The Primal Hunter
Chapter 1135: Limitations Of The Human Body

Jake had entered this final stage of the fight with quite a few injuries, but so had the Chimera. In fact, between the two of them, the Chimera was definitely the worst off. While whatever Umbra had done had increased its overall power, she hadn’t healed the monster at all, and whatever poison permeated its system remained as powerful as ever.

Defensively, the only new addition was the cloak, but it wasn’t as if the B-grade lacked durability in the first place. The addition of the cloak made cutting attacks ineffective, but he could still stab through and penetrate flesh.

When he got a chance to retreat slightly and release a barrage of arrows, he also learned that he could penetrate the cloak with those. Explosive arrows had little effect as the cloak nullified the destructive mana for the most part, forcing him to stick exclusively to the stable variant.

Overall, Jake estimated the power-up to the Chimera wasn’t huge. It had added more means of combat to the monster, though, especially with its two flying shadow daggers that were a pain to deal with. Especially seeing as Jake was in quite literal pain every time he had to parry anything.

The axe swings were simply too powerful for Jake to deal with, especially now. Even if he merely deflected the blows and didn’t take the brunt of the hit, he still felt a tang of pain every time. Vital energy was doing its job, trying to heal Jake’s hands and fingers constantly, but just couldn’t keep up, seeing as Jake couldn’t exactly take a break and relax.

Despite things being tough, Jake remained confident, though. He still had a few cards up his sleeve, after all.

Diving into the melee once more, Jake dodged in between the tendrils and summoned a set of stable arcane barriers to block an incoming shadow dagger that flew at him from behind. Stabbing forward, Jake landed another nice jab, but he had to quickly retreat afterwards as an axe came down from above.

Circling around the B-grade, Jake tried to make use of his better mobility and smaller frame. As he got behind the Chimera, Jake noticed something. The Shadow Realm appeared less dark at the B-grade’s back, and his body felt lighter and faster, which was when he realized it.

Those flowers... their magic only works frontally.

Jake wanted to punch himself for not figuring it out faster, though even if he had, it was doubtful how useful that knowledge would have been. The tendrils themselves could turn without the body having to, meaning Jake was only free from the flowers’ influence for less than half a second. Enough for him to land another quick stab, but not enough for anything more.

Retreating away, Jake avoided both daggers, but two spear-tendrils came quicker than he had anticipated, putting him in the tough spot of having to choose between the axe and the spears. The choice was clear as Jake had his thigh pierced, the attack luckily not strong enough to go all the way through.

He also used this as an opportunity by dismissing one of his katars and grasping the vine once it pulled out of his leg. Right as it was in his grasp, his hand began to glow a deep green as Touch of the Malefic Viper activated, sending a flood of poison through the tendril and toward the main body of the Chimera.

The B-grade quickly tried to make Jake stop, but Jake managed to avoid two hits while still keeping hold of the tendril. His grip was too strong for the thin appendage to get itself free, but the Chimera still tried to pull him all over the place.

Finally, an axe came that Jake couldn’t dodge without letting go. Right before the attack reached Jake, he held out his hand as an explosion of arcane mana sent him flying back with sudden speed, dragging the tendril along with him... right into the path of the axe.

The Chimera screamed as it cut off its own tendril, poisoned blood flying everywhere from the amputated limb. With a small smirk, Jake quickly pulled out his bow and took full advantage of the B-grade’s lacking experience and combat prowess once more.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise, but overreactions to taking a lot of damage were a great way to take even more damage. Most creatures considered competent learned to fight through pain, or didn’t feel it in the first place. At least they had some way to deal with the pain. Evidently, the Chimera was not one such creature as it reeled back in agony, giving Jake time to release a far more powerful follow-up than he should have any right to.

An Arcane Powershot charged for several seconds, blasting into the shoulder region of the reeling Chimera, piercing straight through the cloak and into the flesh and bark of the B-grade.

His aim had been far from random, as Jake had targeted close to where one of the flower-tendrils connected to the rest of the Chimera’s body. Initially, he had only hoped to maybe blow off the tendril, but with the extra time provided by the Chimera’s pathetic reaction to losing a single tendril, he had aimed for more.

The entire shoulder section was blown off the Chimera, including the tendril that was sent flying into the Shadow Realm, the flower of flesh wilting after being separated from the B-grade.

This attack seemed to shock the Chimera back to reality as its survival instinct finally won out over its reaction to pain. Annoyingly so, despite losing one flower, the suppressive effect on Jake hadn’t lessened in the slightest, meaning Jake probably had to get rid of both to free himself fully.

Something that would be quite difficult, as the B-grade was back to attacking, now with newfound fervor after losing two tendrils. The small one Jake had made the Chimera cut off itself wasn’t healing either, due to the effects of Touch and all the other poisons coursing through the B-grade’s system.

Despite losing one of his methods of attack, that didn’t make things any easier for Jake. Quite the opposite. The Chimera had been more arrogant and confident after its power-up, but as the fight had continued, it realized Jake still wasn’t an easy target. Its confidence had slowly morphed into frustration and a slight sense of desperation which colored its attacks.

Usually, this wouldn't necessarily be hard for Jake. A powerful opponent losing their cool and attacking wantonly was a good thing under normal circumstances, but this B-grade was never skilled enough at fighting for it to have any effect. One would expect that when technique and coordination started to falter, it would have a negative effect, but for the Chimera, its desperation only made its attacks faster and stronger.

The constant onslaught of axes, daggers, tendrils, and even the B-grade trying to ram him with its entire body, put Jake solidly on the back foot. He was pushed back repeatedly as he continued to dodge, block, and deflect as much as he possibly could, the damage accumulating with every passing second.

This reckless attacking method did leave plenty of openings for Jake to exploit, but he had a hard time committing. If he wanted to strike back, he would have had to get close to the Chimera, putting him in a dangerous situation. What’s more, with the current state of his hands, Jake wasn’t even sure he could put all his power into them without his fingers falling off.

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Something needs to change, Jake told himself as he did something he had delayed doing. Using the special function of his necklace, a Malefic Health Potion appeared inside his mouth as Jake munched down on the entire thing, allowing the flood of vital energy to rush through his body.

Mentally, he tried to control as much of this energy as possible towards his hands, fingers, and even his wrists, which were also starting to experience trouble. Jake instantly felt his situation improve, and he got a second wind to strike back, landing a few stabs in exchange for more cuts marring his own body.

He was still waiting for an opportunity to get the final flower tendril out of the way, but the Chimera was very defensive of it, even with its semi-desperate fighting style. With the flower still up, ranged combat wasn’t a feasible option. While the effect was barely noticeable while near the Chimera, Jake considered committing and potentially even sacrificing something in exchange for taking down the last lotus.

However, even having to do something like that felt... insulting. The only reason he even had to consider something like that was because of the damn state of his body... no, not his body, his damn hands.

Jake knew Toughness wasn’t his highest stat, and it never would be, but he had still never suffered this badly. Sure, he often felt the heavy impacts rattle through his body when he had to block something, and the bones in his fingers had broken at least a few thousand times, but usually it never limited him.

With a good flow of energy and his Soulshape intact, Jake could continue to use his body as normal, even if it was severely damaged. Things like muscles and tendons shouldn’t be what limited Jake, and in some ways, they still weren’t. Jake could still forcefully move his hands and fingers like normal. The problem was that if he punched too hard or blocked a too powerful blow, his fingers would just... bend. Break.

Something no amount of energy or stable Soulshape could stop from happening.

At this point, the fight wasn’t solely about beating the Chimera but about Jake overcoming himself and this obvious weakness he had uncovered. He hated the feeling, and slowly, many of his plans were washed away by his stubbornness.

Did he have a Protean Arrow prepared? Gaze? Moment? More uses of Eternal Shadow? Yes, to all of them, but Jake didn’t want to use them. Not now. Not as a crutch for him to escape his own shortcomings.

Instead, he foolishly faced the challenge head-on.

As the fight continued escalating, the two exchanged blow after blow in a vicious brawl. The Chimera’s durability and longevity were truly its most outstanding properties, as despite Jake doing all he could to inflict more poison and even using Touch a few times here and there, the B-grade was refusing to fall.

With the shadows empowering it, the monster made full use of its environment as it continued to absorb energy from all around it. The cloak also kept mending itself by absorbing shadow energy whenever Jake managed to damage it, leading to a less-than-stellar cycle.

Jake’s belief that he had an advantage as long as he dragged things out rapidly faded away as the Chimera didn’t seem to tire at all, no matter what he did to it. Especially not after he realized just how much energy it was constantly getting from the Shadow Realm, as that was definitely a part of Umbra’s influence he could do without.

That meant he would have to do something drastic to get back his advantage, and Jake was wracking his brain for what to do. Especially about his hands. He considered many possibilities and searched his memories for what he had done in the past, and a few ideas emerged, with especially one memory standing out.

He remembered the time he battled the Hive King termite. How he had failed to penetrate its carapace with normal attacks and how trying to stab it had been a downright painful experience, as it felt like punching a wall. Back then, he had infused his entire body with stable arcane energy right as the Hive King charged into him, all done in an attempt to stand perfectly still while also increasing his durability.

Sure, he was still absolutely wrecked by the Hive King and used Eternal Shadow to avoid taking lethal damage, but the concept had worked to some extent. Of course, things weren’t as simple as just infusing his hands with stable arcane mana. If it were, he would have done so a long time ago, and technically, he was already infusing his entire body with stable arcane energy through Arcane Awakening whenever he used his boosting skill.

Say Jake did infuse his hands with stable arcane mana. It would turn them rigid and not even that much more durable. It definitely also wasn’t a healthy option, and there was a reason that the last time it was done in combination with Eternal Shadow.

Yet... he felt like he was onto something. At least partly. He scoured his memories for other ways, and an obvious one that entered his mind was naturally Carmen, but he instantly knew her methods weren’t ones Jake could use. She made her entire body into a living weapon through a long period of forging it, and her entire Path as a Runemaiden was what allowed her to be what she is today. It wasn’t something Jake could mimic on the fly.

However, there was one person in Jake’s memories who was both a human and had managed to display what Jake would call superhuman durability and resilience, even among other superhumans. A man who could stand before any beast unarmored and unarmed, yet most would still agree he wielded every advantage. Someone who was perhaps the strongest melee combatant in the entire multiverse:

Valdemar.

He was someone who would never let the limitations of the human body inhibit him... no... he probably didn’t even believe his body had any limitations in the first place, and if something did bother him, he would barrel through and fix it through sheer will and his Transcendent fighting aura.

Jake was pushed back yet again as an axe had gotten too close for comfort, leaving a cut down his front. By now, his entire body was filled with wounds, the Chimera growing in confidence as Jake had a hard time finding opportunities to attack with the current state of his body.

He did get a brief opportunity now as he tried to apply some kind of temporary measure. Strings of arcane mana appeared and wrapped around both his hands to try to keep them together, even if every bone was broken.

The Chimera didn’t seem keen on giving him more time as it charged once more, Jake meeting it head-on as he directly parried a shadow dagger before proceeding to punch forward with a Piercing Fang.

Power rushed through his arm and hand as he struck the B-grade directly in the chest. The katar went straight through the cloak and into the bark. However, at the same time, the force also went back into Jake’s hand and arm, and at this point, even if he had applied wrappings of arcane mana, his poor fingers had reached their limits.

All four fingers broke entirely at their base from the katar, pressing into them as his hand buckled unwillingly. Jake grimaced in pain and quickly pulled back, but in the process, he had to let go of his katar, as he could no longer open and close his hand.

Instead, the four fingers just hung limply, barely connected to the rest of his body anymore, and the only reason they had even stayed attached was due to being encased in his tattered gloves.

His only lucky break was that the Chimera had been sent back from the attack, giving him a brief moment as he stared down at his broken hand. He tried to close it into a fist, but there was no reaction at all.

Move.

As the Chimera stabilized and quickly positioned itself to attack again, Jake just stood there and looked at his mangled right hand, a feeling of anger and indignation welling up inside of him. He simply refused to acknowledge his body was this weak. That he couldn’t even handle his own attacks. Sure, he could understand something like Arcane Powershot taking a toll on the body as that could be charged infinitely and was only limited by his own durability, but this current situation?

It was unacceptable.

With his left hand, Jake took out Eternal Hunger again and forcefully placed it in his right hand. Closing his eyes, Jake took several deep breaths even when the Chimera was upon him.

Stability...

Using his arcane energy to make his hand more stable wasn’t a good option. He already knew that... but he wasn’t entirely on the wrong track. He already used Arcane Awakening to flood it with arcane energy, so he needed something else to be the source. Something far more fundamental.

From the front, two axes began descending toward Jake, yet he remained unmoving as something stirred in his mind. The two axes got ever-closer until finally... the world slowed.

Jake had entered his Moment of the Primal Hunter as he remained unmoving, the world entirely still. Eyes still closed, Jake appeared within his own Soulspace for a brief moment as he connected with a certain set of Records within them. These Records began to be given form within his Soulspace as he had a very vivid memory associated with their Origin.

Records mixed with memories and his Willpower inside the Soulspace, as in the outside world, his otherwise mangled hand began to give off a slightly foreign aura. The completely ruined fingers began rapidly healing as they forcefully reattached under the influence of this aura and Jake’s will. As they mended, one by one, the fingers slowly closed around the handle of the katar, the world started moving once more.