The Primal Hunter

To call the settlement in the Grand Mangrove River a city wasn’t quite right. It was more of a small village, though it had been expanding in recent times, especially after the teleporter was installed. The reason for this was also quite obvious.

It was a prime hunting ground.

A settlement like this was rare as one could teleport directly into a place with D-grades all around you while still being safe. One had to remember that only a handful of people on Earth could fight C-grades, and the vast majority thus still needed to hunt D-grades to progress. Even the people considered elite struggled with stronger D-grades.

Additionally, it was a great place for those with the wood of water affinity to fight. Finally, it had one other advantage that Jake hadn’t really considered: it was a place where C-grades could go if Jake wanted to meet with them there. Thinking about it deeper, it was probably the place Jake would meet with whatever final council member the King found.

All of this being possible was naturally due to a certain snake. A snake Jake was now on his way to meet once he felt done scouting out the village. It did have an interesting setup due to the environment, and there were quite a lot of people around, all of them pretty high-level D-grades. However, what he cared most about were two buildings.

The first of which was the largest building and a main office of sorts. The second one was a small but well-guarded building that Jake saw led into a pit of sorts going deep inside the Grand Mangrove River water. Not sure which one to check out first; Jake went for the pit after sensing the aura from it.

By the way, when Jake said well-guarded, then it wasn’t by any of the C-grades but just two humans. There were also barriers that would no doubt make everyone aware if someone tried to break in, but none of that was an issue for Jake as the guard recognized him and opened the entrance to the pit without a word.

As for why Jake wanted to explore the pit so badly? Because he felt a familiar aura from beneath. One that reminded him a lot of the monument that Chris had built that allowed him to teleport to the Order of the Malefic Viper…

Jake felt a flare-up of anger, but he quickly suppressed it before the guards even noticed and entered the pit.

I swear, that orange fuck is gonna get what he deserves, Jake said to himself as he began going down the pit. It looked more like a deep well than anything else, and Jake didn’t hesitate to jump down and allowed himself to freefall.

He fell for a bit over twenty seconds, putting the depth of the hole at around a kilometer. Upon landing, Jake found himself in a dug-out cavern with several tunnels leading away from it. He noticed that all of these tunnels had engravings on the walls and hummed with magic. Feeling curious, Jake began making his way through a tunnel and saw it lead into another similar chamber, though without the entrance. Closing his eyes, Jake used his senses to get a feeling for the space.

It’s a magic circle, he swiftly concluded.

The pattern was far too purposeful and distinct for it to be anything else. Jake wondered if the creator was anywhere nearby but soon got his answer. A presence made its way through one of the tunnels, and Jake turned to face it. A long brownish snake slithered in his direction, its size filling out nearly half of the tunnel, putting its diameter at nearly four meters. Jake guessed the beast had to be several hundred meters long, and its head was large enough to eat a human whole. Not that Jake felt any threat as he recognized the snake as one of those who followed the Crimsoneye one.

“Hey there,” Jake greeted the snake as it got close. It then did something utterly terrifying.

The face of the snake began warping. Bone cracked, flesh twisted, and a vaguely humanoid face straight out of a nightmare emerged, still on the body of the massive snake.

“Grrrreetingsss Maeeelefic’sssss Chooossssennnn,” the snake spoke, showing off the prowess of Jake’s translation skill by even allowing him to comprehend what the snake had said through the hissing.

“Good practice with the transformation, but how about we keep this conversation telepathic?” Jake offered. He really didn’t want to insult a snake that was clearly trying so hard.

back to the old snake visage as a voice echoed in Jake’s mind. “Thank you for your permission to speak in this fashion; I am not as adept as the others in the art of human speech and

to not look at the nightmare creature the snake had transformed into. He was also surprised at the telepathic voice of the snake. It sounded… old? Most beasts Jake spoke to telepathically sounded very young, but this snake sounded on

you come looking for the mistress?” the

down here, as I didn’t know what it would look like, but it is quite impressive. Are you involved in making the magic circle?” Jake asked the

the snake was for a few reasons. First of all, he faintly felt the space affinity from the snake. Secondly, it was down in the tunnel where the formation was

utmost of my abilities,” the large brown snake said in an overly polite and submissive tone. He could try to convince the snake

job,” Jake praised the snake. “But I

rely on the True Blessing of his Chosen so only he can teleport and decide who

need of me and where? Please lead the way,

Lord,”the snake said and did something Jake had not seen coming. It managed to turn around in a narrow tunnel as space around it seemed to warp and twist. A second later, the snake had done a one-eighty and began moving, Jake following the old snake through the winding tunnel system of runes and magic. As he moved through, he did notice spots where his ritualism skill made him aware things were missing or unfinished, making it

formation functional after this infusion part?” Jake

doubt noticed, the work is far from done. The Malefic One has plans beyond a simple teleporter requiring your presence but wishes to allow it to hold more

by a C-grade with innate talent, while the other one had been made by a low-level D-grade. Thinking about it further, the fact that Chris could even make the

center was an intricate circle with vein-like green pulsing fissures leading away from it and into the tunnels. The very epicenter held a pillar of metal Jake did not recognize with

circle and blessing the

One Step to enter the center circle and activated Touch of the Malefic Viper as he touched the pillar. The moment he did so, he felt a response from the pillar, and the energy Jake injected was guided through

of himself that made him a Chosen, the natural treasure taking everything in. A few minutes passed as Jake

moment, Jake felt an odd connection form, and the pillar cracked as parts of it fell off. The shards that fell

making him instantly know what

said with much happiness. “Truly marvelous! I thank the Chosen for blessing us with his presence and displaying his prowess. From my understanding, the shard you just received shall function as

already feeling it himself. As he stood there in the center circle, he knew he could activate and be teleported to the first universe if he so wished. He even felt like he didn’t necessarily need to be in the

before something else caught his attention. An aura approached through the tunnel, one far faster than the old brown snake had been. Far stronger too.

and bowed his head briefly in gratitude. “It’s been a while. I am sorry for

clearly not. The scales were strategically placed throughout her body, not a single one of them of a cosmetic nature. Her reptilian pupils honed and improved compared to even her snake form, and the skin-like dress she wore was far from just a useless garment, but no doubt had quite the defensive properties. Was the form made to be aesthetically pleasing to humans? Yes, but it was also made with function in mind. Some sacrifices had been made to make her look more human, but overall it was incredibly well

teenage

twisted some of her hair around a finger, looking

as the Chosen would expect of me, you

favor, whether you thought it was expected of you or not. For that, I am naturally grateful and owe you one. I heard you even spent quite some time with Miranda and the others. I

making this settlement and stuff, and I wanted to go visit Haven, but I can’t teleport due to the stupid system,”

get out of here and

brown snake that nodded. “Yes, my lord, you have more than done your part. I shall no longer delay you from attending to your

isn’t using his human form? He has been working on it so hard,” the snake girl asked with