The Primal Hunter

Chapter 1028: Jake Thayne vs Ell'Hakan (5) As the sun set, a lot of things happened at once. Jake found himself trapped as the pillar of pure sun energy descended upon him, with seemingly no time to get away... so he made a gamble. Right before the sunbeam hit, his body split in two as a shadowy version of Jake shot out of the area the sunbeam was in, unaffected by the remnant energy left by the fire chains.

It was an often forgotten feature as Jake didn’t use it often, but the Origin of Eternal Shadow still had roots in Shadow Vault, retaining the ability to vault out of danger as per the description:

“Upon activation of Eternal Shadow of the Primal Hunter, this skill allows both the Eternal Shadow and the Primal Hunter to embrace the shadows momentarily, vaulting in any chosen direction.”

This allowed the Eternal Shadow to escape just as Jake was hit by the Sundown beam... and he was hit hard. Jake’s scales nearly immediately exploded as they were overcharged with energy, and the skin below burnt away in an instant, with Jake feeling as if his entire body was beginning to disintegrate.

As his form was wholly consumed by the beam, and not even a second from when he knew Moment of the Primal Hunter would forcibly activate – even if he tried to stop it from doing so as he was currently - Ell’Hakan’s gaze was finally no longer on him due to the immense brightness.

Jake acted instantly and activated Eternal Shadow again as he switched places with his other half, the clone instantly getting destroyed as Jake appeared outside where the beam hit. Despite replacing his reality with the one of Eternal Shadow’s, remnant sun energy still lingered in Jake’s soul as he felt hot throughout, but he couldn’t give it much thought as he focused on rapidly ascending upwards as he initiated his stealth skill.

This was something Jake had theorized long ago and now finally put into practice, though not exactly as he had imagined. Jake’s stealth skill was extremely powerful, but it relied on this opponent not knowing where Jake was when he activated it. Needless to say, that made it pretty challenging to use in the middle of combat... but what if he had a way to make his opponents lose track of him? Perhaps even make his opponent assume he was “someone” else?

That’s what Jake had considered... replacing himself with his clone to then gain distance and enter stealth before his opponent noticed the real him. It was still hard to pull off, but Ell’Hakan had given Jake the perfect opportunity.

Even as Jake rapidly used One Step to get height, thus exiting the emotion-detection range of Ell’Hakan, the nahoom still hadn’t noticed Jake as the sunbeam lasted a lot longer than Jake had thought it would. Also, even if Jake had dodged it and was now getting height, he was still affected by the immense heat it gave off, but the sunlight was impressively focused in the beam, meaning Ell’Hakan had a lot more control than Jake would expect, considering the sheer scale and power of the attack.

If he’d taken the beam head-on, Jake genuinely couldn’t ensure his own survival, even if he tried to use barriers and whatnot. Only with Moment or Eternal Shadow did Jake have a good method of escape, and Jake could only admire the fact that Ell’Hakan could unleash such a skill.

He had clearly earned the title as one of the most powerful people of their generation... but Jake was determined to prove himself the strongest once and for all.

As the Sundown beam slowly faded away, Jake’s stealth skill finally activated, and he disappeared entirely. Yet he kept going up for a little while longer until he felt like it was good enough. Once there, he turned his attention toward the nahoom below who was looking into the massive hole created by the beam.

Jake felt it then... this was his chance. Without a moment’s hesitation, Jake pulled out his special Eternal Hunger arrow and nocked it before taking aim at the Usurper below. Arcane Powershot started charging as Jake kept breathing heavily despite the pain, the heat having caused quite a lot of internal damage.

Ell’Hakan was unaware. He simply kept watching out for Jake, who he likely assumed to be down in the burning hole. Jake honestly didn’t know why but assumed that, but perhaps some of the curse energy still lingered down there for a while longer, giving off Jake’s aura.

The nahoom even consumed a potion, recovering slightly for the next round of the fight. One could say a lot of things about Ell’Hakan, but he certainly hadn’t underestimated Jake. Even after such an attack, he moved forward with the conclusion Jake was still going to continue being a massive threat he had to stay prepared for.

However, no preparation could prepare him for Jake doing something Ell’Hakan didn’t even know Jake was capable of.

Soon enough, Jake felt the strain on his body as the Arcane Powershot couldn’t be charged more. Even so, he pushed it just a little further as his shoulders began burning from the destructive arcane energy, and the bow he’d upgraded way back just before Nevermore looked like it couldn’t handle much more.

It was time.

Go.

Jake let go of the string as the Eternal Hunger arrow exploded downwards, hidden by his stealth skill. Ell’Hakan was none the wiser as he still stood there expecting Jake to be below and not above. ɽ??∅?Ëṣ

Only when it was too late did Ell’Hakan react. The nahoom moved his head to the side at the very last moment, avoiding getting struck on top of his head as he tried to tilt his body. Right as he began moving, Jake used Primal Gaze, but it didn’t even look like Ell’Hakan noticed as Eternal Hunger’s curse energy flooded the area right before it hit him.

as the large spear-like construct continued all the way through. As it passed through Ell’Hakan, immense amounts of curse

the mythical weapon gone as it flew out of the Usurper around his thigh area. In its wake, it left all the

the entire mythical weapon instantly disappeared rather than crash into the ground, reappearing far up in the sky above, held in Jake’s hand. His shoulders were

he’d moved to avoid Jake shooting him from within the hole, he ended up landing beside the new major geographical

a break as he floated down. While descending, Jake also took the Eternal Hunger spear and held it in front of him as he grasped the arrow’s tip and body. With a good twist and yank, he broke off the speartip and a small part of the handle, holding it as the

where someone was looking but found nothing. Frowning, Jake tried to identify the source of what observed him, but as this observer didn’t appear to hold any malice, Jake decided not to let himself be distracted as he landed only ten meters

breaths and saw the utterly destroyed body on the ground. The arrow had removed more than a third of Ell’Hakan’s entire body mass in one go and, due to its travel path, even blown one of his arms and legs off at the shoulder

wasn’t to mention the curse energy pulsating from his body and the smell of rot from the Heartrot poison infecting every part of him that remained. Looking down at him, Jake sighed as he lifted his hand and prepared to use Touch of

rightful place, this narrative is not

to see the fight end like this snuck into his mind, but Jake quickly shook it off. While he had enjoyed a good fight, he knew this could only have one conclusion. With the sun gone and under the light of

he didn’t even register himself falling and landing hard on the rocky ground below. He was only vaguely aware that he had been hit with an

every passing second as he desperately struggled. Despite all his efforts, getting rid of the hunger was simply too difficult as it tied into too many other emotions, and the pain was needed as a reminder of what was happening to him... but he

he could barely move. Curse and poison were coursing through his body, tearing him apart in

of the only things keeping him even halfway stable, but he knew that at any point,

made it evident what he was there to

Ell’Hakan had done all the preparations he could, never once slacked off or allowed

get bored or discouraged, but instead actively amplified all the positive emotions he felt while doing it to keep himself motivated and engaged. He had

I can’t.

his planet enter him, the trust in his victory from all who had chosen his side in the conflict spread throughout

he struggled, his emotions overflowed and coalesced as a notification appeared before his

Child (Legendary)] --> [Myth of the Celestial Child

it simply wasn’t enough. It was like pouring oil on an already extinguished candle, and all it ended up doing was prolonging how long he would last. Perhaps it would allow

Ell’Hakan read his emotions for what may be the final time, he was surprised to find a hint of regret in there. He tried to amplify this emotion, tried to make the hunter decide not to finish him off... but how foolish was it to try and make a hunter go

when Ell’Hakan felt an emotion he had expected even

Pity.

what Ell’Hakan knew to be Touch of the Malefic Viper, making all the poison

into Ell’Hakan’s mind as he let go of all the control he had over his own psyche. He remembered growing up on the streets after his parents abandoned him. Remembered as he tried

as his life flashed before his eyes. His escape from the streets had not been a lucky one, but quite the opposite. He’d been captured by the guards after trying to steal water and was punished with enslavement and to join the slave army as the small kingdom

his naturally gifted physique and talent for battle, he

it wasn’t just his own emotions he could affect. He started out small, making the army cook give him an extra meal here and there, had the blacksmith ensure

commander to the general, he began to influence the military from within. He spread half-truths and lies that were to his advantage, easily convincing others of anything he wanted to as he kept pushing the limits. Emotions and memories were so tightly tied that as long as he could make anyone believe something was possible, he could make them

made to believe he had never been a slave in the first place. He was praised by all and brought to the capital of the kingdom, who at the time ruled the city they even called the capital now. There, he was met with nobles and royalty, beings that he had once thought were unapproachable beings, but now they were like clay in his hands for him to manipulate as he so desired. The people who’d looked down on him like vermin were now seeing him as if he was truly worthy of being with them, which only

but every faction on the planet was to worship the sun and the moons. This religion was a remnant from a very long time ago when his planet had been united as one. During

all crumbled. It was called a punishment from the sun and stars, but later, Ell’Hakan learned

when the world was united, it had been done by someone who was viewed as a living god. A being no one could question, as he was the