The Primal Hunter

For the first time since entering Minaga’s Labyrinth, Jake had truly met his match. Minaga had claimed Jake wouldn’t be able to ”cheat” on this floor, and Jake had obviously not believed him. It wasn’t that there was no way to cheat him, just that doing it would fuck over others far too much.

Make the labyrinth randomly shuffle around to make Jake’s Pulse of Perception useless? That would make it utterly impossible to find anything and have all exploration just be pure luck, something Jake was certain Minaga didn’t want.

Make it so the rooms only reveal what is inside when you enter? Well, the rooms existed and weren’t generated when they entered, so this would be a huge change in how the entire dungeon worked. It would also mess with people who used more mundane skills. Minaga even commented on Jake using tracking as a way more legit way of finding things, so he doubted the dungeon master wanted to stop everything.

Increasing the distances to make Jake’s scanning range not big enough would also just ruin the entire labyrinth. If the only way to nerf Jake was to make things take too long, it would make all the time-based achievements useless.

Minaga did also reveal that these labyrinths were, of course, the same for everyone. Even if Minaga messed around, he still had a strong sense of fairness and cared a lot about balance. That was why he had not made any direct moves to make Jake less of a cheat but just allowed him to do as he did while complaining. However, on this floor, things were different.

”Do you see now? Tell me, Jake, how are you going to ruin all sense of exploration on this floor?” Minaga said, sounding like a true maniac.

He had won. Jake had to face that. Staring through the now-open gate leading into the labyrinth and after using a Pulse of Perception, it was clear that Jake had indeed been thoroughly countered by Minaga designing this floor in a fashion he hadn’t even imagined would make sense for a labyrinth.

”You can’t, can you!? Ha ha!”

”You are an absolute madman,” Jake muttered as he stared at his mental map of parts of the floor. ”How does this even qualify as a labyrinth anymore?”

What Minaga had done was indeed ingenious. He had gotten rid of all of Jake’s usual advantages when exploring the complex mix of hallways with one small trick:

Just don’t make it a labyrinth.

”That’s right! Completely linear, on-rails floor with not a single ounce of exploration! Just run straight down the middle till you reach the next floor, and you’re done!”Minaga laughed. ”Of course, you can also choose to stop and save the prisoners, so maybe you think you can use your cheating skills to locate them… but they are also right there out in the open! No secrets here!”

”I am not certain this even qualifies as a labyrinth,” the Sword Saint commented.

”Alright, so I did admittedly take some creative liberty with this design, but you only see it as a problem because you view this floor in isolation. I see these floors as one continuous labyrinth, so even if this part is straightforward, it is only a small part of the whole,” Minaga explained, sounding significantly less maniacal.

”That makes sense,” Dina nodded.

”Ree!” Sylphie chimed in.

”See, they get it! Especially the Sylphian Hawk!”

”I guess so,” Jake muttered at Sylphie’s apt metaphor. She said that saying this floor was not a labyrinth was like saying that if a beast in the forest had a hill as their domain, then the hill wasn’t a part of the forest anymore, which of course, wouldn’t make sense because while hills were not forests, hills could still be in forests. Same as a straight path could not be called a labyrinth, but a labyrinth could have parts that were straightforward.

”Rather than discuss the definition of a labyrinth, shouldn’t we proceed into the floor?” the Fallen King said.

”We should,” the Sword Saint agreed.

Jake didn’t complain either as they walked through the gate leading into a small hallway that was no more than twenty meters long before they entered their first room. These hallways had extra-thick fog that not even Jake could see through in any way, and they limited movement so much that they had to just walk.

Entering the first room, Jake understood why the thick fog was there: it was to do so one couldn’t just look through the fog and scout the next room… but also to do so whatever was on the floor couldn’t spot them before they entered.

They found themselves standing within a large open room more extensive than the one the Prime Summoner had been in. Jake estimated it had to be at least fifty kilometers long and about ten kilometers wide, and it was filled to the brim with life.

However, not the friendly kind if their names were anything to go by.

[Demon Guard – lvl 248]

[Demon Torturer – lvl 251]

That’s right, they were all demons. The entire floor was designed to have a bunch of spread camps and villages, with one large tower at the back of the room. There, from over forty-five kilometers away, Jake spotted a figure sitting and meditating on a chair atop the big tower overlooking the entire room.

[Demon Warden – lvl 255]

If one hadn’t noticed yet, then the names of all these demons had a theme of sorts. They were all guarding something. That something being large groups of people sealed within barriers in all of the camps and villages.

[Prisoner – lvl 175]

Jake also spotted a few C-grades, but they were mostly D-grades and even had a few E-grades mixed in. As he scouted the room, he also noticed that this entrance area was shrouded. Based on what Jake could see, nothing could detect them ten meters from the entryway, which was the only reason no one had spotted them yet. The reason for this magic circle was also pretty obvious.

”The second we make a move… those prisoners will be in deep shit,” Jake muttered to the group.

”They appear to be kept as potential sacrifices,” the Sword Saint muttered.

“Which means that when we are discovered, a good portion of them will be sacrificed relatively quickly,” the Fallen King said. “So we will have to decide whether we want to save as many as possible or rush this entire floor. If we split up and secure a camp each, we should be able to ensure to reach the 25% for the bonus objective. However, we will also need to be careful, any accidental attack could kill a significant portion of them, and while we may be careful, I doubt the demons care.”

“Ree,” Sylphie said with a low screech.

“Stealth is an option… but how many of us are good at it?” Jake asked. “I can do some stealth, but…”

He looked at the others beside him.

“Ree!” Sylphie said proudly.

“I think we already talked about giant tornadoes hiding you, not counting as being invisible,” Jake pointed out.

“Ree?”

“Yes, even if the tornado does so that none of them can see anything,” Jake said with a bit of exasperation.

“Ree…” Sylphie seemed a bit sad.

Jake felt a bit bad about ruining her plan, but someone had to say it. As they were trying to figure out what to do, Dina was kneeling on the ground and feeling the soil. That was Jake noticed that the ground was indeed different here. Rather than the hard rock of the chamber floor, it was more like normal soil found on the outside. Looking at Dina, he realized what she was trying to find out.

“Dina, what are you looking for?” the Sword Saint also asked curiously.

“There are a total of fourteen barriers with sealed prisoners within, right?” Dina asked.

Jake released another Pulse of Perception to scout the room and nodded. “Yeah, fourteen.”

Dina nodded along. “Give me ten minutes, and I will make sure they are safe.”

“You’re going to go through the ground, aren’t you?” Jake asked.

“Yeah, I will create protection for them by summoning vines,” she nodded as Jake saw her begin to infuse energy into the ground. Jake noticed the formation hiding their presence, beginning to slowly fade as she did this, and he responded by creating a barrier of stable arcane energy all around them that he colored the same as the background. Was this perfect stealth? No, but it appeared to be good enough, as Dina’s actions were not very flashy to begin with.

While Dina prepared, Jake and the three others also made plans for where to strike. Their main problem was the size of the room, so they needed someone to get to the back fast, preferably before the Warden had time to make a move. Jake ended up taking this upon himself as he opened a small hole in the stable arcane barrier and snuck out as he activated his stealth skill for the first time in a good while. With it, he also used something else he hadn’t really used before: his new cloak. It allowed him to be far more hidden while in the shadows, and as luck would have it, these demons weren’t a big fan of having a lot of light around and primarily used open fires everywhere, which cast plenty of shadows for Jake to stick to.

He quite easily made it to the back of the room undetected, helped along by none of the demons really being on guard, despite being called literal Guards. The Enforcers were mainly inside buildings chilling, with the guards just lazily patrolling about and the torturers seemingly working on their torture tools that none of them seemed ever use. All the prisoners just stood catatonically within their sealed-in barriers with blank expressions waiting to be rescued. It was some real NPC behavior.

Either way, once he got to the back of the room, Jake sent a mental confirmation to the rest of the team, who had all prepared to launch their own attacks. Jake had been tasked with dealing with the Warden as quickly as possible, and he had more than gladly taken that task upon himself.

Finding a good position in the shadows, Jake took out the Arrow of the Ambitious Hunter he had prepared on his way there and began charging his Arcane Powershot. He remained undetected as the cloak didn’t just hide his person but even his actions and energies, as per the description:

“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.”

Jake had been a bit skeptical of how well it would work and was fully prepared to be discovered instantly, but the Demon Warden remained oblivious even as someone charged an attack behind his back, only a few hundred meters away. Once Jake had fully charged the Arcane Powershot, it was time.

“Go!” Jake sent through their link as he let go of the string and unleashed his attack. The second he did so, the cloak failed to suppress his energies any longer as his body exploded with arcane energy, lighting up the entire back part of the room with a pink-purple light.

At that very moment, they all made their moves at once. In every single village or camp with prisoners, vines erupted from the ground and embraced the barriers sealing in the prisoners as bark began to grow all over the vines to protect them further. Smaller vines also tore up the ritual circle, making it inactive and ensuring the demons could not harm any of the people within.

A giant golden beam of pure energy exploded from the entrance area of the room and struck one of the camps without any prisoners in it, resulting in a giant explosion that leveled the entire thing. A green tornado shot across the terrain towards the middle of the room and one of the larger villages with one of the larger prison populations, and on the entire left side of the room, rain began to fall as a swordsman stormed forward.

The Demon Warden – Jake’s target and the boss of this room – was alarmed and shot up from his seat at seeing roots shoot up all over the place. He had barely managed to stand up as he turned and, with wide eyes, raised a hand to try and block the arrow coming his way.

Red shards flew everywhere as the crystalline barrier shattered, and the arrow sank into his chest, sending the demon flying backward. In mid-air, the Demon Warden managed to stabilize as a fist-sized hole now marred his chest, but he didn’t even have to orient himself before another shot hit him from above, launching him down toward the ground.

Jake had instantly jumped into the air after releasing the initial arrow to launch one from an upwards angle to ground the Demon Warden. He proceeded to unleash a rain of arrows down at the Demon Warden, but a giant red disc blocked it and launched itself upwards toward Jake.

Dodging it, Jake refused to let up as he shot another rain of arrows. The demon once more blocked with a barrier, but all of the arrows suddenly bent and flew around it the moment they got close, hitting the boss anyway.

With a roar, the Demon Warden flew up from below, his body filled with wounds. An inferno erupted around him as burning crystals materialized. He stared at Jake with hatred but didn’t speak as he flew forward, wanting to face Jake in melee.

Jake humored him as they clashed in mid-air, and it quickly became clear what he was dealing with. A pugilist.

The demon covered his hands in crystal-like skin and even used the floating crystals around him to further empower his attacks or launch strikes using them. Sadly for the guy, Jake had fought far better… and he was not at all the same melee fighter as he had been back then.

Less skilled than Carmen…

Jake proceeded to dodge under the hand of the demon and punch him in the stomach with a katar. He reacted by trying to kick Jake, but Jake raised his own leg to block as he stabbed the demon in its already outstretched arm. The Warden tried to pull away, but Jake gave chase and refused to let up.

He knew he was on a bit of a timer. The death of the Warden would hopefully lead to some level of panic amongst the guards, so for the first time since entering Nevermore, Jake activated his boosting skill and got serious.

Every hit by the demon was countered as Jake focused on destroying its hands first. The crystals were strong, yes, but against this Blackpoint Nanoblade, they still faltered. The indestructible nature of Eternal Hunger also allowed him to not care about the tip breaking as he met the demon punch for punch, coming out on top every time.

Desperation from the demon began to set in. The Warden had failed to meaningfully land any blows on Jake, and the assistance he had expected to come was occupied elsewhere. Realizing this, the Demon Warden went on one last offensive, knowing that if it managed to significantly injure Jake, it would have a chance to regroup with its allies.

That was never going to happen.

The Demon Warden exploded forward as its entire body was temporarily covered in deep red spiked crystals. Jake flew to meet it, but just before they clashed, reality split.

Gaze of the Apex Hunter momentarily froze the Demon Warden as Jake slammed two Descending Dark Fangs into its chest just before it was capable of moving again and used its full power on the hunter that had entered melee with it.

The Warden slammed its fist together in a giant explosion of crystals and flames, but rather than crush the human, all its firsts met was the shadowy curse energy of Eternal Shadow.

Still confused, the Demon Warden had no time to react as an arrow pierced it straight in the eye and embedded itself deep within its skull – fired from the real Jake, who had jumped back as he used his mythical skill.

The arrow had included all the Hunting Momentum Jake had built up during the fight, and it resulted in the arrow only stopping when it reached the back of the demon’s skull. The Warden stumbled as Jake switched the balance of the arrow, making it explode within its head.

Somehow he still lived, but Jake followed up with an Arcane Powershot, shooting the head straight off the Warden.

*You have slain [Demon Warden – lvl 255] – Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level*

From there on out, it was just a cleanup of the entire room as they decided to kill every single demon there. Hey, it had to give an achievement, right? Of course, Jake didn’t expect to get that achievement quite yet, because they had far more rooms to go in this on-rails portion of Minaga’s Labyrinth.

Not that Jake was complaining. Also, finally getting in some pure combat was a good reprieve from just walking through hallways and something Jake got a feeling they all enjoyed – even Dina. Surprisingly enough, there was one more person who also enjoyed it.

“See, this is how things are supposed to be! Through pure skill and power, you manage to overcome the floor and conquer! I knew you could do it! Definitely giving Dina MVP for this one, by the way.”

“I thought you couldn’t speak while within the rooms but only the hallways?” Jake asked as they were still not done with the demon cleanup.

“Oh yeah, got a bit too excited there. Act like I didn’t say anything, alright? Good not-a-talk, Minaga out!”