Chapter 1119 - "Great... just great."

Jake’s entire body was battered and broken, and all he could realistically do was just try to keep everything together. As he saw the Rainbowfeather Sovereign recover in real-time, his already aching body started to hurt even more.

Looking at his resources, things weren’t great there either.

Status

Health Points (HP): 101,313/302,775

Mana Points (MP): 130,291/533,531

Stamina: 90,123/303,175

While none of them were critically low, all of them were falling rapidly and at an accelerating rate. Especially his stamina and health points were a concern, as the longer his Arcane Awakening stayed active, the more he consumed just keeping himself moving.

In fact, by now, Jake could only move normally because of the sheer amount of power circulating through his fleshy vessel. The second he deactivated Arcane Awakening, the backlash and weakness would likely be enough to, if not outright, knock him out, immobilize him entirely.

Meanwhile, the Sovereign took a deep breath as his own injury healed, and he turned toward Jake again.

“A gift from a hunter I once spared for accidentally invading my territory. He was a skilled alchemist, from what I gathered, and ending his life would have meant an inability to access his spatial storage. I was impressed enough to keep him around for a while to create potions for my flock until other hunters arrived in an attempt to free him, and I killed the elf upon realizing he was no longer worth the hassle.”

Jake didn’t respond but just took this brief moment to catch his breath and try to control the energy coursing through his body just a little more efficiently than before. His senses focused, and his entire body was clear to his inner eye. Subtly, he managed to direct the flow, helping him just a little as the B-grade no longer seemed inclined to give Jake a break.

Why would the Sovereign? All his external wounds were already mostly healed.

I still have a chance, Jake reaffirmed to himself as the bird leaned forward and stepped down, launching itself forward. One Step ahead, Jake teleported and twisted around before releasing an arrow that split into a dozen, only to be met with a sound wave to block it.

Trying to get some kind of momentum going, Jake shot several other arrows as the B-grade shot for him again. One of them landed, drawing a bit of blood, but Jake also had to flee once more as he found himself in a less-than-advantageous environment. The open air above the Grand Lake gave the Sovereign ample space to make long, swift jumps, while Jake had a hard time dodging.

Thinking on his feet, Jake’s next teleport took him down onto the surface of the lake, a decision that proved wise. He had originally hoped to shoot another arrow, but the Rainbowfeather Sovereign hesitated to jump for a moment, allowing Jake to shoot several in a row.

Rather than shoot straight down for him, the Sovereign shot down and to the side as it slid across the water and kicked toward Jake. Jumping to the side, Jake chose not to teleport this time around as he began using the surface of the water like it was solid ground.

At the same time, he also pulled out his two katars as the two engaged in melee combat, as one thing had quickly become clear:

While the Sovereign could use the water offensively in combination with its sound attacks, it was also afraid of truly entering it. If it was because of birds in general not liking to be in water or because of what lurked below, Jake naturally couldn’t know, but what he did know was that he would use this to his advantage.

Jake constantly moved back as he even made the water erupt and splash onto the bird at times to try to limit its movements, or perhaps just annoy it. For a few moments, he also considered diving, but remembering the sound attack, Jake chose not to, and he felt pretty damn confident that the bird had practiced that kind of attack precisely because it knew its own weakness in water.

Nearly a full minute passed as the two danced across the water, creating tall waves from their constant clashes, and while Jake did try to get back toward the island and cover of the jungle on several occasions, the Sovereign was fully aware of Jake’s intent and moved to stop him at every turn.

Feeling his resources dwindling even further, Jake knew he had to change things up. He had landed a few blows himself, but he was fully aware that in several of those instances, it was because the B-grade willingly traded blows, knowing it was in a far better state than him.

Trying to get some kind of advantage back, Jake decided it was time to deploy one of his hidden cards. He had managed to hold back from using it for a good while, meaning the cooldown and cost of the skill had both been reduced significantly, so the next time he had even the slightest opening, Jake moved to strike.

He narrowly dodged a kick as he jumped back and drew his bow. At the same time, another version of himself appeared and closed in to try to stab the B-grade in the chest with a cursed katar. For a brief moment, the bird was unsure who to go for, but upon seeing Jake charging a quick Arcane Powershot, it decided.

Slipping by the version of Jake striking in melee, the B-grade shot forward towards the “real” Jake, who was charging an arrow. With no time to continue his attack, Jake released the Arcane Powershot immediately, striking the foot of the Sovereign right before the foot struck him.

An explosion of arcane energy shook the surface of the lake and sent water flying everywhere as Jake was kicked square in the stomach, the taloned foot powerful enough to create a hole through his stomach. The bird had guessed right, and the version of Jake with the bow had been the real one… or, well, it had been right before it had been struck, anyway.

Rather than see blood and guts flying, the Sovereign instead found itself surrounded by destructive arcane mana and a dispersing shadow. Before the bird could fully comprehend what had happened, an arrow struck it from behind and sent it flying.

Jake had switched places with his Eternal Shadow right before he had been struck, and the clone he entered had already been in position for Jake to release a quick Arcane Powershot the second it became “real.”

Nocking yet another arrow, Jake kept up the assault and even used the Rapid Fire function of Timeless Focus as he sped up his shooting further. Dozens of arrows were shot every second toward the still-stabilizing Sovereign, most of them finding purchase as this sequence of events had worked out far better than Jake could have hoped.

However, he had far from turned the tide. The Sovereign was soon stabilized fully and moved to dodge every arrow, no matter how much Jake tried to curve and bend them, all while closing in on Jake again.

A moment later, the Sovereign entered Jake’s sight, now looking worse for wear, with a piece of flesh and feathers missing from its back and a few arrow wounds covering its body here and there. Still, its aura seemed to have only grown stronger and more tenacious as the Songbird released a massive shockwave of sound that forced Jake to summon a stable arcane barrier to try to defend himself.

The barrier shattered, and Jake was sent tumbling back with the B-grade in rapid pursuit. With a quick blast of arcane mana, Jake barely avoided a kick and instead suffered yet another scratch that sent his blood flying into the air.

His entire arm was mangled already, and as he dodged again, Jake swung while tensing up muscles, sending blood flying toward the head of the Sovereign. It hit the B-grade in the eyes, making the bird screech in pain as the blood sizzled and burned due to its toxic properties.

Sadly for Jake, he had no way to take advantage as the screech of pain doubled as a sound attack and sent him reeling back. By the time he moved to strike, the Sovereign had already wiped the blood away and just looked more pissed than a second earlier.

Still, Jake had done some damage and had found a bit of new hope. Yet just as that hope flourished, the Sovereign once more proved its own power. Closing in on Jake, its aura spiked as a barrage of rainbow feathers were shot out, but rather than go for Jake, they began circling him a few dozen meters in all directions.

At the same time, the Sovereign knelt down and took a deep breath. Jake’s danger sense exploded as all the surrounding feathers contracted and shot toward him, and in the very same instance, the B-grade shot forward with more speed than ever before.

Jake focused all he could as he used a skill he really hoped to avoid. Gaze activated as the B-grade was frozen in the split second he was in mid-air, allowing Jake to barely dodged out of the way, albeit while taking half a dozen cuts from feathers.

Taking out his bow, Jake turned and wanted to capitalize on his use of Gaze… but he had severely overestimated how effective it would be. While the skill had frozen the Sovereign, it had been briefer than Jake expected, meaning by the time he was ready to attack, the Sovereign had already summoned a platform of mana beneath both its feet as it exploded into motion once more, this time at close proximity.

There was no time left to dodge properly anymore. At most, the best-case scenario would be to sacrifice an arm, but Jake knew that if he did that, he would have no chance of victory anymore. So instead of dodging, he did the exact opposite.

The regular arrow Jake had nocked was switched out for his Protean Arrow, which had been completed only half a minute earlier. It was a hastily made one, and it far from lived up to the potential of the skill, but for now, he would have to be good enough.

Jake had barely started channeling Arcane Powershot when the foot closed in on him, and as it did, Jake jumped straight backwards to give him just a sliver more time. His leap backwards still put him in the Sovereign’s direct path, and his danger sense exploded as a fatal blow was upon him… and as a final response, he claimed the moment.

Time slowed down all around Jake until it came to a complete standstill. Jake also stood frozen, as the only thing that functioned was his mind. In this world where the concept of time was made null, a hundred thoughts whirled around in Jake’s mind. He looked at the frozen picture that appeared in front of him and saw the talons of the powerful B-grade glisten with blood from Jake’s body, but also the bird’s own blood from the Arcane Powershot he had landed earlier.

He saw the many other wounds on the Sovereign, and he saw his own body. Jake had ample time to fully understand his own state, and it truly wasn’t looking good. Not like there was anything he could do about it here and now… instead, he had to move.

Ever-so-slowly, as Jake willed it to, time began resuming. Timeless Focus in combination with Moment of the Primal Hunter allowed this very little time to have a lot of impact as his Arcane Powershot was charged up at an utterly insane pace, Jake also pouring in every bit of Hunting Momentum he had built up. Because time affected Jake differently during this period, his leap also rapidly widened the distance between him and the Sovereign as he prepared to land a devastating attack.

But… things didn’t always go according to plan.

As time moved once more, he saw the realization dawn in the Sovereign’s eyes. A platform of mana began slowly appearing beneath the kicking foot to stop the blow before it would even connect with Jake. He could release his arrow here and now, but he knew it wouldn’t be fast enough. The Sovereign was still a good seven meters from Jake, and Jake’s backwards momentum while Moment remained active was too high, meaning by the time he released his arrow, he would already be over twenty meters away.

Another Gaze was out of the question as Jake knew it wouldn’t end well for him. With time slowly resuming, Jake let go of the string, but contrary to his body or energies, the arrow didn’t travel with the effects of Moment. It only slowly moved forward, and as his ultimate survival skill was slowly winding to an end, Jake wished for nothing more than his arrow to travel faster.

He wished for it not to take such a long time to arrive, as if it too was affected by Moment of the Primal Hunter… which was when something clicked.

Jake asked himself why he had tried too hard to control the concept of time within the arrows when an answer had been right there all along. Jake couldn’t control the concept of time with any of his skills. It wasn’t something he was capable of. No… no, rather than control the concept of time, he denied the concept’s control over him. He denied its dominion and forced himself to stand outside of it.

The combination of Timeless Focus and Moment of the Primal Hunter had made Jake’s Path forward clear to him, and rather than control the concept of time that affected the Protean Arrow… he denied the concept’s control over it.

And it listened.

With no warning or indicator of any kind, the Protean Arrow sped up, and right then, Moment also came to an end. The Sovereign, who looked as if it would dodge Jake’s Powershot, opened its eyes wide as the arrow appeared far faster than any of Jake’s previous attacks. The B-grade attempted to screech and summon a barrier, but it was already too late.

As the Sovereign had only barely managed to land on the platform it had summoned—a mere fraction of a second away from dodging out of the way—the B-grade was struck by the large Protean Arrow.

The attack penetrated straight through the bird’s chest as a massive dose of poison and destructive arcane energy was delivered into the body of Jake’s opponent. The B-grade was launched back and bounced on the water several times, leaving a trail of blood and feathers in its wake.

Jake stared as he still bathed in the wondrous feeling of his epiphany and the incredible effect it had on the arrow. Sure, he had spent some of the innate energy of the arrow to reduce the effect the concept of time had on it, but it had been more than worth it, as he had struck true.

Over two kilometers away, the Rainbowfeather Sovereign finally stopped itself by forming a barrier beneath its feet to brace against. The B-grade didn’t leap to attack but just stopped as it kneeled down on the water, a massive wound now marring its chest. Jake knew he had done some serious damage… but a B-grade was still a B-grade.

Despite how damaged the Sovereign was, Jake knew this wasn’t over. He was proven right as the B-grade stood up tall a few moments later, staring toward Jake with newfound apprehension but also determination.

Jake, in turn, checked his body once more, and… yeah, it was bad. Very bad. However, if he really squeezed out everything he had, then maybe he could-

Just then, his thought process was interrupted as he felt something. Jake’s eyes darted to the side as, on the horizon, he saw something approach. Then he felt something in another direction, his head turning as he saw something else approaching.

His sudden head-turning caught the attention of the Rainbowfeather Sovereign as it also checked out what was happening… and it was clear this hadn’t been the B-grade’s machinations.

Since the fight with the Warlord, Jake had known he was being observed by the other B-grades on the islands. That was how the Sovereign had been able to get one over him in the first place, as Jake hadn’t found it that odd.

However, now, it appeared these B-grades were no longer satisfied with merely watching as Jake felt the approaching auras of nine B-grades from the islands on the Grand Lake. Each was flying toward himself and the Sovereign at high speeds, and when he briefly made eye contact with the Rainbowfeather, he saw the annoyance and slight sense of distress from the B-grade.

None of them had planned or wanted this to happen, as the situation had just turned a lot more perilous.

Standing there, with so many approaching enemies, Jake felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him as he breathed out a loud sigh while muttering to himself.

“Great... just great.”