The Primal Hunter

Chapter 1132: ”Is this really all you got?”

Chimeras, being a mix of different creatures, also often meant their physical body could be quite malleable. These creatures often changed a lot between evolutions, but even within the same evolution, they could change forms, primarily because they had a more powerful version of the Polymorph skill that most monsters unlocked when evolving to C-grade.𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

This improved version was able to do far more than slight physical alterations or create a humanoid form. It could allow them to change their forms substantially, to the level where some of the properties of their body could shift entirely.

Jake had seen the absolute extreme of this with the Chimera that had dwelled within his Soulspace before it merged with Sim-Jake. Summoned from pure Records, that creature shifted shape like water, altering anything and everything at incredible speeds during combat.

Clearly, this mediocre Chimera couldnʼt quite achieve that, yet it had managed to redesign itself. An alteration that changed the creature significantly from the looks of it.

When the black torrent of energy finally let up, the Chimera stepped out of the darkness, emanating a more powerful aura than before. From its dog-like form, it now stood vertically, and its entire body had shrunk down from being nearly ten meters long to just five meters tall.

Its fleshy mid-section had seemingly been squashed together, and the gap was mostly closed as the creature looked a lot more bulky. Calling the Chimera human-like wasn’t entirely right now, but it had certainly closed the gap somewhat, as it did have a human-like torso and a head attached. The head was the same crocodile one as before, but with the Chimera’s changed form, it at least looked closer to some ancient god found depicted in a pyramid than a weird sausage dog with a reptilian head. It still looked weird as hell, though, as it had no legs or arms, the four thin and pretty useless legs it had before now gone.

The eight tendrils from before remained, but those had also changed in both form and function. Four of the tendrils were embedded in the ground, functioning as legs, a bit akin to a spider. Another two tendrils were coming out of its shoulder region, both looking thicker and far more deadly now. At the end of each tendril, the Chimera had created what looked like a double-edged battleaxe. The kind with a sharp tip at the top, letting the B-grade still use them to stab.

Finally, its last two tendrils had undergone the most change. These two grew out of the Chimera’s back and were a lot shorter than the four others, though they did look more durable. These had also changed at their ends as some of the plant monster heritage of the Chimera was showing through two blooming flowers of flesh, both emanating powerful shadow magic.

Overall, Jake would say this was definitely an improvement from how the Chimera looked before, even if he felt like there was still some work to go before it was perfect. The form also looked a lot more functional and harder to deal with.

“Through embracing the shadows, I shall become more than what I was,” the Chimera said, the energy within its body still increasing slightly, giving Jake the impression it wasn’t staying in its old form just for fun. This changed form required far more energy to sustain, and the Chimera likely couldn’t even be in it without first using its boosting skill.

“Lost for words?” the B-grade spoke again as Jake was still mentally evaluating things. “Good, for I shall not give you time to find them, as I’ve had quite enough of your venomous tongue.”

With those words, the Chimera made its move. One of the axe-headed tendrils swung down from above, making Jake dodge back and out of the way before it impacted the ground... except it never did.

Instead, the axe-tendrils emanated shadow before as it phased through the soil effortlessly, as it kept its circular momentum and did a full rotation before coming down again far faster than Jake had expected.

The other axe also made its move, this one being launched forward with its sharp tip to try to impale Jake should he try to dodge backwards again. For a brief moment, Jake considered trying to make the two tendrils collide with one another, but quickly abandoned that idea as he teleported away at the very last second.

His gut had saved him once more as the two tendrils seamlessly phased through one another, meaning had he tried to make them collide, Jake would have either lost an arm or have a big hole in his body now.

Jake didn’t have any time to rest as from below the ground, another attack was rapidly approaching. The four tendril-legs of the Chimera served more like roots as they dug deep and even grew as two of them headed toward Jake from beneath.

Retreating away, Jake summoned his bow and tried to shoot at the B-grade, but that’s when the two flower tendrils came into play. One of them pulsed with mana as a barrier of dark magic appeared, blocking Jake’s potshot. At the same time, the other flower also pulsed to release a beam of pure dark mana.

Jake avoided the beam, unable to shoot again as he needed to address other tendrils. The two axes moved more swiftly than the previous tendrils, and although handling two was easier than eight, these tendrils had become significantly stronger and less predictable. The Chimera had evidently taken measures to compensate for its weaknesses. Having numerous tendrils often resulted in them obstructing each other; however, the ability to transform into shadows and phase through one another turned this into an advantage, enhancing their unpredictability.

This evolved version of the Chimera also didn’t have any parts with exposed flesh anymore, giving Jake fewer obvious places to strike. Everything was nicely covered in bark, though to make the tendrils moveable, there were still small gaps here and there which Jake could aim for.

Assuming he wasn’t just planning on breaking through the bark, that is.

For now, Jake chose to stay on the defensive to learn what the Chimera was now capable of. Those blooming flesh flowers gave Jake an uneasy feeling, making him hesitate to go on the offensive until he knew better what they could do.

In the meantime, he learned more about the axe tendrils, especially. First of all, they couldn’t phase through other parts of the Chimera’s body besides the other axe tendril. Jake also noticed that when the Chimera struck the ground, it hadn’t done so entirely harmlessly. The underbrush of the jungle had been cut through, giving Jake an idea, one he confirmed moments later as the Chimera struck a tree, and this time, the tendril didn’t phase through.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Instead, the axe cut through the tree, felling it entirely. It did slow down the attack, but not by much, and the axe-shape chosen by the Chimera suddenly made a lot more sense, as it had likely selected this design in part to better fight in the jungle and have the ability to remove obstacles.

Suddenly, the environment wasn’t much to Jake’s advantage anymore. Quite the opposite, in fact. Using its four tendril-legs, the Chimera rapidly gave chase, moving easily through the jungle as it kept attacking Jake with a mixture of magic and physical blows. Meanwhile, Jake’s One Step was hard to use due to the dense jungle, especially when Jake wanted to avoid stepping on the ground at all costs to avoid the tendrils the Chimera constantly kept hidden down there.

When Jake was nearly cut by an axe and had to block a dark beam of energy that ended up still grazing him, he knew it was time to seek toward the sky once more. With both katars, Jake parried the axeʼs upward swing. The blow hurt his arms, but as planned, he was propelled through the thick canopy above and sent flying into the air.

Jake borrowed this momentum to fly even higher as he pulled out his bow and released a rapid barrage at the Chimera that was still down in the jungle. A second later, the B-grade broke through the tree-tops, only to be met by a rain of exploding arrows it hadn’t been able to see in time.

This attack did limited damage, but it stalled the Chimera for a moment, giving Jake time to charge a quick Arcane Powershot. By the time the Chimera resumed its chase, Jake had charged enough and released his attack.

Once more, the B-grade tried to swipe away Jake’s arrow with a tendril, but this attack was different from those prior. Jake had purposefully slowed down his Arcane Powershot arrow to appear like a more regular arrow, successfully fooling the Chimera into not even bothering to dodge.

The tendril hit the side of the stable arcane arrow, only to be repelled by the energy surrounding the Arcane Powershot as the attack continued, striking the B-grade square in the chest, blasting it down and back into the jungle.

Despite being surprised and now having a nice hole through its bark, the monster was quick to get back up and shoot toward the sky, only to be met by another Arcane Powershot, this one sped up to arrive faster.

This time, the Chimera tried to block with a shadow barrier, but it was broken through and the monster was struck again. Due to Jake using some of the energy of the arrow to speed it up and the barrier blocking some, the Chimera avoided being blasted back into the jungle and only span around in the air a few times.

While flying up towards Jake, the four legs of the Chimera began changing. Likely because it was now airborne, there was no need for legs to walk around on, making them now have a new function.

All four of them lengthened, and the bark covering them turned darker as they sharpened into spear-like limbs, all while still remaining somewhat as legs to help navigate and change direction while flying.

During its flight, Jake continued to shoot arrows, while the Chimera responded with beams of dark mana that Jake avoided. Though he had high natural resistance to dark mana due to his affinity for it, each hit still caused significant damage. When Jake had been grazed earlier, he did not suffer much physical harm but lost a substantial amount of energy as the attack removed energy from his shoulder. The attack had done some work, and without the passive barrier from Arcane Awakening, the damage would have been more severe.

Speaking of damage, Jake also managed to land a few more arrows on the Chimera, all delivering their payload of toxins. Even if the B-grade had changed form, that hadn’t healed all the damage Jake had done before it did so. The monster had an insane amount of Vitality, allowing it to fight back against the poison extremely well, but everything had its limits.

The fight was far from over, though, and the Chimera appeared fully aware of Jake’s poison as it actively sought to eliminate it internally while fighting.

A dozen seconds passed as the B-grade chased Jake across the sky before deciding to close the distance. Jake saw the entire body of the Chimera covered in shadows, and before the monster even fully vaulted, Jake used One Step to get away.

Just in time, too, as the Chimera was upon him instantly, and before it even fully exited its Shadow Vault, it used the skill again to continue its chase. Jake, ready with both katars, went straight for where the B-grade was about to appear and used his prescient instincts to avoid the first strike of his opponent as he landed a solid jab straight into the chest of the Chimera.

He didn’t have any time to be pleased with his blow as the bark around where his katar penetrated began to move and, once more, attempt to envelop his hand and steal his weapon away. Jake could only smirk as he blasted his hand free with arcane energy before teleporting away again, leaving his katar stuck in the Chimera as it was slowly getting covered by bark.

Jake teleported back several times, switching to a bow as he nocked an arrow and paused to charge an Arcane Powershot. The Chimera perceived Jakeʼs maneuver as unwise, considering he was only one Shadow Vault away. Predictably, the creature enveloped itself in a shadowy aura as it prepared to strike the stupid hunter.

Half a second passed... and the shadowy aura faded away, the skill failing to activate.

Taking full advantage, Jake released an Arcane Powershot, blasting the Chimera away and sending it tumbling through the sky, leaving a trail of mud-like blood in its wake. After stabilizing, the B-grade tried to Shadow Vault again, but for the second time in a row, the skill failed, and it got another Powershot for good measure.

Charging a third blow, Jake had to hide a smile. The inexperience of the Chimera had once more reared its ugly head. It believed it had successfully disarmed Jake by stealing away his katar, not knowing that this had been its folly.

With a normal weapon, something like Shadow Vault wouldn’t be blocked, but one of the requirements for a skill like Shadow Vault was that it could only be used on yourself. One couldn’t bring along other living entities... and Eternal Hunger very much straddled the line between a living entity and being merely a weapon. It was a part of Jake’s soul, and as long as it was in physical contact with the Chimera, Shadow Vault was off limits.

Jake even purposefully suppressed Eternal Hunger, so the weapon didn’t release any curse energy or tried to absorb vital energy from the Chimera. The reason for that was also because the stupid B-grade was absorbing the weapon deeper into itself to keep it sealed away, likely after having recognized it as an extremely powerful artifact. It believed it had robbed Jake of a great tool, unaware it had just eaten a ticking time bomb.

To make matters worse, the Chimera should already know Jake could retrieve the weapon remotely, though perhaps it believed there were restrictions, seeing as Jake hadn’t retrieved it yet. Either way, Jake was all good with the current status quo as he continued releasing Arcane Powershots toward the Chimera that had to dodge normally while trying to figure out why its skill failed to activate.

“What have you done to me!?” the Chimera screamed when its skill failed to activate yet again right before it was struck by another Arcane Powershot, blasting off a large piece of bark and sending blood raining down on the jungle below.

“Wait...” the monster unwillingly exclaimed after it stabilized. Jake instantly felt that the B-grade figured out the problem and began to extract Eternal Hunger, which was when Jake allowed the cursed weapon to feast.

From within the Chimera’s body, the cursed weapon was activated, and instantly it got to work like it had been starved for centuries. Vital energy was being drained at a rapid pace, and the act of moving the weapon through its wiggling flesh only did further damage to the B-grade.

Additionally, it wasn’t as if Jake stopped attacking during all this, as he kept unleashing Arcane Powershot after Arcane Powershot. With every arrow released, a sense of impatience grew within Jake.

Yes, he had grown quite a bit stronger since his fight with the Sovereign, and this Chimera had shown itself to be overall more powerful than the Rainbowfeather... however...

Is this really all you got?

It had to have more to show, right? Jake severely hoped it did, and luckily for Jake, he would soon learn that sometimes one gets what they hope for... along with the accompanying lesson that sometimes one should be careful what one wishes.