The Primal Hunter

For the longest time, Jake had found Sylphie’s version of stealth very endearing and silly while also naturally being utterly useless. She believed that by simply making a giant tornado and hiding within it, no one would notice anything was amiss and just ignore it. She thought the same when it came to hiding sound: just make so much noise no one can hear anything, and you’re good.

Well… it turns out Sylphie had kind of been correct all along? The problem all along had just been that Sylphie didn’t do her stealth technique on a big enough scale.

If a small tornado was ripping apart an area, someone would notice it. However, if a giant gust of wind flew by, while people would surely notice it, few would instantly connect it to a small green hawk. Especially not when said small green hawk was merged with the wind itself, effectively making her a natural phenomenon. At least it did work on this planet, as no one bothered Jake and Sylphie during their travels.

Jake could already imagine the horrors of Sylphie’s stealth technique when she got even stronger. Giant hurricanes would wash across planets just in her attempts to hide within.

Of course, Sylphie’s stealth did have the issue of not really working when not traveling swiftly, as a giant gust of wind not moving or just flying in circles creating a tornado was definitely suspicious. The giant gust did have some advantages unforeseen advantages, though, such as allowing Jake to ride alongside it.

Even with all Jake’s improvements to One Step, Thousand Miles, he was still not as fast as Sylphie, so having her adjust her speed to boost Jake was a big help. It allowed the two of them to travel across the Vast Plateau swiftly as they headed for the capital closest to the battlefield while the Sword Saint and Fallen King stayed back with Dina to protect her.

Jake didn’t doubt the two of them would still mess a bit with the battlefields, but they would definitely show restraint. The reason the two hadn’t come along for this scouting mission was partly because someone needed to stay with Dina and simply because they were both too slow. Plus, neither had good stealth skills, and if they did end up getting into conflict during their travels, Jake and Sylphie were the two best people in their party at escaping.

Alright, maybe Dina was equal to Jake, as they both had trump card escape skills, but Sylphie was second to none with her incredible speed and elusiveness. In either case, Jake was the king of stealth and was thus the best at trying to get a good look at this Twin Emperor to figure out what they were dealing with.

As Jake was the best at stealth, Syplhie sadly had to hang back when they got close to the capital. They found a small forest not far from the capital where Sylphie found a nice branch to sit on while Jake headed to the capital itself to check things out and learn more about the Twin Emperor. Who knows, maybe he could even manage to sneak into wherever the emperor lived and have a look around.

Setting off, Jake flew into the air with his stealth skill already active. He wanted to get some height first to get a good look at one of the two capital cities of the Vast Plateau, and when he did… honestly, he felt a bit disappointed.

It was so damn small.

Alright, it was still pretty big, probably large enough to house around fifty thousand, but compared to what Jake had come to expect from capital cities in the multiverse, it was pathetic. The Fort part of Haven was way bigger than this small capital, and when compared to some of the cities they had seen even on prior floors – or especially the Neverending Journey Challenge Dungeon – it barely looked like a town.

However, as Jake scouted it from afar, he did notice one thing. After using Identify more than fifty times, Jake had yet to see a single individual below level 280. And there were a lot of people in the city, most of them crafters, though. The weapon industry was definitely in full swing, as well as large alchemy labs and others who worked on supplies for the war efforts. The city was clearly still underpopulated for its already smallish size, but he reckoned a few thousand should be living there, which also truly attested to how many were already on the battlefields.

In the center of the capital was a large burly tower, only about ten stories tall but damn wide. Jake wasn’t even sure if he could call it a tower, as it pretty much had the shape of a cake. He didn’t hold any doubt this would be where the Twin Emperor could be found, and not just because it was the largest central building in the capital, but due to the magical runes covering the entire thing.

Jake even felt a faintly familiar energy to the one in the bone spheres, making him certain this emperor was indeed involved.

Entering the city, Jake covertly made his way toward the large building. If the emperor was home, he wanted to avoid entering the building if he could. If the Fallen King was correct and they were dealing with a witch doctor or something similar, things could quickly get hairy if Jake entered. Casters like that were very similar to witches like Miranda and liked their well-established magical domains a bit too much.

Luckily, he didn’t enter before confirming the emperor was home. After circling the building a few times and sitting watch, he saw a figure at a window. There was a barrier to make one unable to look inside, but Jake didn’t face many issues to Perception-check it as he saw the full form of one of the two floor bosses.

had the muscles of a warrior but the clothing and demeanor of a mage. His race was also a bit of a surprise, as Jake had fully expected to see an orc, considering they were the most commonly seen race in the Vast Plateau. Not that he was overly surprised at seeing an ogre, as there had also been quite a

Jake still decided to go for an Identify, partly to confirm he was indeed looking at the right boss, and sure enough, it was

Emperor – lvl

to be stronger. One also had to remember that level wasn’t everything. This Twin Emperor was clearly a powerful variant, making it incredibly strong for its

event boss from five floors prior. In fact, Jake felt he could fight this boss in a one-versus-one, and even if it would be a damn difficult fight, Jake gave himself

event boss, though. At least his gut told him so. Moreover, when Jake used Identify before, he felt as if something was off. His Identify hadn’t been detected by the Twin Emperor, but something

that messed with the bone sphere, so it wouldn’t be odd if he could

taken from Royal Road;

was far more risky than the Identify he had done before, but he was certain that a successful Identify would offer very valuable information. Primal Gaze partly activated as his eyes began to glow, and ever-so-vaguely, Jake felt as if he saw

noticed his presence as the ogre whipped his head around and peered out the window straight at where Jake was

Well, shit.

as the ogre barged out his own window, breaking it in the process. A staff appeared in his hand as Jake summoned his wings and

lighting bolt aimed straight at where he had been standing. A massive explosion from the impact sent him tumbling through the air as he continued trying to get

as a giant hand of stone rose and tried to grab him, and it didn’t help when he realized that it wasn’t truly space itself around him getting suppressed but the air actively working against him. Moreover, Jake felt as if his body was beginning to get heavy as even

as Jake lifted his foot and stepped down. Despite half a dozen concepts and elemental magics closing in on Jake, he still felt everything around him stabilize as his foot found solid ground, allowing him to teleport safely, courtesy

as this was no time or place to fight. He was still in the capital city, and all over, he felt auras begin to spike up. Even if it was nearly only crafters present, Jake didn’t want to try and deal

he felt the pressure on him lessen. The ogre behind him was

quickly saw that the boss had stopped chasing, though he was still casting something. For a moment, he felt relieved until something impacted his Shroud of the Primordial, as well as his soul in general. Energy had somehow appeared in his body that

A hex…

the hex, purging himself while feeling very happy he had been the one to

breathe a sigh of relief as he got further and further away. He didn’t dare head only to

keep a steady pace

responded, screeching

to use it above 30% so he could avoid the period of weakness. After reactivating his

some bad news,” Jake told the four others. “What do

the King responded

he noticed my presence. So,

the good news?” the Sword

Emperor was level 330 and pretty strong on his own, which must mean the event boss is even stronger, so we’ll have a

else?” the