The Primal Hunter

When Jake said he was good at zoning everything out when he focused on something, he meant he was really good at zoning everything out. Even the notifications he had gained during this time had gone unregistered. Luckily he hadn’t pissed off this party by missing some crucial messages, as the Fallen King had honored his wish of not contacting him outside of emergencies. Something that the Unique Lifeform hadn’t found necessary to do a single time.

Still… Jake could see why the Unique Lifeform was a bit unsatisfied when he finally checked his notifications.

Opening them up, the first thing he saw was that they had apparently gotten another bonus objective without him even noticing.

Bonus Objective Gained: Find a way to unlock the seal obscuring your path into the Dark Descent created by the Dark Witch leading toward the core of the planet.

Current Progress: Dark Descent unlocked (0/1)

So this one confirmed the theory that the Dark Witch had indeed gone toward the core and even created a way to get down there. Of course, they likely had to also get rid of all three Living Seals before-

Bonus Objective Completed: Destroy all three Living Seals. 1000 Nevermore Points earned.

Right, they had also gotten that done, but hopefully, Jake could at least help with that seal on the-

Bonus Objective Completed: Dark Descent unlocked. 500 Nevermore Points earned.

Okay, Jake was beginning to realize he had indeed taken a bit longer than he probably should have, but it seemed like things were going well!

Though there was still much to be done if one looked at the remaining bonus objectives they had gained during Jake’s minor mental absence.

Bonus Objective Gained: Discover the fate of the Dark Witch.

Current Progress: Dark Witch’s fate discovered (0/1)

Along with:

Bonus Objective Gained: Assist the New Beast Alliance in taking over the faction formerly known as the Beastfolk Alliance by helping to eliminate all enlightened beings remaining in their territory.

Current Progress: Enlightened Beings Remaining (2.093.778/9.421.400)

His party had clearly been up to quite a lot, with the Fallen King seemingly mid-genocide in the area formerly controlled by the Beastfolk Alliance.

“So… I apologize? Anyway, where are we? What is the status of things?” Jake questioned. “I am especially interested in what is up with this New Beast Alliance.”

“The two other factions are entirely destroyed. Well, mostly destroyed. We found out that beasts are actually entirely unaffected by the Karmic Plague. It only works on those considered enlightened, so the Fallen King formed an alliance with the beasts there to wipe out all the enlightened, especially the Otherworlders,”Dina explained.

“Are you sure they are unaffected? The Fallen King and Sylphie were both affected when we first got here, as far as I could feel,” Jake asked, a bit confused.

“Only in its inactive form. The Karmic Plague cannot properly affect anyone not considered enlightened, so once it exits hibernation, it will just fizzle out. The Fallen King already confirmed the beasts that were part of the Beast Alliance were not affected,” Dina continued explaining as the Fallen King jumped into the conversation.

“Beasts that were all suppressed by the beastkin otherworlders summoned here. They did manage to reach some level of balance with the otherworlders but never liked them. My arrival became their impetus to claim power and wipe out the enlightened. To reject such a purely beneficial objective seemed foolish, so we naturally accepted it. Should we fail, it is doubtful the Wyrmgod would penalize us, and should we succeed, it is merely bonus points,” the Fallen King explained.

“And the Risen Kingdom?”Jake questioned.

Karmic Plague into something that would effectively mind control every enlightened being into desiring to be Risen did not survive such unfortunate weather,” the Sword Saint answered. “As for a status on current events, the Fallen King and I are both on our way to

sighed. Seemed like he had missed a

weeks and three days,” the

as me for flying so slow you didn’t need me during

work,” the

enough, I zoned out a bit too hard… so,

taken over the area, including a mini-boss monster that guarded the former capital. From there, they gathered a bunch of intel, discovering a bit about the Dark Witch’s plan,

finding a way to unseal the barrier by researching what the Dark Witch had left behind and were now making their way down the long winding tunnels leading into the core of Tri-World. A task made quite a bit

will play out down at or around

on our estimates, I shall arrive at the entrance

himself. “Want me to join

Sword Saint asked. “Or do you need some more time to practice? Perhaps familiarize yourself with your

way to Sylphie,” Jake answered, not responding to the slight tone of sass in the old man’s

Sylphie asked, just wanting to make

shouldn’t take that long… but can you find a kind of open area? I get you are underground, but if there are any big caverns or anything, it

“Ree.”

himself, waiting for Sylphie

one of the reasons his party had been fine with leaving Jake behind was

in their party was, surprisingly, the Sword Saint. Well, he was the best circumstantially. Through his profession, he could paint an area and “save” a moment in space that he could then travel to. This meant he was the fastest at returning somewhere he had been before as long as you gave him a dozen or so

of travel were not as restricted as the Sword Saint’s, though his means also came with downsides. Accuracy was one of those downsides, especially considering Jake didn’t have a lot of practice with this method of travel, and the method wasn’t really designed as a long-distance travel skill anyway.

often-ignored aspect of the skill but one incredibly useful. Usually, Jake wouldn’t use it as a means of travel, but

a powerful connection through their Union Oath, allowing Jake to easily zone in on her. Over long distances, things like the Golden Mark or even his Hunter’s Mark sometimes got a bit fuzzy, but the Oath had no such problems – something

while, Jake got the signal from Sylphie and a slightly worried comment from Dina

go slightly sideways, what’s the worst thing that can happen? That I get stuck in a wall or something? I’ll be fine,” Jake said,

all over his body. Taking a deep breath, he began to charge them with energy as he activated the escape method of Wings of the Malefic Viper. Mist

Jake allowed his instinct to guide him. Sylphie’s location felt so close, yet so far

mana pool rapidly depleting. Luckily, it took less than ten seconds before Jake stopped the skill at the

a second too long to disengage the skill. The entire world turned dark as Jake felt a deep pressure all over his body the second he faded back into reality. Jake kept his cool,

much, Jake sighed in relief. Sylphie was only about a kilometer above him, and from a quick Pulse, he saw that there was

asked, having felt Jake

little stuck. Gotta take

felt a thick vine wrap around his body as he was dragged upward through the path it had created. He did

she dragged

flew there, duh,” Jake smiled, having not really gone into detail about how Wings

for a moment before looking back at the vine she had dragged him up with and the signs of it rotting from the remnant poison left after

he was all good to go. He wouldn’t be able to summon his Wings of the Malefic Viper for a few days, but that should be fine, considering he was underground. The slight

by the time Jake arrived, nearly thirty percent of the way already, but that still meant there was a lot to

Magical reinforcements could be found here and there, and waymarkers were placed at certain intervals, with there even being a few sealed-off rooms hidden away off to the side of

there for a few hundred years, so the beasts had taken over again. Most of them were worm-like beasts called Tunnelers – the same creatures the Caravan Guard Captain they met upon first arriving on Tri-World had warned them about. These Tunnelers came in many variants and sizes, and they could be threats if one was taken by surprise or got swarmed, especially in an environment that was so beneficial to them. Being stuck in a cavern surrounded by earth while fighting creatures using earth magic

decided that trying to collapse a part of the tunnel on them was a good idea. Even when mini-boss versions appeared, the three of them easily handled it. It was kind of monotonous, but at least the beasts they met got

mushroom bastards that Jake called dibs on as he utterly annihilated them. The only bad thing

and deeper,