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.

It took the nahoom a moment, but eventually, he gave chase. Jake took advantage of this, including the fact they were moving down a tunnel, as he spun around and blanketed the entire space in explosive arrows, the tunnel too narrow for Ell’Hakan to fully escape the explosions.

In contrast, Jake dodged all the beams Ell’Hakan sent his way, using the 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 entirely, instead just yelling down the tunnel.

“If you wished to change the venue of battle, you could have merely asked,” he said in a confident voice. “But I shall interpret your actions to mean such a thing is your wish... in that case, let’s meet once more on the surface. Ah, but don’t be too long.”

Jake had released a very quick Arcane Powershot before instantly following up with another that had slightly more 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 trail of the first struck him head-on, blasting Ell’Hakan downward as he’d only managed to block with his arm at the very last moment.

Still, despite taking a heavy hit, Ell’Hakan quickly began ascending once more, now with a nasty wound on his forearm, the arrow having been powerful enough to penetrate into the bone before exploding, leaving much of the flesh mangled or gone.

He ended up taking a few more hits while approaching Jake, the difference when it came to ultra-ranged combat quite evident. While Ell’Hakan did launch a few sunbeams and whatnot, Jake easily dodged all of them, and even if they hit, they would be significantly weakened due to the distance. They did look pretty as they lit up the night sky, though.

Sadly for Jake, Ell’Hakan would soon get close enough to close the distance with a single dash, at which point Jake’s window of opportunity would close. Still, he expected to get off a few more arrows... until Ell’Hakan changed things up.

Right as Jake nocked an arrow, he noticed a change in his surroundings. Shafts of light appeared in the night sky, and Jake was momentarily confused, as it was still the middle of the night... yet he saw the warm rays of the sun wash the dew of night away.

Ell’Hakan had stopped flying and instead only walked forward, each of his steps heavy despite being in mid-air. As the light intensified, Jake felt the heat get worse as Ell’Hakan spoke.

“Sunrise.”

On the far horizon, the sun fully dawned as light filled the skies as if it was truly morning. Jake genuinely stared at it looked so real that Jake couldn’t tell the difference, almost as if Ell’Hakan had truly willed the sun to rise. Logically, he knew no C-grade was capable of causing such a phenomenon, but that didn’t make what Ell’Hakan did any less impressive.

Jake wasn’t sure if it could even be called a domain skill, but what Ell’Hakan had done was similar to when the Sword Saint summoned his rain, though it was clear whatever Ell’Hakan did was at a far higher level both conceptually and power-wise.

Anyway, while Jake would have loved to theorize what exactly Ell’Hakan had done, he didn’t exactly have the time to do so. The scorching sun on the horizon released powerful rays that burned Jake, making him happy he already had his scales active.

What’s more, it was clear the sunlight affected Ell’Hakan differently. Jake saw his mangled arm begin to slowly heal as the sun licked his wounds, infusing it with life. The nahoom smiled, basking in the sunlight as he regarded Jake and spoke loudly due to the distance.

“You truly are full of surprises getting up here so fast... but seeing as your wings are gone, I assume it had something to with those? Some form of long-range teleportation skill?” Ell’Hakan asked while theorizing out loud. “No? Oh, it was an escape skill, wasn’t it? Can it be used immediately again, or is it not something you expect to do again during this fight?”

Jake wondered for a second why Ell’Hakan bothered asking questions he would never get any answer to until he realized...

Motherfucker.

Jake cursed internally, knowing Ell’hakan was reading Jake’s subconscious emotional response to the bastard’s questions, something Jake obviously wasn’t a fan of, as it meant Ell’Hakan got his answers simply by asking the question.

So, before he could continue yapping away, Jake restarted the battle without a single word, Ell’Hakan ready as he stood there with his trident drawn, his silhouette outlined by the rising sun behind him as the day had only just begun.