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 tried

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

end of the room. The King followed up, with the Sword Saint also joining in as crescent water blades, green

had accumulated for a long time. Even if the Demon Lord had absorbed some of it to heal himself

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

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

away. Purified by the flames. What energy the Demon Lord got was already purified, as only parts of the Heart had been corrupted so far. Given enough time, 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 connection between the Demon Lord and Heart waver. Yeah, Jake

large blast of fire, making everyone retreat for a moment. “Then

he tore

moment, the entire world turned red. Jake was the first to get hit by the inferno as he 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

they even had

and herself, while Sylphie and the Fallen King attacked the Demon Lord again, seemingly not

artifact down,”Jake sent encouragingly

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

the prior floors said. And while they did not have a direct counter to the overwhelming fire affinity domain,

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

and winced as he held it. His right hand and entire arm were burnt to a crisp, flesh and bone showing at places, making it painful and difficult to hold the bow properly. Still, he soldiered through

Dina pointed her staff at Jake and fired a green bolt of lightning at

allowing the stable arrow to pierce the demon’s cheek. He winced and unleashed his anger on the Fallen King, swinging faster than before

melee with the Demon Lord. The Sword Saint had to focus on keeping the cycle of rainfall going, and if Dina stopped protecting them from the exploded Heart, they would all be in trouble. While the rain didn’t look to do much at first glance, Jake felt the environmental fire mana rapidly weaken in intensity and the temperature drop. The Heart had finite energy, and even if the Demon Lord had unleashed it all at once, it would still run out of power if

stand a chance at stopping the large boss. With a 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 while releasing his own Rainblade slash into the flames to avoid getting

to try and keep it going. Jake used One Step to try and cross the hall quickly, but the range was severely

sword down toward the old man. Shifting his stance, the Sword Saint met the

blast from the impact still sent the old man reeling back, his robe burning. Above, the raincloud soon dispersed as the Demon Lord gave chase towards the Sword Saint. He managed to dodge

slash, the Sword Saint was sent airborne, and a follow-up slash sent him tumbling, flying through the air with the upper portion of his robe burned off, seared flesh showing beneath. Luckily, Jake managed to get

the demon, but the boss shifted his stance, making the katar hit armor, which it just skirted across, leaving a shallow cut.

Sword Saint and Sylphie and the Fallen King to stabilize. Sylphie had flown far up in the air and started

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 the boss as the Fallen King summoned two golden hammers, which he promptly slammed

little 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 half-melted stone tiles in his path as a slight trickle of blood

in all of the flames spread out across the room, and as the Demon Lord

way,”the Demon Lord said, standing tall