The Primal Hunter

Chapter 971: The Cost of Saving A Friend Chapter 971: The Cost of Saving A Friend

The Viper said there would be pain… and that had definitely been an understatement.

Jake was usually very good at dealing with pain. Most C-grades would find themselves unaffected by pain when wounded and just soldier through. To Jake, pain was just another point of feedback informing him what his next action should be, not much different from all his other senses.

However, what Jake felt when the Viper got to work was different. It was unlike any kind of pain Jake had ever felt before, counting both bodily harm and soul damage. This type of pain wasn’t just informing him of damage taken but of something far more… existential.

Like what was causing his pain could truly erase him entirely in both body and soul.

The Viper had barely gotten started as his body erupted with power, putting pressure on Jake’s very being.

“Small note: don’t try to fight back; it will only make my job harder and the end result worse and far more painful. Be advised some things might break during this process,” the Viper spoke, seemingly not even purposefully infusing his voice with energy.

Jake did as he said, despite every fiber of his being screaming at him to escape the situation. But there was no escape, as he could only grit his teeth. What he felt besides the pain, Jake couldn’t comprehend at all either.

Villy lifted a hand, and all Jake saw was a dark green color that made no sense to him. Instinctively, he knew this was made of pure Records, and as the Viper looked at it, he sighed. “You really did a number on yourself.”

Parts of the Malefic Viper’s form began turning into wisps of light that merged with the summoned mass of Records, as something was clearly happening. Jake felt everything so vividly mixing with the pain that muddled his mind, yet he couldn’t help but try and understand, and he knew the Viper was making it this visual for his sake.

Time slowly passed, as the Viper’s body kept disappearing, his entire lower half soon done, leaving only his upper body above his stomach, with one side also entirely faded, leaving mostly a head, a shoulder, and a single arm.

“Fuck me, this is even worse than it looks,” the Viper muttered. “And get those thoughts out of your head, I‘m also learning here. This is uncharted territory, but unlike you, I have the actual ability, skill, and knowledge to back up my actions.”

Jake wasn’t saying anything as the Viper lifted his one remaining arm toward the sky of Jake’s Soulshape.

“You better be grateful, for no other god would go this far for their Chosen,” the Malefic Viper said, looking up. His mouth opened, and Jake only had time to hear a single word. “Malefic-“

WARNING!

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WARNING!

[REDACTED]

[REDACTED]

…

Jake blinked, the pain gone. In front of his eyes, an ocean of warnings and redacted messages, and a feeling that only let him know that some time had just passed. Time he had no memory of. Staring, he saw the form of the Malefic Viper standing there, nearly fully tangible, as he turned to Jake.

“There. Patched you up best anyone in the damn multiverse could. Even went a bit above and beyond and was nice enough to preserve that broken half of a Planetary Core you had in there. Despite sealing the stomach, you should still benefit from that thing, at least, though really fucking slowly. The good news is, you have a potentially infinite amount of time to fully absorb it because you sure as hell can’t take anything in and out with how it is now. As for the rest of the effects of Palate, they should stay the same. Oh, and for the soul damage, that’s up to you to deal with; I think I’ve done enough,” the Viper said, his form already beginning to fade away.

Without being told, Jake knew he had done more than he first promised.

“Thank you,” Jake muttered. “But… what happened there? What did you do?”

use what you had given me to get the job done, but it

his own Soulspace as he just clenched his fists and nodded. “Again… thank you. I would have been royally fucked without

into a brilliant investment,” Villy said jokingly, shaking his head. “I should stop dilly-dallying. Good luck with the system event, and have fun recovering. Oh, and remember to thank the healer who kept you alive during all this. Without him,

in his Soulspace. Above, the sky was still cracked in many places, and the ground had several fissures. The drop of

It felt different from anything he had ever felt before

was something else in the lingering presence. A unique kind of signature Jake recognized from

Viper had used

from the system. He only now realized that to fix Jake’s mistake using powers considered “outside” the system, the

fist on the ground of the Soulspace despite the

Fuck.

it wasn't, it still dealt a lot of harm. For the Viper to use it to save Jake, he would have had to lose something in return, and all because Jake had been a moron who had to

thing was more certain now than ever before… Jake owed Villy even more now than ever before, and the next

suppressing aura that pressed him down and actively dealt damage to his soul throughout it all. The task had been far from easy, but Eron

the biggest fool would realize something had gone catastrophically wrong. The spark that represented the hunter’s soul flickered, weakened, and began to look far more unstable as it was replaced and consumed by the green inferno. Then, the green flames

that it's taken without permission from the

wasn’t sure Jake would make it until suddenly, the desolation stopped coming. Not long after, the presence also disappeared, and all Eron had to do was heal Jake’s body

the green flames dispersing and stability returning to the spark, it was still damaged. Severely so. From the look on Jake’s face when he finally

fully opened his eyes and turned his attention to the outside

everything had gone, Jake had still ultimately upgraded his Scales of the Malefic Viper, which had come with a few levels. To see them, he did have to scroll by a bit over a thousand warning messages, though,

of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 279

[Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 280

reached level 288 - Stat points allocated,

Heretic-Chosen and was ever closer to level 300, where he would have his suspected meeting with the First Sage… but he wasn’t exactly in the mood

and saw Eron standing there, looking

grateful. As Villy had said, without him there, Jake wasn’t sure how any of this

One skill upgrade and three levels, in part due to said skill upgrade, which I myself view as quite the gains,” the healer said

will admit, I wasn’t even sure you would show. I

it is a superior quantity of energy. However, if it’s controlled it’s a whole other beast, incomparable to the passive influence of desolation. Seeing and experiencing the concept like this is still a valuable experience I wouldn’t do without, though. It allows me to consider countermeasures should I reencounter it,

If it was just there, one could easily work on evaporating and get rid of it over time, with the only real threat the water held being its innate concept to crush you should you go too deep. However, if you faced a water mage able to control just a lake of water to actively try and kill you, it would be far more dangerous than even the entire

diagnosis, it does not look like your stats are outright affected. However, the resource pools tend to be

He had already seen it before. The sad state of that part of his status menu, reflecting the damage

Status

(HP): 141,365/153,099

Points (MP):

Stamina: 9203/185,041 (222,170)

--

been reduced. Stamina and health both only by around 20% or so – with

the best outcome from such

this kind of soul damage, but I would compare it to experiencing frostbite. Like the human body, the soul will always seek to protect its life, and the outer extremities will be the first to go, which, in the instance of the soul, are the resource pools. Contrary to the physical body, where often an amputation would be required, the resource pools are also the part of the soul most easily recovered should the soul damage be significant enough to

Eron probably had a good idea of his situation, which also made him