The Primal Hunter

”Valdemar is a fucking monster in human form, plain and simple,” Artemis said in between her bites of food. ” Mind you, I am not saying that he is the Grand Champion, but if that is the case, you have quite the battle ahead of you, and, well… be happy you have multiple lives.”

Jake nodded, fully knowing that was the case as he chilled in the healing pool a bit away. ”Say, if you fought this theoretical Grand Champion version of Valdemar… how would you rate your chances?”

”Well, if we fought a hundred times…” Artemis said, pausing for dramatic effect. ”I would probably be able to not die within a minute in at least some of them.”

”That strong?” Jake muttered to himself.

”I just told you he is a fucking monster. Valdemar is a being no one dares mess with in the entire multiverse. Other Primordials steer clear for the most part, and no faction wants to risk pissing him off. You must understand that even among those deemed his equals, he stands out. Most Primordials are diverse fighters. They have other essential pursuits. Their Paths include nurturing their factions, crafting, alchemy, research into magical concepts, dungeon engineering, or even making freaking pocket watches… but Valdemar only does a bit of casual brewing. He is the only Primordial that is just a pure warrior, through and through,” Artemis explained.

Jake remembered having gotten a similar explanation from Villy at some point, but Artemis just hammered it home. He remembered the thoughts he had of Valdemar that had made Carmen kind of angry… but they still rang true.

”He is really just a guy with an axe,” Jake said, mostly to himself.

”Calling a Primordial just ”a guy with an axe” doesn’t sound like something even the Chosen of another Primordial should do,” Artemis said as she threw Jake a sharp gaze as she had stopped eating.

”Doesn’t make it any less true,” Jake shrugged as he looked at Artemis. ”Nothing’s wrong with being simple. Simplicity is good. There is power in removing all complications and just having the core of a concept left.”

”Your phrasing still sounded borderline heretical,” Artemis said, with a slight tinge of concern in her voice.

”Only borderline?” Jake smirked. ”Isn’t it downright heretical to have a Challenge Dungeon where the objective is to beat up gods as a mortal?”

”That is different. All images are here with consent from the one who placed them here, with the express intent of having them used as opponents. And despite being a god on the outside, I am not a god in here. If I were a god, you wouldn’t be able to even talk to me like this or stand straight in my presence, something I am sure you are quite aware of. No, the only reason you can even have this conversation and treat me as an equal being is because we are both made to be level 0,” Artemis sighed. ”That’s just how the multiverse works.”

Jake smiled a bit to himself. Yeah… that was how it worked for everyone besides him. ”Eh, it’s how it works until someone comes along where it doesn’t work like that anymore. There is a first for everything, right?”

Artemis looked at him suspiciously for a moment as she smiled. ”I kind of hope that’s the case so you don’t become a disappointing mess when my true self inevitably seeks you out. I would find that very unappealing.”

”Time will tell, time will tell,” Jake waved her off. ”For now… this simple hunter has to focus on preparing to fight a simple warrior.”

Jake made sure he was fully ready to face Valdemar before he sought out the Battlemaster. He created his regular arrows, made his special arrow, and recovered his resources. There really wasn’t more than that he could do, seeing as gathering information was not really a thing.

Not due to a lack of information, mind you.

He had met up with Polly and Owen, who were now definitely officially dating, as they went out and celebrated him reaching the Grand Champion rank. Artemis had come along too and found it amusing how Jake interacted with the dungeon-created characters, but he hadn’t paid that any mind.

Polly had agreed to help gather some more information and, after a few days, had returned with a lot of eyewitness accounts, written records, and plenty of other snippets of information. What didn’t exist was recordings, though Jake had a suspicion that recordings wouldn’t help much going by the other intel.

winning in a few attacks at most. Jake felt that rather than teach him about Valdemar’s fighting style, everything he gathered was just hyping Valdemar up as a true

wearing the same clothes

well, huh?” Jake

was an enjoyable fight, though I doubt I will enter the arena

bit and shook his head. Maybe the guy shouldn’t have a fighting style that revolved around blowing up

why you are here. To issue your challenge to the Warrior,”

nodded. ”How does

just said

for fifteen days later. No ifs or buts from either party. A Grand Champion match is simply so monumental that the Colosseum needs this

fifteen days and seriously had to strain himself to not call out the horrible

like to issue the challenge here

few seconds passed before he spoke. ”It has

you got any advice you want to volunteer? Any

know that I like you quite a bit, right?” the Battlemaster said with a sigh. ”So I only really have one piece of advice… know when to surrender. Even if you do not win, you are still a Grand Champion, and

Jake thought to himself. Not that surrender was ever an option. Jake had nine lives to spend, after all. Of course, he really hoped he wouldn’t have to use all of them… but doing it

forest close to Artemis’ mansion for some more archery practice with a literal hunter goddess as he mentally prepared himself

to the Colosseum was buzzing. The bars held special promotions, a small festival of sorts was held in the center

didn’t partake in many of the festivities as he focused on training until the fateful day arrived, when he found himself back in the Colosseum, standing before the large hallway leading

If

Warrior

feel him out before you try to commit to any major attacks!”

which wasn’t much better than Artemis, who had told him

go. The tunnel felt longer

during Path of the Heretic-Chosen flashed in his mind. The absolute power of Valdemar, his overwhelming fighting spirit… a power that Jake could

up the steps, he heard the loud cheers of the audience as the large arena soon appeared before his eyes. It was the same as usual, with the large stone pillars spread throughout

the area where the other Grand Champion was supposed

he hasn’t shown

brought doom to anyone unlucky enough to face him during his rapid ascend through the ranks. A true Doombringer…

he nevertheless pulled out his bow and walked forward as the bars also lowered on the other end of the arena to show the empty entrance. He walked a few steps forward as he suddenly heard it. Heavy footsteps echoed from

was the glinting edge of an axe. The second thing he saw was the bearded man he recognized immediately from the vision with the Malefic Viper, and

had a single weapon in the axe swung over his shoulder as he slowly entered

beings built solely for combat. Their evolutions had only taken them further and further toward the ideal of making them

muscle hiding explosive power. Jake knew that the human body had some innate limitations… but he felt not an

back at him as he spoke, not even the Grand Champion fight free from the

even one of the younglings trying for the Leaderboards, eh?” Valdemar said with a big smile as he looked at Jake. ”Ah, but even if you are a human, I won’t be biased toward you,