The Primal Hunter

Chapter 962: Putting On A Show Chapter 962: Putting On A Show

Jake had many ways to approach the fight with a Prima Guardian. Usually, he just killed the creature quickly with everything he had, with the majority of those he had killed so far unable to survive even a single fully powered blow.

Out of everyone in the ninety-third universe, Jake legitimately believed he was the one with the most powerful opening attack. For his level, that is. He was also fully aware of how intimidating it was to see a boss you had made preparations for or had even battled and lost to meet its end from a single arrow.

The question was if this approach would be the smartest in this situation. It would reveal quite a lot of what Jake was capable of, and he also had to consider that it wasn’t like Ell’Hakan had to ever make any of these recordings public. He could keep them for personal study, use them for blackmail if he thought that would work for some reason, or even just destroy them if he felt like the recording only made Jake come off looking good – which him showing off his ability to one-shot a Guardian would surely do.

However, Jake saw another possibility. A chance, if you will, to do something that would be fun, confusing, and perhaps even a bit helpful in the future. Mostly fun, though.

He had wanted to mix up these Prima Guardian battles for a while, and this time around, he wasn’t in any particular kind of rush, so he decided to put on a show for the audience. A show that wouldn’t actually show off that much, but what he did display, he believed would prove both puzzling and useful to Ell’Hakan. Though likely not in the way the other Chosen had hoped.

First of all, Jake wouldn’t use a bow. That would just make it way too easy, and he would show off his growth with his primary weapon, which he saw no reason to do. Secondly, no Malefic Viper skills. This was for his plan of potentially making the recording useful in an unexpected way. Third, he would fight it using a style he hadn’t explored in a long time. One he had deployed the last time he was to face a stream of weak enemies to keep himself entertained.

That’s right… it was the return of the man, the myth, the legend: Doomfoot.

Alright, Jake would also use his katars, definitely some other stuff, but he would still be doing a lot of kicking here and there! Granted, things did depend a lot on the power of the Prima Guardian, but if it was at the level he expected it to be, this very basic plan of his should work. No matter what, he couldn’t forget the most important aspect of this entire show he was about to put on:

To have fun.

Jake waited patiently as all the followers of Ell’Hakan, along with the two World Leaders, retreated, leaving the magic circle and temporary structures behind spread all around the Prima Vessel. The wife of the scalekin was also with them and seemed way too chummy, but oh well.

Soon enough, everyone had retreated and now just stood back and watched. The scalekin was to purposefully not release the Guardian immediately, primarily to give Jake time to prepare, but now none of that was necessary.

The observers also looked perplexed when Jake just stood there, only a hundred meters from the entrance to the Prima Vessel. He had his arms crossed, waiting patiently while seemingly not preparing anything. It took about two minutes before a figure flew out of the Vessel. It was the scalekin, and he looked like he had blocked a few blows but was otherwise unharmed.

A second after he appeared, hot on his heels, a very humanoid Prima Guardian appeared. It looked like a mix of many different kinds of beastkin and scalekin, with a few pure monster features mixed in, though it was hard to tell.

Jake took a few steps forward while activating Arcane Awakening in its balanced state, getting a running start before he stomped down hard, teleporting and appearing in between the scalekin and Prima. The observers had likely expected to see many things during this battle… but Jake would bet none of them had dropkicking the Guardian in the face on their bingo cards.

His feet made solid contact with the monster that tried to bite down on his boots at the very last second but only ended up doing more damage to itself in the process. His dropkick sent the Guardian shooting back, smashing into the Prima Vessel with a large thunk, Jake using Identify on the boss while it was still mid-air.

Guardian –

roaring loudly as it met his charge. Dodging

Jake kicked the Prima in the side, sending it stumbling as a follow-up kick hit it in the head in a nice one-two combo. Throughout, Jake couldn’t help but smile a bit as he

but he was an elusive specter and danced around its attacks while landing counters. These Primas varied widely in quality even when they shared the same name, and this one certainly wasn’t

Keeping up his aggressiveness, Jake continued damaging the Prima Guardian with his barrage of kicks and stabs, the fight looking incredibly one-sided as Jake willingly proved his skills as a melee combatant. He showed off how the Prima

the first part of Jake’s plan, though. He was waiting for something to happen… and as expected, it did when he had done enough damage. The Prima Guardian slowly began to change. It got thinner, more lithe, grew longer legs, and overall its speed increased to new levels.

went on the offensive for the first time in a while. Jake was seemingly pushed back and could only focus on dodging while barely landing any counterattacks. Finally, he saw a good chance as the Prima attacked from above,

his descent and landed, the Prima Guardian floating above as it seemed to be gathering mana for some kind of magical attack. Jake was more than happy to see the Guardian be

made a show of glancing about before going and picking up a metal pole that was about three meters long that had been left by a tent that broke during their fight. Such a pole wouldn’t

been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report

unassuming tone – that he was certain would still be picked up by the recorders – Jake activated the skill as he

“Fangs of Man.”

Jake infused energy into the pole as it became one with him, strengthening it significantly in the process and, for a brief moment, made it give off a very faint golden luster that faded as quickly as it had come… but it

option of what the recording could become. Fangs of Man was not usually a skill that had any real visual indicator, and even if Valdemar seemingly could detect some trace of it during

spawned from the Chosen of the Malefic Viper battling a Prima Guardian like a battle maniac in a brawl, not using any

that while Fangs of Man was far from a normal skill, the energy he had given off while using it had the all-too-familiar glow of a skill related to Valdemar. Even if Ell’Hakan

play into that fantasy to mess with the two of them. The only thing he felt a bit bad about was potentially fooling Valdemar into thinking Jake had a genuine interest in joining his glorified fight club, but if the god felt too sad or disappointed about it, he was sure they could settle any

of the observers put any significance in what Jake had done, which was just what he wanted. He didn’t want people to think this was staged and something Jake purposefully wanted others to see. Instead,

as the Prima Guardian released a massive bolt of pure mana that split apart in mid-air into over a hundred crystalized homing bolts. Focusing, Jake shot upwards, dodging many of the bolts while using his new metal pole weapon to

Guardian wasn’t idle either but charged down to meet him while using its swarm of crystalized mana bolts. They reminded Jake of a shitty version of his own

the metal pole hard, the Prima Guardian seemingly not even seeing it as a threat. This proved to be a big mistake, as the hand it tried to swipe the pole away with had a finger broken while not even slowing

weapon, Jake kept up his assault, swinging recklessly. The weapon very quickly began deteriorating, as despite the effects of Fang of Man, it was still just a regular metal pole. Luckily for him, he

open hand as he used telekinesis to yoink a shorter metal pole from below. The second he caught it, he once more actively showed off his use of Fangs of Man, and

increased speed and power took the Guardian by surprise as it was struck three

the melee counterpart to his archery skill. It wasn’t rooted in any particular fighting style or weapon, though, but the nature of humanity and their ability to use or transform nearly anything into a weapon should the need arise. It made him innately understand how