The Primal Hunter

Jake was blasted backward as he blocked with a barrier of stable arcane mana. A torrent of flames bellowed out from the Demon Lord, obscuring its form even as it walked forward. As the one closest to the gate, Jake had taken the brunt of it, but he had reacted quickly due to his danger sense, not truly taking any damage.

A wall of roots shot up from the ground just after Jake got shot back, but a blast of deep red flames removed it instantly. Everyone retreated back to Jake as the Demon Lord walked through the burning wall of vines, properly revealing its form for the first time.

As Jake had initially seen, it was about five meters tall and had rock-like outgrowths on its skin; all of them were cracked with red energy pulsing beneath. It carried a large sword that looked like it was made of stone with red glowing veins of lava running through it and otherwise didn’t have any equipment, its bottom side covered with a loin cloth of sorts. The demon’s entire body released a constant stream of heat energy, and its form burned perpetually. If its skin was red due to the fire or it was just its usual skin tone, Jake didn’t know. Its head looked vaguely humanoid with two large curled horns like that of a goat, and it had two burning red eyes that stared down the party in front of it.

There was no doubt about it… this was the strongest foe they had faced in Nevermore so far. That entire difficulty-setting thing allowed them to encounter opponents worth fighting far sooner than expected; this Demon Lord was proof of that.

Jake grinned as the Demon Lord also assessed the five of them. The Demon Lord sneered as it spoke in a deep voice, its words infused with Willpower.

“Kneel.”

That command became the starting shot as their entire party moved in unison. The Demon Lord legitimately seemed taken by surprise at their immediate response, but it still managed to react. A blast of force blasted it in the side, making the demon stumble slightly as it blocked a blow from the Sword Saint, roaring at the water mixed into his attacks.

Jake shot an arrow toward the demon’s ankle to try and limit its movements, but it managed to shift its stance and do an upward slash, sending out a massive wave of fire that sent the Sword Saint retreating. Just as it was about to do a follow-up, a green hawk barreled into it from behind, Sylphie having turned herself into wind earlier to get around the demon.

Sylphie managed to punch a hole in the demon’s backside from the impact but still found herself on the defensive as the wound released a blast of fire, and the blood that dripped down the demon’s body burned like lava.

Dina also finally released a proper attack as a massive spear of wood shot towards the Demon Lord, forcing it to block with the flat side of its large blade. The impact still sent it skirting backward and gave Jake and the King an opportunity to each land a ranged blow in the form of a golden blast of force and an arrow. As the demon stumbled, the Sword Saint got close and cut its leg, aiming to sever the tendons on its ankles. Assuming it had any.

The Demon Lord roared and slammed its sword into the ground with both hands. A massive blast of fire exploded out from its body, forcing them all to disengage. When the Demon Lord’s form was revealed again, it looked calmer. It also seemed to have truly realized it was surrounded by powerful people. It regarded them for a moment before grunting.

“Very well.”

It squeezed the handle of its sword, and the stone-like sword cracked. Stone slowly fell away, revealing a pulsing orange blade of metal that released heat powerful enough to make Jake activate Scales of the Malefic Viper just to be on the safe side. Dina also responded quickly and sent out green waves of energy toward each of them, resulting in a faint glowing green barrier covering their bodies. Jake instantly felt the temperature lower and gave Dina a nod as they prepared to reengage the demon.

The demon swung its empowered blade toward the people in front of it and sent out a crescent wave of flames. A golden magic barrier met the flames, and Jake jumped back as he began charging his Arcane Powershot. The Sword Saint stormed forward after the King dispelled the barrier, and together with Sylphie, the two of them engaged their opponent in a melee. The Fallen King also began charging some magic of his own as Dina retreated back and stood beside Jake as she also began preparing a spell of her own.

Aware of what they were doing, the Demon Lord wanted to stop them, but the Sword Saint wouldn’t allow it. He activated his boosting skill properly for the first time since entering Nevermore, and Sylphie soon followed suit as the Demon Lord got more and more aggressive. They both needed to avoid the sword at all costs, and Jake saw that Dina’s protection spell wouldn’t last much longer against the intense fire energy.

Luckily it didn’t have to.

and flew straight toward the Demon Lord. The demon tried to avoid them, but just then, thorned roots shot up from the ground and entrapped its feet, allowing the

shot through the air, releasing a devastating trail of destruction. The Demon Lord roared as it blocked with one of its arms, not able to raise its

and using his Rainblade, he did an upwards cut aimed straight at where Jake had also just hit. Once

had failed, a green bullet swept through the hallway. The arm was hit straight on, and in an explosion of fire, blood, and bone, the lower arm of the Demon Lord

materialized not far from Jake, a few of her feathers burned despite her ethereal form when attacking the demon. Jake had already pulled out another arrow and was prepared to continue his attack when the Demon Lord once more erupted in crimson flames. The golden chains of the

Sylphie also gave chase as the Demon King took blow after blow. Its body was honestly ridiculously tough, its metallic bones so durable that causing any proper damage was difficult. Dina

to overconfidence in his barrier, the Fallen King had attempted to get close and land a solid blow, believing his defenses would hold up. This was proven not to be the case when the King was slammed in the chest, the barrier breaking, and the

was still under control. Yet the Demon Lord didn’t seem afraid in any way, just annoyed. It fought valiantly, but it was slower than any one of them besides Dina and the Fallen King, so it failed to do a lot of damage that Dina couldn’t quickly handle. The Sword Saint also managed to nullify many of the major fire attacks, though it did look like

Lord

widely, a wave of fire was sent out, making Jake and the others momentarily retreat like always. Usually, when this

it straightened its

before turning to the

its one remaining hand, the Demon Lord stuck the sword into the ground, and a pentagram-shaped magic circle appeared beneath its feet. Jake reacted quickly and fired an arrow, but

fucking thing just running away. He was about to yell at their host when a system message popped

earned: Defeat the Demon Lord during your first encounter. 250 Nevermore

of points for it. Jake

we have gone all-out using boosting skills and everything?”

don’t think that would work. That was a Demon Lord, after all,” Dina said, shaking

Dina, with even Sylphie, who

they are even able to resurrect if slain. These are not true resurrections but more like their remnant energy regathers, and an

why he had never heard about them before while also thinking that sounded kind of similar to some of the fiction he used

it is very limited, so for one to be able to speak is already proof it has lived for a pretty long time, and even if all Demon Lords are born C-grade at minimum, being halfway to B-grade may mean it has gained those levels itself. Demon Lords are also usually born through large-scale sacrificial rituals, which means they

Its comment about its body being pathetic was likely

this Demon Lord, it would only be temporary? That we would face

they take at least a decade or so to resurrect, so probably not?”

doesn’t that mean whenever a Demon Lord is spawned, there will always be one more in the multiverse?”

and the amount of times they resurrect is still limited. The problem is that you can’t really know how many resurrections a particular Demon

the kill next time either way,” Jake said, getting a nod from the Sword Saint

shared. “As long as you shatter the soul enough, the regathering of energy should at least be slowed down enough for it to take millennia for

“Now, let’s check what was behind that