The Primal Hunter

Chapter 1003: A Suspiciously Productive Meeting Jake waited impatiently for the conference call to restart. While Ell’Hakan and company likely had a lot to talk about, Jake and the others really didn’t. Nothing said or discussed so far warranted any real conversation, so all Jake did was check in with Carmen and Bobby to hear their thoughts on how things were going so far – after Bobby assured Jake no one could hear or see them, that is.

“He seems pretty on board,” Carmen shrugged. “But it’s hard to say with slimy bastards like him. Either way, even if he doesn’t believe us, he probably wants to just go along with the story anyway, right? At least until his Patron battles the Malefic Viper.”

“I’m in agreement,” Bobby nodded. “You just need the story to be somewhat believable. I’m sure Ell’Hakan will do the rest of the selling necessary to the rest of the galaxy and multiverse to help power up Yip of Yore from there, and when you do your official public denouncement of the Malefic Viper, nothing prior will have mattered. That in itself will be more impactful and benefit Yip of Yore more than all the current ongoing schemes. From there, all we can do is sit back and wait for the gods to finish their battle while being ready for what comes next.”

Jake nodded at their input, fully aware. Right now, the only important thing was just to get Ell’Hakan on board and pause the conflict in the Milky Way Galaxy. Surely, he would spread information about what they had agreed on from there, laying the groundwork for Jake’s future renouncement of his True Blessing. Something that was bound to be a grand affair.

He was still worried about how everyone would deal with things back on Earth, but he didn’t really have the mental leeway to do that right now. The fifteen-minute intermission felt so damn long before it was finally time to restart things, but at last, it was go-time once more. Bobby reactivated the magic circle, only for them to see Ell’Hakan and the two others had already activated theirs and were ready and waiting.

“Right on time. I do apologize for requesting this short break, but I believed it wise to give us all time to digest all we had discussed thus far,” Ell’Hakan said in a calm tone, restarting the meeting.

“It was fine,” Jake shrugged. “Assuming the break led to anything productive and wasn’t just a waste of time.”

“I believe it wasn’t,” Ell’Hakan smiled as he turned to King Iludar and Jacob. “We discussed and agreed that assisting you in your quest to free yourself from the shackles of your tyrannical Patron would be mutually beneficial. We also agree to a temporary truce within the galaxy as long as the details regarding that are satisfactory, with full recognition that it’s only a temporary truce until the battle between Yip of Yore and the Malefic Viper has concluded.”

Jake nearly asked him to repeat all that, as he wasn’t sure if he’d heard right… because it sounded like Ell’Hakan had just agreed to everything they had been asking for thus far. Both a temporary alliance and truce were accepted just like that, and it felt way too fucking easy. It was so easy that Jake got suspicious, but he couldn’t exactly question why Ell’Hakan hadn’t tried to get more out of them without looking weird. No… there was still time for Ell’Hakan to make demands.

“Oh, but I do have one burning question before we get to the details,” Ell’Hakan said, tilting his head. “How will your fellow natives respond to all this? What will the Verdant Witch who serves the Order of the Malefic Viper say? The countless allies only there due to your title as the Chosen of the Malefic Viper? Because I have a hard time seeing them just going on with business as usual after you declare the Malefic Viper enemy number one.”

This was one of those times where preparation really came in handy, as Jake had a quick response ready.

“I told them a story,” Jake said curtly. “I informed them that everything is part of the Malefic Viper’s complicated scheme, and for them to simply trust me. That everything I’m doing here, and everything that will happen, is all part of the Malefic Viper’s plan. If all goes well, that story should stick until the bitter end or at least convince enough people long enough for them not to cause trouble.”

“And if it doesn’t convince them?” Ell’Hakan raised an eyebrow.

“One thing at a time,” Jake waved him off. “I never said this was a perfect plan, and it doesn’t have to be. As long as it’s good enough, things will be fine. With the help of Valhal, I’m confident in handling the aftermath.”

we’ll handle the aftermath for you?” Carmen said in a jokingly mocking tone,

would have been a prime target for recruitment. Will there be challenges should there be a switch of backers? Yes, but I would reckon many of those who put their trust in the Malefic Viper will also find themselves scrambling in the event of his death and would gladly accept the helping hand of Valhal during all that

I see…” Ell’Hakan slowly nodded as he looked back at Jacob. “To convince them all that this is all part of the

that includes increasing the power of your mortal enemy,

turned back and looked Jake directly

of their considerations of what Ell’Hakan would question,

I would be unable to renounce my True Blessing, have a drop of the Viper’s blood implanted into my Soulspace, have the Viper use his Transcendence in that very same Soulspace, and all of that originating from me being made Chosen without knowing fuck-all about the system or how anything worked while still stuck in a fucked up Challenge Dungeon made to test the limits of the system… yet here we are, with all those things being truths I swear upon my Bloodline are true,” Jake said, perhaps coming on a bit too hard, but he felt like he needed to drop something like

me like you’re arguing all this truly is part of the Viper’s

screamed internally as he kept a stoic

is a different platform. Support

on Earth have no reason to believe you were lying about it all being part of the Viper’s plan, they’re more prone to believe it than

trying to help Jake’s story make sense. Or maybe

would betray the Malefic Viper, as that would be a very inconvenient truth to many,” Jake said, trying to sound convincing, though he decided to add: “I will admit this is perhaps the riskiest part of all this, but as I said earlier, even if many don’t believe

move on. “I’ll let you handle things on your end, and I’ll handle things on mine.

in mind,” Jake said, throwing the ball

and Jake was about to protest about meeting up in person as the Chosen continued. “Meeting physically shall naturally not be part of this. I believe it best we stay away from one another for now

Ell’Hakan. In all honesty, it made Jake a bit happy that Ell’Hakan didn’t want to meet Jake either. Ell’Hakan had to know that if anything could ruin a good plan, it was a punch to the face, and everyone knew Jake found the nahoom bastard very punchable. It hadn’t been part of the plan, but Jake’s dislike meant that he wouldn’t even need to argue against meeting Ell’Hakan and risking being exposed to his Bloodline, which was

“Besides a joint declaration, we shall also decide on how everything will

question was directed at both Jacob and

that the Risen and other formal enemies of the Church will also remain confined to their current locations and not make any moves,” the Augur said,

the truce first,” Bobby said in a strong tone. “Our goal in all this is purely to assist Lord Thayne in his matters, nothing more, nothing less. His interests fully align with ours, and when the time is right, Valhal shall be the voice of authority to bring his denouncement of

on the Malefic Viper, “ Ell’Hakan finished. “All seems simple enough on paper. Of course, there

been. It didn’t feel as if Jake was trying to trick Ell’Hakan into an alliance and truce, but more like they both wanted the same thing, but for slightly different reasons. He almost felt that if he’d come to Ell’Hakan without any of his pre-planned stories and scheming and just asked him for a truce until Yip of Yore and the Viper