The Primal Hunter

“You know we can’t allow him to actually bring that Mimicry World Core out of that floor, right?” the Wyrmgod questioned the Malefic Viper.

“Does seem kind of counterproductive if he decides to reintroduce a Karmic Plague that was wiped out a long time ago back into the multiverse,” Minaga nodded in agreement.

“Relax, he isn’t gonna actually bring it out,” the Viper waved them off. “He is just going to eat it and consume all the knowledge of how to make plagues within.”

“And… that’s a good outcome?” Minaga said in a deadpan tone. “Totally seems like a good idea to teach him about them… especially considering his track record of always making well-thought-out decisions.”

“Come on, would he really be my Chosen if he didn’t at least know how to create a plague?” the Viper smiled. “Not saying he should make one, but nothing wrong with learning how to.”

“I am confident nearly every other faction in existence would disagree with that assessment,” the Wyrmgod sighed.

“And I am confident at least half of those have a rule written somewhere that one of the reasons they shouldn’t fuck with me is out of fear I will throw a plague at them,” Vilastromoz shook his head.

“Hm,” the Wyrmgod thought for a while. “I will reclaim the World Core if he brings it out, but should he consume it or sufficiently alter it, I shall allow him to leave with it as long as there is no chance of reintroducing the plague.”

“Sounds fair enough,” Vilas shrugged.

“Also, to be fair, I think most factions wouldn’t fuck with the Malefic Viper even without the plagues,” Minaga said. “And I do guess there is value in knowing how to make one, as there are some very interesting concepts at play. Speaking of which, seeing as you are the expert here… would it be possible to make a plague that wipes out Bloodlines that allow those possessing it to ruin any and all interesting labyrinth experiences? Asking for a friend.”

Just to clarify, Jake wasn’t planning some over-the-top double suicide or anything when he asked the old man to stab him. He just knew that was he was about to do wouldn’t be something he had confidence in pulling off under normal circumstances, so he decided to indulge in a bit of clever use of system mechanics.

“You want me to trigger that defensive skill of yours that activates from a lethal blow?” the Sword Saint questioned, having quickly picked up on what he was getting at.

“Ah, that one,” the Fallen King nodded in understanding, having also experienced that one himself.

“Exactly,” Jake smiled. “And I reckoned that Erosion thing is the best skill to use as it seems pretty easy to dodge compared to the slash, considering it is just one line of water. True, using the Transcendent skill may be me overestimating my durability, but I want to assure the system will consider it a lethal blow.”

The Sword Saint considered for a moment before nodding. “Fair enough.”

Jake thanked him as he turned to his other three party members. “Better make some distance to not get hit by anything. Ah, but Dina, probably stay close. Someone might need healing. On second thought, someone will definitely need healing.”

“What exactly are you planning on doing!?” the Dark Witch butted in rudely. “And what exactly did you do with the Mimicry World Core? It needs to be destroyed, or all of this is in vain… wait, do you plan on keeping it? If that is the case, I will-“

“Relax, jeez,” Jake waved her off. “Trying to figure out a way to destroy the Karmic Plague without you dying in the process.”

said dismissively. “And unless you can call down a god,

be correct and have things work out for me in the end.

Karmic Plague is unleashed within you, death is the only outcome,” the Dark

a bit about plagues and even Karmic Plagues. At least, let me give it a shot. Worst-case scenario, you die; best-case, you survive. Doing

wrong, the Karmic Plague may

the Fallen King said in an annoyed tone. “Jake here is the Chosen of the Malefic Viper, so you should show some trust. If any C-grade can rid you of the Karmic

Dark Witch was about to protest as the Unique Lifeform mentioned Jake was the Chosen as the lizard woman’s eyes opened wide. “I…

board?” Jake asked. He was a bit annoyed at the Fallen King spilling the

One,” the Dark Witch nodded resolutely as her voice slightly cracked. Jake even saw a hint of hope in her eyes, which only reinvigorated his desire to pull this off.

hits me with a lethal blow. This will make time slow down for me as the Karmic Plague is destroyed, at which point I will manipulate the karmic energy going from within my stomach into you. Before this, I will infuse the plague within you with a toxin that will react with this karmic energy to only destroy the Karmic Plague along with the part of your soul you isolated together with it. This is still destroying the Karmic Plague, but it is more like cutting out an infected tumor before it gets a

final analogy, but I believe I understand what you mean. Will I need to

protecting your own soul. It may get hairy, and

he looked at the Sword Saint. “I will need to set up some stuff before I begin, so it may take a bit before I need you to try and kill

he stood to the side of Jake, making sure that his stab wouldn’t also

crossed as the Dark Witch sat in front of him. He put both his hands on her back as

by far the best of anyone Jake had seen, but she was still in a precarious situation. Usually, the Karmic Plague would inhabit the entire soul, but the witch had managed to isolate it to somewhere around her stomach region. At least most of it. Small slithers also hit other areas. Removing it would lead

was to allow him some influence over it

confident in being able to cure her entirely without having to take any major risks or even needing something like the World Core. However, as things were, all he could do

really do currently. Of course, Jake already knew how he wanted to do this: through Touch of the Malefic Viper. His problem was that the only skill his Palate only allowed him to use on a swallowed item

really necessary. He never used it. Instead, he used Touch of the Malefic Viper for most things. So, the question was: why even keep them separate? The answer was even more obvious. He wouldn’t. And he believed that

any effort on his part, almost as if the system had been waiting for him to stop being a moron and just get it done, as shortly after

*Skill Fusion Detected*:

Malefic Viper (Legendary)] --> [Touch of the Malefic Viper

unchanged rarity either or the fact he felt like he had just gotten a bunch more Intelligence out

observed the ”stomach” of Palate and the core pulsing within as Jake slowly influenced it. It was naught but a slight nudge, and he felt the Karmic Plague fight back at

truly changing anything wasn’t going to happen, but as long as

The next part was where everything would be decided. Jake began to feel slight doubt about his plan as he slowly absorbed knowledge about the Mimicry World Core, becoming aware

core could be done by activating the formation on it. It was also true it would just collapse and not actually explode and harm anything around it. The problem was that Jake had decided to eat it… and imploding it within his Soulspace was not something it was designed to do. In fact, he couldn’t even activate

rather than use the built-in destruction formation, he would slightly alter the formation on the core himself and change it from a harmless explosion to something a bit more destructive. This did

to the Sword Saint as he saw the old man get in position

handling it. Well, having a part of him handle it anyway. The amount of energy that would be released was substantial, but Jake had an even more substantial and powerful source of pure energy he could make use of to suppress

the stomach of Palate. It looked like a massive orb of glass with the World

”Now.”

did his Eternal Shadow stab the katar into the World