The Primal Hunter

It was a good attempt, but ultimately they failed to finish the fight immediately. They had hoped to at least leave a debilitating injury even if they failed the kill, but even that had failed. Not that they had completely wasted their time.

Even if the Demon Lord was still standing, reattaching a head and healing his body was not cheap. The crystal above had lost noteworthy power from their opening attack, and that was honestly good enough as it had given them some good info.

From their brief exchange, it was also clear the Demon Lord was stronger and faster than during their last encounter. He was now fully recovered, not to mention his new armor that their opening attack had not managed to damage in any meaningful way. They had gone for the neck with the expectation that the armor would not be easily overcome.

However, even if the boss had grown… Jake was fully confident they could handle anything the boss could throw at them.

One also had to remember that they had also grown a few levels since the last fight, primarily due to the thirty-third floor and the gauntlet of demons.

Anyway. If the first strike fails, try and try again.

Golden shockwaves rumbled from one side of the large throne room as the Fallen King let loose, releasing a barrage of interlaced blows. The Demon Lord scoffed and made a wide swing using both hands, releasing a crescent inferno, burning away the Unique Lifeform’s attack… but also leaving him open from behind. An arrow struck the demon right in his mid-section, exploding upon the armor, slightly throwing off his balance.

Sylphie descended from above as a whirlwind fell upon him, cutting away like a meat grinder. Annoyed, the Demon Lord stomped, making fire erupt from the ground all around him, but the wind refused to let up.

Right as the flames from the stomp subsided, an old man dove through the hurricane, the wind simply passing harmlessly over his body. He aimed for the leg of the boss, who tried to kick him in response, but the foot was thoroughly stuck as a semi-burnt vine slithered up from the broken floor and held him down.

The sword struck true, cutting across the armor, leaving a thin slit but failing to fully penetrate.

“Armor slightly above the predicted level of durability,” the Sword Saint communicated through the golden mark.

Retreating, the old man got out of range from the follow-up strike from the demon as they both went out of the green whirlwind. Sylphie materialized with the boss out of her attack, not wanting to waste more energy than necessary as she kept herself safe.

The Sword Saint prepared to attack again as the Fallen King flew closer to join him. Sylphie also prepared to dive down from above as Jake aimed elsewhere. Rather than target the Demon Lord, he went for the giant floating crystal above the boss’ head, wings springing from his back as he approached it.

While the four others kept the Demon Lord busy, Jake would address the giant artifact. This was one of the strategies they had discussed already, and Jake quickly closed in on the Demon Lord’s Heart. The heat it gave off was intense, but Jake coated himself in scales and managed to get right up to it. As expected, then a barrier sprung up the moment he did, but Jake had come prepared.

Summoning his Blackpoint Blade, he stabbed forward. The special void-attuned blade impacted the barrier and, with a solid push, pierced through, allowing Jake to embed his arm. As it entered the barrier, he had to grit his teeth from the sheer heat sealed within. The scales began to slowly turn red, and his flesh burned, but he managed to dismiss his katar, and with his arm pushed in all the way to his shoulder, he laid his hands on the actual Heart.

His hand began turning red, but luckily his legendary gloves empowered with Scales allowed him to hold on as he activated Touch of the Malefic Viper. He deployed the tried and tested strategy of just corrupting the living hell out of any energy source a boss used. It had worked against the Great White Stag, and he believed it would work here.

Below, the Demon Lord was pressed by the four people attacking, but he instantly noticed when Jake used Touch, confirming corrupting the Heart was a good idea. The demon’s head whipped up as he allowed the Sword Saint to hit him, but he only roared as he jumped.

at least he

a blast of force sent him flying off-course, missing Jake. Mid-air, the demon still released a wave of flames towards Jake, but a wall of roots speared

green gust swept him up and sent him flying down toward the far end of the room. The King followed up, with the Sword Saint also joining in as crescent water blades, green wind blasts, and waves of force kept the demon at bay as Dina assured nothing the Demon Lord tried would reach

of fire affinity energy sealed within. As the Prime Consort said, the energy had accumulated for a long time. Even if the Demon Lord had absorbed some of it to heal himself – both to recover after being

off, but it was a losing battle. Touch of the Malefic Viper slowly took hold as wisps of dark green energy slithered into the artifact, and small veins of dark green began pulsing around Jake’s hand as

ensure the Demon Lord couldn't do anything. They had not fully activated their boosting skills yet, but they were running. Due to the Demon Lord focusing more on trying to get to Jake, they managed to land several worthwhile blows, but the

corruption would reach a threshold where it could spread on its own, and when that happened, nothing the Demon Lord could do would be able to reverse the process. Even now, Jake could feel the

a large blast of fire, making

direction of the Heart and grasped. Jake’s danger sense went into overdrive as he tore his arm away from the Demon Lord’s Heart and pushed off the barrier to launch himself

crossed his arms in front of him and conjured a stable arcane barrier. It melted near-instantly, and Jake was prepared to take the hit as he suddenly felt as if a light breeze had hit him from behind. A green glow surrounded him, followed by an odd orange sigil flashing from his body. As it did, he instantly felt the effects of the

Talisman,” Dina spoke through the link. Yep, Jake had definitely forgotten they even had

giving off an intense aura as she held the flames at bay around Jake, the Sword Saint, and herself, while Sylphie and the Fallen King attacked the Demon Lord again, seemingly not caring much about the fire. The Fallen King, due

down,”Jake sent encouragingly through

after its destruction,” the Fallen King responded. “Likely due to the more favorable

floors said. And while they

to condense, unbothered by the flames. Rain began to fall as the drops evaporated long before they reached the ground, but rather than make the entire throne room into one big steam chamber, it was all absorbed back

bow and winced as he held it. His right hand and entire arm were burnt to a crisp, flesh and bone showing at places, making

the pain in his arm proved short-lived. Dina pointed her staff at Jake and fired a green bolt of lightning at it, and the spot where it hit new flesh instantly began to grow as his arm regenerated

arrow to pierce the

to do much at first glance, Jake felt the environmental fire mana rapidly weaken in intensity and the temperature drop.

wide swing, a massive wave of fire was sent out toward the Sword Saint. Dina conjured a green barrier, but it failed to block, and in the end, the Sword Saint had to jump back

Saint raise his katana again to try and keep it going. Jake used One Step to try and cross the hall quickly, but the range was

was doing as the Demon Lord jumped while smashing his sword down toward the old man. Shifting his stance, the Sword Saint met the edge of the massive burning sword with his own and somehow managed to

as the Demon Lord gave chase towards the Sword Saint. He managed to

with the upper portion of his

but the boss shifted his stance, making the katar hit armor, which it just skirted across, leaving a shallow cut. With a grin, the boss attempted to grab Jake, but he vaulted over the hand as he stabbed

focused on Jake, buying time for Dina to assist the Sword Saint and Sylphie and the Fallen King to stabilize. Sylphie had flown far up in the air and started their backup plan if the Sword Saint failed

whirlwind appeared towards the ceiling as a hurricane was born. The heat was rapidly being dragged in, lessening the pressure on everyone and ever-so-slightly weakening the Demon Lord himself. Jake kept staying close to

effect due to the armor… but blunt force still did a good job as the boss slid across the floor from the impact, tearing up

spread out across

Demon Lord said, standing tall as his aura subtly