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.”

with my fate,” the Dark Witch said dismissively. “And unless you can call down a god, do you honestly think you or anyone

I still turn out to be correct and have things work out for me in the end. And my guts are telling me I

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

show some trust here. I also know quite a bit about plagues and even Karmic Plagues. At least, let me give it a shot. Worst-case scenario, you

wrong, the Karmic Plague may not be

“Jake here is the Chosen of the Malefic Viper, so you should show some trust. If

the Chosen as the

He was a bit annoyed at the Fallen King spilling the beans like that, but

as her voice slightly cracked. Jake even saw a hint of hope in her eyes, which only reinvigorated his desire to pull this off. Deep inside, he knew it didn’t really matter as they were in a dungeon and all… but

of my stomach right as the Sword Saint 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

mean with that final analogy, but I believe I understand

own soul. It may get

her to sit down as he looked at the Sword Saint. “I will need to set up some stuff before I begin, so it

through the head any day,” the Sword Saint smiled as he stood to

crossed as the Dark Witch sat in front of him. He put both his hands on her back as he subtly activated Touch of the Malefic Viper, pouring in a tiny bit of poison as he scanned her body

suppressing her natural vital energy, Jake quickly found the portion of her Soulshape infected. Her case was 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

he “infected” the plague. This was to allow him some influence over it as he

Plague his own this way was due to the innate difference in level between Jake and the creator. If Jake was A-grade, he was 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 was try and nudge the destruction process in a favorable direction. Something that should be enough if his second

already knew how he wanted to do this: through Touch of the Malefic Viper. His problem was that the only skill his

common rarity skill wasn’t 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 if Cultivate Toxin

influence the swallowed World Core. It barely took 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

*Skill Fusion Detected*:

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

He didn’t dwell on the unchanged rarity either or the fact he felt like he had just gotten a bunch more Intelligence out of nowhere. Instead,

been correct. He looked within his Soulspace and 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

of pressure on it as he exerted as much control as he could. With his mind split, it was difficult, but Jake refused to back down. He knew that truly changing anything wasn’t going to happen, but as long as he could slightly influence the plague to act differently when it encountered the other influenced plague energy within the Dark

slight doubt about his plan as he slowly

anything around it. The problem was that Jake had decided to eat it… and imploding it within his Soulspace was not something it was

change it from a harmless explosion to something a bit more destructive. This did still mean one thing, though: Jake would have to bear the brunt of effectively having a World Core

Saint as he saw

the fallout of an exploding core. Luckily for him, it was going to happen within his Soulspace, and as long as the resulting explosion was something he understood, he was confident in 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

Soulspace, a version of Jake covered entirely in a black shadowy aura appeared right in front of the space that occupied the stomach of Palate. It looked like a massive orb of glass with the World Core floating in the middle, yet the shadow simply stepped through this glass and entered the glass bubble. This version of Jake then pulled back

”Now.”

Sword Saint to attack, so did his Eternal Shadow stab