The Primal Hunter

Jake was smart enough to know when he was outmatched, and despite all his boosts and the many injuries he had inflicted on Valdemar, he was still at a major disadvantage. The only reason he even had a shot was because of Valdemar’s fighting style being so damn straightforward and Jake having had nine whole lives to learn how to fight him. He could take Valdemar by surprise, a luxury Valdemar did not have.

Not to say there was much to learn about Valdemar’s defensive style. Shit, the man only ever blocked and deflected attacks. Never once did he try to dodge or tactically retreat. He was an unstoppable force that just kept barreling at you until you crumbled, and he would rather take a stab in the stomach and hit you in the face than sidestep an attack. He truly was a ridiculous opponent.

Yet, despite being fully aware of this uphill battle, Jake refused to back down as he charged at the Primordial, who was still recovering from the two arcane spikes pinning him down. He had already ripped out the one in his thigh and had just ripped out the one in his stomach when Jake got close enough to use his katars.

He had wanted to explode the arcane mana spikes, but Valdemar’s fighting energy had messed with his ability to do so, but at least they seemed to have done some serious damage to the man. In fact, Jake was pretty sure that Valdemar would be dead by now if not for his superhuman physique and fighting aura… but then again, without Jake’s superhuman traits, he would also have long died to his injuries.

Jake’s first attack on Valdemar was a straightforward stab toward his heart, one his opponent naturally easily blocked. From there, Jake unleashed a flurry of stabs and cuts as Valdemar stood his ground, seemingly recovering slightly with every passing second. Jake could only hope that wasn’t truly the case as he didn’t let up his assault, landing wound after wound on the man’s body.

Sadly for him, even if Valdemar wasn’t technically recovering, he did grow stronger, and his wounds did begin to bother him less and less. The thigh that couldn’t turn became more flexible, and the large bleeding hole straight through his guts didn’t even bleed anymore but instead looked like a glowing golden sun in the pit of his stomach.

With every second, Valdemar slowly regained the advantage and began to push Jake back. Growing more and more reckless, Jake desperately tried to land something – anything – that could turn the tides, but during this period, Valdemar had been nearly entirely defensive, never allowing Jake to land any potentially lethal hits. To make matters worse, his time was rapidly running out.

Eventually, Jake decided to allow himself to be forced away as he was pushed back. He flew through the air a bit before landing close to where his quiver had dropped before. Picking up an arrow, Jake took out his bow and quickly shot one, only to see it be reflected easily.

He considered picking up another arrow, but he knew it wouldn’t work as he looked at the Primordial slowly walking toward him, the thigh at least still bothering him. Wracking his brain, Jake tried to find some way to fight back, but he was out of tricks.

No… there is that…

Jake was speaking of an ability he had already written off as useless before but was now willing to reconsider. It was the one truly “new” thing Jake had learned in the Challenge Dungeon: his Fear Gaze. Instinctively, Jake knew that against Valdemar, it would likely have no positive effect. Fear Gaze was effectively a clash of souls, and with Valdemar being Valdemar, there was a high chance that Jake would take far more damage than the Primordial would receive. Especially considering Valdemar still had all his memories, making it an even more perilous strategy.

But, in this final life, Jake wanted to try everything. No, he had to try everything. He was out of cards and was now willing to foolishly gamble on such a high-risk attack. But… hey, what did he have to lose? Worst case scenario, he would die, and based on how Challenge Dungeons worked, the system would heal him right up in the process of tossing him out. At least he hoped it would also fix mental and soul damage.

With determination, Jake rose once more. He was wobbly on his feet, the muscles throughout his body entirely shredded already by his own arcane energy. He was purely sustained on energy by now, like a terminal patient on life support. The moment he ran out of energy, he would die, and even if he somehow gained infinite energy, his body had an expiration date that was rapidly approaching.

One last shot.

Gritting his teeth, Jake met the eyes of Valdemar. He saw that the Primordial had a hint of tiredness in his own gaze, but compared to Jake, who was dealing with intense exhaustion, there was no comparison. The man smiled as he seemed to understand this would be Jake’s last attack.

Pushing himself to his limit, Jake borderline emptied out his resource pools as he sprung forward, straight for the Primordial. He wasn’t going to set up the attack with anything fancy but would just do a straight charge without any trace of fear.

His opponent didn’t seem surprised at first but did frown when Jake did something supremely risky. To make up for the height difference, Jake jumped as he yelled loudly, seemingly aiming to plunge both his katars into the Primordial’s skull. An attack that clearly wouldn’t work, hence Valdemar’s confusion.

In a natural response, his opponent simply swung his axe toward Jake. Anyone could see Valdemar’s attack was primed to cut the airborne Jake in two from shoulder to groin before he would accomplish anything. The longer weapon would reach Jake before he had a chance to land his katars… but Jake did have a weapon that was even longer than an axe.

Dismissing both katars, Jake’s bow appeared as he stabbed the sharpened tip toward Valdemar’s left eye with both hands. The man quickly reacted as he moved his free left hand to simply catch the spear-like tip of the bow. Jake’s odd move had clearly confused the Primordial due to its recklessness as he looked at Jake, who met his gaze directly.

There was no more room for fear or hesitation as Jake lay his soul bare and used Fear Gaze. Every shred of desperation, hope, and pure determination was poured into it as a clash of souls occurred. On one end, an indomitable hunter, and on the other, a golden god of war. Singing pain shot through Jake’s mind as he felt the backlash from the clash… but…

Valdemar’s hand that had moved to block the bow had been delayed. For but a fraction of a second, he had stopped moving, and even his golden aura temporarily stopped its ever-flowing movement. It was so brief that only a few of the spectators in the stands would have time to notice, but despite its brevity, it was enough.

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The sharp tip of the bow stabbed forward into the eye of the Primordial as Jake’s mind was barely lucid enough to register it. Right as Jake felt the feedback of hitting something, a wave of golden energy exploded out of Valdemar as the axe swinging for Jake also let out a crescent wave, blasting him back with a nasty cut across his chest.

Valdemar had tried to jump back as he had instinctively released this golden wave but stumbled as he leaned back too fast, ending up falling on the sand. As he tumbled awkwardly, drops of blood flew into the air before the Primordial stopped rolling, still down on one knee.

Jake landed on the sand with a heavy sound and instantly tried to stand, but his legs buckled as he fell down on both knees, blood oozing from his new wound across his chest. Lifting his gaze, he saw the now one-eyed Valdemar staring back at him with astonishment as he only now seemed to realize what had just happened. This had been Jake’s final gamble, and despite having failed… well, at least this felt like a bit of a win.

“Made you retreat and dodge,” Jake said with a chuckle that quickly turned into a cough as blood filled his mouth. He had said it would be his last attack, and based on how he felt and the massive headache he felt, that would truly be the case. He knew his soul had taken some serious damage that he really hoped the system would help fix.

Valdemar, holding a hand to his bleeding eye socket, regarded Jake for a few seconds before he smiled and stood up. “Ya sure fucking did.”

Despite wanting to, Jake couldn’t join him in standing. He simply wasn’t able to anymore. Talking had already been a damn struggle.

“For a fraction of a second there, I felt something I haven’t in a long time… I wouldn’t quite call it fear, but it was pretty damn close. Close enough that I hesitated,” Valdemar muttered as he kept staring intently at Jake.

“You know what? If I don’t recognize someone like you as a fellow Grand Champion of the Colosseum, then who the fuck is worthy of such a title? Just saying, no one should complain about favoritism here even if you are a fellow human!” Valdemar said with a bit of a belly laugh as he spread out his hands. “So there you have it. You’ve earned my recognition and beaten the Colossum of Mortals. Congratulations, mate, you’ve earned it.”

Jake’s eyes opened wide as he faintly heard the sound of a notification… but he didn’t pay it any attention.

Rather than any notifications, his eyes were fixated on a Valdemar that only a second had looked a single step away from death, suddenly acting like he was barely injured. And it wasn’t just an illusion either, as the golden luster surrounding his body only grew more and more abundant.

Jake realized that despite everything… Valdemar had truly been holding out on him till the very end. Golden aura erupted from his body and intensified even more than before as he was practically burning with power as he stood there, but in contrast to Jake’s destructive arcane energy, Valdemar’s fighting aura didn’t have any negative effects at all based on what Jake could see.

“I know ya gave it ya all, and the fight is over… so let me give you a final honorable moment with a proper sendoff. A proper final attack to end our duel!” Valdemar smiled as he lifted his axe and gripped it with both hands. A storm of golden fighting aura hit the kneeling Jake as Valdemar truly looked like a golden god at that very moment. Sand was kicked up as a beam of pure fighting aura shot into the air and encased his axe, making it grow several times in size.

The energy was so intense that even the empty eye socket now had a golden glowing eye within it, staring back at him. Every single wound was like a broken vase fixed with gold, once broken, now made whole again. With time… likely only a day or something, Valdemar would be back to his prime and fully healed.

“You are truly a worthy warrior! So farewell, and may we meet again!” Valdemar said, with a tone of genuine respect. Jake wanted to say something, but he didn’t even have the energy to speak anymore.

I gave it my all, right? So to lose like this isn’t that bad, is it? Jake thought as the golden axe of pure fighting aura more than five meters long descended toward him. Jake had to admit that Valdemar was simply a monster, and his Transcending skill was just straight-up cheating. Even if Valdemar didn’t choose to do this final attack, Jake had seconds left to live.

So, with his broken body and empty resource pools, Jake simply looked up at the giant axe descending as time seemed to slightly slow down as his death approached. Yeah… this ending...

“A better outcome than I expected,” the Wyrmgod said as the decisive blow descended upon Jake. “Your Chosen is indeed impressive… the improvements he showed over those nine lives and his ability to adapt is truly noteworthy. The mere fact he managed to get Valdemar’s recognition is proof of that, and his victory in the Colosseum is wholly deserved.”

Minaga just shrugged. “I already lost my bet when Jake became a Grand Champion. Ah, but I guess he does deserve a thumbs up for good performance.”

“I never doubted I would win my bet with you, but I will admit there was a slight tinge of doubt if I would also beat the Wyrmgod,” Vilastromoz smiled at Minaga as he watched the fight approach its end. “So yeah… Jake performed well. As expected of my Chosen, of course.”

He had made a bet with the Wyrmgod that Jake would be able to go all the way, and in the Colosseum of Mortals, gaining the recognition of Valdemar was considered “beating” the Challenge Dungeon. Defeating Valdemar by killing him simply wasn’t a realistic goal to set for the challengers, and Valdemar surrendering was never going to happen either.

So for Jake to push Valdemar that far… honestly, it already surpassed the Viper’s expectations a little. The bet he had made was very much a gamble, but he believed in Jake’s ability to surpass expectations. Valdemar being the final boss was definitely not expected, though, and the Viper honestly wasn’t sure if it was favorable or not that Jake had faced a fellow human.

Valdemar was a bit like a harsh older brother toward other humans. If it had been an elf or any other enlightened race, Vilastromoz was relatively confident that Valdemar would have acknowledged them after getting pinned down by two large magical spikes. But toward a fellow human, Valdemar would be harsher and truly expect them to go above and beyond what could reasonably be expected. He wanted, no, demanded for them to show all they had and then a bit more.

Despite this possibly being slightly unfair for humans, the Wyrmgod was actually fine with this being the case. Not because he hated humans but because the opposite would be far worse. If Valdemar went easy on humans, the Wyrmgod would have a lot of annoying political issues, and with enough complaints, it was even possible the system would evaluate that the Challenge Dungeon wasn’t functioning properly. Sure, he could also have chosen not to make Valdemar the final Grand Champion, but if given the opportunity, Vilastromoz knew the Wyrmgod couldn’t resist, no matter the potential negative politics surrounding it.

The Viper was happy he didn’t have to bother with such politics. Also, in all honesty, it was only good that Jake had truly been pushed to his limits. This fight would be a good lesson in his life, and how he had managed to die ten times was impressive, as he hadn’t let the experience demotivate him at all but only helped him to improve. It was a great sign for his mentality going forward.

Overall, the three gods only had praise for Jake’s performance as the axe descended upon him, exploding most of the center of the arena where Jake had been kneeling.

“Say, what Challenge Dungeon do you think Jake will try next? On the one hand, I hope he does mine, but on the other hand, I am not sure my feeble heart ca- what the fuck?”

Minaga’s train of thought was cut off as all three gods stared at the recording on the screen. The Wyrmgod’s eyes were already open wide as he had seen what happened in the arena a moment before everyone else… yet he hadn’t been able to say anything due to his shock.

This ending…

Time moved at a crawl as Jake didn’t feel anything. His body was broken, his resources empty, and his life about to end… yet…

…Fuck it.

The axe descended with power no level 0 G-grade could possibly survive as it hit the ground, releasing an eruption of golden light and sand… the noise of the explosion drowned out as the sound of a heartbeat echoed through the arena.

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