A barrage of explosions filled the core chamber as Ell’Hakan dodged or blocked every attack Jake made, but he wasn’t able to find an opening to counterattack either. At least, Jake assumed he couldn’t, but it turned out he was somewhat distracted by something else in the room.
The Planetary Pylon was obviously an object of interest to Ell’Hakan, more specifically, the arcane-tinged black snakes that had wrapped themselves around it. This resulted in the first attack Ell’Hakan launched not being aimed at Jake but the core instead as the nahoom was probing what would happen.
A blast of deep yellow flames erupted from his trident and enveloped the large Planetary Pylon, doing absolutely nothing as a thin, nearly invisible barrier appeared around the entire Pylon, blocking any and all attacks.
All it took was this one attack for Ell’Hakan to conclude he wouldn’t be able to do anything to the Pylon as he instead fully focused on Jake. It was evident whatever was going on with the Planetary Pylon still bothered him a lot, but he just as evidently realized that now wasn’t the time to try and figure it out and that, more likely than not, whatever was happening would end with Jake’s death.
During his brief probing of it, he’d smartly also tried to use the Pylon as cover during his attack but hadn’t been prepared as two arrows curved around the large Pylon, one from each side.
He blocked one of them but failed to fully avoid the second as a small cut was made on his shoulder. Usually, such a wound was nothing, but against Jake, the Chosen of the Malefic Viper, it dealt far more damage than it normally would, courtesy of Jake’s homecooked Heartrot Poison.
Ell’Hakan didn’t seem bothered by the attack, though, as he instantly went on the offensive. Flying over the core, he beelined for Jake, making the hunter jump to the side, having decided to use the vast open space within the core room as the initial site of this battle. He knew Ell’Hakan relied on celestial concepts and was very skilled in using the sun affinity, so hopefully, fighting underground would weaken him a little.
While dodging, Jake loosed an arrow that split into dozens before exploding, but Ell’Hakan stabbed forward with his trident, unleashing an explosion of burning light that canceled out Jake’s attack as he continued his chase.
He’s fast. Faster than expected... but not too fast.
Right as Ell’Hakan reached Jake, the hunter stepped down and teleported away, spinning around in mid-air to release three arrows in quick succession that Ell’Hakan quickly blocked, or at least he tried to, as one of them once more left a cut.Ell’Hakan again seemed unbothered as he attacked but focused a bit more on defense this time around while also switching to using ranged attacks of his own. Beams of burning sunlight shot toward Jake at incredible speeds – unsurprisingly, considering it was effectively a form of light magic – seeking to scorch him.
While the sunlight wasn’t too damaging, its speed made it a dangerous attack nonetheless, and truthfully, Jake wouldn’t have been able to dodge them without his danger sense that pretty much gave him precognition when it came to avoiding taking damage.
A barrage of burning balls of fire was also summoned from all around Ell’Hakan as the former Chosen showed that he was as much a mage as a melee fighter. He was essentially a spellspear, except he used a trident instead, but honestly, same shit, more stabby bits, and spelltrident just sounded dumb.
These balls chased after Jake with far lower speed than the sunlight, but were highly controlled and aimed to surround or cut him off as Ell’Hakan tried to not allow Jake to create too much distance between the two of them.
Even so, Jake was fine with the status quo of this early stage, where they were both feeling out the other. He continued dodging, avoiding damage wherever possible while taking the occasional minor sunlight beam or remnants of explosions, but never without getting a good trade in return.
As the seconds turned to minutes, Jake began to notice something, though... that perhaps he wasn’t the only one okay with how things were currently going. His first clue was something he honestly hadn’t considered, but now that he actively felt for it, he detected the change.
Seeing as they were deep beneath the ground, the surroundings were already pretty hot in the first place. However, this heat came primarily from the magma and whatnot in the walls surrounding them, not anything Ell’Hakan had done. Now, that was changing. While the temperature had only increased a little, the biggest change was the nature of the surrounding mana. It had begun to take on the mana signature of Ell’Hakan, as he was effectively claiming their surroundings as his own domain.
This empowered all his magic while reducing the cost of using it significantly, and as time passed, Jake began to really feel it. Before the environmental heat was just there, not really bothering him, but soon enough, it began to actively attack him as his body began heating up.
Jake responded by summoning his Scales of the Malefic Viper, effectively nullifying the environmental damage as he dove through an explosion Ell’Hakan tried to block him off with, also using said explosion as cover to shoot a tricky arrow that the nahoom once more failed to dodge as he took another minor wound.
Seeing as Ell’Hakan was working so hard to make the environment hostile toward Jake, he decided to respond in kind. Wings sprung from his back, and instantly, he set ablaze the blood within as dark green mist began seeping out of them and into the core chamber.
With every wingbeat, the poison mist spread, and while the heat was intense, it wasn’t able to destroy the mist properly. In fact, all burning it would do was help spread it faster unless the temperature reached a level far beyond where it currently was. ȓáɴồ𝐁Ɛ𝙨
Ell’Hakan, being forced to deal with the poison mist, responded by creating what looked like a faint barrier to cover his body that seemed to cancel out whatever poison mist got too near. Based on how he still tried to stay clear of the mist, this did seem to still consume energy on his end, unlike Jake, who could resist the environmental heat with his Scales’ passive effect so far.
Still, the change in the environment made Ell’Hakan ramp up his liberal use of fire magic as he began wielding his trident more like a staff than a true melee weapon. He wrapped deep yellow and red flames around it as he shot out torrents of flames toward Jake, and with every swipe, he sent out an inferno that burned away nearly everything in its path, with even Jake’s arrows being thrown off course when hit.
With Ell’Hakan ramping up, so did Jake as he began to use more skills to not fall behind. Things were heating up both figuratively and literally as both went more on the offensive than before while focusing less on defense, yet both didn’t take that much damage even as the attacks started landing.
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Despite the intensity of the battle, it had barely gotten started. So far, neither of them had even touched using a boosting skill, nor had they pulled out any of their stronger skills... Jake wasn’t even sure if Ell’Hakan was using any skills with half of the magic he threw out.
He did appreciate the battle being solely ranged right now, though. With Eternal Hunger transformed into an arrow, he didn’t have a second proper melee weapon available but would have to rely on the Void Katar. Sure, he did have a backup in case of emergencies, but if it could be avoided, he would like to postpone the melee fighting for later.
Using his Eternal Hunger arrow within the current space also wasn’t exactly feasible, as he had no confidence in actually hitting it as things were. The mere fact that Ell’Hakan could afford to hold back as much as Jake was proof that between the two of them, there wasn’t that big of a gap if any at all.
To be clear, Jake did currently have an advantage in this purely ranged battle, as his stable arrows occasionally found their mark, leaving wounds on Ell’Hakan’s body. Meanwhile, he took far less damage himself. The one place he was losing was in territory control as the environment was becoming more and more encumbering for Jake.
He also began to notice something else very annoying.
The Planetary Pylon... it’s still able to help him.
Despite the Divine Bargain being in process, the Pylon still worked. In retrospect, that shouldn’t be surprising as the planet needed the Pylon to regulate itself and function properly, and until the Divine Bargain concluded, Jake wouldn’t be the owner of the Pylon... so until then, it still belonged to Ell’Hakan.
At the very least it didn’t look like he had any skills to directly make use of it, telling Jake Ell’Hakan didn’t have a profession directly related to being a World Leader. This did come as a genuine surprise, as Jake had expected him to. In fact, it was one of the reasons why he had been so sure that Ell’Hakan would come running if he went after the Pylon. He expected him to be like Miranda, where he would get hurt if anyone else messed with it too much, but it appeared that Jake was wrong. Ell’Hakan was more like Jake himself and was just the owner of the Pylon, though definitely a lot more involved as a World Leader than Jake.
Still, the Pylon could passively benefit him, and it helped him claim the territory surrounding itself while also giving the other passive buffs Pylons tended to give. This made Jake reach a conclusion pretty quickly.
Will need to move the battle elsewhere before we both get serious.
Continuing to fight somewhere Ell’Hakan got extra resource regeneration and help would just be stupid on Jake’s part. Also, while it was true the core chamber was large, it was still small compared to the open planet above, meaning Jake’s movements were relatively limited. So far, it hadn’t been that big of a problem, but things were soon about to change.
Ell’Hakan seemingly decided that this ranged battle was no longer in his interest, and after Jake had just loosed another arrow, the nahoom didn’t respond as usual but instead leaned forward before exploding into motion.
Jake quickly prepared himself, but he wasn’t totally ready as his eyes opened wide. He failed to step down in time as Ell’Hakan transformed into a beam of burning light that practically teleported to appear right in front of him, ready to attack.
Twisting his body, Jake bent backward and to the side as he avoided the swing of the trident, waves of burning sunfire still washing over his body despite him not being hit directly. Ell’Hakan attacked again, using the butt of the trident to stop Jake from using One Step while using his other hand to land a palm on Jake’s chest, sending him flying back in a bright explosion of sunlight.
Due to Scales and Jake purposefully launching himself back right before getting struck, the blow hadn’t done much besides confirming the status quo was rapidly changing to no longer be in Jake’s favor. This was further cemented when Ell’Hakan didn’t give Jake even a moment’s break before charging again, aiming to impale Jake to the ground with his trident before Jake could even stabilize fully.
The environment helps his movement speed? Jake questioned as he welcomed Ell’Hakan’s attack. He quickly dismissed his bow and pulled out his Void Katar while keeping the other hand empty.
Meeting the trident, Jake dodged to the side using his wings as he tried to land a stab with his katar. His blow expectedly missed, Ell’Hakan countering with a vertical attack just as Jake expected. He was ready, as before it could get proper swinging speed, Jake lunged forward with his empty hand and grasped the handle while trying to stab Ell’Hakan again while his weapon was temporarily disabled. Sure, his hand felt like it was wrapped around a red-hot iron pipe, but if it allowed him to-
Ell’hakan didn’t hesitate for a moment as he simply let go of the trident and used one hand to deflect Jake’s katar by punching his wrist from below while using the other to land a blow to his side. Jake was taken off-guard, his danger sense warning him only after he’d made Ell’Hakan adapt, at which point it was too late.
Jake quickly also let go of the trident, which turned into flames after falling a few meters and countered Ell’Hakan’s blows. The nahoom dodged his blow, Jake responding in kind as both unleashed several dozen attacks within a few seconds, none of them landing on either party as all were either deflected or dodged. Jake ended up breaking this brief stalemate by making a minor mistake, resulting in him getting kicked in the leg, thrown off-balance, and elbowed in the stomach to send him stumbling back, genuinely in disbelief as he stared up at Ell’Hakan who stood there in mid-air with a solid stance.
Taking a moment, Jake just adapted a stance of his own. The words of the Sword Saint suddenly echoed in his head... that he shouldn’t underestimate Ell’Hakan when it came to martial combat. But, even so, based on the brief display of hand-to-hand just shown, Jake estimated Ell’Hakan to be around the same skill-level as Carmen.
“You’re surprised,” Ell’Hakan said, obviously reading Jake’s emotions. “Why? Did you think I didn’t know how to fight?”
“I will admit, you don’t strike me as the type who likes to get his hands dirty,” Jake answered truthfully, seeing no reason not to.
Ell’Hakan just smiled at Jake’s truthful response. “It is kind of funny, isn’t it... what you know of me is what the public sees. What I’m most known for in the wider multiverse. However, if I went by that logic to judge you, Jake Thayne, you would be a supremely talented alchemist capable of influencing Primeval Origins, who also just happens to like wielding a bow as a hobby.”
“Are you trying to say you’re not someone who uses his Bloodline to manipulate people to get your way, fucking up the minds of others for your own benefit?” Jake shot back.
“No, no, I definitely do those things,” Ell’Hakan chuckled, shaking his head. “But that’s not all there is to me nor the sole thing that defines me. Not everyone or everything can be manipulated. Also, believe it or not, there was a time before I could fully control my Bloodline to manipulate others. I had to survive somehow... and fighting seemed like the best way to do just that.”
“Touching. Do you have a sad backstory you want to share?” Jake asked in a mocking tone.
“Sad... perhaps, perhaps not. I guess it’s a matter of perspective if my past was sad or not,” Ell*Hakan said, taking Jake’s words far more seriously than he had to. “I believe lingering on such emotions isn’t healthy, though. Our pasts are merely there to build experience for the present and knowledge to make better choices in the future. If the past becomes a burden, those emotions are to be severed and forgotten.”
Jake had another snide remark ready but bit his tongue as he instead also became serious. He also felt like Ell’Hakan was speaking as much as Jake was himself. “Well, let’s hope this becomes a good memory then. For me, that is.”
Ell’Hakan just smiled and shook his head. “Just know that it cannot erase your feelings of regret from your past choices, nor the hurt from your memories.”
“No... but it will make me feel a whole lot better,” Jake shot back as he prepared himself to attack again, remembering an unpleasant memory of the past.
Having noticed this, the nahoom looked perplexed.
“I do still find it hard to believe... does the main source of your anger really stem from that human monument builder? Chris, was it?” Ell’Hakan asked. “Did I misinterpret your relationship with him? From what I knew, he was just a nobody and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but if he was more than that to you, I-“
Ell’Hakan didn’t get further as Jake appeared right in front of him a second later, arcane energy burning through his veins from activating his boosting skill... because those had been fighting words.