The primal hunter 14 a l.., p.33
The Primal Hunter 14: A LitRPG Adventure, page 33
Even as the elementals got more powerful, they kept avoiding Jake, who was still speeding up with every passing moment. His stable arcane energy once more proved its incredible power against environmental mana as he continued descending toward the core.
Sometimes, cruel coincidences—assuming these were coincidences—just happened... and what went down on Ell’Hakan’s homeworld was one such event. Or perhaps it was luck. No matter what, time would prove who it truly benefited.
Not even five minutes after Jake dove into the volcano, the teleporter in the capital city on the planet lit up, and out walked Ell’Hakan, a serious look on his face. Without hesitation, he headed for the throne room, sending messages to his generals along the way, and by the time he got there, most of them had also arrived.
“Report,” he said immediately, frankly having little idea what was going on... but by the expressions on his followers’ faces, things weren’t good. They also all felt nervous telling him, but they nevertheless did as ordered.
“My Lord...” the general began. “Only a scarce few minutes ago, attacks descended upon the planet from beyond the skies. Arrows…” Ell’Hakan’s eyes opened wide. “They struck several cities, and although there is not yet a death toll—”
“Are the attacks still ongoing?” Ell’Hakan questioned.
“They are widespread and less frequent now, but they seem different from those prior,” the general continued explaining. “We have fortified all defenses where relevant.”
Ell’Hakan nodded while in thought. The Chosen of the Malefic Viper had attacked far faster than he’d expected. What’s more, he hadn’t expected the Hunter to teleport straight to his planet and begin destroying the surface. It was so odd he even momentarily doubted whether it was the Chosen, but as he had the generals elaborate further, he became certain it was him.
The Chosen of the Malefic Viper didn’t seem like the type who cared for causing civil unrest or killing the general populace, yet it didn’t take Ell’Hakan long to conclude why he had launched those attacks. Nor did it take him long to realize why he’d stopped.
He was trying to bait me out... and when I didn’t show, he slowed down. Likely to conserve resources. That means the occasional attacks hitting now are just probing shots to still try and lure me.
It was almost too obvious, but Ell’Hakan could see many falling for it. The Chosen knew Ell’Hakan gained power from his followers, so targeting them was almost like directly attacking him. Ell’Hakan also considered going out in the open but stopped himself.
He was more confident than ever before, but he also knew that overconfidence was a great way to get yourself killed, and even a liogara should use its full strength when hunting a tooth-snapper... and the Hunter was no mere tooth-snapper. The Hunter was just that—a hunter. He’d also clearly shown his ability to launch attacks from orbit, and the generals informed him that many of the attacks weren’t fully visible before they struck the ground, making it evident powerful stealth skills were also at work.
It wasn’t a stretch to assume he had quite a welcome ready for Ell’Hakan. One that the nahoom would be fine with skipping, which was why he ultimately chose to stay put within the palace for now.
The capital’s barrier, alongside the extra defenses on the palace itself, would make it very unwise for the Hunter to attack by breaking through those first. He was also surrounded by the generals who remained on the planet and had quite a few competent fighters on standby.
Admittedly, most were spread throughout the galaxy to maintain order during the “truce” that had just ended with the death of his former Patron. And judging by the incoming reports from his generals, they were also dealing with quite the mess themselves, as the forces of the Chosen’s planet had begun to make their move.
Ell’Hakan sighed. Things had gotten messy quickly, and the time required for the Usurper Ritual had had a far bigger impact than he could have expected. However, chaos was also a strong anvil for one to forge themselves into something more powerful. It would be a good test for his followers, and even if they all fell, he still had his backup plan handy.
Of course, in the end, he resolved himself to implement the simplest solution of all. Yip of Yore had feared the multiversal consequences of pissing off large factions, but Ell’Hakan didn’t have any of those concerns.
The Holy Church would bear all burdens and consequences. Besides, this was something that had been in the making for a long while. Ell’Hakan still remembered the emotions he’d sensed from the Chosen of the Malefic Viper during the Nevermore after-party, and even if he’d tried to hide it with his acting and the fact he couldn’t use his Bloodline during their most recent meeting, Ell’Hakan was sure… even more now than an hour ago…
No matter how long passed, the Chosen of the Malefic Viper was determined to kill him. Seeing as they couldn’t live under the same sky, the only real solution was indeed the simplest one:
To kill the Hunter before he had the chance to kill him, and now was a time better than any, as Ell’Hakan had never felt stronger. Plus... they were on his home turf. Now, he just had to wait… because while he believed the Chosen of the Viper had a way to teleport to the planet, he also felt pretty damn confident he didn’t have an undetectable way back unless he used the Prima Vessel. A Vessel that now dwelt in the basement beneath the very throne room he was waiting in.
Jake broke through another tough stone wall and entered yet another long tunnel leading straight down. After flying for a bit, he spotted another shortcut and used his Alchemical Flame to quickly burn a hole in the wall, revealing a sea of magma on the other side that instantly began to pour out.
Entering the newly created hole, Jake used the magma chamber and its connected chambers to reach even further down. There were a few C-grade elementals just above level 300 in this large magma sea, but none attacked Jake as he flew by.
Breaking another wall, he entered a new, magma-free cavern that seemed to stretch quite far down, letting him speed up even more as he flew. A large rock beetle was lying in wait beneath the ground in the passageway, but when Jake zipped past and flared his aura, the beetle remained still, more likely than not hoping Jake hadn’t noticed it in hiding.
A few more caverns and tunnels later, he finally spotted the big, empty space he’d been looking for at the edge of his Pulse. It was just ahead, and based on how far he’d traveled, the distance seemed right. Speeding up even more and passing through a final tunnel, Jake found his destination: the large, open space in front of him.
Entering the core chamber, Jake finally stopped and calmed himself. He saw the floating Planetary Pylon right there in the middle, pulsing with power and the familiar presence of Ell’Hakan, making it evident he had claimed it.
Even as he floated there, he felt his emotions being messed with. Gritting his teeth, Jake was more determined than ever.
“Should have placed actual defenses at the core,” Jake muttered, his gaze cold as he prepared to get to work. For a long time, he’d considered how he would go about something like this, but not this time. No, this time, he had a very good idea of what he planned... and a sweet new skill to test out in the process.
Chapter 37
Bargain & Choice
Jake surveyed the core room a while longer to get a proper understanding of the environment. After having done so, he got to work by making a simple set of magic circles to facilitate what was to come.
Now, Jake had long considered how he could fuck with a Planetary Core, and the most obvious answer was the mythical Sin weapon he carried around. Using Eternal Hunger, Jake didn’t doubt he would be able to destroy an entire planet using his current ritual magic skills, but… he wasn’t dealing with a Planetary Core right now.
Cores were unclaimed. Natural. Seeing as they were part of the environment, they didn’t possess any innate will or intent, which made them a lot weaker to outside influence. It was like the difference between a natural stone wall, and a stone wall summoned by a mage to block an attack.
Once the Planetary Core became a Planetary Pylon, its defenses were heightened to an entirely new level. Someone like the Child of Loss wouldn’t be able to do much to a Planetary Pylon, as it would passively fight back according to the will of the owner, and that wasn’t a fight any C-grade had a chance of winning.
Jake also knew that Touch of the Malefic Viper wouldn’t be enough. This isn’t to say Jake didn’t have any methods in mind, of course. Given enough time and a complex enough ritual, Jake should be able to slowly influence the Pylon, though, again, it wouldn’t be a fast endeavor.
Perhaps this was why Ell’Hakan hadn’t bothered much with placing defenses at the Pylon. He didn’t expect anyone to be able to cause it any harm, especially not before he would notice. As the owner, he would naturally be notified the second anyone messed with it, putting any long-term ritual at risk. The only times such rituals tended to be useful were when the World Leader was missing or out of commission, neither of which was true here.
All of this is to say that just killing Ell’Hakan had been Jake’s primary goal for a reason. Now, things had changed, and he now had the confidence to take on the Pylon due to a certain new skill.
As a reminder, when Jake reached level 260 in his profession, he’d gotten the skill called Chosen’s Offering of the Malefic Viper—a skill he hadn’t touched a single time since getting it despite its legendary rarity. The reason for this was because of the other skill he’d been offered alongside it… which he had just picked after reaching level 290 during his Villy roasting session above Primordial-4.
[Heretic’s Offering of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)] – To infringe upon the domain of the Malefic Viper and rob the Primordial’s Records is a great achievement. Allows the Alchemist to make an offering to the Malefic Viper and be granted an Offering Fragment. Based on the value of the innate Records in the offering, you will be rewarded with a better Offering Fragment. The Offering Fragment contains Records and energy related to the Malefic Viper and can help empower other sources of Records and energy related to the Malefic Viper. All offerings must surpass a certain threshold to be submittable, and to hide your heretical actions from the Malefic One, there is an internal cooldown of the skill dependent on the value of the Offering Fragment received.
It was a skill practically identical to Chosen’s Offering of the Malefic Viper, except for some changes in wording and whatnot. What the skill would do was effectively allow Jake to offer stuff to Villy and get a catalyst for alchemy in return. At least, that was how he read it.
Jake had very purposefully not used the Chosen’s Offering skill because he assumed doing so would mean losing the ability to pick the Heretic’s Offering one. Alright, there’d been a risk he would be cut off from the other skill merely by picking the first one, but things had gone the way he’d hoped.
Especially after he picked the second one… and what he’d hoped for had happened. The two legendary skills that were so damn alike they might as well have been one turned out to indeed be part of a greater whole. Well, Jake assumed they were, based on how they’d instantly merged with one another. This merging of skills had given Jake something with a function he couldn’t quite understand, but it had to be good based on the fact it was mythical. Right?
[Divine Bargain of the Malefic Viper (Mythical)] – In your eyes, to make an offering is an act of subservience you refuse to take part in. No, to you, the Malefic One is an equal you deem yourself worthy of bargaining with. Allows the Heretic-Chosen to initiate a Divine Bargain using an entity he wishes to use for negotiation, forcibly creating an equal exchange between himself and the Malefic Viper. Upon successfully performing a Divine Bargain, the Heretic-Chosen will, by default, receive a Malefic Bargaining Fragment but may be granted other benefits based on the nature of the Divine Bargain. Malefic Bargaining Fragments contain Records and energy related to the Malefic Viper and can help empower other sources of Records and energy related to the Malefic Viper. Under certain conditions, the Malefic One can actively take part in the Divine Bargaining. Laws of equivalent exchange must be upheld to a certain standard. All bargained entities must surpass a certain threshold of Records to be submittable. This skill has an internal cooldown based on the nature of the Divine Bargain performed.
Right off the bat, it was a really long skill description. Jake did like it a lot more than the previous ones, though. Divine Bargain also sounded a lot more appealing than making an offering, as it was something one did between equals. Well, as equal as a god and mortal could become, anyway.
As for the skill itself, it was indeed quite complex, but it had the same concept as the offering ones for the most part. It would allow Jake to give Villy stuff, and Villy would give him a Malefic Bargaining Shard back in return, at least most of the time. With this version, he could also get other benefits, it seemed, though neither the system nor the innate knowledge he’d been granted told him what these other benefits were.
What the innate knowledge did let him know was how to do a Divine Bargain. More accurately, it let him know how many ways there were to do it. It also included what he could offer and do with the skill. As he studied the innate knowledge, he also realized that the skill had some rather unbalanced features, in his humble opinion, one of which would become clear once he was done setting up his ritual in the core chamber.
He also felt as if his decision not to use the skill had been good based on the first section of the description. At least, it would have been very weird if it spoke about not agreeing to give offerings if he had actually used the skill before. Getting stuck with just the Chosen’s Offering skill would have sucked majorly, and more likely than not, even ended up hurting Jake’s Path as a Heretic-Chosen down the line, as merely possessing the skill could be viewed as an act of subservience.
Oh, also, small side note… Jake found it really funny that both Chosen’s Offering and Heretic’s Offering had actual explanations for the skill’s cooldown period. Meanwhile, with the Divine Bargain, the system just straight-up told him it had a cooldown, borderline admitting it was entirely system-imposed and nothing else. Then again, based on all his talks with Villy, the system likely had its reasons for placing such a cooldown on a skill, and he should actually be happy he couldn’t use it constantly, as doing so would have fucked him up long-term somehow.
Anyway, there was still a lot to unpack with the skill, and Jake felt like it would need quite a few uses to fully understand it. For now, he had to prepare to initiate his first Divine Bargain, which was why he needed a ritual circle.
Starting a Divine Bargain wasn’t as simple as pointing at something and going, “Villy, I’ve come to bargain!” You had to actually set up the proper conditions. The simplest way of doing this was to set up a ritual circle, but a permanent altar or something like that would also work, a bit like how Miranda had her permanent ritual site below her office in Haven.
Jake preferred to just go the ritual route, though, primarily because he was actually pretty good at rituals by now. Continuing to work on the ritual circles, he prepared to create a spherical magic circle wrapped around the Planetary Pylon to initiate everything.
Now… it had already been established that a C-grade couldn’t realistically destroy a Pylon. Jake couldn’t destroy one either, but he knew instinctively he could bargain with it. Of course, it wasn’t as simple as just initiating the bargain. No, he also had to claim ownership during the bargaining process.
In other words, the ritual would set into motion Jake laying claim to the Pylon with the intent of offering it to the Malefic Viper. This would put Ell’Hakan on a timer, with Jake getting the Pylon if time ran out or, preferably, he killed Ell’Hakan.
As for Ell’Hakan stopping the ritual? Well… it wasn’t really Jake doing the ritual, now was it? No, it was him and the Malefic Viper taking part in the Divine Bargain. So, for Ell’Hakan, his only choice was to either make Jake flee far enough to interrupt the Divine Bargain—which would require him to force Jake off the planet, seeing as the entire planet was technically what was being bargained—or to kill Jake. He assumed Ell’Hakan also viewed the latter as the best option.
Funnily enough, one of the things Jake didn’t really consider was what he could potentially get out of the Divine Bargain in the first place. Nor did he consider that it was pretty crazy for him to offer something that didn’t even belong to him as part of a bargain. What’s more, it was even something that would actively benefit him to get rid of.
Then again… performing something like a Divine Bargain did take a special kind of mindset and arrogance, including believing yourself worthy of dealing with gods as an equal.
One thing Jake had thought about at length while ignoring all those other practical concerns was the facial expression Ell’Hakan would make once he noticed what Jake was up to, and as his preparations neared completion, he really couldn’t wait.
“Still no signs of him?” Ell’Hakan asked the gathered mages, all of them looking nervous. He already knew the answer to his question, but he still asked.
“None, Celestial One,” the oldest of the mages said with a bow. “We’ve scanned the skies and sent out many scouts, but we fear his stealth skills may be beyond our capabilities.”
“I see.” Ell’Hakan nodded, tapping the armrest of his throne with a finger. This entire scenario was a rather frustrating one. He wanted to just go out there and look himself, but he knew it would be too risky: The Chosen of the Malefic Viper could just be lying in wait, like a snake hiding in its mound.
Ell’Hakan had also been actively monitoring the entire planet and even slightly beyond it for large ripples in space. One of the things he and his mages had discovered was that these forced teleportations to planets were far from subtle and caused quite a detectable ripple in space. Based on readings, only one teleportation had been performed in the immediate vicinity of Ell’Hakan’s homeworld, meaning they were likely only dealing with the Hunter.
