Chapter 955 - Equal Contributors

All’s well that ends well. At least, Jake thought so after he had expertly politicked his way into convincing the other World Leader to release the Prima Guardian. What’s more, it turns out the elven World Leader was way more decent than Jake had initially expected.

It hadn’t taken much convincing to make the guy agree to activate the Prima Guardian, not after he knew Jake’s identity. In the words of the elf, if Jake couldn’t beat the Prima Guardian as the top-ranking person on the Nevermore Leaderboard, then they wouldn’t have stood a chance either way and would have faced total annihilation.

There was one minor issue, though.

”The Prima Vessel struck down on the other side of the planet from the capital, and while we have populated much of this world and have some forward bases, there is still a vast area of wilderness between the nearest teleportation circle and the Vessel,” the elven World Leader explained.

”How long do you reckon it will take to reach it?” Jake questioned.

”With my speed, around half a day. We could also try and find a space mage to make things faster, but I doubt I would want to. I know that the Primas made use of those with the space affinity among them to reach out defensive positions faster, but I’m not sure if bringing along a third person would be wise,” the elf said, shaking his head.

”Why not?” Jake asked. If they could get there faster, that would just be great.

”It would risk exposing things,” the elf said as he seemed to think for a while. ”This may seem presumptuous, but would it be fine if the story after this becomes that the two of us faced the Prima Guardian together?”

”Will we face it together?” Jake questioned. ”Not gonna lie, I feel like you would be more of a liability than any kind of help. In fact, I’m positively certain you would cause more harm than good.”

No way Lone Hunter would work if he did actually fight with the guy, even if he was a lot weaker. Also, while Jake said the elf felt about as strong as Reika, he questioned how good the guy would actually be at fighting if he had just been the spiritual leader for his planet this entire time. He definitely specialized in a Path revolving around being the Voice of the One rather than a fighter.

”That’s a bit insulting but probably also true,” the elf sighed. ”My point is that should you just kill the Prima Guardian alone, there will be many questions, while if I say we killed it together, there will be far fewer who raise any issues. I want to keep it entirely ambiguous who contributed the most, allowing everyone here to believe I was the one who did the most, while anyone else who hears about it will naturally know I was just a tag-along required to release the boss.”

”We can talk about that on the way,” Jake said, not outright rejecting the idea as he did want to ask some more questions about this entire planet, and seeing as they had quite a few hours of traveling through the wilderness together, he reckoned there would be plenty of time for that.

”Very well,” the elven World Leader nodded. ”By the way, I noticed I never introduced myself. Name’s Kindroth, Son of Kindrothar… yes, my father didn’t have a lot of imagination when it came to names. Ah, but please avoid using my name when around others. No one has actually called me by it ever since I got the title of Voice of the One.”

”I guess you already know, but my full name’s Jake Thayne, no idea where the Thayne comes from,” Jake also reintroduced himself. ”Now, how do you want to approach going out there, oh Voice of the One?”

Kindroth smiled a bit at Jake’s mocking tone as he got down and stood beside Jake. ”Again, I must act presumptuously and make it look like we’re walking out there as equals. If not, it will just cause undue trouble I don’t think either of us want.”

”I genuinely don’t care,” Jake shrugged, the elf looking relieved at the answer. ”I do care a little how you will introduce me, though. Because there’s no way I’m going to let you tell everyone I’m some agent sent by the Great Bright One. Oh, and also, I already told that council of yours I don’t follow a god, so that may cause some problems.”

”Is that because you don’t want others to know you are the Chosen?” Kindroth questioned, surprised.

”At the time, I wanted to avoid it,” Jake shrugged. ”I get the feeling they wouldn’t have allowed me to see you had I introduced myself as the Chosen of the Malefic Viper.”

”True, they would have likely tried to evacuate a very willing me to some safehouse while trying to make you leave the planet… something I don’t imagine would have ended well for them, seeing as you need me to free the Prima Guardian and you don’t strike me as the sort who would have just left,” Kindroth nodded. ”But if you are fine with people knowing now, let me formally introduce you. As for what you said to the council… well, you don’t exactly follow the Malefic Viper, now do you? You instead embody his will and act as his mortal representative. Merely saying you follow the Malefic One doesn’t do such a vital role justice, so you never lied in the slightest.”

Jake looked at the elf a bit and saw him flash a familiar smile he had seen Miranda with several times. The guy really was good at lying and twisting the truth, which shouldn’t be that surprising considering what he had accomplished on the planet.

With a plan of sorts, the two of them walked back through the hallway of light, and as they passed the different rooms with light elementals inside, Kindroth held out his hands as each elemental turned into a beam that light that shot toward him and formed a small rune upon landing on his body. The elf obviously noticed Jake’s interested gaze as he explained:

”I am able to absorb and use light elementals, and quite honestly, I’m pretty useless without them,” he said with a wry smile. ”It does fit me pretty well thematically, though. Summoning a light elemental as the voice of someone called the Great Bright One is very convincing.”

Jake didn’t comment but just nodded as they soon reached the exit of the mountain. Outside, the entire escort group, mercenaries, and guards waited. When the gate swung open, and they all saw the Voice of the One, they all instantly fell to their knees, with even the mercenaries acting overly respectful.

”We greet the Voice of the One,” the two guards said in unison.

”At ease,” Kindroth said as he raised a hand and he turned to look at Jake. ”This man and I are on our way to release the Prima Guardian now and slay it.”

His words were incredibly direct, earning him many confused gazes as one of the mercenaries stepped forward. ”Excuse me, but weren’t you recruiting us to help face the Guardian?”

Kindroth looked at the mercenary and nodded. ”That is true. However, things have changed. I would welcome you all to continue helping against the Primas, but the Prima Guardian shall be handled by the two of us.”

”I don’t mean to question you, but I have heard these Prima Guardians are not to be underestimated…” the mercenary said, and Jake detected some genuine worry from the guy. Jake wasn’t sure if it was because he was a decent guy who wanted to warn another person or that he realized shit would hit the fan if the Voice of the One went and got himself killed, but it didn’t matter either way.

”Your worry is entirely needless. This is the will of the Great Bright One, and besides, I do not go alone,” the Voice of the One said, looking back to Jake. ”Introductions may be late, but allow me to anyway: This man is the Chosen of the Malefic One, the pinnacle of our Era. With him at my side, what do I have to fear?”

Jake saw Kindroth give him a subtle wink, and Jake instantly understood. His aura flared as the mercenary stumbled back in fright along with the escort group and guards. The guards even seemed to take a defensive stance but didn’t go further than that as the Voice of the One spoke.

”I believe there shall be no further objections? Good. Now we shall be off; there is no reason to delay needlessly,” the elf said, turning to leave.

Jake just gave them all a nod as he followed, deciding to not say or do anything that could disturb whatever ploy the elf was cooking up.

None of them dared say anything, though they definitely looked like they wanted to, as Jake and the Voice of the One headed toward the capital city, flying at a steady pace. Once there, Kindroth had them stop by the Council Estate to explain their plans, and all of the council members were shocked when they learned who Jake really was. Any kind of worry that Jake could be a danger was also shut down by the Voice of the One, allowing the two of them to leave quickly and really showing how much damn influence the elf had. Even if he didn’t officially lead the planet, it was clear his word was law, and if he told them to jump, the only question they would ask was how high.

A few teleports later, they finally reached a forward base wherefrom they would head into the wilderness. Every person they met on the way there bowed in reverence toward Kindroth, with the elf responding with kind words every time without missing a beat.

However, once they were out of the cities and made their way a bit into the wilderness, the elf let out a huge sigh. ”How do you keep up with it?”

”What?” Jake asked.

”Being more of a figurehead than a person,” Kindroth said. ”It’s exhausting. The constant expectations of perfection and flawless modicum in any situation, the fact anyone believes anything you say is pure fact and won’t even argue back or advise you on anything even when what you say is dumb as fuck… for a while, I thought it was great, but now all it does is tire me out. You know, that’s one of the reasons I was keen on having a council and rarely get involved with anything they do. I’m sure they can govern way better than I can, and I can just act like some benevolent semi-divine existence without them questioning anything.”

”If it’s any consolation, going by how things are here, they definitely can rule the planet better than you as a council,” Jake shrugged. ”As for your question… I kind of don’t feel like that? It’s probably because you are a public figure, while I remain very much private. Those I do choose to interact with on a regular basis I view more as equals, with them also treating me as a person.”

”Sounds nice,” Kindroth said with a dry smile. ”You’re the first person I’ve had a normal conversation with where I don’t have to pretend for… well, ever since Nevermore. I went there with a group organized with input from my Patron, so I could act pretty normal there. Now that I’m back here, though…”

As the two of them continued their journey, they continued having small talk. Jake was also surprised at how casually the elf had quickly begun to treat Jake, as he was also used to people acting weird once they knew he was the Chosen of the Malefic Viper. Perhaps it was because he had been socially starved, or just that he was so used to never being viewed as beneath anyone, so he wasn’t really thinking about it, but the elf seemed more than happy to treat Jake as an equal.

Another positive thing about the Elven World Leader was his speed, which genuinely impressed Jake. As a light magic user, Jake had expected him to be pretty fast, but he surpassed expectations and could keep up with Jake pretty damn well. The fact Jake still couldn’t summon his wings did slow him down a little, but just using One Step and flying normally, Jake was still pretty damn speedy.

Jake and Kindroth did encounter a few Primas on the way, but Jake easily handled them one after another. They were all pretty damn weak, and based on Jake’s estimates, he didn’t even think the Prima Guardian would be stronger on this planet than on Olliandra’s. It would probably be dependent on how many Primas had died.

There was one time when they were attacked by four Primas at once that Jake let Kindroth handle one of them on his own, and as expected… he kinda sucked in combat. His offensive power basically came down to summoning light elementals and basic magic attacks, and that was about it.

On the defensive side, he was pretty fucking good, though. The Primas couldn’t even try to catch him, and Jake understood why the guy hadn’t seemed worried about getting killed by the Prima Guardian before Jake could help. He was a man fully specialized in conning the populace and being really good at running away.

As Kindroth had said, it ended up taking them about half a day to reach the Prima Vessel. Once there, the two of them briefly discussed their approach before Jake headed up into the sky as the elf entered the Vessel.

The plan was simple: Jake would go stealth and prepare his strongest attack far up in the sky, while Kindroth would go trigger the Prima Guardian and then quickly run out of the Vessel, never once attacking or directly engaging the Guardian with the hope this wouldn’t interfere with Lone Hunter.

It was indeed a simple plan, thought up by a simple hunter who soon stopped once he was above a few layers of clouds as he got ready. He proceeded to make his Protean Arrow, specializing it to kill flesh and blood lifeforms as practically every Prima they had seen was one, and he even put on his best Heartrot Poison to really ensure it would be a real killer.

Nocking the Protean Arrow, Jake held nothing back as he began charging his attack with Arcane Awakening fully activated. The arcane energies revolved around him while Arcane Powershot built up power, and just then, a beam of light flew out of the Prima Vessel.

A moment later, another figure followed. The Prima Guardian that appeared reminded Jake a bit of a lamia, actually, with a squid-like bottom and a kind of more humanoid top section, though it was still a bit away from actually looking like an elf or human. Not that its appearance was that important, considering Jake nor anyone else wouldn’t be looking at it for long.

Kindroth, as the target of the Prima Guardian, kept dodging away as it chased him, having turned himself into a living beam of light. Jake took his time to fully charge the attack, as the elf really didn’t look like he was in any danger. On a side note here… Lone Hunter was still active, though Jake really didn’t have much time to consider if it really should be.

A dozen or so seconds passed with the Prima Guardian trying to chase down Kindroth, until Jake felt his body reach its limits. With a final deep breath, Jake released the string as the attack descended, parting the clouds in its wake as it left a trail of destructive energies.

To make sure he would hit, he naturally also made sure to use a Primal Gaze on the Guardian as it froze up, stopping its chase. Kindroth barely had time to materialize to see Jake’s arrow strike true.

Perhaps it was because the Prima Guardian didn’t have any time to adapt and improve, or maybe it was its slightly lower level… but this time around, Jake didn’t end up needing any follow-up arrows. The attack hit the Prima Guardian right on top of its head, blowing it apart entirely before continuing through its body, destroying it from within as more than eighty percent of its body mass was destroyed with that one arrow – its surviving flesh infected with Heartrot Poison.

It was pretty satisfying seeing Kindroth gawk in awe as Jake got his notification.

You have slain [Honored Prima Guardian – lvl 315]– Bonus experience earned for killing an enemy above your level

Satisfied, Jake descended toward the elven World Leader. As he did… Jake actually felt a bit nervous that the elf would start to act weird, as he had enjoyed their more casual interactions over the last day or so. However, that proved to not be a problem. Right when Jake got close, the elf exclaimed loudly.

”You are fucking overpowered, you know that right? Damn, now it makes sense why the final message I got from my Patron was to not piss you off; you’re more dangerous than this entire bloody Prima Invasion.”

Jake couldn’t help but smile as he shot back. ”And yet we were somehow equal contributors to the outcome of this fight.”

”I know, right? How nice of me to give you credit despite doing most of the work,” the elf smirked, staring at the huge crater left behind by the remnant energy of Jake’s arrow after it had destroyed the supposedly planet-threatening Prima Guardian.