Three minutes and fourteen seconds.
That’s how long Jake lasted in the first fight against Valdemar before he found his skull crushed. Not even by an axe either, but from a fist smashing his head into the sand so hard his face caved in. Three minutes and change didn’t seem like a long time, but when he mentioned it to Artemis, she had been damn impressed he had even survived that long.
At the beginning of their fight, Jake had held on well. He had kited Valdemar around, avoided his blows as best he could and tried to get a read on the man. He tried to read his tempo, his tendencies, and his habits as Jake looked for any minor flaws or openings to exploit.
Jake found many flaws and openings… too many, in fact. Valdemar was left wide open whenever he attacked, and he barely seemed to protect his vital areas while fighting. Most of Jake’s attacks, he just ignored, while he only bothered to block those that either took little effort or could actually prove dangerous. Valdemar did make sure to avoid any attacks to the face and neck, but hitting anywhere else didn’t seem to bother him much.
In total, Jake landed eleven arrows during the fight. He could have landed more, but he wasn’t fighting to win or even deal damage but to learn from his opponent. He had battled to figure out how he could drag out the fights and not just die immediately… because that was the number one lesson Jake took away from the fight:
Don’t get hit.
It seemed like a basic lesson, but Jake usually did take some hits. He would sometimes exchange blows to deal more damage to his opponent in trade for taking a bit himself, or he would block attacks he either couldn’t or judged he didn’t need to dodge.
Against Valdemar, that was not a thing. The reason he had ultimately lost his first life was because Jake had stupidly thought he could parry Valdemar’s axe and direct it into the sand. What had happened instead was that Jake broke his wrist, had his entire body twisted, and was unable to react when a fist slammed into his face.
Blocking or parrying any direct hits was thus entirely out of the question. At least when it came to the axe… Jake still wasn’t sure when it came to Valdemar’s fists. Because, yes, the guy also liked to punch and even kick… and holy fuck should Valdemar have gotten the title of Doomfoot instead of Jake.
Doomfist, too, considering a punch from Valdemar was more powerful than the hammer blows from the Necromancer. His kicks were even more powerful. But… Jake had discovered that he wasn’t entirely powerless. Because while Valdemar was overwhelmingly powerful, Jake could still dodge him, even if he did sometimes get hit with blasts from the sheer power of the Primordial’s blows.In movement speed, he had Valdemar slightly beat if he just sprinted away, the boots that allowed him to run in the sand helping quite a bit. This only really counted for elaborate movements, though. Valdemar’s charging speed was insane as he pretty much kicked off the ground whenever he moved, propelling himself forward, not much unlike the Warmaster.
When it came to swinging speed, Valdemar was an utterly ridiculous monster, and it felt like his axe borderline just teleported around as he swung it. This also played into another thing Jake discovered: Valdemar never half-arsed anything.
Usually, fighters did feints, weak blows to land a stronger one, or, you know, had any kind of strategy or complex thought behind their moves. Valdemar didn’t do any of that. He fully committed to every single attack, no matter what. He didn’t do small jabs; he only threw haymakers. This was what left him full of openings… but also what made him so unbelievably powerful with every single attack.
So… yeah. All direct hits were to be dodged for sure.
All in all, Jake believed his first death had been a good one. Oddly enough, he didn’t feel that bad about the death at all, likely because he had ”planned” to die. He had accepted that deaths would happen and was ready for it to happen again. His Bloodline was even silent, though he had a good feeling it was just building up and preparing for the one fight Jake decided he was going for the win.
Because Jake was naturally not doing all this just to get killed nine times in a row… he was doing it to eke out a victory in the end. The Challenge Dungeon was made to be beatable, so Jake sure as hell wanted to beat it. He just needed to do the proper groundwork first by dying a few times.
Right after Jake had died, he had once more appeared in an entirely white room as a system menu he had a feeling he would see quite a few times in the coming period popped up in front of his eyes.
Three Resurrection Points Available:
1. The day the challenge to the Warrior was issued.
2. A week before the fight with the Warrior begins.
3. The same day that the fight with the Warrior took place.
Choose one Resurrection point.
Jake had considered for a while before choosing to go back to a week before the fight began, as he did have some preparations he wanted to make. Primarily regarding the arrows he would bring into the fight.
When he theorized Valdemar would be the final boss, he also assumed the man wouldn’t wear any heavy armor. But, for some stupid reason, Jake had assumed that a bare-chested Valdemar wouldn’t have muscles so stupidly dense that he may as well have worn tough leather armor. With that in mind, he changed the arrow design with only the act of piercing tough flesh in mind. He could already leave nasty flesh wounds, but Jake wanted to do far more than that… he wanted arrows that could pierce straight through some weak areas to hopefully deal meaningful damage while also making the holes bleed way more. He accomplished this by changing the design of the arrows so that they would no longer automatically plug any holes they made.
Because the objective of Jake’s eighth life was to test exactly how durable Valdemar was.
”The way you’re looking at me makes me think this isn’t your first attempt,” Valdemar said in a casual tone as he saw Jake stand across from him, ready to retreat and make some distance, yet not backing down in the slightest as he straightened his back and looked directly at the Primordial.
Jake was back in the arena a week after his first encounter, and the pressure from the man hadn’t lessened in the slightest. He had just learned something valuable, though:
Only Jake would have memories of all their former encounters, so he would definitely be able to make use of that. Of course, he couldn’t just lay an exact game plan, as the world wasn’t deterministic, so each encounter would play out slightly differently, even if Jake did the same things.
”It’s my second one, Got eight lives left,” Jake answered.
”And yet you still stand straight,” Valdemar grinned widely. ”Good! No need to keep talking then!”
Valdemar exploded forward without warning as he charged far more aggressively than he had in the prior fight. Jake reacted in a flash as he jumped to the side to avoid the charge while shooting an arrow. Being in full sprint, Valdemar was hit in the thigh by the arrow as it pierced deeply, but the attack didn’t impede his movements at all as he kept heading straight for Jake.
Jake didn’t even try to bring out his katars as he ducked under the first axe swipe, feeling his hair nearly get ripped out from the rush of air that followed the attack. A fist came straight after, but Jake was ready and jumped right as Valdemar punched the ground, borrowing the momentum of the shockwave as he shot another arrow that curved around and hit the Primordial in the arm.
Before the dust had even the slightest chance to settle, Valdemar ripped his fist out of the sand, sending a spout of sand flying upward, clouding himself within it. For a moment, Jake thought he was trying to hide… but he had literally just ripped his fist out fast, not caring at all if he made a smokescreen. He continued the attack as the glinting axe exited the sand first, swinging toward Jake, who was still a good three meters away while still retreating. A faint golden crescent wave shot out, and Jake raised his durable bow as he infused it with a bit of arcane mana.
Now, there was one thing Jake could block, and that was these energy waves. They were dangerous if they hit him straight-on, but he was fully capable of blocking them as long as he used his bow or katars along with a bit of arcane mana. Moreso than him just blocking, they often even ended up helping him.
Riding the wave of energy of the blast after he blocked it, Jake got enough distance to shoot two more arrows, one hitting the chest of Valdemar, with the other one getting blocked by his axe. He shot one final arrow into the air before the monstrous warrior arrived and cleaved downward with his weapon, kicking up another explosion of sand and sending Jake skirting back.
He didn’t have time to shoot any arrows as he quickly switched to his katars. Valdemar had left his axe embedded in the sand to continue his attack faster as he instantly closed the distance, using his explosive speed while he performed a wide kick. Jake didn’t even try to block as he managed to barely bend his back and dodge it, a few scratches still on his chin as it was cut by the wind and sand.
The follow-up was a haymaker that Jake once more barely avoided as he landed a single stab on the punching arm, sending a bit of blood flying. The Primordial just grinned in response as he swept his arm sideways, making Jake back away.
Right then, the arrow Jake had shot earlier descended from above, hitting Valdemar in the collarbone, the impact making his knee buckle for a fraction of a moment. A flash of surprise appeared on his face as he looked at the arrow sticking out of his collar before gripping and tearing it out without flinching.
”You’re a real fast and tricky one, aren’t ya?” Valdemar said as he casually turned his back and walked back to pick up his axe. Jake didn’t even hesitate to pull out his bow and shoot two arrows. Valdemar turned his side to Jake and raised his arm, just taking the arrows in his left forearm, where they penetrated all the way to – but failed to damage – the bone. Lifting his axe with his other arm, he fully turned and regarded Jake.
”Using a bow with some weird mana, too…” the Primordial smiled as he turned his arm and looked at Jake’s arrows sticking out as he casually swung his axe and deflected another arrow Jake had shot. ”And… those punching daggers. What were they called again?”
”Katars,” Jake answered, not even bothering to shoot any more arrows.
”That’s it! Yeah, katars,” Valdemar smiled happily despite the several arrows sticking out of his body and the blood rolling down his chest from the nasty hole in his collarbone and the chest literally sticking out of his one pec. ”I tend to make a bit of a game figuring out what god my fighting pals are with… but you, I find pretty darn hard to place. So, ya mind just telling me?”
Jake couldn’t help but smirk as he shook his head. ”I am the Chosen of the Malefic Viper, though I can see that being pretty hard to see, considering I am not exactly using poisons of any kind.”
Valdemar’s smile suddenly faded as he looked at Jake seriously. ”Are you lying to me?”
”No?” Jake said, slightly confused by the change in the man’s aura. ”The Malefic Viper is back and out in the open, and I am his Chosen.”
”You’re telling me that the Vilas has not only left his divine realm but given his big Blessing to a human? One from the new era?”
”That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Jake confirmed.
”Heh,” Valdemar chuckled to himself as he started full-on laughing as his voice bellowed for several seconds before he finally calmed down and looked at Jake. ”Good! Real good! For too long have I been waiting!”
Jake, who had just been casually talking, realized he had made a mistake as Valdemar’s aura suddenly began spiking. Golden energy erupted from his body as he made a huge, toothy smile.
”Hey, mate… ya said ya still got eight lives, right!?” Valdemar yelled.
Jake tentatively nodded.
”Hah! Well, losing this life’s on you for getting me all fired up!” the Primordial yelled happily as the sand around him began floating into the air, vibrating in his presence.
In the next second, he exploded forward like a golden meteor. Jake reacted as fast as he could when he dodged, releasing arcane energy throughout his body. He boosted his body as much as possible as he barely avoided the first downward axe swing. His chest armor was still cut up, but Jake managed to avoid taking any lethal damage.
There was not a single thought of counterattacking in his mind as Valdemar instantly followed up as he cut upward with his axe, releasing a torrent of sand that Jake tried to borrow the momentum as he blasted arcane mana beneath him to try and get into the air.
He was a moment too slow.
Jake had made a bad judgment call as a hand grasped his foot right before he was out of reach. He was dragged down again and smashed into the sand hard, pushing out all air from his lungs as he stared up at a maniacally grinning Valdemar, who was shining like some golden god, as he promptly brought down his axe to end the fight.
At that final moment, with time seemingly moving a little slower than usual… Jake became absolutely certain. That golden aura originated from a Transcendent, no two ways about it… the problem was just that Jake still had no idea exactly when he activated it or how it worked yet.
All he did know for sure… was that bringing up the Malefic Viper and getting Valdemar all excited was definitely not the play.
So, the eighth life had been a bit of a learning experience, but not the one he had wanted, so during his seventh life, Jake tried to finally test the limits of Valdemar’s durability. He managed to land far more hits than during any of the prior fights, but even as Valdemar was left bloody all over… it never seemed to impact his movements much, and eventually, Jake was unable to keep up and lost another life. Toward the end, Valdemar had begun to be more defensive and blocked more hits, so at least it felt like there was some progress.
His sixth life was spent without ever taking out his bow. Jake had gone in to fight entirely in melee to try and better survive close combat, as he began to realize his strategy of just dodging and running away wasn’t sustainable if he wanted to win. He would simply run out of energy before Valdemar would fall.
Either way, fighting in melee proved quite the challenge, but Jake did better than he had expected, surviving for even longer than the first fight he had with Valdemar, fighting for over four minutes.
Every fight, no, every moment, felt like he was under constant pressure trying to keep him down, but with time, Jake began to adapt. He began to get a better read on Valdemar, and he began to understand how he fought. Jake himself also got better as his initial apprehension had now been entirely turned into excitement. Valdemar was powerful… far more powerful than Jake himself, and despite knowing that, he wanted to still fight. He wanted to win.
He wanted to see the true limits of Valdemar’s Transcendence… and show him the limits of his Bloodline in turn.