The Primal Hunter

Chapter 1133: Shadow Realm

Through great struggle, the Chimera extracted Eternal Hunger from within its body, the weapon slowly emerging from the bark. As it did this, the B-grade also struggled with Jake’s constant barrage of arrows, his attacks never giving his opponent the slightest chance to rest or recover as damage kept accumulating across the Chimera’s body.

During his shooting, Jake also noticed a few flashes of light out of the corner of his eye, and based on the auras he vaguely felt in that direction, the Sovereign and Forest Fae’s battle had also grown in intensity.

Jake wouldn’t be surprised if the Forest Fae were hoping for the Chimera to win and come help her. The Sovereign definitely knew not to expect a helping hand from Jake, as honestly, even if he finished his battle first, Jake would just go watch the two B-grades fight, cheering for the Sovereign at most.

Back at his own fight, the Chimera finally fully extracted the weapon, at which point Jake gladly retrieved it with a simple mental command. The curse had done some serious work on the B-grade while helping Jake recuperate a nice amount of health points. Perhaps most importantly, the poison in the Chimera’s body had been allowed to spread near-uninhibited during the B-grade’s fight with Eternal Hunger.

At this point, Jake wasn’t even planning on some dramatic victory. He would instead just slowly take the B-grade down, burning through its health points until there was nothing left. Not the most interesting victory, but the most efficient one.

It would take a little while, though, especially now that Shadow Vault was back on the menu. Having hopefully learned its lesson, the Chimera shot towards Jake again using the Shadow Vault skill, its two axe tendrils already mid-swing as the creature appeared a dozen meters in front of Jake.

A final Arcane Powershot was released, the B-grade blocking most of it through the flower tendrils as it simultaneously attacked with the two axes. Jake retreated away, dodging both swings before he had to deal with the four long spear-like tendrils that had been the monster’s legs not long ago.

These proved to be a lot weaker than the axes, allowing Jake to block one if he used katars, which did admittedly mean he was severely outmatched in pure Strength. In fact, Jake was pretty confident that the only stat he had his opponent beaten in was Perception, especially considering the effectiveness increase to all stats that came with evolutions.

Blocking a few tendrils, Jake was smacked around in the sky, flying all over the place as he controlled his trajectories and made sure to never get into any truly dangerous positions. In fact, he noticed that every time he blocked with the edges of his katars, they cut into the tendrils and injected a bit of poison.

The only things he truly had to be wary of were the axes and the blasts of dark magic shooting out of the flowers here and there. A single momentary slip-up would result in Jake taking disastrous damage and the entire momentum of the fight reversing, but that was the difference between Jake and a B-grade like this.

Jake was used to these kinds of fights. To him, it was almost the norm to battle opponents that could kill him in a couple of blows if he messed up. On the other hand, the Chimera fought like a monster that had always relied heavily on its own extreme durability and extreme pool of vital energy. It had never needed to learn how to dodge attacks properly or be defensive.

Chances were the Chimera had been in a lot more fights than Jake throughout its life, but there was a vast gulf of difference between the quality of their fights. Jake wouldn’t even be that surprised if this were the first time in its life the Chimera truly had its life threatened.

Its response upon realizing that wasn’t good, as it became increasingly desperate with its attacks. A whirlwind of tendrils rained down on Jake, trying to find that one opening that could turn the tide, but he was simply too damn good at dodging to be caught out by such a simplistic opponent.

His katars kept slowly whittling away at the tendrils while he occasionally got some distance to shoot a quick potshot. Due to the damage Jake’s Arcane Powershots had done before, there were several gaps in the bark yet to be healed, giving Jake plenty of places to hit for good damage.

As desperation grew, Jake got in more and more attacks as the Chimera grew even sloppier than it had already been. Its wounds were oozing with poison, and while Jake had taken some damage throughout the fight, it was nothing too serious.

If nothing drastic changed, the winner was clear. Yet despite being this close to killing yet another B-grade, a nagging feeling welled up in Jake’s chest. The more he thought about it, the Chimera only being capable of this just felt wrong.

Not just that it was too weak, in Jake’s opinion, but that it should have more tools, primarily due to its connection with the Court of Shadows. Shadow Vault was not a skill that could be granted through a Blessing, as it was a combat skill, so the B-grade had to have had it for a while.

In fact, seeing as it was a skill in the first place, Jake guessed the Chimera likely had it before even evolving to B-grade. If that was the case, why did the monster have so few shadow magic abilities? So far, it had only shown Shadow Vault, the ability to turn its tendril-axes shadowy, and some other simplistic uses of free-form magic.

Moreover, none of these skills had anything to do with what the Court of Shadows was known for in the first place. Sure, the shadow affinity was their namesake and the affinity the assassins from the Court used, but it didn’t solely define their fighting style. Jake’s own brother was a good example of this.

The Court’s fighting style relied on explosive power above anything else. Their boosting skills tended to be more extreme, with harsher backlashes and shorter durations in exchange for more power. Their skills also tended to cause a lot of damage at a relatively low cost.

More than anything, Jake remembered something else that made the Court of Shadows the best assassins in the multiverse. One of the easiest ways to defend oneself was to be surrounded by allies and defenders at all times. Many nobles and high-ranking individuals had bodyguards with abilities that allowed them to block and even take damage in place of their protectee. That meant unless the assassins wanted to wipe out an entire entourage of guards, they would have to have a way to isolate their target.

And the Court of Shadows had just the thing for that. One that relied on the ultimate achievement of Umbra and what had truly made her recognized as equal to the Primordials:

The Shadow Realm.

Jake had no idea if this Shadow Realm was in fact her divine realm, the result of some Transcendent skill, or something entirely different. All he knew was that when it was created, the Shadow Realm became part of the world and could be found anywhere. One just had to know how to access it.

Something any member of the Court of Shadows worth their salt could do.

“You... have forced me into this,” the Chimera said, its voice betraying just how tired it was. Jake was definitely looking a bit better, and while his armor was in tatters and his body filled with scratches and wounds, he was totally fine.

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However, just then, the Chimera’s body began to give off a powerful aura as its power grew once more. For a second, Jake wondered if it had pushed its boosting skill further than before, but he quickly discarded that idea. Pushing a boosting skill beyond its regular limits was not a low-level technique and resulted in death within mere seconds, unless very tightly controlled. The Chimera had not shown itself capable of something like that.

Yet its aura kept growing, as it was clearly doing something that pushed it beyond its own limits. When the shadows began to swirl around the B-grade, that was when Jake realized what it was doing, and he could only smile, full of expectation... though the next words from the Chimera were a bit disappointing.

“Behold, power beyond your comprehension! Through my will, I shall throw us into the Realm of Shadows, not even allowing you to leave a body behind! Know that this was your doing, and even if I cannot leave the Shadows through my own doing, with your death, I will have fulfilled my contract!” the B-grade yelled as it continued gathering energy.

Jake wasn’t sure that much exposition was needed, but he reckoned the Chimera did it because it noticed Jake stopped attacking for a moment when it spoke the first time, so it hoped continuing to talk would buy it time. It was entirely correct, though what it had said definitely only made Jake more disappointed in the B-grade.

It did explain why the Chimera hadn’t forced Jake into the Shadow Realm from the beginning, though. If it didn’t know how to leave there again, it would be stuck in a world of nothingness until something powerful enough to pluck it out passed by, or it learned how to exit by itself. Jake would bet on the latter being the Chimera’s best bet, going by the level of talent it had shown so far.

A moment later, a shockwave of energy was released from the B-grade, moving way too fast for Jake or anyone to react. As it washed over him, Jake felt the color and light of the world fading away as reality shifted.

In a flash, the world Jake had found himself in before was gone. Far beneath them, the island that had once housed a jungle was completely barren, with nothing but sand on it, and all other auras on the entire planet were gone. The only thing allowing Jake to see remaining in this world was a muted sun that gave off an odd, dark shine that he was reluctant to even call light.

Jake took a deep breath as he experienced the Shadow Realm for the first time, and he instantly understood how the Court had become as powerful as it was, even if he remained confused how it even worked. This wasn’t some illusion or metaphorical representation or anything like that, but a mirror of the entire world. With his Sphere, Jake confirmed he had indeed been transported to an entirely separate and equally real space.

It was fascinating to say the least, and Jake turned to regard the Chimera that now looked different once more, though only slightly. The entire creature had turned pitch-black as its entire body was enveloped by shadow energy, empowering the Chimera to a new level.

“This world of shadows shall be your grave,” the Chimera spoke as its form distorted, and it disappeared from where it had been floating several kilometers away.

In the next moment, the monster appeared right next to Jake, its two axes sweeping upward with more speed and power than before. Jake dodged to the side right as the two flesh flowers gleamed. He had expected another few beams of dark magic, but instead, Jake felt an odd restraining aura fall over his body. The world turned slightly darker, as if the shadows were closing in on him.

Jake got slower as shadows of tendrils wormed their way across his body as if crawling beneath his skin and scales. At the same time, the six remaining tendrils of the Chimera attacked again, and Jake, because of the odd magic that had befallen him, was unable to respond perfectly.

He was struck by one of the spear-tendrils in the leg, stabbing a hole clean through it before the tendril quickly retracted away before Jake could stab it. With tendrils coming in from all sides, Jake was about to use One Step, but when he was about to touch down, the feeling of danger prevailed, making him stop and change his tactic.

His eyes opened wide as Pride unfolded, and for a brief moment, the shadows in Jake’s surroundings took on a dark green hue. Pushing his mana, Jake managed to block all four spear-tendrils with powerful barriers as he addressed the two axes by dodging and using his katars.

With the brief opening coming from unleashing Pride, Jake also tested what was up with One Step as he used the skill. Upon stepping down, Jake teleported, but rather than go where he had wanted to, he appeared a hundred meters away upside-down. Perplexed, he instantly used it again, only to teleport around two hundred meters directly into the sky.

The concept of space is warped by the shadows, Jake quickly realized. Perhaps with Pride, he could create a somewhat stable space and use One Step within the Legacy Skill range, but it didn’t seem worth it.

Before Jake had time to consider more, the Chimera was upon him. Jake continued trying to get away, but despite having teleported randomly around, whatever magic those flowers were constantly casting on him hadn’t disappeared. Pride clearly didn’t work against the skill either, and even after he covered his entire body in scales to try to resist, it barely had any effect.

The slowdown effect wasn’t that profound, and Jake quickly realized something when the Chimera got closer and attacked him. The further away he was from the B-grade, the more potent the skill became, while when he was directly in front of it, the slowdown only had a slight effect.

Melee it is, Jake told himself, both katars at the ready as he deflected a tentacle and moved to stab the B-grade, but this time it was fast enough to Shadow Vault back a dozen meters before swinging down an axe from above to try to split him in two.

Jake flew in pursuit, the two of them engaging in a brawl, and for the first time in this battle, he was actually struggling. After entering the Shadow Realm, the Chimera had grown stronger in every way, while it had used that odd suppression skill to make Jake slower. All in all, it had been enough to shift the balance, now giving the B-grade a slight advantage.

For now, that is.

The Chimera had already been in a less-than-ideal state before entering the Shadow Realm, and now Jake saw the strain it took to maintain all the magic it used to get an edge. Moreover, Jake suspected its boosting skill was the kind that grew more powerful within the Shadow Realm at the cost of a bigger burden on the body. This all combined to put the B-grade on a timer to kill Jake before it would run out of juice itself.

Not to say that Jake was confident in just playing for time. The Chimera had a lot of shortcomings, but longevity was not one of them. Even now, he could feel overflowing vital energy within it, and despite the poison doing a solid job, Jake needed to keep doing damage to ensure his victory. If not, he was afraid the damn B-grade would eventually nullify all the poison through sheer vital energy alone.

The two kept brawling as Jake adapted to the newfound power and speed of the Chimera and began to use some of the skills he hadn’t before. This included Gaze, which he used to buy himself time to avoid an attack while also landing a nice counter, tearing off more bark, and getting in another dose of poison.

Things were getting rougher, though, and Jake was especially suffering in one area. Because he was fighting a faster opponent that effectively had six limbs to constantly attack with, he had to block a lot more than usual, which left his hands in a terrible state from the constant impacts. His gloves helped, but they were already severely damaged, clearly not made to withstand the blows of a B-grade, no matter how low-tier it was.

Katars weren’t designed to be used defensively, and Jake was suffering the consequences of that as he continued blocking and dodging despite the bones in his fingers slowly being turned to dust as he was just waiting for one of them to get entirely torn off by a particularly powerful blow.

Jake considered countermeasures as he tried to focus solely on dodging, going on the defensive more than before. This clearly made the Chimera annoyed as it got restless, overextending for an attack and giving Jake an opportunity he had to exploit fully.

As a barrier of stable arcane mana appeared and deflected a tendril, Jake shot toward the head of the Chimera, both katars ready as he prepped a Piercing Fang. An axe was coming from below, but it was slightly too slow, and for maximum damage and to confuse his opponent further, Jake used another skill he had kept hidden thus far.

Right as Jake struck for the head of the B-grade, another version of himself split off from the main body and went for the chest of the Chimera. In that brief moment, Jake saw confusion flood the eyes of the B-grade as it was unsure who to attack, and that brief moment was all Jake needed to land two devastating blows.

A double Piercing Fang slammed into the Chimera’s neck and chest at the same time. Not even the blink of an eye later, all four embedded katars exploded, two with curse energy and two with destructive arcane mana, as the B-grade was blasted away with two large holes in its body. Blood, flesh, and bark rained all over Jake as his opponent tumbled through the air, but he didn’t have any time to celebrate or even follow up as his head whipped upwards. With wide eyes, he stared toward the endless darkness of the Shadow Realm... and felt something stare right back at him... no... it wasn’t looking at him.

It was at the Eternal Shadow right beside him. An Eternal Shadow that was dispersing a lot slower than usual.