The Primal Hunter

Jake and Sandy continued their journey over the ocean as Jake worked on the upcoming battle. His talk with Villy about the First Sage had been enlightening, and the upgraded Blood of the Malefic Viper would surely help with what he wanted to do. However, it was far from enough.

Unique Lifeforms were annoying opponents; Jake had no doubt about that. This particular Unique Lifeform he would encounter was one of ash and space magic as far as he could tell. It did not have a physical body but was more like a living domain. The domain was its Soulshape and seemed to encompass a large area at a time, allowing the Ashen Phantom Devourer to move its body – ash – anywhere within. The domain itself could also move at a fast speed if it so desired, making it a truly nightmarish being to face.

There was probably more to its abilities, but Jake got enough of an idea of what he was facing just from what he had heard so far. What he was facing would effectively be a giant elemental without many of the usual weaknesses of elementals. It would be a master at fleeing, too, according to the information Miranda had given him, so simply attacking it would not end well, even if Jake and the King somehow got it in an ambush and went all out.

The plan Jake had formed was to not fight Ell’Hakan but instead kill the Ashen Phantom Devourer by teaming up with the Fallen King. However, to do this, they needed to make sure they could actually kill the damn thing. Jake did not know how strong Ell’Hakan truly was or if he would even be able to successfully kill him, as he was an annoying bastard who relied on more than just fighting. He had an annoying gut feeling that even if he, the King, and the Sword Saint went after the orange guy together, they would fail in killing him.

This is why Jake would instead try and take out the greatest asset this other Chosen had. No matter what, successfully recruiting a Unique Lifeform into your employ wasn’t easy, and losing it would be a major hit to his fighting power.

Going back to having to actually kill the Ashen Phantom Devourer, there was one major problem. It was a creature specializing in ash and space magic. Jake had seen what Neil could do and now what Sandy was capable of, and he was completely certain he would have no way to chase down a peak D-grade Unique Lifeform using space magic, even if it was injured.

The Fallen King had also mentioned this as the biggest obstacle as, apparently, the King found himself slightly superior during their fights, primarily due to his home-field advantage. One had to remember that the King was, well, a King. He received benefits from an area he had claimed which allowed him to come out on top. Far from enough to actually get a victory and they were still nearly evenly matched. A single slip-up from one party could break the balance, or if one of them managed a breakthrough of some kind by upgrading a skill could result in either of them dying… the King the more likely to fall exactly due to this issue of the Ashen Phantom Devourer being far better at escaping.

This is where Jake came in. More accurately, his ability to be more than just a simple hunter with an arrow and bow. With his current toolkit, he had no way to kill this Ashen Phantom Devourer, and even teaming up with the King, they had no way to stop it, so this issue is what Jake would work on.

Like with the big blue mushroom once upon a time, Jake put on his thinking cap and began to theorize a solution. He needed to find a way to slow down the Unique Lifeform, but it couldn’t be something that would instantly make it want to run away.

Sleeping Night Toxin was out of the question. That poison was frankly only good against human-sized or smaller foes, and this Ashen Phantom Devourer was the opposite of small. By sheer volume, considering it was a living domain, the only creature he had met with a larger Soulshape had to be the whale. Probably the giant sand worms too, but he would not know before actually seeing his foe. Which led to another problem.

Jake did not know what he was facing. Not truly. It wasn’t like he could research his opponent either, as Unique Lifeforms had this annoying tendency to be unique. Samples were awesome when trying to make a counter to something, and getting a sample was absolutely impossible.

What he would make had to be a general poison not aimed at any particular enemy but be able to affect all Soulshapes. It had to be able to limit the mobility of this Ashen Phantom Devourer, hopefully making it unable to flee with its giant domain-like body. If not, then at least slow it down significantly.

To do this, Jake would clearly need very high-level material. He would also need a good quantity of it. As for the type? Well, hemotoxins would not work. Necrotic poison was also out of the question as his opponent was not biological. So he would need it to be an ethtoxin – soul poison – or a neurotoxin. Ethtoxin and neurotoxin often went hand in hand, as ethtoxin was more classification of many different kinds of soul poison.

Neurotoxin would definitely be good. He had also been researching it quite a lot, so he had some confidence.

As stated many times prior, Jake was not a fan of fate-talk, but… some things were just too much to be a coincidence. Jake needed a good source of natural neurotoxin, and what had he just been handed not long ago? A whole crystal container full of the stuff.

(Ancient)] – The Lifeblood of a slain Emperor Urchin, an incredibly poisonous creature only found in areas with extremely dense water affinity. Its very blood is toxic to consume and especially toxic if directly injected. The Lifeblood is of a neurotoxin nature. Has many alchemical uses and is

this Karroch god been watching the situation on Earth? While Jake could feel

Jake would complain even if the weird beastmaster god had decided to help him out. Ell’Hakan had spent a long-ass time preparing and had his god help liberally,

The Lifeblood of the Emperor Urchin was required to be injected to work correctly, so if Jake decided to use the poison as is, he would accomplish nothing. Chances are it would just harmlessly fall through

antagonistic towards anything with a soul in the area. Both options would work in this case, but Jake was not sure making a mist would be wise. First of all, what if the Unique Lifeform,

Ashen Phantom Devourer. A way to directly apply it to the Soulshape. As long as he administered enough, it should be adequate with his upgraded Touch

the large quantity he had. He knew it would not be a poison made in a day, but luckily he had a bit of

worm find some stuff he needed for

back in his office chair and read over the recent reports. Four hundred and twenty-four. That was the number of City Lord or other high-level leaders of cities that the Court of Shadows had eliminated over the last many weeks, only to have them replaced with leaders from the United Cities Alliance. It was… a lot. All of these cities where they had killed people were also fringe members of the Holy Church or independent cities that did not ally with

on the door made him look up as he raised his hand and

in and handed him

it. The soul remnants in the token confirmed the kill. The way the tokens worked was that they recorded the actual notification of a given kill, something which resonated with the Truesoul of the target. It was a truly foolproof form of authentication that nothing less than

the most efficient assassin in the

sigh. “Four of which ended with the given assassin dying, so security

me to take them all?”

team one to handle the last one once they return,” Caleb shook his head. He considered going himself,

given tokens with the information on the targets and their locations and handed them to him. The man looked them over but didn’t leave. Instead, he took a seat in another chair and looked at Caleb from across the

“What?” Caleb asked.

really okay with all this?” Matteo asked. “We are indirectly working against your brother no matter how we spin this. Compromising your personal values like this cannot lead to

sighed and leaned

of the last city

utter shithole,” the

takeovers from the United City Alliance have been successful is that they are taking over from someone worse. Who would have thought that a

anywhere they go tends to improve for the better. I have even heard some leaders voluntarily reach out to join the United Cities Alliance and allow actual administrators from the Alliance to take over, leading to better-run cities. Who we're killing aren't pillars of the community, it is more that we are removing a few moldy

fact you are working against the interest of your family,” Matteo

this entire shitshow a whole lot more complicated. Also, rather than think of it as working against Jake, I would rather see it as doing him a favor, you know?” Caleb

of this doing him