The Primal Hunter 11, page 42
Valdemar, who had invited Jake to come, didn’t sit still even if he had welcomed the attack. Roaring golden energy filled the arena as he charged forward faster and stronger than ever before, as the luster that made him look like a golden god had simply never fully faded. As Jake rapidly shot his arrow, he infused even more power into the blow.
The arrow surged forward and seemed to warp everything around it, absorbing even more energy during its flight. Valdemar chose to meet it with his axe, but Jake found humoring Valdemar’s attempt to make this a direct clash of power laughable. Even now, he knew he stood before a man with far more pure, raw power than Jake could possibly command in his current state.
Right before the arrow and axe clashed, the arrow dodged the blow. As if it had a mind of its own, it expertly flew by the head of the axe, and even Valdemar’s attempt to block his face with an arm was predicted, as it changed direction for a second time and shot under the arm and into his chest, exploding.
Valdemar was blasted back by the condensed arcane mana and flew more than a dozen meters back to hit the wall of the arena, sending stone blasting out. Jake considered shooting another arrow with the same power but stopped himself, as that didn’t appear feasible.
Sadly, he was still limited by his lack of skills and the fact he was a mere level 0. The limitations meant his heavily weakened mind would break if he tried to do something like that again. It was unfortunate he was in this state, but it would have to make do for now. Without any useless hesitation, Jake charged forward as two katars of arcane mana appeared in his hands.
Four seconds.
He moved even faster than before as space itself seemed to give way at his behest.
The wall Valdemar had been blasted into exploded the very next moment as a massive golden crescent wave shot out. With little difficulty, Jake jumped over it and continued his sprint toward the emerging Valdemar.
A large, bleeding wound marred his chest, and arcane energy still burned on his body, but his golden aura was as strong as ever. With a roar and almost fanatical gaze, he also charged forward to meet Jake in a direct confrontation.
Three seconds.
Valdemar had already been predictable before, but now, it was almost funny. With his heightened sense of perception, even the axe seemed to move relatively slowly, though it was still the fastest thing around… besides Jake himself.
Dodging to the side, Jake stabbed Valdemar with one of his katars, the weapon slicing through fighting aura and flesh alike. Valdemar quickly responded with a heavy punch, but Jake positioned his second katar for Valdemar to punch into. The hand began to glow golden, and at the very last moment, Jake chose to abandon his attempt to counter and instead avoided the punch entirely. If he hadn’t, Jake would have likely cut off one or two of Valdemar’s fingers but lost a hand himself in return. He had to admit that even if he could read the Primordial, his pure, overwhelming power was still awe-inspiring.
Mana began to condense in the air all around them as five arrows of pure mana were formed, all aimed toward Valdemar. Jake would have preferred to summon them closer to the Primordial than he did, but the one place Jake felt no sense of control was the golden fighting aura’s territory. Valdemar’s Transcendent skill created the type of energy that Jake simply had no way of ever touching or affecting, as it belonged to Valdemar and Valdemar alone. He was its Origin and its creator.
With a mental command, Jake sent all the arrows flying toward Valdemar, who let out a loud roar and released a shockwave of golden energy that only managed to slow down the arrows that hit him in the back and right side.
Immediately after these five arrows hit, Jake summoned another five, but he felt a heavy strain as he did so. His clarity was wavering, but he had to maintain it for at least a little longer. Valdemar was far more prepared for the second barrage of arrows coming for his right side, where he wielded the axe. Jake also attacked in tandem with these arrows, his attack seemingly with the intent of limiting Valdemar’s ability to swing his axe by potentially putting the entire arm out of commission.
Two seconds.
As Valdemar focused all his attention on Jake’s attack on his right side, he didn’t notice what was going on to his left. Lying partly covered in sand, not even four meters away from them, was an arcane spike from Jake’s quasi-Protean Arrow he had shot earlier. The one that had missed.
Without any warning, it shot out of the sand straight for Valdemar’s left side, Jake commanding the spike made of his own energy. The Primordial’s eyes opened wide as his fighting aura expanded out of him to try and lessen the impact of the attack, but Jake had predicted that move. Using the very last of his mental energy, he looked straight at Valdemar as he welcomed their souls to clash once more through Fear Gaze.
For a mere tenth of a second, Valdemar’s fighting aura froze as the spike pierced into his left forearm and, as Valdemar had been extending forward with his right side, forced the arm behind his back and out of the way.
Valdemar didn’t seem surprised by the Fear Gaze this time but only showed pure determination. He was midway through an attack when Jake made his move, and rather than abandon it, he did just the opposite. He empowered it. His right arm began to take on a golden luster as the fighting aura seemed to merge with his skin, the man having clearly decided to finish Jake off here and now.
With power outmatching the finishing strike from earlier, the axe chopped down like an executioner’s axe from God, aiming to cleave Jake’s entire body in two.
From the beginning, Jake had known a trade had to be made if he wanted any chance of victory. And, in truth, his goal had never been the right arm. He was nearly out of time, after all, so he had to end it here and now. Valdemar would have time to react if he gave even a little space… so Jake also committed fully to his plan. Rather than disengage or dodge, Jake kept charging straight into the axe. Only at the very last fraction of a second did he react by slightly shifting his weight and swaying to the right.
Jake’s left ear was entirely obliterated by the golden energy of the axe as it practically slid down the side of his skull and into his shoulder, sending his left arm flying into the air, the powerful swing also mangling the entire left side of his body. Even a part of his hip was cut off. However, it had created an opening. The katar of arcane energy was gone as Jake’s right hand formed a claw and lunged forward, the arcane energy that formerly made up the katar surrounding and infusing it. The golden aura standing in his hand’s way tried to stop it, but most of Valdemar’s Transcendent aura had been focused on attacking, making his defenses lacking.
One second.
The clawed hand went through flesh and aura alike and pierced the Primordial’s chest, right through the same wound the very first arrow Jake had shot after his powerup had left. His fingers folded around the beating organ that Jake knew not even Valdemar would be able to live long without. Without missing a beat, he squeezed and poured the final energy he had stored into the heart that beat in his palm.
A torrent of arcane energy burned into Valdemar’s body as Jake’s hand became a conduit to infuse pure destruction into the Primordial. Reddish-purple veins spread around the hole Jake’s hand had created, and a moment later, the heart in Jake’s grasp disintegrated as pure destruction turned it into nothingness.
Jake quickly pulled his hand out and only managed to take a simple step back at the very last moment.
Zero seconds.
He had barely pulled back when the world around him began to spin. All his senses once more disappeared as the world turned into a void. Less than a second later, a faint sense of perception returned as Jake felt the entire world contract all around him. His sphere shrank back to the usual limited range, all his other senses slowly returning to normal. The world was still murky and indiscernible; Jake felt like he was devolving.
What was left of the original pulse of energy that had been released from his Truesoul poured back into Jake as, in the final moment before he had lost his clarity, he had infused it with a final command. Energy entered his Truesoul and gobbled up everything, and Jake’s body restored itself. His wounds began to heal in seconds, with a new arm and ear instantly regenerating, and even his resource pools were filled, revitalizing him fully.
Only after all of this was done did Jake’s senses return enough for his eyesight to come back, and he found himself only a mere two steps from a still-standing Valdemar who was looking straight at him. His fighting aura was still burning, and he had a smile on his face, even as blood dripped from his mouth.
“What’s your name?”
Jake’s eyes were wide open, as he felt incredibly weird. The world didn’t seem quite right. Everything seemed slightly blurry, and he barely heard what Valdemar said… but he didn’t feel any danger from the man in front of him and thus still managed to answer, “Jake… Jake Thayne.”
“Jake, huh…” Valdemar nodded slowly as he smiled and looked Jake straight in the eyes. “A name worth remembering… from a fight worthy of being called legendary.”
The arena was entirely silent as Valdemar stood there, looking at Jake as his golden aura slowly disappeared, and the luster in his one remaining eye faded. Once again, there was only one Grand Champion.
Chapter 47
Rewards/Cost of the Impossible
Jake looked at the still-standing corpse of the Primordial as he tried to fully understand everything that had happened. Alright, that wasn’t entirely accurate… He knew what had happened; he remembered everything without any issues, but it all still felt oddly hazy. The same kind of hazy his mind and vision currently were.
As he still stood there, taking in the atmosphere and collecting himself, a certain someone made himself known once more, kind of ruining the tense mood.
“We have a winner! The undefeated Warrior has met his doom at the hands of the Doombringer in a battle truly worthy of a Grand Champion match! Only a single Grand Champion now remains, having defeated all others in his path, becoming the most powerful Grand Champion we have ever seen! Where is his limit!? Perhaps we will learn one day, but for now, go, our Grand Champion. Rest. You’ve earned it!”
Jake thought the announcer was a lot quieter than usual, making him frown a bit at the commentary. While still frowning, he saw a man approach from the entrance to the arena, and as he got closer, Jake saw it was the Battlemaster, who seemed to be in a brilliant mood.
“You fucking did it,” he said with a massive smile. “To take down that monster… You really do stand at the apex of mortals.”
“Thanks,” Jake muttered, looking around.
Instinctively, he wanted to check out the stands to check in on some of the people he knew, which was when he noticed… he couldn’t see them. More accurately, he couldn’t feel them through his sphere at all. The sphere was still there, but everything it saw was murky. He could feel through the sphere the stands were there, but it was so hazy he couldn’t even tell where people sat, much less differentiate the spectators from one another.
Rubbing his temples, Jake looked at the Battlemaster. “So, what happens now? And please speak up when you answer. You’re way too quiet.”
The man looked at him and shook his head as he practically yelled, “That’s up to you if you feel any need to stay when you have already proven yourself the strongest.”
Right as he said that, Jake got a system message.
Congratulations! You have successfully defeated the Grand Champion and become the sole Grand Champion of the Colosseum of Mortals. 5,000,000 Colosseum Points gained. No more opponents stand in your way, as no worthy foe remains. As the sole Grand Champion, no greater honor can be earned in the Colosseum of Mortals.
Even if everything else seemed blurry and his head still hurt, at least the system messages were still as clear as ever, so he happily focused on them as he began going over the one in front of him. It just acknowledged his win, and, damn, that was a lot of Colosseum Points. Five million nearly doubled his points, though honestly, Jake didn’t care much about that part. Colosseum Points only mattered now insofar as affecting the final calculation of rewards. The rest of it was pretty much just a summary.
As soon as Jake was done reading and considering the first system message, a second one popped up.
Do you wish to exit the Colosseum of Mortals Challenge Dungeon?
If you remain, you can choose to participate in weekly Show Matches, earning you additional Colosseum Points.
Choosing to exit will give you all currently earned rewards.
Jake read the message, and for a few seconds, he considered staying around for a bit. Not for the Show Matches—those were just a damn waste of time, and honestly, Jake didn’t feel like he was in any kind of fighting condition—but to talk to some of the people in there. Specifically Artemis, Polly, and Owen. But… he had already said goodbye to them, having fully expected him to just be thrown out of the Challenge Dungeon that day. Beating Valdemar had been a long shot, after all, and he’d even guessed that it was possible that the dungeon would just toss him out no matter if he won or lost.
With that in mind, he truly saw no reason to remain, so he threw the Battlemaster a final look and smiled before accepting the prompt. Another major reason he just wanted to get out of there was for the system to heal him. Sure, he had healed himself when he ended his powerup, and physically, he was fine, but he knew his soul wasn’t in optimal condition. Hopefully, the system could fix that.
Jake’s vision went black right as he accepted leaving, and half a second later, he appeared in a familiar place. It was the same white void he’d been thrown to every time he had died and had to choose a time to go back to, but this time, there was no prompt for him to choose when to revive. No, instead, he was there for those sweet, sweet rewards. The first of which was something Jake had predicted would be a thing and was happy to have confirmed: a Grand Achievement.
Grand Achievement earned: Successfully completed the Colosseum of Champions while defeating the reigning Grand Champion. Colosseum Points converted: 113,821 Nevermore Points earned. Due to completing a Grand Achievement, you will receive a 25% multiplier to all Nevermore Points at the final calculation.
The number of Nevermore Points gained didn’t exactly seem impressive, and there appeared to be a 1:100 conversion from his Colosseum Points, but one had to remember that Jake had only had 744,673 Nevermore Points that he had gained over thirty years. To get more than a hundred thousand within two years was honestly insanely good.
Not to mention the massive 25% multiplier, which was at the same level as what beating Minaga had given them. Jake would argue that defeating Valdemar had been way fucking harder, but he wasn’t going to say no to the extra multiplier. With it and the others, he was now up to a 60% bonus for the final calculation. Moreover, he still had four Challenge Dungeons left that could potentially give him similar rewards.
Jake only now truly understood what people meant when they said that the true winners of the Leaderboards would be found in the Challenge Dungeons. If one did well in all of them, they could more than double their Nevermore Points at the final calculation, putting them well ahead of even the groups who cleared far more floors.
Besides the Grand Achievement, Jake had also gotten something he honestly hadn’t expected to see but was more than happy to get:
A title.
Reward gained: Colosseum of Mortals: True Grand Champion title.
Without hesitation, Jake opened up his status menu and checked the effects of the title.
Colosseum of Mortals: True Grand Champion – You have proven yourself the one true Grand Champion of the Colosseum of Mortals, defeating beings that stand at the apex of the multiverse, and exited the Colosseum of Mortals with more than 10,000,000 Colosseum Points. Even a Primordial was slain on your path, making you truly worthy of the title. Only one Nevermore Challenge Dungeon title can be held at a time. +200 to all stats.
Reading it over, Jake was seriously happy he hadn’t spent more of his Colosseum Points within the Challenge Dungeon, as he might have missed out on this title if he had done so. He also finally noticed that he hadn’t gotten a refund on any of the equipment he had bought, which made him even happier he hadn’t decided to splurge.
Jake then saw the final part of the description that said only one title could be held, so he made the obvious educated guess that should he gain a better title than this one from any of the four other Challenge Dungeons, this one would simply be replaced. He seriously doubted he would be able to do that, though. At most, he would gain equal titles, as he didn’t think there were ones of a higher tier than this, which would probably mean he would just keep the first one he got.
As for the title itself, Jake was a bit surprised at what it gave. It was just pure stat points, and not a percentage increase. Mind you, Jake wasn’t really complaining. In fact, this was probably better for him than if he’d gained more percentage titles.
Jake already had a lot of percentage titles, along with the percentage boost from his Bloodline, so to gain one that just gave pure stat points was honestly huge. It did kind of suck it was to all stats and not just focused on the ones he used the most, but Jake at least did use all of them at times. Still, he would have preferred to just get them mainly in Agility, Strength, and Perception. Or, well, he wouldn’t have complained if he had just gained +1800 Perception outright, but you can’t always have what you want.
Even with just this title and the achievement, Jake would say it had been a very productive Challenge Dungeon, and honestly, he would have been happy with what he had already gotten, but there was one final message, and after seeing what he had gotten, Jake honestly wasn’t sure how he felt.
Reward gained: [Emblem of the Grand Champion (Mythical)]
