The Primal Hunter

Jake shifted the form of Eternal Hunger a few times, from a dagger to a sword, to a two-handed blade, and even into a spear and an exact replica of the old Scimitar of Eternal Hunger. He had also transformed it into a bow or, at the least, the body of one, which was effectively just a curved stick.

The problem was that the metal had low flexibility, and while Jake could make some changes to the form to make it better, he couldn’t make a string. He also couldn’t really see it be useful as all of its power was in hitting things with it.

In the end, he settled on a shape similar to the Nanoblade as he had used these last few days. In the other hand, he wielded the Bloodfeast Dagger from the Auction, getting a good feel for both of the weapons.

“Yeah, this is good,” Jake muttered to himself as he made them both disappear to take out his bow.

Jake had no intentions of taking the following hunt too lightly. The last two Queen’s Guards had shown these termites were not to be trifled with, and he had a feeling the ones in the area ahead were even stronger.

So, for now, he pushed everything related to Soul Rituals to the back of his mind as he ventured forth into the hive. With his high perception, sphere, and Sense of the Malefic Viper, he sensed the path forward, feeling intense mana density not far ahead. He even got some responses from his boots, alerting him to earth-bound natural treasures.

He had a feeling what was up ahead, considering termites called Queen’s Guard had guarded it. During the fight, Jake had retreated from where he had originally encountered the guards, and he was now making his way down the tunnel, scouting ahead.

Soon, he came to a mound of dirt blocking the path. He placed his hand on it and felt it was enchanted to keep it stable and isolating. It didn’t really work that well as a barrier, though, as Jake channeled arcane mana into it, seeing it slowly break apart as it eroded and turned to nothingness, forcing a new tunnel into existence.

Jake walked forward through it until he came out the other side, and the moment he did, he felt the influx of mana. He had just entered another overtaken biodome that was now filled with a slime-like substance on every surface.

White eggs lined the walls and edges of the biodome, as he on the far side saw a massive form rise to regard him. It looked like a regular termite with its huge mandibles and six legs, but its backside was absolutely humongous. Before he even Identified it, he knew what he was looking at.

[Isoptera Queen – lvl 191]

Three other figures suddenly unburrowed from the ground between Jake and the Queen, having been alerted to his presence when he broke through the wall. All of them with wings on their backs and powerful bodies. Unless you counted the eggs, there were no other living things within the dome than those three, the Queen, and Jake.

[Isoptera Queen’s Guard – lvl 185]

[Isoptera Queen’s Guard – lvl 184]

[Isoptera Queen’s Guard – lvl 179]

More Queen’s Guards, huh, Jake thought as neither party moved right away. The biodome was large, at least a few kilometers across, and Jake counted thousands of eggs, each one likely containing E-grades or perhaps even weak D-grades. It was hard to tell as not all eggs were the same, with some having far more resources invested in them. The mana density had been for them to grow faster, and he felt several natural treasures spread throughout, like valuable metals, rocks, a few herbs, as well as a lot of cores taken from killed prey. All to assist the next generation. Moreover, he had a feeling this entire biodome was like a big Nurturing Ritual circle.

The entire dome was cut off with no exits or entrances besides the one Jake had just made, likely to keep this mana trapped.

Jake, standing there with his bow, suddenly smiled. “You know, I just remembered my grandfather once complained about getting termites in his barn… he invested so much in pesticides and whatnot, but when they got into the house, he was forced to disinfect the place to get rid of them. They used poison gas on the entire house by enclosing it and then pumping it in. Fumigation or something, I think they called it. Not a bad tactic, don’t you agree? Ah, but I will mix in some more, let’s say, explosive methods.”

and entered from, making the unstable structure

act of aggression became the impetus for the termites to attack. In less than a second, two truck-sized termites were at either side, but Jake had already taken a step forward to avoid their blow, leaving a trail of arcane energy and poison mist as Arcane Awakening had activated on the balanced 30% along with two wings springing from his back. The third termite attempted to smash him with its large leg, but Jake avoided it as he

larger than the guards, being as large as a two or three-story house. It regarded him as he fired

the side of the huge termite where he shot again. The arrow split into seven as they all impacted the massive body of the Queen, making the insect screech out in anger. Jake felt the poison infect the termite, but it quickly was challenged by some kind of cleansing magic. He also saw the wounds he had

Jake confirmed, having already had a feeling that

attacked. Their movements were fast as he vaulted over one, kicking the air

move, pumping out poison. Jake was fully aware it wasn’t that effective against any of

poison mist, it was indiscriminate, including the thousands of eggs. The Queen made a loud screeching sound in rage as all the eggs got covered by faint

obscene amounts of mana to try and protect the eggs. He had already confirmed early on that these insects were not the smartest, but the Queen did seem to hold some level of intelligence and

to his advantage when it came to archery, but it was beneficial when using all his poison and explosive arcane attacks. To up the potency of his attack, Jake even took

a dozen of the basketball-sized eggs were splashed as the

on him. “That really

was the Guards using their earth magic, and it appeared that the Queen was spreading an aura

and were flung all over, exploding close to a hundred eggs that the Queen failed to protect in time. Jake fired another salvo but found that one blocked as the Queen upped the

sent a wave of destructive arcane mana through the ground, breaking much of the mana the termites had activated. He then turned and stormed straight for one of the Guards, bow still

bow. He stepped down and teleported beneath the large body of the Guard as he fully drew the string. Jake felt time slow down as he began channeling Arcane Powershot, and just before the

it smashed into the ceiling, leaving a large crack on the reinforced stone. There was now a large hole of sizzling arcane energy where Jake's arrow had hit,

opportunity to fire off a Splitting Arrow towards one side of the cavern, blowing up over a hundred eggs again. Once more, the Queen reacted with an angry screech, and Jake believed he had found a good tactic… until the

energy as vein-like cracks of golden energy appeared all over their bodies. The damaged Guard also reacted soon after, and when Jake

on the eggs… or at least decided that

sense reacted, forcing him to swiftly dodge back as a pair of mandibles tried to make Jake into two Jakes. The speed of the insects had increased significantly, and when he felt the movement of mana beneath his feet, he knew

the ground, trying to impale him and impede his path. The two undamaged Guards

was healed as the Queen now completely ignored the eggs. Jake saw many of them melt from the poison mist, and even if it was the Queen’s choice, her rage at what was happening couldn’t

on the backfoot. But he also knew it was not like he couldn’t change it at will. His opponents were strong, nearly at the peak of D-grade… but honestly, Jake had beaten worse. He had come into this fight with

of soil rose to limit his movement, mixed in with magical barriers. Just before they managed to close their mandibles around Jake’s body, they were both blasted back by an explosion of pure arcane energy as Jake’s body began glowing with power; Arcane Awakening now

him again but were once more repelled by a second arcane explosion as Jake fired his shot. The Queen tried to defend but was struck and blasted away,

refused to give up. However, the game had changed, with Jake now

tearing into it with two poisoned weapons. With every slash, it had its energy drained, and it was at a time like this that Eternal

golden aura that boosted the Guard was consumed by the blade as it indiscriminately ate anything it hit. Healing energy injected into the Guard was also merely something to be consumed. The only thing not consumed was the energy Jake himself had injected,

poison attacks made with the sword as attacks, meaning all his poison injected

coat it in arcane energy without losing any effectiveness. This meant when Jake shattered the outer carapace of the termite’s head and plunged his sword through

attacked him, including the still slightly injured one. Jake responded as he tossed Bloodfeast Dagger into the air and opened his palm towards one of them, firing out a massive blast of pure arcane mana as he stood his ground and blocked the blow of the other. He was pushed back, but with a string of mana, easily retrieved the dagger and went on the

one off right away as, frankly, there was no reason to. The Queen was struggling to keep them alive, just slowly tiring itself out. It seemed like the insect did not have any real offensive powers itself, as all its strengths revolved around healing, creating eggs, and protecting those eggs – all the healer powers likely