The Primal Hunter

Jake stood back along with the three others as they allowed the Sword Saint to do his thing. More than seventy combatants remained, and despite being on opposing sides, they had teamed up to face this one swordsman. Nevertheless, the outcome was clear.

Rain fell from the sky, every droplet piercing into their barriers and shields. The swordsman himself fought them in a simplistic fashion as he moved swiftly between foes, never giving them any chance to surround him or catch him out in a vulnerable position.

Even when his sword swings didn’t manage to leave injuries, the piercing rain did. These tens of thousands of small piercing droplets fell every second, making them simply impossible to block. The water itself, even when blocked, also contained the concept of time, weighing and slowing down everyone the more soaked they got. Moreover, Jake knew this was only the first part of the old man’s mythical skill, an extremely powerful move for sure.

The only big downside was that to use this skill, the old man had to be fighting alone… not because it was a requirement, but because it would strike everything and everyone in the area indiscriminately.

When about sixty enemies remained, the Sword Saint used the next move. The rain began to slow down before stopping in mid-air while the old man floated backwards as he took a stance, pointing the blade toward the ground and grasping it with both hands as he knelt. With a slow movement, he began to move the blade upwards, the floating droplets doing the same.

“Rain of Time: Reversal.”

Instantly, he swung upwards, the raindrops following along. The ground below was torn up as every single droplet reversed in time and pierced toward the sky, as it looked like the old man had just swung a blade dozens of kilometers long and wide.

Every single person caught in it was cut up, many of them ripped apart altogether by the powerful strike. Only about twenty of the most powerful C-grades remained, all having used powerful defensive skills or hidden items to survive.

It was the same skill the old man had already shown off quite a number of times before. It had been the mythical skill he gained in D-grade that had downgraded to legendary when he evolved… a downgrade that had now been reversed. Because the old man had upgraded it back up to mythical once more, as the skill was no longer finished even after this move.

Rather than use the skill to restore a bit of the used resources, he activated a second part. Pointing his blade toward the clouds above made of pure water, he spoke once more.

“Rain of Time: Thousand Blades Descent.”

All of the rain that had fallen coalesced into blades far up in the sky as the Sword Saint swung down once more. Every single blade of water descended with his strike, and rather than simply flying straight down, they each aimed for the still-living combatants.

The poor twenty or so survivors tried to defend themselves but were unable to as each was already injured. Limbs were sent flying as every single one of them was cut apart, and many of the blades of water were colored red with blood as they continued down and pierced into the ground, penetrating the rocky ground for dozens of meters as the terrain itself began to look like swiss cheese. Definitely not a good sight for anyone with trypophobia.

Breathing heavily, the old man sheathed his sword before flying back toward the group, looking pretty damn tired. As he got closer, Jake couldn’t help but yell:

“Six hundred and thirty-seven!”

“What?” the Sword Saint responded as he soon reached them, looking quite confused.

“You said there were a thousand blades, but I only counted six hundred and thirty-seven,” Jake said as he shook his head in disappointment. “That’s just false advertising right there.”

“Really?” the old man responded with a tired sigh.

“I call it as I see it,” Jake shrugged and smirked.

“Don’t you have a skill called One Step, Thousand Miles? I’m positively confident I have yet to see you ever travel even a hundred miles in a single step using that skill, much less a thousand,” the Sword Saint shot back.

“In my defense, I use the skill with a focus on quick activation over range… plus, I didn’t make that skill; it’s a set upgrade path. You made that skill, so the name should at least be accurate. Also, all of my other skills do as advertised,” Jake said with confidence, as all of his arcane arrow skills were indeed made of arcane arrows.

“Do you not possess a skill called Sagacity of the Malefic Viper? That, too, is a lie, as I see no sage before me,” the Fallen King decided to team up with the old man to attack Jake.

“Of the Malefic Viper. He is the sage, not me,” Jake said, deciding to change the subject, considering he was getting mercilessly attacked from two directions at once. Looking at the Sword Saint, he asked what they were all thinking. “Anyway, did you get the level?”

“I did indeed,” the old man politely accepted the change of subject as he nodded.

The reason the old man had handled this small battlefield alone was for him to get one more level before the final fight with the Twinhead Ogre. He had been level 289 in his class and, with this level, had gotten a new skill selection.

A few of the others had also gotten over this breakpoint, but sadly for Jake, he was still a bit behind. Not to say he hadn’t also made some good progress.

*’DING!’ Class: [Arcane Hunter of Horizon’s Edge] has reached level 285 - Stat points allocated, +50 Free Points*

…

*’DING!’ Class: [Arcane Hunter of Horizon’s Edge] has reached level 287 - Stat points allocated, +50 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (C)] has reached level 274 - Stat points allocated, +45 Free Points*

This was for the entire floor, mind you. Getting three levels was good for sure, but he had gotten less than the others simply because this particular floor didn’t suit his Path that well. Jake wasn’t made for big wars or conflicts; he was instead far more specialized in hunting down powerful singular individuals. In truth, Jake’s Path also wasn’t super well-suited for group combat in general but was better made for lone hunting.

“Any update on the Twin Emperors?” Dina asked as the Sword Saint went off to the side to focus on his skill selection.

“They are collecting their bone spheres pretty quickly,” Jake answered with a smile as he stopped thinking sad thoughts about his own relative lack of levels. “At least, I guess that’s what they’re doing when they go to all the different battlefields.”

“Ree?” Sylphie inquired.

“Yeah, we should have time. If they keep up this speed, collecting them all will take two weeks more at most,” Jake responded as he focused on the two Hunter’s Marks he had placed on the bosses.

In preparation for the final fight, they naturally needed to know where this ritual would be taking place. Finding this location had once more been tasked to Jake as he was the scout of the party and, quite frankly, just the best at it.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

He had marked one of the Twin Emperors and followed him to the meeting place of the two bosses. This meeting point was in the middle of nowhere, but when Jake used a Pulse, he understood. A massive magic circle was put there, hidden beneath the ground itself, likely buried using the earth-bending powers of the shaman Twin Emperor.

Watching the two of them meet up had been pretty damn boring, but he did notice something interesting. When the two Twin Emperors were close to one another, both their bodies seemed to warp a bit, and as he had a Mark on them, he saw their Soulshapes shudder ever-so-slightly. Their very souls wanted to merge back together, but the two ogres did some simple-looking magic, stabilizing their souls before the two exchanged some words Jake couldn’t hear before they both went home again.

As they left, Jake made sure to refresh his Hunter’s Mark on both. Partly to check how long the marks would last and to keep track of the two ogres. Well, Jake turned out to be pretty lucky, as his mark lasted more than an entire month, which coincidentally was also the time between the ogres meeting up. It was a bit annoying that he had to go re-mark them every month, but luckily, he only had to do it a few times before the floor would be over. There hadn’t been that many months left, after all.

Marking them turned out to be a great idea, as when they cleared one of the last few battlefields, both Twin Emperors started to make their move. They began to go to all the old and abandoned battlefields one by one, sometimes even returning to where the giant ritual circle was in between gathering a bunch.

By now, pretty much all the bone spheres were gathered. Jake and company had also just cleared out the final active battlefield, which meant it was time for the next step in their plan.

“Let’s make our way toward the ritual circle so we can begin to set things up there,” the Sword Saint said with a nod.

“How far was it again?” the Fallen King questioned.

“Just four days with Sylphie assisting us,” the old man responded.

“Ree!” Sylphie said, always happy to help as the wind began to gather around them. The Sword Saint was a bit worse for wear after using his flashy and powerful mythical skill that Jake totally wasn’t jealous of. He could only reverse rain and create a torrent of falling swords; how was that even impressive? Jake could stare at people really menacingly, which was definitely way cooler.

Flying toward the ritual site, the five of them spoke a bit and went over their plans once more as the Sword Saint also shared a bit about the new skill he had unlocked. It was a defensive one that allowed him to shift his location in space back a second or two while summoning a water clone where he had been standing prior, allowing him to dodge attacks…

So, yeah, a shittier version of Eternal Shadow. Jake’s skill was definitely better there, especially considering the old man’s skill was only of ancient rarity.

As expected, they arrived at the ritual site just a bit under four days later. Jake released a pulse to inspect the place, and as expected, he found over a hundred totem bone spheres sealed beneath the ground at different focus points of the magic circle. Using his knowledge of ritual magic, he could also see that the two ogres needed just twenty more spheres, and they should be good to go.

“How much time left till we’re kicked out of Nevermore?” Jake asked the Sword Saint, wanting to make sure they indeed had enough time.

“A bit less than a month.” The Sword Saint answered. “As long as the Twin Emperors are as fast as you expected, we should have at least two weeks left when they get here. That should give us time for them to finish whatever preparations they need to begin the ritual.”

“There aren’t any further preparations, not really,” Jake said after he was done looking at the ritual circle. “It’s fully complete already… has been for a long time. It just needed its batteries to get powered up.”

“Hm,” the Sword Saint frowned. “Do we still have time to-“

“Yeah, I already got it all planned out in my head,” Jake grinned as he looked at the old man. “I will need your help, of course.”

“Alright, then let’s get to work,” the Sword Saint nodded in agreement as the two of them went down toward the ritual circle that the Twinhead Ogre had totally forgotten to put a “don’t touch” sign on.

Meanwhile, Dina began her preparations as she spread seeds throughout the surrounding plains. The Fallen King also made sure he had all his weird golden spheres for recovery. In truth, he and Sylphie didn’t have many things to prepare, as they just made sure to be in absolute peak condition for when Twinhead Ogre appeared… because if one thing was sure, then it was that the following fight wouldn’t be easy.

The two ogres arrived at the ritual site at approximately the same time. They spotted each other from afar and gave knowing looks before they began depositing the Totem Bone Spheres in their assigned spots. Getting everything in place only took about half an hour, a bit quicker than usual, as this time, they didn’t have to be careful and keep everything hidden.

In fact, they began to unearth the entire formation as the soil was turned over, revealing the complex magic circle the two of them had carved into the ground before they had split into two. It was the final thing the two of them had done before splitting up; their final joint project.

Now… now they would never work together again. As the final preparations were made, the two of them came together in the center of the circle. The place where they would absorb all the death and curse energy from the ritual to uplift their existence, hopefully getting enough Records to evolve to B-grade and finally get off the Vast Plateau.

“So, it has finally come to this,” the Left Twin Emperor said as he stood there with his staff, staring at his counterpart. The person whom he had once been one with… and now wished to get rid of permanently.

“It’s the only way. Neither of us wishes to become one again, and without unity, we would never be capable of evolving anyway,” the Right Twin Emperor said, as he already had a hand on his sword, which he rested on his shoulder.

There could only be one ending… and they both knew it. One of them had to perish, and each had plans to rid themselves of the other. They also both knew what the other one planned, as the closer they both got to the end of this ordeal, the harder it became to hide their true intentions. So, rather than try and plan behind the other’s back, everything was now out in the open.

One would use a cursed seal to remove the consciousness and free will of his former second half, while the other would simply kill part of the soul of the other Twin Emperor. Both were cruel methods, but neither blamed the other… to do so would simply be too hypocritical.

Besides, neither of them truly hated one another. This was simply their fate. They had tasted the forbidden fruit of independence, and this was the price they had to pay if they wished to ever continue progressing. It would weaken the winner significantly compared to if they simply fully merged once more, but that was a sacrifice that had to be made.

“May the best one win,” the Left Twin Emperor said as his aura began to spike.

“And the loser never forgotten,” the Right Twin Emperor responded, as he also pushed his aura.

Their two presences clashed with one another as they began to enter a battle of wills. An actual fight would only result in destroying the surrounding magic circle while weakening the eventual winner, making pulling off the ritual more difficult.

Instead, they would battle it out with their souls. They were both already at an identical wavelength and power level, meaning neither had any innate advantage. The winner would instead be the one with the great will to win and live on as his own entity – and likely also the one with the highest chances of evolving afterward.

The presences clashed and intertwined, as neither got an advantage. Around them, the ritual began to activate as planned, empowering both of them at the same time with both the power of curses and death. The end result of the ritual would be that only one remained, as everything would be decided soon. Their souls were already half-merged, the process no longer able to be stopped.

Yet, just then, something unplanned happened. Something unexpected.

Another aura entered the mix. A third presence made itself known, seemingly appearing out of nowhere as the sky above was covered in an unfamiliar yet recognizable energy. The energy of curses… but one far more powerful than anything their ritual was dealing with.

For a moment, their clash stopped as both looked up. A shadowy figure had appeared, floating in the sky surrounded by rolling clouds of pure curse energy, staring down at them and the ritual circle with pure hunger.

“I knew I smelled something… delicious,” the being said, as a voice echoed.

The pure hunger intensified as the two Twin Emperors both used Identify at the same time, and their eyes opened wide when they saw the creature that had appeared.

[Lord of Hunger – lvl 345]

Neither knew how this had happened and in their state of clashing souls and intertwined existences, they both knew what the other one was thinking. They had somehow attracted a powerful creature none of them had known about… perhaps they even had a hand in giving birth to it.

“A worthy feast,” the being spoke once more as a shadowy hand was raised.

Both Twin Emperors felt the bone spheres begin to react. The creature was trying to absorb the curse energy within them, devouring everything they had worked for. What’s more, they both also experienced pure bloodlust and knew that the being was not going to stop at simply reaping the fruits of their labor. As soon as it had eaten the spheres, they would be next.

As they were in the middle of the ritual circle already, and their state was that of being half-merged, the Twin Emperors faced a choice… and for the first time in a long time, neither held any doubt what the best decision would be. Stopping the merging could not be done, and what did it matter to obtain independence if they would die anyway?

Better to try and find another solution and not die facing this cursed creature. And to do that, they would need to be at their most powerful state. With determination, their unity was restored as their souls came together, rebirthing the Twinhead Emperor once more.