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.

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

also surprised at the telepathic voice of the snake. It sounded… old? Most beasts Jake spoke

for the mistress?”

here, as I didn’t know what

a feeling 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 being made, and lastly, it had a Blessing of the

opportunity. I hope to do the task to the utmost of my abilities,” the large brown snake said in an overly polite and submissive tone. He

splendid job,” Jake praised the snake. “But I

the Malefic One. The circle will need to be attuned and rely on the True Blessing of his Chosen so only he can teleport and decide who goes

you need of me and where? Please lead the

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

the formation functional after this infusion part?” Jake

snake confirmed. “However, as the Chosen has no doubt noticed, the work is far from done. The Malefic One has plans beyond a

was created 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 monument, to begin

center of the formation. At that 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 even more advanced scripts on it. Jake could feel it was a

the honors of stepping into the center circle

moment he did so, he felt a response from the pillar, and the energy Jake injected was guided through magical channels in the metal. Jake gladly complied and infused his energy into these channels as the metal began to glow dark

presence be mimicked by the pillar. He felt a pull on the part of

parts of it fell off. The shards that fell floated in mid-air as they reassembled into an about ten-centimeter-long shard of

know what it was. It was there to control this entire

the Chosen for blessing us with his presence and displaying his prowess. From my understanding,

so wished. He even felt like he didn’t necessarily need to be in the center circle but that he could quite easily draw up a smaller circle that allowed him to tap

have long 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. He smiled as the presence was a very familiar

“It’s been a while. I am sorry for not stopping by earlier and thanking you for keeping Miranda and the others

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 done for her to refine her humanoid form that much. However, her human form did

teenage girl was even

as she twisted some of her hair around a finger, looking like she didn’t

did as the Chosen

that, I am naturally grateful and owe you one. I heard you even spent quite some time with Miranda and the others. I hope they were pleasant guests?” Jake asked, still smiling in what he hoped was

with making this settlement and stuff, and I wanted to go visit Haven,

it is,” Jake shrugged. “How about we get out of here and get up to the main office? I think we

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

been working on