The Primal Hunter

The cathedral had, amazingly so, not at all been affected by the attack from the Sword Saint. It was maybe protected by some magical barrier, or perhaps the construction was indeed durable enough to handle his weird reversal of the rain.

This meant that the interior was also spotless and bereft of damage. It was also entirely empty, save for a hidden cellar dungeon with no obvious entrance. Jake managed to sniff out how to enter through his sphere, and they found a secret door opened by someone pulling on a lantern hanging from a pillar. Yes, Minaga was that cliche.

”Do you believe this individual will be a foe?” the Sword Saint asked as they walked down the newly revealed stairs.

”I doubt it. The dude is in chains and in a sealed room, so unless they are really shitty hosts, then I would assume it is a prisoner,” Jake answered.

Even if he didn’t share it, Jake did have an idea who this person could be based on the stories Minaga had shared. Upon entering the hidden prisoner dungeon, his suspicions were pretty much confirmed as he saw an old disheveled man chained to a wall within a sealed-in red barrier.

[Old Royal Mage – lvl 250]

Again, a very original name from Minaga. At least the Demon Lord had a name based on what the Prime Summoner said.

After they entered the room, the old mage also seemed to notice them, but he didn’t even look up.

”Just kill me already… I will never betray my comrades!” he said in a valiant tone.

Jake wanted to praise Minaga for his wonderful dialogue, but the Sword Saint spoke first. ”We are not with the demonic cult, but those who have come to slay them.”

The old man looked up and laid his eyes on them. ”Truly? I feared all was lost when the evil Demon Lord Gubrothas was released from the seal that we of the Mage Court laid down five hundred years ago. In an attempt to help the citizens, I came here to try and stop the Prime Summoner from assisting the evil Demon Lord Gubrothas regain his former strength, but I was too late and was instead captured. Tell me, did you succeed in stopping her from ascending to a Prime Consort of the evil Demon Lord Gubrothas?”

Who the hell just goes on a tirade like that after one reassurance we are the good guys!? Jake wanted to scream, but the old swordsman stayed in character.

”Her foul ritual was ended by my blade, and the cultists slain for their evil acts,” he said in a serious tone.

”Good, good… did the Knight of Light’s Dawn join you? He was said to have guarded the entrance to this labyrinth, and I fear the worst if he encountered the evil Demon Lord Gubrothas. Even if the evil Demon Lord Gubrothas was weakened… tell me, is he safe?” the Old Royal Mage asked.

Does he really have to refer to the Demon Lord as “evil Demon Lord Gubrothas” every time? Jake questioned as he kept his mouth shut.

“Sadly, the Knight valiantly fought the evil Demon Lord Gubrothas but failed to stop him. With his dying breath, he tasked us with stopping the Prime Summoner. That we found you here is simply a blessed happenstance,” the Sword Saint said in a comforting tone. “Please, allow us to free you.”

The Royal Mage nodded, and Jake and the others proceeded to dismantle the barrier and free the mage from his chains. Jake was primarily interested in the magic circle they had used for the prison. The chains served as energy-sappers and made the person too weak to use their physical strength to rip themselves free, while the formation drained their resource at all times, making them even weaker in all other aspects. However, Jake believed the most important function was the formation’s ability to disrupt energy movements, even within the body of the affected person. It acted almost like a neurotoxin, making Jake very curious.

As the two old men once more spoke, Jake subtly disassembled the entire prison cell and stored it away, including the chains on the wall and floor tiles the magical circle had been carved on.

”Thank you, thank you, oh valiant heroes. Please, with the evil Demon Lord Gubrothas now freed, he must be stopped, but I fear he has already managed to reach his castle deep within the labyrinth. I… I wish we could seal him once more, but I am too weak. Heroes, do you believe yourselves capable of facing the evil Demon Lord Gubrothas? That you can bring peace and justice?” the Royal Mage asked in his usual dramatic and severe tone.

“That is a quest we would take upon ourselves with honor,” the Sword Saint nodded.

“I cannot express my gratitude enough, heroes,” the old mage said with a big smile. “Allow me to assist you in your quest.”

his hands and summoned a small golden stone

capable of temporarily weakening the Demon Lord by sealing in his sword. The duration of the seal is one minute (60 seconds). This item cannot be used outside of Nevermore and will

please, would you take it instead? Use

the hands of the Old Royal Mage around the stone. ”No, this quest is ours alone, and we shall slay the Demon Lord using our own power. We have already encountered him once, and

evil Demon Lord Gubrothas is not easily bested… even if you faced him once, he

matter where or when, he shall fall to us. Evil shall

well, I shall respect your conviction, and once more, I thank you, heroes,” the

free the Old Royal Mage and reject the Anti-Demon

bonus points. Yay, Jake thought, giving a mental thumb up to

allow me to assist you in reaching the deeper parts. We have a stronghold that should

to the Sword Saint. Chances are this stronghold would be within a room and thus make them

you for the offer, but we wish to scour the halls to truly wipe out the foul cultists that still wander them,”

case, all I can give you is my well-wishes. Go forth and be

Sword Saint nodded and bowed as he turned around and began walking out of the cathedral. Jake looked at the old mage for a second before mimicking the actions of the Sword Saint and also bowing as he followed

Sword Saint out of the cathedral and back towards the hallway, Jake gave the old man a questioning

old man revealed. ”It

the

need to talk much more as they made their way back into the hallway, and Jake once more proceeded with guiding

to recover, Jake could have just handed him a mana potion to get him up to speed. It would have been faster by a lot, and you would have been able to see the cool stronghold and even interact with all the people who live there. There are a bunch of individuals with very interesting information, including a former member of the cult, an old nobleman, and the squire of the Knight of Light’s Dawn, that died at the beginning of this floor. Who knows, maybe they would even give you some reward for slaying the Prime Summoner? At the very least, you would have seen them all react to the Old Royal Mage reuniting with old friends. It would have been really touching. His granddaughter would even

points by only doing the

the Prime Summoner was only for the bonus objective, you could have skipped

coupled with the points for freeing the Old Royal Mage, I’m gonna bet it has at least equal or more points, especially with the two achievements we

and Sylphie responded as they picked up speed and went ahead of the group to clean

do I get the feeling you said that out loud and

looked at the Sword Saint and Dina. ”We should reach the end in about thirty minutes, just got eleven left turns and eight right turns before

definitely doing it on

Jake shrugged. Soon the Fallen King and Sylphie rejoined them as they

ended up being weaker than the Prime Summoner. Or maybe he would have been stronger if the guy had managed to finish his large-scale ritual, but they promptly killed him before the guy had a chance to. Without

320 Nevermore

thirty-second floor in less than a day (24 hours). 500 Nevermore Points

Cultists to perform any of their planned rituals. 400 Nevermore

receiving assistance from any friendly creatures.

a maximum

lounge, Jake admired all the achievements just rolling

the rituals?” Dina asked, a bit

– would take around a full day to complete. Honestly, I am questioning why I even decided it was a good idea to add an achievement for not allowing any rituals to go off while also having one to

you for telling me,” Dina said with