The Primal Hunter
Chapter 1110: Simivita Chieftain

Taking a break from practice to have some fun was a great way to refresh the mind and approach the topic with a fresh outlook. At least, that was Jake’s excuse when he decided to fight the Simivita Chieftain in melee.

It was likely also the best idea if his goal was to ensure everyone survived. Jake had no way to guarantee the safety of the two women, and he doubted the barrier set up by the dryad could hold if the Simivitas all began to attack it.

If killing the Chieftain quickly with ranged attacks was an option, Jake would have preferred that, but he doubted he could kill it easily. The ape wasn’t a weak variant, though Jake wouldn’t consider it a high-tier one either. It was likely solidly in the upper realms of mid-tier.

Upon landing on the ground, the Chieftain kept smiling as he lifted a hand. When he did so, the many apes behind him retreated. Jake decided to throw the elf and dryad a look, and the two of them were smart enough to follow his directions and back off.

Two sides were solidly formed, with their representative combatants in the middle. The Chieftain was confident as he lifted his sword off his shoulder and pointed it toward Jake, no longer infusing his voice with energy as he spoke.

“I shall give you credit for not being a coward,” the ape said. “A rarity among your kind. Most run away upon seeing me or face me with large groups. Few have dared stand before me alone. Especially not anyone of your level.”

Jake was a bit surprised at the honest words of the ape and responded in kind. “I can also respect that you are willing to face me without the army at your back. Doing so would have made things a lot more complicated.”

“Only way to make you face me and not run away,” the Chieftain chuckled. “You seem intent on helping those females. I originally came here with the intent of consuming the spawn of the ferret within the mound, but the spirits tell me your skull is even more valuable. Be proud, knowing that your death shall be the impetus for my ascension to become a B-grade Warlord.”

“Funny, I’m over here not even thinking I’ll get a level-up by killing you,” Jake answered casually as he began walking forward without any weapons drawn. “But you should also be proud. Dying to me in a duel will give your Records and Path far more meaning than you can even imagine. Perhaps I’ll even remember this encounter... assuming you make it memorable enough.”

Two incredibly arrogant fighters, neither imagining a world where they could lose, simply sized each other up, waiting for one of them to make the first move. Jake continued slowly approaching with steady steps, the tension building as he soon entered the range of the Chieftain.

The sword moved in an instant, aiming to cut Jake cleanly in half. At the very last moment, Jake sidestepped and dodged. The Chieftain reacted quickly despite having missed, jumping to the side and swinging his blade again while creating some distance.

Taking another stance, he immediately closed the distance and went on the offensive. Jake easily dodged two regular swings, but as a third one was mid-swing, it suddenly blurred for a moment as if vibrating intensely. Hundreds of cuts filled the air as some form of skill was used, taking Jake somewhat by surprise as he was forced to jump back, skirting across the ground. Narrowing his eyes, he looked down and saw a slight cut on one of his bracers.

Seeing as the Chieftain was a monster, Jake hadn’t assumed him to be very skilled with a weapon, but evidently, that was entirely wrong. Then again, he likely shouldn’t have assumed as many of the Simivitas had races corresponding to weapons, indicating that using weapons was a big part of their Path and Lineage.

“You’re fast, but more than that, you’re perceptive,” the Chieftain said, having clearly expected that surprise attack to hit. “I would be very disappointed if that’s all you have.”

“Patience, we’ve only just begun,” Jake responded as he indulged the Chieftain’s curiosity and went on the offensive a little. Using One Step, Jake teleported slightly to the side of the Chieftain before instantly launching him to the side with an arcane blast.

The Chieftain turned to respond in an instant, but Jake narrowly dodged the sword coming for him. Originally, Jake had wanted to go for a good punch, perhaps even summoning his katars to make it a stab, but he only found the range to land a solid kick that would also allow him to retreat in the process.

When the kick connected, his foot exploded with destructive arcane power, sending the Chieftain sliding back and Jake flying through the air as he did a backflip and another arcane blast to land fast, ready to instantly pounce again as he shot forward.

Katars finally appeared as he managed to fly by the Chieftain, landing two nasty cuts to the side of the beast as Jake spun around and landed on a tree, leaping like a stabbing frog to try and land a blow to the Chieftain’s back.

Unfortunately for Jake, the Simivita wasn’t easily taken by surprise as he jumped into the air while turning around, cutting downwards toward Jake’s direction, his sword bathed in a greenish-blue light that sent out a crescent slash.

Jake had to step down mid-air to teleport out of the way as the crescent wave flew by him, splitting the tree Jake had just used as a jump-off point vertically. Not abandoning his assault, Jake closed in once more and managed to land another drive-by cut before the Chieftain could strike back.

Making use of his superior speed and near-perfect dodging abilities, Jake continued dancing around the Chieftain, landing several minor attacks one after another. The ape didn’t seem overly bothered, and the wounds left by Jake healed rapidly as Jake guessed the Simivita was trying to understand Jake’s movement pattern better.

What the Chieftain hadn’t accounted for was the accumulating poison that had wormed its way into his veins. When he finally noticed, quite a lot had already been inflicted, and the Chieftain wasn’t happy as his eyes opened wide.

“Poison? You...”

“What, are you gonna claim that’s cowardly? Blame yourself for not detecting it earlier,” Jake got ahead of the criticism.

The Chieftain scoffed. “You just sped up your own death needlessly. I was beginning to enjoy myself, but it appears I’ll have to end things sooner than I would have preferred.”

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Upon saying those words, the aura of the Chieftain began to spike as he deployed a boosting skill – another trait more powerful variants tended to have. The same odd greenish-blue aura enveloped his body and began spiking as the ape truly went all out.

“Spirits of Old, Protect Me,” the Chieftain spoke as the odd energy gathered around his body, forming a full suit of transparent armor.

“Spirits of Old, Strengthen Mine Arms,” he continued as his sword began to glow a ghostly light and give off a far more powerful aura. Jake could see the strain on the Chieftain’s body as he spoke one last time.

“Spirits of Old, Guide Me.”

With those words, his power grew to a whole new level as his aura spiked further. His eyes began to glow a ghostly light as what Jake guessed to be spirit energy empowered the Chieftain.

“Now fall before the might of the Ancestors!”

Raising his blade toward Jake, it began gathering power as an ominous wind swept through the area right before a beam of condensed light erupted from the sword, flying straight toward Jake, who watched the incoming attack with calm eyes.

--

Keerla watched on as the Simivita Chieftain unleashed its spirit magic. She and Solana had already suspected that the Chieftain had the powers of a Spiritcaller, and they had been right... which didn’t bode well.

Spiritcallers were known for their ability to temporarily have spirit energy inhabit their body, empowering them significantly. It all linked back to the odd spiritual practices of the Simivita tribe that allowed them to “keep in contact” with their ancestors, even if this contact only came in the form of tapping into Records for specific skills.

Watching the battle, the human hunter was far more powerful than Keerla had expected and even seemed to have the upper hand, but she feared things were about to take a turn. The Chieftain had gotten significantly stronger, and she guessed the human was already using a boosting skill to close the gap in stats between himself and the far higher-leveled monster.

However, his uncanny ability to avoid his opponent’s attacks gave her hope. If he could stall out the Spirit Empowerment long enough, the Chieftain should enter a period of weakness, and coupled with the poison he had apparently inflicted, he should have a legitimate chance of victory.

Just as she thought this, the Chieftain lifted its blade to unleash an attack. She expected the human to dodge, but he remained still even as energy gathered, making Keerla guess he wanted to dodge at the very last moment.

A guess that was very wrong, apparently. The Chieftain unleashed its attack that Keerla had no confidence in facing, but the human didn’t move a single step. Instead, he raised a hand just before it struck him.

An explosion erupted, making several of the trees around him bend and sending soil and plant parts flying everywhere. Keerla stared, confused about what had happened. Did the sight of the Spirit Empowerment scare him somehow? Why had the human acted so irrationally?

“I expected more after that dramatic performance. Turns out it was all theatrics.”

A second explosion erupted as all the dust was cleared away in an instant, revealing the form of the hunter. His hand that had blocked the prior attack had some damage on it, but it looked as if scales now covered it. Energy practically radiated off his body, and the odd affinity he’d used throughout the fight filled the atmosphere all around him.

He lowered his hand as a katar appeared in it once more, and he bent his knees, ready to pounce. “Now it’s your turn to block.”

Keerla didn’t even see as he disappeared. All she saw was that in the very next moment, he was right in front of the Chieftain, who quickly tried to respond to the sudden attack by swinging his blade. However, mid-swing, he suddenly just stopped moving as Keerla saw a brief orange glow from the eyes of the human hunter.

Then, suddenly, Keerla saw double. The hunter became two as each flanked the Chieftain from opposite sides, both stabbing forward with their right hands that had katars with energy whirling around them. The Chieftain was already able to move again, but it was too late as both katars penetrated through the spirit armor and into his abdomen before exploding with pink-purple light, sending the Chieftain flying back through a thin tree and into a larger one, breaking off a huge piece of bark.

Keerla was slack-jawed as the hunter casually regarded the effects of his attack as one of his two selves faded away into a puff of black smoke.

--

Jake watched as the Chieftain struggled to stand back up. He’d decided to respond in kind as the ape boosted himself fully by also unleashing his own Arcane Awakening. Despite how much more impressive the Chieftain’s skills looked, they paled in comparison to Jake’s far simpler boosting skill.

Walking forward, Jake spun the two katars around a few times, giving the ape a bit of time to stand up. He was pleasantly surprised when the eyes of the Chieftain weren’t filled with fear but instead caution and a continued will to fight.

Perhaps he expected Jake’s attack to be a one-off, which it kind of was, as he didn’t want to use Eternal Shadow and Gaze again one after another, but that didn’t mean the ape suddenly stood a chance.

Without any warning, Jake teleported with one of his casual steps, appearing in front of the Chieftain. An explosion of spirit energy instantly erupted from his body as his armor transformed into dozens of ghostly hands reaching for Jake and trying to constrain him. The ape grinned, believing Jake had fallen for his trap as several hands grasped Jake, and he raised his sword, ready to bring it down upon the constrained human.

Jake responded by unleashing Pride of the Malefic Viper, his presence washing over the Chieftain as he took control of the immediate area. The ghostly hands unraveled as the faint sound of screams echoed from the energy, and the ape who stood with a sword raised above his head wasn’t ready at all for Jake to break out of his spiritual chains effortlessly.

Several more stabs to the chest sent the beast stumbling as Jake circled around, now even faster and stronger than before, the difference having only grown after boosting skills were used. Despite the Chieftain’s best efforts, Jake left dozens of cuts in rapid succession before he finally decided to finish things.

Midway through slipping behind the ape, Jake kicked it in the side of its knee, his foot exploding with arcane energy as the blast made the beast buckle and lose balance. Continuing his movement, Jake stabbed into the other knee before making his katar explode with arcane energy, forcing the Chieftain down on its knees.

Jake was no longer in a hurry as he walked around the kneeling body of the ape. The spirit energy around his body had already started to fade as his skin was rotten in several places from all the poison coursing through his veins. They both knew the fight was over even as Jake got in front of the Chieftain, who looked up with tired eyes.

“Human... you’re strong... too strong...” the Chieftain said as he breathed heavily. “I’m... inferior. Please, tell me... was I a good opponent? Did I fight well?”

“You did your best, and that’s all anyone can ever ask for,” Jake simply responded, not willing to lie but also respecting his opponent enough to give him this last moment of dignity.

“So I die... with honor,” the Chieftain smiled as his eyes closed for a moment. He seemed to gather his last strength as he yelled loudly.

“Retreat, my brethren! Return to the clan, and tell the Warlord I’ve joined the Ancestors!”

The voice of the Chieftain echoed through the jungle for a few seconds as his head fell down, limp, all signs of life leaving his body.

You have slain [Grand Simivita Chieftain – lvl 349] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level

Jake looked at the corpse for a moment before turning his gaze toward the many observing Simivitas. He had confidence in killing all of them should the need arise, but it wouldn’t be easy. Luckily for him, they quickly followed the orders of their fallen Chieftain and ran away.

Glancing at the corpse of the Chieftain, Jake was a bit surprised that they hadn’t even taken it with them out of respect, but he realized a moment later why that wasn’t necessary as the body began to turn greenish-blue and ghostly, and within ten seconds, it entirely dispersed, leaving only the sword and skull necklace behind.

He decided to pick both of them up with a sigh before turning to the reason why he had even taken on this fight in the first place.

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