The Primal Hunter Chapter 1231 - Stalking One’s Prey

Jake observed from the opposite side of the sprawling metropolis as the True Dragon remained at the table for several moments before choosing to depart. He wondered if she intended to track him down, but she simply retired to her suite within the resort. Despite the scowl on her face, she appeared completely unbothered by their prior interaction.

Directly approaching her in such a manner could be considered a high-stakes gamble, yet Jake felt reasonably certain he could escape if things turned sour. Fortunately, he only required a few activations of One Step and Unseen Hunter to vanish, aided significantly by the fact that she wasn't putting much effort into searching for him.

Nevertheless, he felt the risk was justified for several reasons. Primarily, despite the informative presentation Villy had provided, he wanted to personally verify her character. He had intentionally acted a bit grating, and her immediate attempt to end his life was all the proof he required to confirm she was a truly despicable individual.

Secondly, this brief clash permitted Jake to better gauge the depths of her power. Even while suppressing her aura, Yrelstromoz couldn't hide everything from Jake, and after feeling her presence firsthand, he was certain.

She was undoubtedly the most formidable prey he had ever set his sights on.

Admittedly, she wasn't a warrior forged in the fires of life-and-death combat. She was also on the younger side for B-grades and was viewed as having mediocre talent. Regardless, she remained a True Dragon through and through. Her singular attempt to strike him down had solidified that fact.

Jake’s danger sense had blared at him to evade the moment she unleashed her power. While he wasn't positive the strike would have been potent enough to trigger Moment of the Primal Hunter, he suspected it wasn't far off. Being capable of manifesting such force while remaining in her human form—with much of the skill's Records dedicated to subtlety—her raw magical talent was undeniable. It was exactly what one would expect from a dragon.

The third and final motivation for Jake’s personal visit was to initiate his hunt and serve notice. He wanted her to understand that he intended to slay her rather than just striking from the shadows, yet he didn't want to engage with a formal declaration, as that would foolishly squander his powerful opening move.

Furthermore, Jake was fairly sure his initial strike wouldn't be as decisive as he hoped, so he preferred not to rely too heavily on it. It was highly likely that Yrelstromoz possessed some form of life-saving measure to mitigate his first blow. Based on the light research Jake conducted during his final prep—he kept it brief on purpose—dragons specializing in magic almost always had at least one survival skill to thwart assassination attempts.

The Lumenflight was comprised of dragons who were masters of magic even among a race of masters. While variants like the Emberflight or Darkflight possessed immense physical strength alongside their magic, the Lumenflight focused almost entirely on pure sorcery. Because of this, Jake was convinced she would have a trump card.

During his final preparation phase, Jake had also forged every item he deemed necessary for the hunt. He had produced more Dragonsbane Poison than he anticipated ever needing, along with a robust supply of various potions, all newly brewed to capitalize on the higher stats granted by his Sacred Prodigy title.

Now, perched several hundred kilometers away while maintaining a watchful eye on Yrelstromoz, he steeled himself for the coming battle. However, the timing wasn't right yet, and he wished to observe a bit longer. He hoped to glean more useful intel, but his patience was also driven by one of his skills: Relentless Hunt. This skill allowed him to gradually accumulate Hunting Momentum even now, according to the description:

[Relentless Hunt (Passive)]: The hunt never ends until the prey is dead. Allows the Hunter to designate a target for a long-term hunt. While the target is designated, the Hunter slowly builds Hunting Momentum based on observation and proximity.

He noted that their brief encounter had jump-started the skill. While the momentum built much slower than it would during an active fight, it was steady and would provide a significant boost to his first attack.

Another reason for his delay was to gauge her natural resistance to hostile magical effects. Upon leaving, Jake had placed a Hunter’s Mark on Yrelstromoz. This confirmed he could successfully mark a True Dragon without detection, and the duration it lasted would reveal how resistant she was to such debuffs.

One final reason he hesitated to start the hunt immediately was the setting. While Yrelstromoz and Villy seemingly didn't care about wiping out population centers as collateral damage, Jake preferred to avoid it. He saw no reason for his hunt to claim the lives of countless bystanders who were uninvolved—especially in a resort meant for people just trying to relax.

He devised a potential solution while waiting for the Mark to fade. During this time, Jake also pondered the information regarding Yrelstromoz and their recent talk. From those factors alone, he had a clear picture of the True Dragon's personality.

She was someone born into extreme privilege but burdened by equally extreme expectations. When she realized she couldn't meet those standards, rather than persevering or pivoting, she grew resentful of everything around her. She began lashing out at the world, taking pride in her inherent superiority as a True Dragon while caring for no one but herself.

Had she simply been a dragon who decided the Path of constant growth wasn't for her and chose a quiet life, Jake wouldn't have bothered. He would have judged her choice as foolish, but he wouldn't have interfered.

Instead, she had become a multiversal terrorist who found joy in bullying the weak to feel powerful. She was so narcissistic that she couldn't tolerate anyone outperforming her, a trait their interaction had confirmed. Yrelstromoz hadn't even attempted to hide her fury as Jake won at cards. The only reason she hadn't attacked sooner was that she had already resolved to kill him within minutes of him joining the table.

There was a minor risk that her outburst would cause collateral damage, but Jake doubted she would do that. Not because she cared for the people there, but because a public attack would end her vacation and force her to relocate. She was supposed to be keeping a low profile; while she could hide a few quiet assassinations, widespread carnage was too conspicuous and made her magical signature easier to trace.

As Jake maced these thoughts, his eyes widened as he felt his Hunter’s Mark dissipate. Simultaneously, a faint prickle of danger hit him, causing him to freeze and push his Unseen Hunter to its limit to remain hidden.

This was a wise move. A split second later, an invisible wave of power swept over him and the barrier of stable arcane mana he used to mask his presence. He remained tense as several more pulses rippled out, until he saw Yrelstromoz scowl and shake her head.

Seeing this, Jake finally exhaled and let out a sigh of relief, unable to suppress a grin. She had noticed the Hunter’s Mark expire. Jake couldn't recall that ever happening before, which brought a smile to his face. Had he been slightly worried that this wouldn't be a challenging hunt because she wasn't at the top of the dragon hierarchy? Yes, but now he knew it wouldn't be a walk in the park. After all, a True Dragon was an apex creature of the multiverse for a reason.

Jake continued his surveillance, not wanting to strike too soon after revealing himself, while hoping she would move away from others to give him an opening.

It was unfortunate he lacked any Void Spheres, but they weren't easily found. Learning to pull targets into the Shadow Realm would have been helpful too, but that wasn't an option yet.

A full day passed with him watching her. Yrelstromoz remained in her room the entire time, doing nothing. Eventually, she grew bored enough to step out to the pool area, grabbed a single drink at the bar, and returned to her suite.

The following day followed a similar pattern, though she stayed outside a bit longer. By the third day, her guard seemed to drop as she resumed her normal routine. The only difference was that she avoided killing anyone or drawing attention, behaving like a relatively normal person. If she acted this way constantly, Jake might never have come, but having seen her true nature, she was nothing but prey.

Was there a chance for her to change? Could she be redeemed? Perhaps... but unfortunately for her, it was Jake, not Jacob, who had found her. The hunter had no interest in giving her a chance to repent. The only atonement she would find was in the grave. Or, she would kill him—and honestly, slaying Jake would likely grant massive Records even for a new B-grade, which could theoretically help her improve her life. Unfortunately for her, Jake intended for that to remain a theory.

Another day went by as Jake plotted his attack. Yrelstromoz stayed alert, and he caught her glancing over her shoulder occasionally, though she never spotted Jake, who used his Pulse of Perception from over a hundred kilometers away.

He sent out constant pulses, taking a mental snapshot every second to track her. Jake felt confident he could soon expand his sphere for constant, long-range observation, but he didn't want to push it until he reached B-grade. For now, this sufficed.

Returning to the hunt, Jake weighed ways to lure her out of the city. One advantage of this planet was how desolate it was. Yrelstromoz had likely chosen it because it was only visited by vacationers.

The planet featured only one ocean, which was more like a large lake. Along its coast were numerous resorts and holiday towns, nestled among the greenery and scenery fueled by the lake’s energy.

Everywhere else on the planet was either wilderness or empty wastes. It was mostly stone, ore, and sand, devoid of life. Since the planet’s energy was concentrated near the water, there was nothing of value outside the coastal zone.

Ideally, Jake would lead her to these outskirts to fight far from any civilians, but the challenge was making her go there. He needed bait, but he wasn't sure what to use.

As Jake sat in deep thought, a certain snake god, who had been watching with interest, could no longer stay silent.

“I feel like you’re intentionally trying to bait me right now because of our last talk,” Jake muttered, keeping his eyes on Yrelstromoz to maintain his Hunting Momentum.

“I have no idea what you mean,” the Viper said.

“You know exactly what I mean. You’re just waiting for me to ask for help,” Jake shot back.

“And are you going to ask?”

“No,” Jake said.

“Fine, then just use one of those Dragon Hearts you have in your bag,” the snake god said casually.

“One of the what?” Jake responded.

“The hearts. From the dead dragons. You have like three of them. Just take one out and leak some of its Qi. She’ll come running like a hungry dog to a steak,” the Viper said impatiently before cutting the telepathic link.

Jake sat there for a moment before checking his inventory. Yeah... alright, Jake really needed to keep better track of what he was carrying. This wasn't even a case of a forgotten item; these were things he had acquired quite recently.

Yrelstromoz still felt an underlying sense of unease despite a week passing since her strange encounter with the human who dodged her. His parting words still grated on her, even if they shouldn't matter logically.

It didn't help that she had felt a magical tracker expire on her the same day they met. The idea that she hadn't sensed it being applied was deeply unsettling.

However, the more she analyzed the situation, the more she doubted there was a reason to fear. Logically, she didn't believe there was a genuine threat after considering the facts.

The man who approached her had the unmistakable aura of a C-grade. She suspected he might have masked his true level, but hiding one's grade and level were very different things—especially when using energy, as he had while evading her.

Only someone vastly more powerful than her could masquerade as a C-grade and avoid her detection, but that made no sense. No A-grade or high-level B-grade would hunt her; it violated multiversal norms. If the United Tribes sought vengeance for her killing a subordinate, they would have to send a group of new B-grades or risk heavy criticism.

Thus, Yrelstromoz saw only two possibilities. Either it was an A-grade or someone equally powerful who was just messing with her as a psychological ploy... or it was a peak C-grade who was exceptionally strong for his level and had managed to dodge her strike.

Ultimately, both scenarios meant the same thing: there was no real danger. An A-grade wouldn't dare kill her, and the idea of a C-grade successfully hunting her was laughable.

Consequently, she went back to her vacation, though she remained slightly more alert in case she was being watched. She stayed cautious until the day she was lounging by the pool and felt something.

Initially, she doubted her senses, but when the feeling persisted, she sat up and projected her perception. Far away, there was something familiar... a draconic presence.

Frowning, Yrelstromoz hesitated. This was all too suspicious. Why would another dragon suddenly appear on this planet? It was clearly linked to the human from a week ago, but that only made it more baffling.

She didn't believe a dragon had come to assassinate her. Dragons rarely killed their own kind. Yet, that only deepened the mystery. Whatever it was, it was clearly trying to lure her out.

Yrelstromoz pondered for a moment before dismissing her doubts. If they wanted to attack, she had given them a full week of opportunities. The thought that a would-be killer might worry about collateral damage never even entered her mind.

After further reflection, her curiosity took over. Yrelstromoz decided to investigate the presence of this other dragon. She went fully aware that it might be a trap, but even if it was, did she truly need to worry?

She was a True Dragon, after all.