reason: Chris had been Jake’s person. More so than many others. Plus... he had to admit he felt guilty.

With most other people who fought by his side, they’d actively chosen to do so. They knew what they were doing and were fully aware of the risks they were taking. Shit most of them even welcomed it as they used Jake as a way to continue progressing on their own Paths. Even Miranda, who had gotten involved initially because she felt as if she didn’t have much other choice, was now fully on board and engrossed in her role, seeking power herself. Not to say Jake wouldn’t gladly start a multiversal war of revenge if any of the people close to him died, but at least he would understand that their lives had been inherently risky.

Chris was different. He never dreamed of becoming a god or even a C-grade. His dream was to finally get into a relationship with Hank’s daughter and find a place where he felt like he belonged. The only reason he had ever gotten involved with Jake was due to happenstance and the Blessing he’d been given to help make the monument, allowing Jake to teleport between other universes and Earth.

That’s why Jake felt guilty. He’d gotten Chris involved. From Ell’Hakan’s point of view, it made perfect sense to kill him as he could have repaired the monument if left alive. It was also a “justified” kill in the story he was building, as Chris was a fanatic who carried the Blessing of the Malefic Viper.

None of that mattered to Jake, though. On the day Chris died, Jake had sworn to get revenge, and he saw no reason to break that oath.

His charge and activation of his boosting still may have seemed like a pure outburst of anger, and while he certainly wasn’t feeling any positive emotions as he did it, he still kept his head cool. The boosting skill was also only activated at a very low level, not even at the full 30% boost to all stats from the stable variant, but a bit less to conserve energy.

Still, it was enough to take Ell’Hakan by surprise as he failed to fully dodge Jake’s stab with his Void Katar, allowing him to land a good puncture wound on the nahoom’s arm. Jake tried to follow up, but Ell’Hakan was quick to react as his own boosting skill activated in response, sending out an explosion of flames that pushed Jake slightly back.

Ell’Hakan went on the offensive immediately, but Jake continued to keep his head calm as he retreated away and pulled out his bow again, releasing a barrage of arrows upon the Usurper. The trident met his blows and deflected most as he turned into a beam of light again, but Jake was ready this time and already turned to where he would appear before he was fully there, an arrow nocked and ready.

Jake shot the nahoom at close range, the arrow even splitting right as it left the string, creating a shotgun of explosive arcane arrows. None of the arrows exploded, but instead, Ell’Hakan took five arrows to the chest, which made him stumble back. Jake clicked his tongue as the nahoom had successfully avoided the original arrow with poison on it, but overall he was still satisfied with his attack and quickly nocked a new arrow as Ell’Hakan re-engaged.

The two of them continued to battle as Jake slowly began to lose his momentum as the temperature kept rising. The fire magic unleashed by Ell’Hakan was also only increasing in intensity, and Jake simply couldn’t avoid it anymore. Ell’Hakan knew this and took full advantage as he chased Jake, making it hard for the hunter to release any arrows.

However, rather than merely continue moving around the core chamber, Jake changed things up as he dove toward a wall that had already been weakened during their prior fighting. Alright, saying it had been weakened due to the fighting wasn’t really fair, as Jake had actively been shooting an arrow at it here and there to weaken it, but all of that had happened during the fight, so it still counted.

Anyhow, Jake descended and smashed straight through this weakened, thin wall with a dropkick as he entered a tunnel running parallel to the core chamber. He instantly began flying down this tunnel as he released a number of Pulses to see if Ell’Hakan was following him or not.

It took the nahoom a moment, but eventually, he gave chase. Jake took advantage of this, including the fact they were moving down a tunnel, as he spun around and blanketed the entire space in explosive arrows, the tunnel too narrow for Ell’Hakan to fully escape the explosions.

In contrast, Jake dodged all the beams Ell’Hakan sent his way, using the winding tunnel to his advantage as they moved further and further away from the core chamber where Ell’Hakan had his advantage. At least, they did so for a while before Ell’Hakan stopped chasing entirely, instead just yelling down the tunnel.

“If you wished to change the venue of battle, you could have merely asked,” he said in a confident voice. “But I shall interpret your actions to mean such a thing is your wish... in that case, let’s meet once more on the surface. Ah, but don’t be too long.”

With those words, Ell’Hakan turned around and, with a Pulse, Jake saw him heading back to the core room... the very same core room where the Prima Vessel that would allow him to teleport topside in an instant sat.

Meanwhile, Jake would be stuck underground, with it taking many hours to get back up there. During all that time, Ell’Hakan would have plenty of time to make preparations for the battle to continue. Even if he didn’t do that, he would have time to recover fully, while Jake had to swim through lava and whatnot, wasting resources in the process.

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Jake had also stopped moving, seemingly not in a rush, as rather than panic, he acted. The second he saw Ell’Hakan enter the Prima Vessel, his body began to change color as his wings burned with energy. A bubble of pure corrosion appeared all behind him as all concepts were broken down before Jake shot upwards, having used his Wings of the Malefic Viper escape feature.

As even the concept of space had broken down, Jake had no logical way to control his movements outside of general direction... the keyword here being logical. Jake relied on his intuition to go in the right direction, and after he’d been flying for a good ten seconds, he felt the Hunter’s Mark he’d put on Ell’Hakan reappear, allowing him to use that as a guide.

A few seconds later, Jake phased back into reality, now in the bright night sky, nearly directly above the capital city. The second he appeared, Jake didn’t hesitate for even a moment as he pulled out his bow, and for a second, he once more considered using the Eternal Hunger arrow, but again, he felt like it wasn’t time.

So, instead, Jake nocked a more regular arrow as he began to charge an Arcane Powershot, his stealth skill already activating around him. Below him, he felt Ell’Hakan move through the Hunter’s Mark, with the nahoom soon exiting the palace and heading toward the vast empty desert not too far away. Jake assumed he wanted to avoid the city getting destroyed during their fight, which was pretty respectable, though definitely not the greatest decision considering what was hanging several thousand kilometers above him, preparing to launch an orbital strike in the form of an arrow.

It was also pretty evident Ell’Hakan couldn’t detect him or his emotions from this far away, allowing Jake to keep charging the arrow as Ell’Hakan flew into the desert. Jake even saw him begin to make magical runes in the air, likely preparing some kind of formation trap for Jake, completely unaware he was just exposing himself further... especially seeing as he’d deactivated his boosting skill again to not waste energy unnecessarily.

After taking another deep breath and being happy with how much he’d charged the arrow, Jake let go of the string as it exploded downward.

Right as he loosed it, Jake’s logical side once more questioned why he’d launched this attack with such half-measures. He hadn’t upped his boosting skill, nor had he used Eternal Hunger, and this was despite this obviously being the best opportunity Jake would get. This was pretty much the ideal scenario to take the nahoom by surprise, yet Jake had trusted his instincts and held back... something that proved to be a good choice a few seconds later when the Arcane Powershot finally arrived.

Ell’Hakan wasn’t ready; that much was clear. Right before he was struck, Ell’Hakan tried to dodge but failed as Jake used Primal Gaze for the first time in this fight. Seeing as he was flying forward, the nahoom was struck in the back, the arrow blowing a hole straight through his chest before continuing down and causing a massive explosion that left a similarly massive crater.

Jake felt the extreme damage done. He saw Ell’Hakan take a huge wound that should have left him reeling... except he wasn’t. Instead, the Usurper disappeared, only to appear where he had been flying only a second prior, the wound gone and everything back to normal as if he’d just traveled back in time.

Except, Jake still felt the Arcane Charge built up by his Hunter’s Mark having been increased, and Jake had also still gotten a bonus in Hunting Momentum, proving that he had indeed hit. Jake was confused, to say the least, but he quickly reached a conclusion.

Some kind of survival skill like my Moment of the Primal Hunter, most likely... good to have it be triggered now, assuming it has a cooldown, Jake considered as he stopped overthinking things and took out another arrow as he prepared for some ultra-long range combat.

Below him, Ell’Hakan had stopped to stare shocked toward the sky, trying to locate Jake. Seeing as he wasn’t in stealth anymore, Jake was quickly found, the fact he was charging another Arcane Powershot not helping either.

Ell’Hakan began to fly upwards as Jake released another arrow toward his opponent, controlling it mid-flight as he nocked another one. The nahoom turned into a beam of light, flying upwards with incredible speed, but Jake’s Arcane Powershot arrows were still far faster, especially seeing as they had the property of only increasing in speed while in flight – up to a certain limit, of course.

The first Arcane Powershot blew past Ell’Hakan who tried to dodge it, but he still took a minor injury as it passed, though he avoided slowing down. The second and third Arcane Powershots he entirely dodged, with the fourth one once more resulting in him getting a nasty cut, but the fifth one was a bit different... mainly because the fifth and sixth were nearly one and the same.

Jake had released a very quick Arcane Powershot before instantly following up with another that had slightly more force behind it, resulting in the second arrow catching up to the first one mid-flight. Ell’Hakan dodged the first one as expected, but the second that had been hiding in the trail of the first struck him head-on, blasting Ell’Hakan downward as he’d only managed to block with his arm at the very last moment.

Still, despite taking a heavy hit, Ell’Hakan quickly began ascending once more, now with a nasty wound on his forearm, the arrow having been powerful enough to penetrate into the bone before exploding, leaving much of the flesh mangled or gone.

He ended up taking a few more hits while approaching Jake, the difference when it came to ultra-ranged combat quite evident. While Ell’Hakan did launch a few sunbeams and whatnot, Jake easily dodged all of them, and even if they hit, they would be significantly weakened due to the distance. They did look pretty as they lit up the night sky, though.

Sadly for Jake, Ell’Hakan would soon get close enough to close the distance with a single dash, at which point Jake’s window of opportunity would close. Still, he expected to get off a few more arrows... until Ell’Hakan changed things up.

Right as Jake nocked an arrow, he noticed a change in his surroundings. Shafts of light appeared in the night sky, and Jake was momentarily confused, as it was still the middle of the night... yet he saw the warm rays of the sun wash the dew of night away.

Ell’Hakan had stopped flying and instead only walked forward, each of his steps heavy despite being in mid-air. As the light intensified, Jake felt the heat get worse as Ell’Hakan spoke.

“Sunrise.”

On the far horizon, the sun fully dawned as light filled the skies as if it was truly morning. Jake genuinely stared at it looked so real that Jake couldn’t tell the difference, almost as if Ell’Hakan had truly willed the sun to rise. Logically, he knew no C-grade was capable of causing such a phenomenon, but that didn’t make what Ell’Hakan did any less impressive.

Jake wasn’t sure if it could even be called a domain skill, but what Ell’Hakan had done was similar to when the Sword Saint summoned his rain, though it was clear whatever Ell’Hakan did was at a far higher level both conceptually and power-wise.

Anyway, while Jake would have loved to theorize what exactly Ell’Hakan had done, he didn’t exactly have the time to do so. The scorching sun on the horizon released powerful rays that burned Jake, making him happy he already had his scales active.

What’s more, it was clear the sunlight affected Ell’Hakan differently. Jake saw his mangled arm begin to slowly heal as the sun licked his wounds, infusing it with life. The nahoom smiled, basking in the sunlight as he regarded Jake and spoke loudly due to the distance.

“You truly are full of surprises getting up here so fast... but seeing as your wings are gone, I assume it had something to with those? Some form of long-range teleportation skill?” Ell’Hakan asked while theorizing out loud. “No? Oh, it was an escape skill, wasn’t it? Can it be used immediately again, or is it not something you expect to do again during this fight?”

Jake wondered for a second why Ell’Hakan bothered asking questions he would never get any answer to until he realized...

Motherfucker.

Jake cursed internally, knowing Ell’hakan was reading Jake’s subconscious emotional response to the bastard’s questions, something Jake obviously wasn’t a fan of, as it meant Ell’Hakan got his answers simply by asking the question.

So, before he could continue yapping away, Jake restarted the battle without a single word, Ell’Hakan ready as he stood there with his trident drawn, his silhouette outlined by the rising sun behind him as the day had only just begun.

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