Zogarth
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Chapter 521 - Celestial Alignment of Yore
🕑 Added 2022-08-04 10:43:04 +0000 UTCJake had not really known Chris that well. He was just a guy Jake had saved by coincidence when he killed Abby and her father after they attacked Haven. Later on, he had then given the young man a Blessing from the Viper, and Chris made the monument to allow Jake to teleport out of their universe. To call him a friend wouldn’t be entirely correct… but he was Jake’s guy. He had worked for Jake. He had only been targeted because of Jake.
So Jake would get revenge for him.
Ell’Hakan was ready for Jake’s attack despite how instant it had been. So were his two followers as both of them exploded with power, activating their boosting skills while moving to intercept. One of them had a sword and a shield, with the other one a healer based on the magic she deployed.
Jake didn’t care about these two but headed straight for Ell’Hakan. He teleported past the warrior and met a barrier from the healer as Ell’Hakan took out a staff and slammed it into the ground. A wave of red flames hit Jake, but black scales already covered his body as he, with a single hit, shattered the barrier. But before he would land a blow, he was attacked from behind by the warrior.
Fuck you, Jake just thought as he completely ignored the blow and kept up his assault. He stabbed forward and managed to scratch his opponent before the orange fuck turned into flames and flew backward at a rapid speed. In return, Jake got an annoying cut across his back before he spun and kicked the shield of the warrior, blasting him away.
Charging again, he chased after Ell’Hakan with reckless abandon. Spears of flames flew towards him, but Jake once more ignored it as dodging would only slow him down. The only thing that mattered was killing the person in front of him.
Yet the fuck kept fleeing, and the warrior and healer kept getting in his damn way. For every second, his anger grew. Like a volcano constantly at the edge of an eruption, the heat was just building up. He ignored everything that would not lead directly to damaging Ell’Hakan as nothing else would give him the slightest reprieve.
The damn healer made his life difficult as even when he stabbed the warrior several times, he just got up again, and Ell’Hakan was constantly just turning into fucking flames to run away. What was worse was the constant taunting. Jake did not truly register the words; he just knew they were taunts.
His vision turned red as he felt on the edge of eruption. His inability to simply kill his opponent only angered him even more. At this point, nothing else mattered.
His body pulsed with power as he prepared to push himself further. He was about to increase Arcane Awakening above 60% as suddenly a feeling of danger emerged from within. As if cold water was thrown in his face, Jake suddenly felt a bit of clarity. In the middle of a chase, he closed his eyes.
He is controlling your emotions, you fucking idiot, he told himself as he experienced a moment of clarity.
Jake remembered what his opponent could do. His emotions were still out of control and flaring up. He felt angrier than he likely ever had… but from the anger came an odd sense of calm once he realized why he was mad. Jake opened his eyes again and locked gazes with the Nahoom in front of him.
Seeing he had stopped, Ell’hakan also got a break. “The wild beast has calmed. Once more, you show unique restraint. Though I must confess, I expected more than a charging, mindless-“
“What do you hope to accomplish with this shit?” Jake asked, genuinely unsure. Why the hell would he bother invading their planet in the first place?
“We each walk our Paths. While you might be a hunter, I am not. In this instance, I am only here to work as a liberator. Did your world not like this sort of thing? Foreign countries invading others at the behest of freedom fighters merely to exploit the land? War under false pretenses for personal gain? That is all I am here to do. To free this world from you. At least, that is the story that is told. Truth is subjective, and all that matters is what one can make others believe,” Ell’Hakan said, more talkative than Jake would expect. The problem was that he was just talking, nothing else.
“You didn’t answer shit,” Jake spat out.
“Fine, I shall give you one hint,” Ell’Hakan smiled. “Third World Congress.”
Jake wasn’t sure what the guy meant until his eyes opened wide. Was this fuck trying to get voted World Leader by placing his own City Lords or something? Was that even possible? And did it matter? No… because he would die there today.
His katars disappeared as he equipped his bow and took out a poison bottle he quickly tossed in his quiver, having learned to soak the arrows within a long time ago. The warrior and healer were behind him, ready to engage. Jake marked all three of his targets as he took a deep breath and looked at Ell’Hakan. “You are right about one thing. Our Paths do differ. You are good at talking shit, and I am good at killing shit talkers.”
He then felt what was almost a wave of pure anger hit him, trying to flare up what was there before. But Jake barely registered it as he stepped forward and teleported. Rather than teleport towards Ell’Hakan, he went backward more than three hundred meters as he appeared behind the healer and warrior. An arrow was already nocked as a Splitting Arrow was released towards the woman.
The warrior moved quickly to the side of the healer to defend her, as Jake stepped once more and teleported before shooting again. A barrier emerged around the healer and warrior as Jake stepped and shot three more times from five different angles.
He stopped and shot one more time. The first shots were all explosive arrows, and the barrier was blown up right away as the two were pelted with arcane energy. The very final shot Jake had released was the one stable arrow of the bunch and curved under the shield of the warrior to hit him in the abdomen, making him stumble back.
Ell’Hakan did not stand still as he raised his staff. It was only now that Jake noticed something odd. While it was in the middle of the day, the sunlight was far more intense than usual. It had a red glow, and the air almost shimmered from the sheer heat.
Sun affinity magic,Jake concluded as he dodged back just in time before a beam of burning light descended from above. It burned a hole nearly a dozen meters into the ground right where he had been standing, making Jake frown. The attack was a lot stronger than expected, and from how Ell’Hakan felt, it was clear the man was at a higher level than Jake. Not just one or two levels, but at least over a dozen. His two companions were similarly all higher level than Jake.
But he was not deterred.
In his anger, he had activated Arcane Awakening fully, putting himself on a timer. This was just another fight. One he could win.
The warrior hit with the arrow earlier quickly got healed as Jake continued his attack. He wanted to take down the healer first, but the warrior clearly knew his task was to protect her, so he decided just to kill both of them at once. It was problematic that he was facing the ideal three-man party of a damage-dealing caster, a defensive warrior, and a healer. With none of them being significantly weaker than the others, it made it hard to exploit a weak link.
Magic sprung up all around him as Jake put that larger mana pool to use. His wings appeared and pumped out poison to create a mist covering the entire area. Ell’Hakan himself was too damn hard to lock down and damage, but the healer and warrior? Not so much.
He bombarded them with arcane bolts and exploding orbs, not to damage them but to obscure their vision and give him openings. The first Arcane Powershot landed on the healer not long after, but the woman recovered quickly even after the stable arcane arrow tore off a large part of her chest. The second Powershot hit the warrior, only penetrating deep into his shoulder and making him spin in the air before he stabilized.
Arcane charges were building in both from his marks, and his special little bottle from earlier carried an extra toxic surprise. Ell’Hakan himself failed to hit any attacks no matter what he did. His attempt to manipulate Jake’s emotions also failed. Jake was angry. Utterly pissed. But he kept his head cool anyway as he had quite the practice with rampant emotions.
“I admit, you are stronger than our prior conversation, as well as our intel, led me to believe,” Ell’Hakan spoke just as Jake blasted away his two companions with an arrow stuck in each. Both of them looked tired and, having had their boosting skills going for all this time, had clearly worn them out. Jake, on the other hand, with his monstrous mana pool and massively improved stamina pool, managed fine. The only one not really pushed yet was Ell’Hakan, who seemed oddly disinterested in the fight. He was just participating in the background to help his companions if it got too dangerous or to keep Jake on his toes and keep the fight at a standstill where the healer could keep up with Jake’s damage output.
“When are you going to stop pussying around and fight me?” Jake asked the fucker.
“When the time is right,” Ell’Hakan smiled. Jake saw straight through the bluff. He felt more confident than before and knew that the orange fuck wasn’t that much stronger than his companions. The magic he used was also big and flashy, consuming a lot of mana. Even if he had a boosting skill, Jake would be fine.
Jake moved again to push his advantage as he wanted to finish off the healer before any of them had the chance to escape. It wasn’t time yet to activate his secret weapon… no, he would save that for the very end and take them by surprise. It wasn’t like he needed to hurry anyway with how big of an advantage he had, so even if he could admit he was not entirely sure as to the efficacy of his poison, all should be fine.
In fact, he would barely even consider it a fight anymore. He was so much superior and-
Jake’s eye opened wide in realization. His emotions had once more been influenced, making him overly confident… but he realized it too late. In an instant, he felt his entire body freeze. He looked upwards and saw an absolutely massive magical circle and two more people floating far above, having been hidden out of his Sphere all this time.
“A profound sense of danger towards attacks, a spherical detection skill with a range between two and five hundred meters in radius. Powerful skills making you a hard opponent to take by surprise… but not impossible,” Ell’Hakan spoke as Jake now saw he was holding some kind of orb in his hand that was linked to the magic circle above as they pulsed in synchronicity.
Space itself seemed locked down around Jake as he struggled to release himself. He felt isolated from the outside world, as if he did not belong there, and yet did not feel like he was in any danger. Jake could not even step down to teleport away… if that would even work.
“In the outskirts of the first Pylon city of Earth, the Chosen of the Malefic Viper and the Celestial Child battled. In a fight almost equal, the Celestial Child, Ell’Hakan, came out on top. In a moment of cowardice, the Malefic One’s Chosen fled in fear, abandoning not just his city but humanity itself,” Ell’Hakan said. “A selfish coward indeed… one not worth ever rallying around.”
Jake wanted to talk but was unable to. It was as if he wasn’t even in the same space as everyone else. Like he had been shifted to a different reality while still being able to see and hear everything.
“I do hope you hurry,” Ell’Hakan said with a smile. “The World Congress shall be your deadline to set history right.”
Space began to shift and move as far above, a projection appeared. It was an entirely blue moon, far smaller than the moon of Earth. It began to move at a visible speed as Jake faintly felt himself be linked to it. Chained to it. Like the tide was controlled by the moon.
“Celestial Alignment of Yore.”
The orb on Ell’Hakan’s orb shattered as he spat out blood, and Jake felt himself be pulled. He wanted to yell but could not move a single muscle. He wanted to move his mana, but it refused to respond.
Just as he was about to be dragged away, Jake’s eyes focused as the space around him faintly distorted. The very second he began to be dragged, he could move once more, and in that very final moment, he raised both his hands towards his opponents as they glowed green.
Touch of the Malefic Viper.
He also detonated his arcane charges from the Marks but was unable to see the result. Within half a second, he lost sight of Ell’Hakan, the Fort, Haven, and everything else. He kept accelerating as if dragged by heavenly chains across the landscape. Everything blurred and distorted as all he saw were moving colors and silhouettes, his mind unable to process everything.
Then suddenly, it stopped.
But the momentum was not gone. Jake fell to the ground like a meteor at speed surpassing one. He saw the ground a millisecond before he impacted it, only able to slightly angle himself as he hit it. Jake took a rolling fall as he bounced off the ground and flew several more kilometers before his second bounce. He felt his shoulder dislocate from the first impact, but after the second one, he could slightly deaccelerate himself with blasts of mana.
After a few more bounces, Jake landed on the ground and saw that he was lying on a large dune of sand. He breathed heavily as he rolled over and tried to stand up as he spat out some sand that had gotten into his mouth. Jake spat it out along with a good deal of blood from his internal injuries as he tried to orient himself. Trying to understand what the hell had just happened.
Jake, trying to get an idea of where he was, felt for Sylphie’s location using their Union Oath. His eyes shot open as he stared directly down at the sand below him. She was… nearly straight down. Very far too.
It took him a few moments to comprehend what had just happened, and the moment he realized, he gritted his teeth in frustration, not even caring about his injured body.
He had just been flung to the other fucking side of the planet. Jake cursed and clenched his fists as he tried to calm himself own. It was then that he felt a connection be formed.
“Jake, what happened?” he heard Miranda’s voice.
Jake then realized where he had just been fighting. “Tossed to the other side of the planet… get out of there now. Escape Haven and move towards the center of the Grand Mangrove River. Say I sent you.”
“Alright,” Miranda answered without any hesitation. “We shall… they’re here, cutting off the ritual. Will contact once safe.”
With that, the connection was severed, and Jake was alone. He flopped down on the sand again as he smashed his fist into it.
Everything was fucked. His only consolation was that Jake had at least given those two annoying fucks a nice parting gift.
--
Ell’Hakan breathed with difficulty as his head pounded him using the orb. The item was now broken, but it had done its job. He smiled as he saw the Chosen be sent flying away. But at the very last moment, he felt it. An overwhelming determination as the human raised both of his hands as they glowed.
But… he was isolated in the space of yore, so nothing should-
Cao’Estill and Ult’Oriel, his best healer and third-best warrior, suddenly collapsed to the ground as their bodies began bleeding from every orifice. Their blood pooled like thin water, their flesh rotting, and their eyes glazed over.
All he could do was look on as both of their bodies decayed and turned to nothing but mush in front of him within seconds, leaving only rotting, unrecognizable shapes behind.
Ell’Hakan narrowed his eyes and frowned deeply. Plans… must be adapted.
But they were still on track. This was only the first step, after all.
He turned his gaze towards the direction of Haven as his two companions who had worked on the array joined him.
“What are your orders?” one of them asked.
“Follow me,” Ell’Hakan said. “Let us finally pay this Haven a visit.”
Comments
Lorraine V
Ty
Aria
Yeah. I really dont like this arc. Cheeto just seems like a character that exists to cause a problem. Having him die along with the healer and warrior and having jake deal with the rest would be way way better
Alex
I wonder how he'll get back. They said humans only inhabit a small corner of the planet. And it took him and Carmen weeks to move from one human town to the next. Reika also took weeks to reach haven. Which means if he is on the exact opposite side of the planet it should take him months/a year to even get close to inhabited areas again. And by that time the war should be quite far along.
Gopard
I really like the fact that there's finally some actual large-scale-conflict on earth that goes beyond some small time goons like with Carmen's family. And about the celestial alignment of your skill used against Jake, was he supposed to trapped in time, but managed to break free and fell down from outer space randomly so that he landed on the opposite side of earth, or was there a reason for that specific landing location? Anyway I really enjoy this story and arc. Thanks for writing this Zogarth
Tragic Hysteria
Man all this bullshit really deserves some huge revenge. Looking forward to Jake destroying his planet in retaliation, after ripping his head off of course.
Bernhard
First of i am probably not the right person to ask about writing styles, when i read storys like that i care more about worldbuilding and does the author stick to the ruels or if not is ther a valid reason because logic is easy, writing is not. thats why i am not to concerned about it changeing. That being said i read the whole story only a few months before, so the tutorial is still fresh in my mind. There i recall some pov's from William before we got the first confrontation between the two and that is missing hear. Or atleast it's to littel, that is sad because i like the pov's of others especially with the somtimes monotonous hunting and grinding. I guess it's because so much happening in the school arc. I would have liked some more time ther. To be clear less mushroom dungeon we where 60 levels to high vor and more pov's about the schemes of haken, irinixis with her new apprenticeship and mira talking about how nice jake is jake. All that while jake learns about poison and does some crafting which results we see later in fights like in this chapter. I guess that we get the pov's while jake fights his way back home. Its a bit late so i under stand were your problems come from especially since you seem like someone how cares about that. My worries are more how to reasonable get people to fight the best friend of the god that will kill you everyone that knows you everyone that knows the ones that know you and turn every world you lived on in a desolat wastland. But the reason i wrote that comment that disappeared vor what ever reason was mostly to give you a different view on 5 and 6 because i also had difficulties with villy setting up a challenge where loved ones could die from but again how else do you get someone that is longe enough in the system and smart enough to be a challenge to fight him and the orb does not seem that unreasonable with the explanation i came up with except the part where jake did not get it. So long story short pretty accurate on your analysis and the last paragraph already showed you are someone with reason. Thats why i botherd with a comment of that length in spite of me needing look up how to write nearly each word. why is spelling english words so difficult?
Robert Apgar
There is a second unique lifeform that is probably meant to deal with the Fallen King.
Daniel is ŁØNE
Liked your comment made me think about a lot of stuff, Overall the chapter stills a bit strange for me, like something about it even when I can see a method to the madness just doesn't click with how the story has been written in general in my eyes. Not saying it is fundamentally bad because my perception could simply come from readers bias that has been established over time but that's how im taking it for now. You are right a lot of my issues come from the fact that the character hasn't really been established since the arc basically just started, and normally I wouldn't even be that mad at it since a lot of stories reveal the big bad and slowly add depth as the story progresses. It's honestly a pretty common practice in written as far as I know so it shouldn't worry me, the issue is that while that could be the case my views were not based of the general but instead on how zogarth has tended to write villains or important characters so far. Usually we get a fair bit of introduction and build up before any major confrontations or meetings between major characters occurs, this could be by telling side stories pertaining to them, or just showing their POV's as the slowly lead up to the point where they get stomped or become truly integral to the plot doing this he usually establishes a general mood or fan opinion on a character while also fleshing them out so what they do feels like it has impact. Following his usual standard this war is basically the beginning of a major confrontation but it had basically none of that which may actually explain why it felt so jarring, zorgath kinda went for a different way of doing things this time around and it shook the nice balance that I had established with the story so far. Like I said it's not my story and I trust in his writing since its been solid so far but id likely be greatly disappointed if all the usual build up and introduction isn't smoothly entered in while not ruining the pacing so far. Curious on what you think about my analysis on his writing style and my general reasoning for my views.
BaguaBrady
I'm always down for some gory poison descriptions
Bilal Williams
I dig it. Classic control vs freedom of choice. When this chapter gets published I hope there is tons of gruesome details of the two deaths in this chapter. Shaking the villain up a bit
Clint
Great chapter. Can't wait to see what the rewards are when a Chosen kills the chosen of a hostile god. Given the rarity of chosen and the records the god must invest in that blessing, it should be excellent. Perhaps another really OP title?
Daniel is ŁØNE
I love manipulation type characters and I'm all for MC's having good villains and struggling to get ahead so you would think I'd fuck with this arc but I can't bring myself to look past the problems. The overgrown Cheeto is simply not a good villain end of story, lets list the problems; 1. He has literally no backstory with Jake prior to their first meeting which was literally a single conversation that didn't really create any depth to his character hence what could be a major confrontation holds dismissible emotional weight to both Jake and the readers if we exclude the small weight this chapter attempted to provide. 2. The Cheeto has been shown to have literally no understandable or relatable motivations for this encounter other than this Fated villain BS which doesn't really work unless there is already established emotional weight to the relationship (point to reason 1) 3. His scheming nature is literally not shown but told, his entire plan is simplistic as hell (only intelligent portion of it being basic reconnaissance which was inaccurate on both his strength and how he operates because if he knew jack shit about jake he would realize that turning the world against jake wouldn't do shit and is likely not to even fucking work on any faction that matter since they all have ties to him) and was literally just a frontal attack with an orb that is legit just fucking plot armor, there ain't no way that a man with 11k perception and an instinct and intuition based bloodline so powerful it could detect FUTURE dangers would miss that much energy build up in his area simply cause he was angry as hell. 4. In tandem with reason 4 his manipulative nature is legit not shown as well. All forms of manipulation he does is attributed to his bloodline and he as a character doesn't show even the slightest hint of what would be expected from a master of manipulation in terms of speech patterns, mannerisms or behavioral patterns so other than his undeserved bloodline he holds no merit as a character other than the fact that he is a walking Cheeto that talks wayyyyy tooo damn much in the most irritating way possible. Like for real he could be replaced with any other person and as long as they have the same directive and bloodline the exact same outcome could be achieved if the person ain't completely brain dead. 5. Fundamentally he doesn't even feel like Jakes enemy, It legit feels like Villy had a minor villain in his story (Yip) with a small time apprentice (cheeto) and the apprentice somehow got lost and ended up in Jake's story instead. Jake literally did nothing to provoke this and the entire Fated enemy thing came out of left field since the moment cheeto was introduced, the entire situation is a consequence of Villy's fued and while he did give a warning it was vague as fuck and by no means enough to actually instill even a minor sense of danger in Jake all of it is made worse by the fact that Villy probably realized some of this BS to an extent. 6. Losing because he got teleported away is a bullshit way to put Jake out of commission especially since there wasn't any valid build up or mention of such a thing being even remotely possible by Cheeto, it also made Jake's breakthrough the last time he used one step one mile feel invalid as hell especially since it wasn't even something that occurred due to grade suppression because the Artifact was also D-grade (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). Anyway so far you haven't really disappointed story wise so ill just ride out this month since ive paid and see where it goes and hopefully you have a plan that ties this together because from my perspective it just feels way too messy and contrived for me to enjoy it the way I usually do. But hey it's your story and you can take it in whatever direction you wish and I'm just airing out grievances with the direction and setting of this arc in what I hope is a constructive manner. Cheers to you and all that if you actually read this zogarth
Bernhard
Five someones at least a dozen Level's above him, with preparation time, an item and i'm guessing a legacy skill from yip of yore of the same ranke as his one step mile skill. i see that working with the rules of the system. Or the skill of yore applys the concept of time more than the concept of space. At least thats how i as a not nativ english speaker understand yore.
Silvertooth09
Thanks for the chapter Zogarth. I am liking the direction it is going with Ell'Hakan. The fight can't just be won right now with Jake's skillset. but you can see what he might need to win in hus current skillset
ZaA
Kinda defeats the entire purpose of Jake's most recent one step mile upgrade to be locked down by someone of his own tier. Even with an item.
SwiftDarkPhoenix
also there is 18 of them as well as the alliance people which is the largest number of people on the planet and William and his beasties. Jake was locked down by 3 people now imagine triple that number, they would probably be able to kill him with 10 of them.
Nicholas Paterson
I don't think his end game is world domination. The big bit is in how he said his path is different from Jake's, he's not a fighter and isn't looking to best Jake in a fight. If I had to guess, then I'd say that he is a social type whose path is about being the top dog politically and probably another aspect of fulfilling the narrative he declares (the whole reason his plan was to get Jake's attention and then teleport him away, so that he can beat him politically after "foretelling" the future). On top of that, Ell is definitely the world leader of his own world, and being in charge of two worlds might give him special rights (like being able to move between them whenever he wants or something else like kicking people he doesn't like off-world).
deus vult
don't forget, there's also arnold, the guy who messes with eldritch artifacts. artifacts that supposedly drive you all insane. but he's perfectly fine. honestly I think (whathisname) is jumping over his belly button here. jake's planet is full of monsters. if it was only jake, then, alright. it'll be a challange. but we have a fucking augar of hope, a mad scientist and an undead dungeon master all working together. then there's the court of shadows and vallhal... that shit's insanely tough to handle. I doubt he'd be able to do ANYTHING really. I'm honestly surprised at how cocky he was.
Kakistos
Yall just gonna forget Arthur is directly working with the Villain? The man who meticulously tests everything? Its not really plot armor or contrived bullshit that Ell'fuckface knows everything about Jake and has developed a perfect counter, would be hella weird imo if he did all this without a plan in place My question is, how does this end goal make ANY sense whatsoever? Let's say Jake fails, which we know he won't anyway cause mc, and Ell becomes the planets head at the 3rd congress. Like alright cool, you own the planet. But you aren't immortal, Jake will still kill him and the planet will be leaderless again. It wouldn't make sense for the system to make planet leaders immortal anyway, wouldnt surprise me if the Author took that route, but if leaders are immune to damage then what stops them from killing their "subjects" including beasts FAR more powerful than them and just becoming insanely op? I just can't see that happen, especially when the system actually provides incentives for killing leaders, as we can see with the python owner vs city leader quests. Furthermore. The Fallen King is more powerful than Jake, and the old man is at the same powerlevel last we saw. Jake killed one of the best warriors + the best healer quite comfortably. It wasnt really a close fight, just took some time, and a valuable artifact had to be burned in order to transport him, they couldn't take him down. So how the fuck are we supposed to believe this group of invaders can match the Fallen King? That would be some serious plot armor type shit. They can't get a good read on his abilities since Arthur's knowledge will be limited where he's concerned, so they can't have a perfect plan/artifact for it, it should very much be a surprise that fucks em over imo.
chris
i dont usually comment but i love this arc! thanks!
