The Primal Hunter

“There was much debate if we should include this example of a Karmic Plague within the dungeon, but ultimately we agreed it would be for the best,” the Wyrmgod explained to the Viper as they observed the slaughter going on in the Enlightened Republic. “Many mortals don’t even know about them these days, so this can serve as… what did you call it? A public service?”

“Yeah, definitely a good idea to teach the masses. I can attest to how horrible those things are,” Minaga shuddered. “I lost quite a few clones to plagues throughout the ages. I insisted we got the most insidious kind while also allowing it to serve as a nice mental screening of anyone who does the floor.”

“You are still doing all that, huh,” the Malefic Viper said. “I take it Umbra continues to pay well?”

“We can’t reveal privileged information about what we do with the data of Nevermore attendees,” Minaga waved him off with a smile.

The Viper shook his head, not bothering to argue. Combat information was usually difficult to come by, and it was a bit of an open secret that you could obtain some intel and potential recordings from Nevermore if you were in good enough standing and had the funds. Two criteria the Court of Shadows easily met.

“Oh?” the Wyrmgod said after a few hours of silence as he turned his gaze to Minaga. “Another flawless completion of floor forty?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Minaga grumbled.

“Ah… I see… quite a group indeed. One of them appears to be from the same planet as your Chosen, too,” the Wyrmgod noted as he threw a glance at the Viper.

Seeing that Minaga looked annoyed and the timing of it all, Vilastromoz had a very good idea of what party it was. He also understood Minaga’s annoyance… for those who had embraced the powers of the void were truly annoying.

The Wyrmgod waved his hand, and another screen appeared, showing some clips from the battle. An impressive showing if Vilas said so himself. Beings who were blessed by Void Gods were always interesting and powerful creatures – at least those that managed to stay sapient. This party was definite proof of that.

A corrupted elf that could heal by removing the very concept of the person having even taken damage. A cyclops with chains that appeared unbreakable as it managed to seal away even Minaga’s magic for several seconds at a time while landing incredibly powerful physical blows.

The corrupted Shapeshifter, with its many faces in flux, was incredibly unique, too, somehow seeming to contain far more souls than a single being. All bound together by the void into one Truesoul, which allowed it to fill its vessel anchored to reality with one soul at a time, effectively changing stats and likely even skills, making it an incredibly versatile creature.

When it came to the Void Shade – the most “normal” creature in the group – this one was still quite a specimen. An incredibly powerful caster and assassin both, able to merge into the gap between space itself. This was the kind of creature that came to be when something truly became stuck between a state of life and death and only embraced the emptiness of the void. Void Shades were creatures that would cease to be if they ever lost their Blessings, hence why Void Shades were regular agents of the Void Gods.

Finally, there was the human scientist. All of the others were beings made for combat and personal survival. Apex creatures of slaughter and destruction that could strike fear into nearly any being around their own level. This human was quite the opposite. His body was weaker than any of the others, not even reaching the level of other low-tiers of similar levels. In fact, when it came to any combat situation, he seemed relatively useless. He was a craftsman and a creator, but such skills would not save someone when in a direct confrontation. His mind would not save him from a descending blade.

Yet one had to remember… he was blessed by Oras. Not all Void Gods were equal, and the reason the others seemed to view him as their leader was precisely due to the one who blessed him. Oras the All-Seeing, Oras the Eyes of the Void. Out of all the Void Gods, he had the strongest connection to the world outside of the void due to his gaze being able to pierce through the veil separating the void and reality, making him an incredibly respected figure. For someone recognized by Oras, excellence was the baseline, and the human did not disappoint.

The moment he appeared on the fortieth floor and the fight was about to begin, the Viper saw what the human planned to do. Vilas could only flash a small smile as the scientist summoned a golem before his entire body flashed out of existence.

fashion that reminded the Viper of how the automata gods operated. His soul was primed to be hidden within a pre-prepared core of the golem as the human himself

hidden, and the only way to force him out was to destroy the core of the golem that had a design reminiscent of the Altmar golem designs. To make matters more extreme, when Minaga was about to finish his speech, two more golems appeared. The Malefic Viper saw they were all linked through one mind controlling all three like

had created was extended. It did not just link together the scientist’s machines but all of his party members, allowing them to nearly operate as one being, independent yet guided. There even appeared to be some level of resource-sharing with his party members. When the fight began, Minaga was instantly pressed, and while the

Malefic Viper said, seeing the recording. “Definitely contenders for some of the top

down to the Challenge Dungeons

had great confidence in Jake doing extremely

talk about something more fun, do you think Jake will do a planetary sacrificial ritual?” Minaga asked with genuine curiosity, clearly also more than happy to change the subject away from the void-touched. Again, understandable. Based on the clips of the fight, it

not,” Vilastromoz smiled, liking to see Minaga

being is not feasible unless they want to spend the next many years on floor forty-one,” the Wyrmgod chimed in. “I do reckon that a planetary sacrificial ritual is on the table if your Chosen is well-practiced in the art and dependent on how they wish to approach the end of the floor. I believe we will have to see if they perhaps want to make use of the other methods

labyrinth didn’t have a lot of

the Wyrmgod answered. “Your desire for control over scenarios and the inability of the system to offer assistance through skills make any and all floors you create

in front of our mutual friend,” Minaga grumbled. “Look at Jake; he is a way better friend. He knows about

Jake were very much restricted knowledge, after all, and had things in them that only a few gods were even

of him,” Minaga said, shaking his head as he turned his attention back to the screen showing

that knowledge spread too much. In hindsight, he maybe

figured out by now that the Karmic Plague seen on Tri-World was originally a strain created by Eversmile as part of an experiment… and that the Malefic Viper had

for asking the Viper? Who was

Not a single other living being was anywhere in sight, with every single powerful person in the Enlightened Republic dead. Most hadn’t even been a threat… but this was a purge. Be they Lord Protectors, military personnel, or random squad

a

few other instances of Jake killing a lot of creatures of the same race in a limited area, but destroying an entire capital city

more… it had been so

as he condensed an orb of destructive arcane mana and sent it flying downward to clean away the rubble to prepare for what he had to do later. The second it hit the ground, it created a massive explosion that consumed most of the city below him that hadn’t already been destroyed

circumstances. Large-scale attacks were a waste of energy and often far less potent as the intensity of the energy that

long time, Jake had wondered exactly how the Malefic Viper managed to wipe out all life on a planet while still in C-grade, but honestly, Jake understood why. Given enough time and a lack of foes capable of challenging you, it was

shake the thought out of his head as he turned to his notifications and saw the expected flood of notifications. Hundreds of thousands. The majority he really

slain [Lord Protector of the Enlightened Republic – lvl 291] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above

– lvl 271] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy

– lvl 278] – Bonus experience

of Horizon’s Edge] has reached level 226 - Stat points allocated, +50 Free