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Chapter 1131 - Psychological Warfare
Assassinations weren’t just about killing a target. At least not for the Court of Shadows. It was the Path of their entire faction, and the Path of many of their members. However, just like it was a hunter’s Path to slay monsters, that didn’t mean the hunter could just kill any monster.
A hunter could slay a thousand weak beasts an entire grade below himself, and it would give him nothing. In fact, it could hurt his own Records. In the same vein, an assassin didn’t merely care about killing someone. It had to be a kill that would allow the assassin to progress their Path.
This mentality was part of the reason why the Court of Shadows was tolerated throughout the multiverse. They had standards. Rules. These edicts dictated everything from the kind of pay expected to the length of any assassination contract.
The length of the contract was an odd concept to many who hired the Court without much foreknowledge. The way the Court operated was that the contract would only last for a set amount of time, during which the faction would try to take down the target. Should they fail to slay the target during this period, a portion of the deposit would be returned, minus expenses for the attempts on the target’s life.
This also resulted in assassination contracts not always being successful by design. It was a careful balance that had been struck, where the assassination targets could prove themselves worthy of surviving the attempts on their lives. This especially mattered when it came to contracts on young talents, as the success rate on those was far lower than average. Having a rule like that also allowed the Court of Shadows to take more contracts on young geniuses without just becoming a slaughterhouse of anyone showing promise that enemy factions wanted to get rid of before they could mature.
A primary reason why the success rate was so low on young geniuses was due to another of the rules. A fundamental one.
One would never see the Court of Shadows send some A-grade to wipe out a group of C-grades. In fact, one of their basic rules was that one should never have a target below one’s own grade.
That’s to say, an S-grade would never assassinate an A-grade, an A-grade would never kill a B-grade, and of course, a B-grade would never try to kill a C-grade. This was one of their most basic edicts... but no rule was ironclad. Everything had exceptions.
One exception was naturally that an assassin and member of the Court of Shadows could always defend themselves if attacked, even if the attacker was below their own grade. A nice little loophole that the Darkwood Chimera had gladly taken advantage of... though it was still unsure who the true prey was.
"They actually went and did it?" the green-haired woman asked as she saw the Primordial stare into empty space with an amused smile.
"That they did," the Malefic Viper chuckled, shaking his head.
Not too long ago, he had been contacted by a courier from the Court of Shadows, delivering a message from Umbra. All it said was that someone had attempted to take out a contract on Jake.
The Viper instantly understood the purpose of this message. It didn’t say they had accepted any contract, so this was an opportunity for the Viper to respond and tell them not to accept the contract. A smart play by Umbra. Vilas would have to ask her not to accept it, which could be construed as owing a favor, while if the Viper did nothing, the Court would only once more prove that they indeed dared to accept contracts on just about anyone.
Needless to say, Vilas hadn’t responded. Why would he? He saw nothing wrong with a little contract being taken out on his Chosen. He knew the edicts of the Court of Shadows. Their entire modus operandi. On a contract like Jake, they would definitely adhere to it strictly, which in the Viper’s mind just meant one thing:
If anyone was suited to facing assassination attempts, it had to be his Chosen. Vilas himself had a hard time taking Jake by surprise, so he wished any aspiring assassin who wanted to make a name for themselves luck.
What he hadn’t expected was for them to use a tactic like this. One where Jake gave the assassin rightful justification to kill him despite being a grade higher. It was novel, but also clearly not a new plan, as based on what the Chimera had shown, it hadn’t been blessed just recently, but been a member of the Court of Shadows for a while.
Well... alright, calling the Chimera a member didn’t seem quite right. More like it was a candidate to become a full member. In fact, that was the deal the Viper assumed the Court and Chimera had struck. The Chimera would serve the Court as an assassin in this Hunting Ground for a set limited amount of time or for a limited number of targets, and in return, it would be allowed to fully join the Court, getting the backing it had talked about wanting.
Pretty clever and incredibly low-risk for the Court of Shadows.
"I wonder who hired the Court..." the goddess wondered out loud.
"There are a lot of candidates, I reckon, but for once, I have a feeling it isn’t actually related to me," the Viper chuckled.
"Are you worried about him?" The Verdant Sister asked. She had been there to deliver a message just prior and had taken this opportunity to stay around a bit longer.
"Worried?" the Viper asked with a smile. "Why would I be? It’s a Chimera, sure, but let’s be honest, every single B-grade in that Hunting Ground is absolutely pathetic, to the level I hesitate to even call them true B-grades."
"But your Chosen is still only C-grade, and from what I remember, not even that close to the peak yet," the Verdant Sister pointed out.
"True," the Viper nodded. "Which is why these B-grades can at least still provide some level of challenge to him. If he couldn’t even kill these now, how is he supposed to kill a True Dragon before evolving to B-grade?"
The Verdant Witch’s eyes opened wide. "You want him to kill a True Dragon before evolving?"
"Me? No," Vilas chuckled. "I’m pretty sure he’s the one who will refuse to evolve until he’s killed one."
"Comparing these B-grades to a True Dragon..." the female god sighed.
"Yeah," the Viper shrugged. "He still has a ways to go, but given enough preparation and with the improvements he’ll make between now and peak C-grade, I believe he can do it. Assuming he avoids getting killed by assassins from the Court of Shadows, that is."
With those words, the Viper turned his attention to watching the fight unfold, looking forward to whether this one would be good enough pressure for Jake to improve once more.
Jake narrowly dodged as the eight tendrils shot for him rapidly, each moving independently to try to lock down or strike him directly. To make matters more complicated, the Chimera had evidently released a boosting skill of some kind, as its power and speed had both gone up a notch.
Arcane Awakening being fully activated was Jake’s only response to keep up as their battle continued. Jake tried to chase after the Chimera, but it was quite good at using Shadow Vault to create distance between itself and Jake.
Keeping up with all the attacks was difficult, and Jake failed to properly counterattack, as he had too much to deal with at once to focus on anything besides dodging. He kept looking for an opening to exploit, but while the monster showed its lack of experience when it came to close combat, it had clearly trained this fighting style a lot.
After nearly getting hit for the umpteenth time, Jake considered his options and decided to change the status quo. He remembered back when he had Shadow Vault himself and his very first training session with the skill. He also remembered that the skill had some limitations. While it could pass through things, doing so drained more energy. Passing through living things, now that was something Jake felt pretty damn confident the Chimera wasn’t capable of due to how it had used the skill so far.
And there just happened to be an entire jungle filled with living things right below him. While Jake could see the tendrils be very adept at fighting within the jungle due to their insane flexibility, Jake still believed it would be an advantageous environment for him.
That’s why he found a brief opening to blast himself downwards and out of range from the Chimera. At the same time, he pulled out his bow and continued taking potshots, aiming for the gaps in the bark of the tendrils. It did very little damage, but everything counted.
As expected, the monster gave chase to try to keep Jake within its optimal attack range. Being on the ground, Jake also lost the ability to dodge downwards, meaning entering the jungle wasn’t entirely bad for it.
For a little while, the Chimera tried to stay above or near the canopies of the trees, but Jake kept moving in a way to make it impossible for the B-grade to attack effectively, forcing it to eventually enter the jungle proper.
"Do you believe this is advantageous to you?" the Chimera asked tauntingly as it kept striking with its tendrils while Jake kept shooting stable arrow after stable arrow while moving rapidly through the jungle.
"Hopefully," Jake decided to banter a bit. Usually, he wouldn’t bother, but a lot of things still nagged him.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that whatever god had blessed the Chimera was from the Court of Shadows, and that this B-grade had been given a job to kill Jake. Likely, that was why the monster cared so much about taking him out in the first place. He would be the Chimera’s escape from this planet and the source of his backing once off-planet.
Jake’s biggest question was, who the hell would hire the Court of Shadows to kill him? It might be a bit rude, but the first candidate to enter Jake’s mind was Villy himself. Jake could totally see the snake god hire the Court to send assassins after Jake for some extra training and experience. It would also make sense for it to be the Viper, as Jake reckoned the Primordial would know about the assassins being hired and potentially even had to approve it. While Umbra was considered to be at the same level as the twelve Primordials, making someone like the Viper an enemy was still risky.
However, it didn’t feel right. First of all, the timing was wrong. Villy wouldn’t hire them while Jake was off visiting the Pantheon of Life in what even the Primordial had called an official diplomatic mission. It would also be odd to hire assassins to kill your own Chosen within the dominion of another Primordial-level faction.
That meant someone else had enough hatred for Jake to hire an assassin to kill him. Was it perhaps someone who had been related to Yip of Yore? There were still a lot of gods who’d backed Yip out there.
It could also totally be the Holy Church, though they tended to only hire the Court of Shadows to handle internal matters. Perhaps it was just someone who didn’t like to see Jake’s name on top of the Nevermore Leaderboards... either way, whoever was behind this had to be powerful to dare hire an assassin to kill the Chosen of the Malefic Viper and have the Court accept the mission.
So many unknowns... all of which Jake had no way of finding out besides trying to probe the Chimera a bit.
As he dodged through the jungle, avoiding strike after strike, Jake also slowly got closer to the Chimera, all while speaking again. "I know the faction who promised to give you a place in the multiverse... and do you genuinely think they’ll want to invest in you?"
Jake’s words seemed to have some effect as the tendrils were thrown off ever-so-slightly, Jake taking the chance to instantly close the distance and get close to the Chimera, thus exiting its optimal range.
"Look at yourself. You’re a B-grade, yet this is the best you can do? Someone of your caliber isn’t even worth being cannon fodder to the Court of Shadows," Jake continued, and he noticed that especially the mention of the Court of Shadows had an effect.
"You... how do you know-" the Chimera began, but Jake stopped it from speaking by teleporting right below the big monster before punching upwards with a Penetrating Fang, stabbing deep into the stomach of the B-grade.
It screamed before trying to crush Jake, but he was too fast and cut the monster across its stomach, causing a small waterfall of sludge-like brown blood to pour out, the wound taking a long time to close due to Heartrot Poison.
"I’ve encountered people from the Court of Shadows many times before," Jake said, his speaking having no effect on his ability to fight, while it clearly messed with the Chimera. "In fact, there was a time they really wanted to recruit me. An offer I would have perhaps taken in a different life."
His katars moved across the body of the Chimera like a whirlwind, leaving dozens of cuts every second as the monster struggled and tried to stop Jake in any way it could. Entering the jungle also quickly proved an excellent move, as the tendrils struggled to avoid hitting trees or other obstacles while trying to catch Jake.
"I know them well enough to know that in their eyes, you are nothing. A means to an end at most. Even if you leave this planet, what do you think awaits you? Do you think they can magically turn you into a B-grade that’s worthy of actually being called a B-grade? Even if they could, why wouldn’t they invest those resources in someone actually competent?"
The Chimera tried to get away several times, but Jake didn’t let the B-grade flee. Strings of arcane mana wrapped around the monster in several places, Jake using them to pull and swing himself while attacking, leaving his opponent more and more bloodied. All the while, he continued channeling his inner Songbird.
"How long have you been on this planet without facing any real challenge? How long have you hidden away like the coward you are? How can anyone with such a fragile mindset ever achieve anything? The only thing weaker than your power is your mind."
Getting a good opening, Jake stabbed right where one of the legs connected to the Chimera’s body and released a blast of arcane mana, nearly severing the entire thing. He felt his poison had accumulated quite a bit inside the monster’s body, too, ravaging it from within.
"Makes me wonder what kind of god wasted a Blessing on you. Did they do it out of pity? Vanity? Either way, whoever this god is, they are living proof that even the divine can sometimes make idiotic decisions," Jake said, deciding to also insult the Patron of the Chimera, hoping the monster was the reverent type.
Either way, Jake’s plan had worked out well so far. His psychological warfare bought him a lot of time as the two had torn through the jungle, destroying vast swaths of it during their fight, as the Chimera had constantly tried to either get away from Jake or attack him.
Yet he couldn’t be entirely calm... because even if everything he’d said about this B-grade being trash was true, it was still a B-grade. Moreover, what he’d seen so far didn’t even put it at the level of the Sovereign. Far more durable, sure, and Jake could see the Sovereign lose to the Chimera, but in most scenarios, his money would be on the bird.
That meant Jake could only conclude the monster had more to show. The question just was what it was waiting for, as with things were going, Jake was rapidly building an advantage.
As Jake landed several more stabs, the Chimera finally had a proper way to get Jake away from it. The monster roared with immense power, releasing a shockwave of dark mana that temporarily forced Jake away, all as the voice of the Chimera echoed.
"Useless... weak... unqualified... yes... I am pathetic," the defeatist tone of the B-grade swept through the jungle. "But... I’m also a Chimera. I change. Adapt. Improve. It remains incomplete, but you leave me no choice. Witness me and lay eyes on power found within the shadows!"
The torrent of dark energy exuded from the Chimera only seemed to increase in intensity as it began to slowly change properties, going from dark energy to shadow energy. At the same time, Jake also heard a cracking sound as within the darkness, the Chimera was changing form.
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.
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 couldn't 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.
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 axe's 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 Jake's 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...
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.
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 kept getting more 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 do a lot of damage for a lot of 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:
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.
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 which 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.
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 fully exploit.
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.
Chapter 1134 - Umbral Influence
Jake stared into the sky's eternal darkness, trying to discern who or what was observing his clone. At his side, the Eternal Shadow followed his gaze as it, too, looked back at whatever presence lurked.
At this moment, Jake also noticed something else. In the distance, the Chimera that had just been blasted away stopped mid-flight as its entire body turned fully black, as if it had become one with the shadows, frozen in time and place.
His Eternal Shadow looked toward the sky for a few more moments before it fully dispersed, having lasted longer than usual for sure, but still with a limited duration. At its disappearance, the attention of the being in the sky naturally turned to Jake, who had just absorbed the cursed shadow energy.
Just then, Jake felt something connect to his mind. He couldn’t even tell if this connection stemmed from the presence or the Shadow Realm itself... but he recognized the voice. It was the same as the Mistress of Shadows from the Colosseum of Mortals.
An entity better known as Umbra.
"How odd. To find traces of my own Records and Legacy, unauthorized and stolen. Within the Realm of Shadows, no less. Then again, considering the usurper in question, perhaps such heretical actions shouldn’t come as a surprise."
Jake listened – not really having a choice in the matter – as the rather scathing words entered his mind. At first, he felt a bit confused about what she was even saying, but that’s when he remembered and... yeah, alright, she had a point.
Eternal Shadow of the Primal Hunter had been created as an upgrade to Shadow Vault – a Legacy Skill of Umbra. If that was the only link it had to the goddess, she really didn’t have any grounds to complain, but those weren’t all the Records the skill contained.
Sim-Jake, his other self that had existed within the simulated reality created by the Seat of the Exalted Prima, had been a follower of Umbra. Gotten quite the respectable Blessing, too.
When the two of them recombined, Sim-Jake lost most of his Records, but whatever remained of him became part of the Eternal Shadow skill. A large part of the reason Shadow Vault had been the skill to upgrade in the first place was because Jake’s other self knew it well. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that another version of Jake dedicated to really learning about his own dark affinity and, by extension, the shadow affinity would turn out to be quite good at it.
All of these Records containing the Legacy of Umbra had merged with Shadow Vault to create the Eternal Shadow skill. Records that once belonged to Sim-Jake were now part of Jake... but the Jake in this reality wasn’t the one who had become a follower of Umbra.
He wasn’t the one who’d been given her Legacy and Records. Instead, he’d obtained them in a roundabout way without permission, and people who took Records directly from gods without permission had a name in the multiverse:
In the silent world of the Shadow Realm, where the Chimera still remained frozen in place, Jake spoke to the god who ruled the place.
"I want to clarify that the circumstances aren’t as they look," Jake tried to explain himself. "I obtained this skill from-"
"I know," Umbra responded, her voice sounding a bit amused. "The Seat of the Exalted Prima is an interesting World Wonder. One I’m certain we’ve barely glimpsed the potential of. Still, the Records do rightfully belong to me. In the same vein, the Records of your simulated self belonged to you as the authentic version, so does the Records of my simulated self belong to me."
Her answer just confused Jake further as to why she’d said what she said. "Then I would argue the skill isn’t heretical."
"But the Records do belong to me, and the action of creating your skill does qualify as a heretical one," Umbra said, not leaving much room for argumentation. Especially not with her next words. "Not that such a brand would matter to someone who’s never been faithful in the first place. Not even to his own Patron."
The more she spoke, the more Jake was confused about why Umbra had made her presence known like this. She wasn’t asking Jake anything, and it wasn’t even as if she was probing for him to spill any information, as the certainly in her voice was overwhelming.
Still, Jake neither confirmed nor denied as he tried to reclaim some manner of control in the conversation – all while staying respectful and not pissing off the god of shadows and assassins.
"I don’t wish to be rude, but may I know why the leader of the Court of Shadows has approached me in the middle of battle?" Jake asked straightforwardly.
"I detected you and followed my curiosity. Not many chances to speak with the Harbinger of Primeval Origins, now are there?"Umbra said, continuing to sound amused. "Appearing before you in body would have been preferable, but even now, I feel the deep roots of Yggdrasil surrounding the shadows, and I very much doubt she would welcome my intrusion into what’s ultimately still her domain."
"Just curiosity, eh?" Jake asked, feeling there was more to it. He also didn’t feel any enmity from the endless dark sky, so he decided to be just a little cheeky. "Couldn’t your curiosity count as breaking the rules of the Court? A being of your caliber getting directly involved with the contract of a mere C-grade seems unprecedented."
"Rules for thee, not for me," Umbra also joked... except Jake came to realize she wasn’t actually joking. "I will admit, the assassin this time is not the most impressive. So perhaps we should make it a bit more interesting? And you have just the thing to make it so."
Jake was about to say something as shadows suddenly enveloped his entire body, and for a brief moment, he thought a Primordial-level entity had actually decided to outright attack him. That’s until he realized what the source of these shadows was.
When it came to equipment, especially upgrading said equipment, Jake didn’t tend to care overly much. As long as he had a good bow and katars, he was fine. Besides that, he mainly cared about gear for the stats, which was why one of the neglected gear slots he barely thought about was an item that didn’t and couldn’t give any stats:
That’s also when Jake remembered the origin of this item. A shady merchant had happily sold it to Jake for a steal, and as Jake hadn’t felt any danger from the item, he’d gladly bought it. Especially as it even had the function to improve his stealth. Something that had been very useful in Nevermore before he got Unseen Hunter.
Since then, he’d kind of forgotten the item, and he just wore it out of habit. It offered little after all... but now that he used Identify on his own damn cloak again, he realized remembering would probably have been a good idea.
[Midnight Shadow Cloak (Ancient)] – A cloak created from the essence of an unknown creature dwelling in the realm of shadows. Incredibly durable to all kinds of attacks. Allows the wearer to meld into the shadows when they stand still or move slowly, masking their presence and all of their actions, including energies. Improved further if already dwelling in the shadows. When worn within the Shadow Realm, the cloak will passively absorb energy to repair itself or assist the user during their travel through the darkness. Requirements: level 200+ in any humanoid race. Must have touched upon the Shadow Realm.
Jake hadn’t noticed its effects within the Shadow Realm quite yet, in part because the cloak had already been in tatters by the time he entered it. Now, the entire item was teeming with energy, Umbra’s voice echoing again.
"I shall be fair and offer you a choice. An opportunity. Continue as you were, while I disappear as if I were never here in the first place. Or, more interestingly, give me this cloak of yours and let its Records merge with the Chimera. A more difficult fight will await you, but so will greater rewards. What say you, hunter?"
Jake still couldn’t figure out what the hell Umbra was doing. Why was she doing all this? It all seemed surprisingly random, but Jake seriously doubted it was. Moreover, for her to directly get involved like this was extremely abnormal.
As for her offer... well, it would definitely be one way to convince Jake to approve his own assassination. He was effectively being asked by the boss of the assassination agency hired to kill him if he wanted to give his would-be killer a better weapon.
He tried hard to determine Umbra’s intent, and he had a difficult time seeing why she would want him dead in the first place. According to Villy, she wanted him to grow stronger. Jake was in many ways a direct counter to Umbra’s Path due to his Bloodline, which logically would dictate that Umbra wanted to kill Jake, but in reality, she wanted to use him as a whetstone to improve herself. At least the Viper thought so.
Moreover, Jake didn’t feel any animosity from her. His intuition wasn’t warning him, either. Finally, Umbra had done a lot to form some kind of relationship with Jake through his brother, so to just interfere like this and kill Jake seemed like an odd choice.
Not to say she wasn’t willing to put Jake in a potentially deadly spot. If Jake would die to something like that, he was never worthy of being her whetstone in the first place.
With all that in mind, Jake smiled and chuckled. "This is either an extremely clever way to get around some kind of law or limitation by appealing to my desire for a good fight, or you’re planning something else I won’t even bother guessing."
"Oftentimes, the right answer is found somewhere in the middle. Have you made your decision?"
"Let’s finally see what was up with that creepy cloak," Jake smiled. "Sure, let’s go with the interesting option."
Right after she said those words, Jake felt something. His cloak, which was already acting up, began absorbing the shadows around it as a whirlpool formed in his vicinity. The cloak absorbed immense amounts of shadow energy at the behest of Umbra, enough for it to be utterly unable to contain it.
The entire cloak began to come apart and turn into motes of deep shadow that flew toward the endless darkness in the sky. Once more, Umbra’s touch was felt as they all gathered into a spherical shape before shooting towards the Chimera.
That was when the B-grade Chimera also became able to move again. The shadow energy merged with the body of the Chimera, and as it did so, the creature underwent yet another change.
The two flowers that had been shining with dark light before began growing and went from looking a bit like two black sunflowers to two lotuses in full bloom. The axes grew darker and became metallic as the shadows empowered its weapons. Finally, the four tendrils extending below the B-grade all turned metallic like the axes, with their ends seemingly becoming a lot more malleable, as two of the tendrils grew hands on their ends while two others remained sharp spears.
When the entire transformation was done, the Chimera had even shrunk down to be slightly smaller than before, thinner and more lithe, but the most notable thing was definitely the black cloak that now covered its body. It looked like a large, tattered black bedsheet was draped over its body, the entire thing filled with holes as it swayed unnaturally, with small pieces of cloth even falling off every moment, only to regrow again.
For a few moments, the Chimera was still as it gazed towards the endless darkness of the sky.
"The shadows... they have blessed me. Granted me power," the Chimera spoke, slowly beginning to move forward as the cloak continued swaying unnaturally. "I have become one with the Shadow Realm... and soon so will you."
From the perspective of the Chimera, it had only been a few seconds since Jake and his Eternal Shadow had blown it away. The brief conversation Jake had with Umbra hadn’t had any meaningful effect on Jake’s ability to fight, and while it had strengthened the Chimera, this entire sequence of events had benefitted Jake in one crucial aspect:
He now felt actual excitement for what was to come as the Chimera swayed and disappeared from sight. It had indeed become one with the shadows, melding into the environment itself as it moved swiftly through it, approaching Jake with deadly intent.
Both katars at the ready, Jake deflected the first blow as the B-grade reappeared while already mid-swing. He tried to avoid outright blocking due to the horrid state of his hands and fingers, hoping that with active infusion of his vital energy, he could heal them a little.
Retreating away slightly, the first difference between the Chimera before and now was seen. Beforehand, the flowers made Jake slower the more he moved away, but now it was even more than that. As Jake moved away just a few kilometers, the darkness all around him closed in, the shadows trying to invade his body and deal damage. Only with Pride and the passive barrier from Arcane Awakening did he avoid being affected, but he couldn’t move too much further, or the effect would intensify.
The Chimera then showed its second difference from before. Two of the tendrils had grown hands, which Jake presumed were to grab him, but now shadows gathered in both as black daggers manifested and were quickly thrown toward Jake.
Jake moved to avoid, but both daggers moved through the Shadow Realm at incredible speeds and even seemed to hone in on him. Taking the gamble, Jake used One Step to dodge away and got lucky in the sense that the random teleport took him to the side and out of the two daggers’ flight path.
After missing, both daggers dispersed into shadows once more before reappearing in the hands of the Chimera, reminding Jake a bit of how he could recall his own Eternal Shadow.
A skill he would probably have to use again soon, as the Chimera had charged toward him after throwing, all six tendrils swinging for him. Facing the challenge directly, Jake met its charge and expertly moved in between the tendrils, deflecting and dodging where he had to while closing in on the B-grade.
Getting close enough to attack, Jake tried to cut the Chimera, emphasis on tried. Eternal Hunger swept across the monster's body but found itself encountering the cape that now covered it. This cape wrapped around his katar as if alive, Jake failing to even strike the heavily damaged bark beneath it, and thus did no damage.
Instead, he found two daggers flying at him from an awkward angle as two spear-like tendrils stabbed for his stomach. Steeling himself, Jake ended up having to purposefully get cut by one of the daggers as it flew by him and lacerated his back, but it at least gave him the chance to try to attack again.
Stabbing forward, the cloak once more attempted to stop Jake’s blow, but this time around, he managed to pierce through it and into the B-grade. It still weakened his blow, but just knowing that at least stabs could still get through was a huge relief, and with this knowledge, Jake retreated a bit away again... however, in the process, he had to block an axe swing.
Despite using both katars and bracing himself, the Chimera had grown slightly stronger after Umbra’s interference. This meant that even if Jake blocked as well as he could, the impact still sent enough force through his poor hands to break two fingers in both entirely, sending him flying back as pain shot through them.
Fuck, he cursed internally as he gazed down at his less-than-healthy hands. The legendary gloves had done a good job of making his hands more durable for a long time, but as an item, they were still limited and could only do so much to make up for just how damn fragile the human body could be.
Bloody cheating that the Sovereign’s talons can be as tough as actual weapons, Jake cursed as he prepared himself to block again despite the immense pain and deteriorating strength in his grip, really wishing in that moment he didn’t have weak and fragile human hands.