The Primal Hunter

Chapter 1025: Jake Thayne vs Ell'Hakan (2) Jake understood that in the grand context of the multiverse, him caring about Chris could be viewed as genuinely weird. He and the builder had never been that close, and Jake only really knew him on a surface level before he’d died. Sure, Jake had a good impression of the young man for standing up to Abby and Donald way back then, but that was it.

In this war so far between Jake and Ell’Hakan – and even more if one counted the one between Villy and Yip - millions had died. Far more than Jake even knew about. Many of those were people Jake had seen or known before, though still not closely. Yet he’d never felt anything particular when they died. That’s likely why Ell’Hakan was so confused. In his view, Chris was just a worker who Jake employed to make a monument for him. He had no way of knowing Jake and Chris had any kind of personal relationship, as the only people who knew about how the two met were was only Miranda, the few survivors from Abby’s group, and Neil’s party from back. It wasn’t something easily found out, was the point.

Maybe it also just wasn’t something Ell’Hakan – someone who evaluated others based on how useful they were as assets - could understand in the first place with his mindset. Because the real reason Jake viewed what Ell’Hakan had done as unforgivable was for one simple reason: Chris had been Jake’s person. More so than many others. Plus... he had to admit he felt guilty.

With most other people who fought by his side, they’d actively chosen to do so. They knew what they were doing and were fully aware of the risks they were taking. Shit most of them even welcomed it as they used Jake as a way to continue progressing on their own Paths. Even Miranda, who had gotten involved initially because she felt as if she didn’t have much other choice, was now fully on board and engrossed in her role, seeking power herself. Not to say Jake wouldn’t gladly start a multiversal war of revenge if any of the people close to him died, but at least he would understand that their lives had been inherently risky.

Chris was different. He never dreamed of becoming a god or even a C-grade. His dream was to finally get into a relationship with Hank’s daughter and find a place where he felt like he belonged. The only reason he had ever gotten involved with Jake was due to happenstance and the Blessing he’d been given to help make the monument, allowing Jake to teleport between other universes and Earth.

That’s why Jake felt guilty. He’d gotten Chris involved. From Ell’Hakan’s point of view, it made perfect sense to kill him as he could have repaired the monument if left alive. It was also a “justified” kill in the story he was building, as Chris was a fanatic who carried the Blessing of the Malefic Viper.

None of that mattered to Jake, though. On the day Chris died, Jake had sworn to get revenge, and he saw no reason to break that oath.

His charge and activation of his boosting still may have seemed like a pure outburst of anger, and while he certainly wasn’t feeling any positive emotions as he did it, he still kept his head cool. The boosting skill was also only activated at a very low level, not even at the full 30% boost to all stats from the stable variant, but a bit less to conserve energy.

Still, it was enough to take Ell’Hakan by surprise as he failed to fully dodge Jake’s stab with his Void Katar, allowing him to land a good puncture wound on the nahoom’s arm. Jake tried to follow up, but Ell’Hakan was quick to react as his own boosting skill activated in response, sending out an explosion of flames that pushed Jake slightly back.

Ell’Hakan went on the offensive immediately, but Jake continued to keep his head calm as he retreated away and pulled out his bow again, releasing a barrage of arrows upon the Usurper. The trident met his blows and deflected most as he turned into a beam of light again, but Jake was ready this time and already turned to where he would appear before he was fully there, an arrow nocked and ready.

Jake shot the nahoom at close range, the arrow even splitting right as it left the string, creating a shotgun of explosive arcane arrows. None of the arrows exploded, but instead, Ell’Hakan took five arrows to the chest, which made him stumble back. Jake clicked his tongue as the nahoom had successfully avoided the original arrow with poison on it, but overall he was still satisfied with his attack and quickly nocked a new arrow as Ell’Hakan re-engaged.

The two of them continued to battle as Jake slowly began to lose his momentum as the temperature kept rising. The fire magic unleashed by Ell’Hakan was also only increasing in intensity, and Jake simply couldn’t avoid it anymore. Ell’Hakan knew this and took full advantage as he chased Jake, making it hard for the hunter to release any arrows.

However, rather than merely continue moving around the core chamber, Jake changed things up as he dove toward a wall that had already been weakened during their prior fighting. Alright, saying it had been weakened due to the fighting wasn’t really fair, as Jake had actively been shooting an arrow at it here and there to weaken it, but all of that had happened during the fight, so it still counted.

Anyhow, Jake descended and smashed straight through this weakened, thin wall with a dropkick as he entered a tunnel running parallel to the core chamber. He instantly began flying down this tunnel as he released a number of Pulses to see if Ell’Hakan was following him or not.

a tunnel, as he spun around and blanketed the entire space in explosive arrows, the tunnel too narrow for Ell’Hakan to fully escape

winding tunnel to his advantage as they moved further and further away from the core chamber where Ell’Hakan had his advantage. At least, they did so for a while before Ell’Hakan stopped chasing

change the venue of

such a thing is your wish... in

those words, Ell’Hakan turned around and, with a Pulse, Jake saw him heading back to the core room... the very same core room where the Prima Vessel that would allow

to get back up there. During all that time, Ell’Hakan would have plenty of time to make preparations for the battle to continue. Even if

searching for

the Prima Vessel, his body began to change color as his wings burned with energy. A bubble of pure corrosion appeared all

Jake relied on his intuition to go in the right direction, and after he’d been flying

above the capital city. The second he appeared, Jake didn’t hesitate for even a moment as he pulled out his bow, and for a second, he once more considered using the

the Hunter’s Mark, with the nahoom soon exiting the palace and heading toward the vast empty desert not too far away. Jake assumed he wanted to avoid the city getting destroyed during their fight, which was pretty respectable, though definitely not the greatest decision considering what was hanging several thousand kilometers above him, preparing to launch an orbital strike in the

also pretty evident Ell’Hakan couldn’t detect him or his emotions from this far away, allowing Jake to keep charging the arrow as Ell’Hakan flew into the desert. Jake even saw him begin to make magical runes in the air, likely preparing some kind of formation trap for Jake, completely unaware he was just exposing himself further... especially seeing as he’d deactivated his

taking another deep breath and being happy with how much he’d charged the arrow, Jake let go of the string as it

opportunity Jake would get. This was pretty much the ideal scenario to take the nahoom by surprise, yet Jake had trusted his instincts and

dodge but failed as Jake used Primal Gaze for the first time in this fight. Seeing as he was flying forward, the nahoom was struck in the back, the arrow blowing a hole

a huge wound that should have left him reeling... except he wasn’t. Instead, the Usurper disappeared, only to appear where he had been flying only

increased, and Jake had also still gotten a bonus in Hunting Momentum, proving that he had indeed hit. Jake was confused, to say the least, but

triggered now, assuming it has a cooldown, Jake considered as he stopped overthinking things and took

to stare shocked toward the sky, trying to locate Jake. Seeing as he wasn’t in stealth anymore, Jake was quickly found, the fact he was

arrow toward his opponent, controlling it mid-flight as he nocked another one. The nahoom turned into a beam of light, flying upwards with incredible speed, but Jake’s Arcane Powershot arrows were still far faster, especially seeing as they had the property of only increasing in speed while in flight – up to a

Arcane Powershot blew past Ell’Hakan who tried to dodge it, but he still took a minor injury as it passed, though he avoided slowing down. The second and third Arcane Powershots he entirely dodged, with the fourth one once more resulting in him getting a nasty cut, but the fifth one was a bit different... mainly because the fifth and sixth were nearly

force behind it, resulting in the second arrow catching up to the first one mid-flight. Ell’Hakan dodged the first one as expected, but the second that had been hiding in the

with a nasty wound on his forearm, the arrow having been powerful enough to penetrate into the bone before exploding, leaving