The Primal Hunter

Jake knew that winning versus Minaga alone in his fully empowered form was not gonna happen. He had won against the clone only due to how much weaker it was than the original, but even that had been a pretty hard-fought battle.

Of course, this was assuming Jake actually had to beat the Unique Lifeform to win.

Jumping back, Jake disengaged from Minaga as the Unique Lifeform unleashed a barrage of spells, clearly having decided to try and take Jake down before his teammates had time to return. Given the estimated time it would take to do the labyrinths and the fact that they had been flung into empty space, forcing them to make their way back to the central platform again even after they were out, Jake didn’t wanna bet on them getting there soon.

Retreating further, Jake let Minaga give chase as he dove behind a large piece of debris, making the barrage of fireballs hit that instead. A large boulder flew over next, breaking it apart, but Jake was already long gone as he teleported to another part of the broken wall, where he promptly released a potshot.

His arrow was blocked by a barrier, which was totally okay with Jake. Any amount of time or energy Minaga spent on defending was time he didn’t attack. And damn, did Minaga like to attack as he waved his hand, making more than a dozen magic circles flash into existence behind him. At the same time, Jake felt space around him constrict as dense spatial barriers formed to his sides, above and behind him. Combination spell.

“You may be fast… but can you dodge this?”

Every single formation pulsed as each released a flaming metal spike straight at Jake. He dodged them and was about to taunt Minaga when a second barrage came, followed by another one even faster than the ones prior. The pulses continued, growing even faster as soon Jake was faced with more than sixty machine guns shooting out metal spikes.

Too many, Jake concluded as they kept coming. While he would have loved to see Minaga burn through mana by keeping the spell active, he knew that it was only a matter of time before he was hit, forcing Jake to make a difficult decision.

Have to risk it.

Rather than dodge, Jake charged forward. Minaga seemed pleased but frowned slightly as Jake’s body split into two. The spikes usually focused on one target, but with two, Minaga had to either spread them out more or choose to focus on one. Both cases would be advantageous to Jake.

Jake felt pleased with himself as he closed in with his Eternal Shadow ten meters to his side. Yet just as he began to feel this, his danger sense spiked.

Every single formation behind Minaga exploded as each shot out seven or eight metal spikes like a shotgun. Jake cursed as he tried to dodge and summoned a stable arcane barrier. His Eternal Shadow also reacted fast and dodged many attacks but was eventually hit and dispersed.

Blood flew into the air as Jake was hit by three metal spikes. One hit his thigh, one in his stomach, and one in his shoulder as he had angled himself to take the hits in the side. This was the least amount of damage he could see himself getting out of his pickle with.

Before Minaga could do more, threads of arcane mana flew out of Jake’s hand and wrapped around every metal spike as they were pulled out, still leaving him with three nasty holes.

“Man, I wanted to say a quip, but the fact you got out of that combo spell with so few injuries… yeah, you are definitely a cheat.”

“Says the Unique Lifeform who was born overpowered,” Jake shot back as he pulled out his bow and began shooting arrows alongside his words.

“Says the Bloodline Patriarch,” answered Minaga while he dodged the arrows or deflected them with his staffs.

“Still just a human and not some darling of the multiverse,” Jake continued as he managed to trick Minaga with a Splitting Arrow, getting a single one of them to hit him in the leg.

“Oh, poor you, being one of the enlightened races with infinite potential and all the Paths in the world open to you,” Minaga snorted as he pulled the arrow out as he didn’t know if it had been primed to explode. It hadn’t, but he played it safe.

guess we are both suffering,” Jake smirked as he retreated while shooting, wanting

we agree on. Of course, I have it harder, as I

humble, too,” Jake smirked as he used two One Steps and found a nice cluster of

humble in the entire multiverse,”Minaga joked as three seconds had passed and magic was back on

survival was the name of the game. He didn’t want to risk another major spell as even the normal casting was a bloody nightmare to keep up with, not even Jake capable of fully dodging everything. The passive barrier

for an exit, and at least there were no traps or anything

a damn maze you had to find your way out of, and the longer you took, the

was shrinking slightly with time. This both meant that the labyrinth got shorter and faster to do, but Jake also didn’t

for the Fallen King… well, Jake had a brief exchange with him as they reached an

major spell remained Jake’s main focus as he slowly bought time. Minaga didn’t seem

was a massive drain on its own, and coupled with his need to constantly use One Step, summon

kept up his constant barrage of spells, either

it toward the Unique Lifeform. His opponent dodged it but looked confused as he looked at Jake

“An illusion? No, that-“

lit up the horizon, striking him in the back. Blood spewed out as the Fallen King instantly materialized from the thrown mask,

to this mask, and as its owner, you are the master, allowing you to summon the

of rude, and it went against the agreement they had… but in this case, Jake gladly used it for their collective gain. With permission from

“Summoned? Wait…”

while, taking several wounds as he attempted to stabilize. Jake and the Fallen King were not gonna let that happen, as both went all-out. Pulling out an Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter and rapidly charging Arcane Powershot, Jake released a devastating attack as

defensive combination spell. Putting his hands together, a giant metal sphere appeared all around him, with a field of swirling darkness soon appearing to consume it. This left him standing with a semi-transparent barrier that both the golden hammer and

actual fight. He looked

to him? Oh, I get it. He killed you, and in order to survive, you chose to bind whatever vestiges of your soul remained to the Records that would be transferred to the item you would drop, which you knew would be your mask. Naturally, leaving you utterly broken in the process. This only made possible as you were the boss of a Tutorial, meaning the Records transference for the kill was increased. Of course, there would be no way for you to actually ever recover from that state as that would require powers

to talk as a thought appeared, and using the Golden Mark, he quickly spread his idea as Minaga continued. When the dark defensive sphere disappeared, none of them attacked either as

store his soul within the mask, which is, in turn, bound to you? It means he stored the entire concept behind his existence within you. Within your Records. Yet you weren’t affected negatively in the least, which means your own Records were not only equal but superior to a Unique Lifeform, allowing you to utterly overpower him. Especially considering this bond remains after his resurrection. If I had to gander a guess, you probably even hold influence over his life and death… man, you really are utterly broken. Both of you, but in different ways. Man, I can see why Vilas made you his Chosen; you seem to have been

for a Unique Lifeform to willingly submit in such a fashion… no,

correct,” the Fallen King answered. “One of mutual respect between two opponents. I did what I had to in order to survive, nothing more, nothing

try either. Ever recovering was truly an impossibility, and I find it amazing that Jake even bothered bringing you back to life. The system doesn’t like to give out items allowing someone to circumvent one of its

to a

was it a direct request of the system? It sometimes likes to fulfill wishes, so to speak. Or perhaps it was an item of some kind? If you don’t wanna answer, that is

as he tried to look like he was

use?” Minaga

the Unique Lifeform had caught on. He also seemed to consider for a moment before answering.

nodded as he resigned himself to confirm. “It was one-time use, and I spent quite a staggering amount

was selling it? During a system event?” Minaga seemed even