The Primal Hunter
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:

Heretics.

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:

His cloak.

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.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

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 blend into the shadows when standing still or moving slowly, masking their presence and all their actions, including their 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 become directly involved in this way was extremely unusual.

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.”

“I hope you enjoy yourself.”

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.

Fast.

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.