The Primal Hunter
chapter-953

Maybe Jake was a bit hypocritical for calling the Great Bright One believers a cult, considering he was part of a faction that worshipped a giant snake god. Then again, the Malefic Viper’s organization was called an Order. Did he have a cult in the past? Yes, but now he had an Order, so it wasn’t the same thing.

As for how he would deal with them… time would tell. Jake wasn’t going to be antagonistic for no reason, though. Before he decided what he would do, he definitely needed some more information.

“I must admit I’m not that knowledgeable about this Great Bright One,” Jake said, as he tried to be a bit careful with his words. “But you said you expected me to know, considering I am not related to the one who calls himself the Celestial Child… what do you mean by that?”

The speaker seemed to confer with the others in the room for a moment before she answered. “This Ell’Hakan follows a god by the name of Yip of Yore. That in itself is no problem, but he has taken a rather fanatical approach and believes his god is superior to all others despite only having risen to godhood through the grace of the system made by the Great Bright One. To work with such an individual who is so deep in his delusions would be difficult for us. Don’t misunderstand; belief in the many gods of the multiverse and ignorance of the Great Bright One is not an issue, but someone who so blatantly disregards the Great Bright One isn’t someone we would want to work with.”

Alright, so they do acknowledge the existence of other gods… man, this is weird.

“I see,” Jake slowly nodded.

“Might I ask, seeing as you do not know of the Great Bright One, what does your planet believe in?” the speaker asked curiously. There didn’t seem to be any malicious intentions behind the question, so Jake answered truthfully.

“People are allowed to believe in whatever they want on my planet, as long as their beliefs do not cause harm to others,” Jake said. “Perhaps there are even followers of the Great Bright One.”

He seriously doubted it, but he couldn’t really know, now could he?

“Do you personally follow a god?” the speaker continued.

“No, not really,” Jake answered with a shrug.

What? Sure, he was the Chosen of Villy, but Jake wouldn’t say he “followed” the Malefic Viper in any way. Jake was more of a freeloader who yoinked some Records and enjoyed all the benefits like the good little heretic he was.

“If you want to, I’m sure the Voice of the One would gladly speak to you about the Great Bright One. Ah, the Voice of the One is the one who holds the title of World Leader here on our planet,” the speaker said, finally also speaking about the World Leader.

“Is the World Leader not on the council?” Jake asked curiously.

“He has an honorable position where he offers advice and input, but he rarely makes use of the powers bestowed upon him as the World Leader and trusts the council for all decisions. His participation is limited, though, as his role as the Voice of the One requires him to focus on listening to the guidance of the Great Bright One. However, I’m sure he would spare another World Leader some of his valuable time if you desire a meeting,” the speaker explained.

“Does he communicate with the Great Bright One even now?” Jake asked, trying to act impressed.

“Of course. The Voice of the One has been in communion for the past day to discuss when we are ready to face the Prima Guardian,” the speaker said in a revering voice. “His communion should be done by the end of the day, and we shall inform him of your arrival then. Until such a time, let us proceed with having you prove your prowess and capabilities to face the Prima Guardian. Let me also be transparent that we require more of you than the average mercenary, as we cannot in good consciousness risk your death, considering your identity as a World Leader.”

“That’s fair,” Jake nodded, as he believed he didn’t really have more to discuss with the council for now. He did have a lot of questions, but he chose to not ask any of them as he saw no reason to risk turning them hostile. At least not before he met this Voice of the One.

“Thank you all for this meeting; it was very enlightening,” Jake continued and couldn’t help but make a small pun. “I wish you all well. I shall now go see how powerful these Primas of your world truly are.”

“May the light of the Great Bright One guide your Path,” the speaker said with a bow, Jake nodding in acknowledgment as he walked out of the room. Outside, the attendant who had originally brought him there was waiting, and based on how her face had changed at times throughout the conversation he had with the council, she had definitely heard everything they said.

There was a lot to take in. Clearly, this Great Bright One had a firm hold on the population of the planet, and they all held unswayable faith. Yet they also didn’t seem hostile or even like they expected Jake or anyone else to believe the same thing they did, though they did expect people to recognize their beliefs. Clearly, they also knew of the existence of other gods. It was all just very weird, and Jake hoped the Voice of the One could shed some light on the situation. If not him, then maybe the attendant who was waiting for him.

Exiting the conference room, the attendant naturally stood ready and bowed in greeting. “I hope your meeting with the council proceeded well. I will admit I heard most of what was said, including that you are to prove your power by slaying a Prima. Do you wish for me to lead you to one of the battlefields immediately? I have one in mind, commanded by our top general. If you impress him, his word will hold more sway than anyone else’s. Besides that of the Voice of the One, of course.”

She said the last part jokingly, as if it was a given. Jake responded by nodding, agreeing to her proposal. “Please lead me there.”

With an enthusiastic nod, the elven attendant led Jake away from the Council Estate, seemingly in a better mood than when they arrived. She was also a lot more talkative on the way through the city as they headed for the military’s teleportation center – because, apparently, they kept those separate from the civilian ones on this planet.

Jake tried to probe as much as he could to learn more about the planet and the Great Bright One, even playing the part of an interested potential believer at times. The elven attendant gladly answered everything and volunteered much information Jake hadn’t even asked about. Jake knew she was probably trying to make the planet seem a lot better than it actually was, but it all sounded kind of… nice?

He had called them a cult, but he didn’t really hear anything cult-like outside of their looney beliefs. They didn’t force people into particular Paths like the Holy Church either or required absolute obediance and faith. Based on what Jake saw when he scouted with his Pulse, everything also seemed to track with what the attendant said. What was the most surprising was that people were allowed to freely leave without any problems, with a lot of people having chosen to do so, especially those who went to Nevermore. Of course, Jake couldn’t confirm these people chose to leave, but the attendant didn’t seem like she was lying.

The only real crime Jake would say the planet committed was being weak. Because he really didn’t see a lot of powerful people. After they teleported to the frontlines and Jake saw the so-called top general of the entire planet, this was further cemented.

[Elf – lvl 270 – Minor Blessing of the Great Bright One]

Sure, his level wasn’t atrocious, but he was weak. Jake didn’t feel any threat from the guy, and compared to the World Leader Olliandra on the last planet, this guy really sucked… and it wasn’t even like she was that strong either.

There was one thing, though. For him to reach that level, he had to have gone to Nevermore, right? Jake wondered how the extreme beliefs of the ones on this planet meshed with that. Jake could understand people leaving, but when he did a few scans here on the frontlines, he saw many who had gone to Nevermore. Really odd.

Jake had lots of questions, but he’d chosen to save them all for the Voice of the One. For now, he was there to prove he was strong enough to help with the Prima Guardian.

“Ah, you must be that solo World Leader I heard about,” the general said when Jake entered a large temporary building that looked like it was made out of white plastic and plexiglass.

“That would be me,” Jake confirmed. “I heard you have some Primas for me to hunt?”

“That’s quite the understatement,” the man chuckled, stroking his blonde beard. “We have managed to funnel them into this area pretty well with different lures and scouting teams, making this the single-largest battlefield on the planet for regular monsters and Primas both.”

“How many have you slain so far? Primas, that is,” Jake asked curiously.

“Based on the newest report, eighty-six. Mainly the more speedy types who got here from the Prima Vessel first. We make use of their differing speeds to not get overwhelmed with too many at a time, and so far, it’s working,” the general explained.

Jake nodded, having also done a few Pulses to see the base camp and some of the battlefield. Things were honestly pretty well organized, especially when one considered the massive advantage this planet had: pure fucking numbers. Jake wasn’t even talking about C-grades here. They had millions of D-grades also helping in this war, primarily serving to help amplify magical formations or defensive barriers.

“Just point me to the Prima you want dead, and I’ll handle it. Alone. My Path allows me to land incredibly powerful blows from stealth and then leverage that into an advantage, using a bow,” Jake said, explaining a bit of his Path. It wasn’t like he would have hidden this part anyway, and he saw no harm in telling the general to earn some trust points.

“Alright… sounds like you would do well against mage types,” the man nodded. The table in front of him changed as a 3D map was shown of the nearby battlefield. A section of it was highlighted, as the general explained. “We got one such Prima in this area. Hidden pretty well, and very annoying when it shows up. It also seems a lot more intelligent and cautious than most other Primas. It was one of the first to arrive, but the problem is that every time we tried to move in on it, it retreated to recover, only to return shortly after to unleash a few skills. It has done this four times so far and has caused a few thousand casualties already.”

“Sounds like a good target,” Jake agreed, a bit impressed with the Prima for acting like that. Were the ones on Earth also that smart? C-grades did tend to all be smart, so probably? Chances are, the ones on Earth never had the chance to show off just how bright they were due to dying too fast.

The general seemed pleased as another 3D model appeared, this one showing a thin, kind of humanoid creature that looked like the mix between a jellyfish and an octopus. At least it had a mix of feelers and tentacles instead of arms and legs, with a few also just extending out here and there from its body.

“This is the newest scan we have of it. It possesses space magic and some form of force magic we believe. Perhaps just a derivative of space magic, our data is inconclusive on that front. Our original plan was to prepare a team of rogueish fighters to take it down, but if you can do it, that would be more than welcome,” the general continued.

Honestly, all of this was unnecessary, but Jake chose to act as if this was all critical information as he nodded along. He wanted to learn more about what was going on with this planet and this Great Bright One, and Jake was pretty sure proving himself too strong could make that very hard.

That’s why he had decided to prove himself strong but not overpowered. He would also make it look like he was a one-trick pony who only really had the strategy of landing powerful blows from stealth and then just shooting a few more arrows afterward, hoping it would be enough. Alright, that kind of was his strategy most of the time… moving on.

After a bit more briefing, the general was suddenly interrupted as some magic message seemed to arrive. “New attack incoming… and it looks like your target may also be on its way based on our scanners.”

“I’ll get set up right away,” Jake nodded.

“Be aware I will have a scout keep an eye on you during all this,” the man noted. “She will keep her distance to not reveal your position, but we naturally need someone to witness and attest to your abilities.”

“That’s only to be expected,” Jake agreed. “I’ll head out. Good luck on the frontlines.”

“And good luck to you,” the general nodded. “May the Great Bright One bless your quest.”

Jake simply nodded and headed out to take down the Prima. On the way out, he got a mini projector thing that could show a map of the battlefield, and it was even live-updated with the estimated position of the Prima he was to kill.

Honestly, it was all some impressive tech, and Jake felt like Arnold would have liked things on this planet… though he would probably also think they were simplistic and didn’t have enough void magic.

While making his way forward, he also briefly made eye contact with the scout who was to keep an eye on him, the woman not trying to hide what she was doing. Jake just gave her a brief nod as she followed behind him at a good distance, using okay-ish stealth skills. He also used his own stealth skills, though he didn’t go full-on Unseen Hunter.

Getting to the battlefield didn’t take long, and Jake observed things for a while to see how the elves fought. As expected, lots of light magic was going on, with burning rays filling the air and scorching beasts in droves.

Some of this light magic came from towers constructed near the frontlines, with each of these towers having a group of five C-grades at the top, while the inside was filled with D-grades and magical scripts, making these D-grades effectively serve as batteries and amplifiers. A few D-grades wouldn’t help much… but stuff a few thousand into a tower, and it could do some work. Again, seeing how a planet with such a huge population had adapted to fight was very interesting.

Jake kept looking as he made his way forward, being careful with his speed so the scout could keep up, and he didn’t show off too much. Soon enough, he spotted his target in the distance, and as the general had said, it definitely played things safe. Its way of fighting also reminded Jake a bit of the Fallen King, as it sent out blasts of force here and there, though it was definitely more specialized for long-range combat rather than mid-range.

He took a bit longer to find a good vantage point, at which point he began setting up. To sell his one-trick style of combat, Jake began to put down a magic circle around him before he would shoot. What did this circle do? Nothing, Jake just made up some bullshit, but he kept the runes super fucking complicated to make sure the scout couldn’t see he was faking it.

After about a minute of setting up the fake magic circle, Jake finally took out his bow. He had considered it and decided to still use a Protean Arrow, though he wouldn’t make one with full power. His reason for using one was more for aesthetic reasons. It just made more sense that a big arrow would do way more damage than a small arrow.

Finally, Jake nocked the arrow and began to charge Arcane Powershot. He very carefully estimated how much power he put in before he released the string and sent the arrow flying. The Prima he targeted noticed the attack coming its way and tried to react, but Jake used Gaze to ensure it would hit.

The arrow struck the Prima right in the chest before exploding, sending it flying backward as parts of its body were blown apart. Jake had very deliberately ensured he wouldn’t one-shot it, just get very close.

He followed up with three more arrows before the Prima could recover, finally taking it down for good.

You have slain [Tencufi Prima – lvl 279]

Jake nodded, satisfied with his performance. However, when he saw the scout, she looked on with wide eyes while gawking.

Seriously? Jake questioned. He had held back so much… did she have any idea how difficult it was to not one-shot something below his own level like that? It was really bloody hard to be that weak!

Either way, he hoped he hadn’t overdone it. Still, to buy some more good guy points, Jake unleashed a few more attacks, killing regular monsters that looked like they were causing problems for the many elven fighters. He only stopped when a group of winged beasts began to head his way, retreating as he quickly made his way back toward the general, trying to look extremely tired from this whole ordeal.

Jake had the scout go ahead as he made himself a lot slower to get back. He needed to give the scout some time to report while also hopefully selling that he was kind of tired. When he finally arrived and saw the very pleased look on the face of the general, Jake believed he had succeeded.

“Truly impressive… you might just be the strongest mercenary to have arrived thus far,” the general said. “At least you have the single-strongest attack I’ve seen. Very useful for hunting powerful monsters, for sure.

“I do have some more cards hidden that I’ve saved specifically for the Prima Guardian,” Jake shared, also trying to bring the topic back to the Prima Guardian. While the planet was interesting, his main objective was still to kill the big boss, after all.

“Certainly, we are one step closer to facing the Guardian, but to release it is not my decision, but up to the discretion of the Voice of the One and the guidance he receives from the Great Bright One,” the general shook his head before smiling. “Luckily for you, I got a report just before you returned… the Voice of the One has agreed to see you.”