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

off-course, missing Jake. Mid-air, the demon still released a wave of flames towards Jake, but a wall of

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

the vast amounts 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 sealed and

a losing battle. Touch of the Malefic Viper slowly took hold as wisps

tried what it could, but the Fallen King, Sylphie, and Sword Saint were going all out, having even partially activated their boosting skills to 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

also knew he couldn’t stop, or the corruption would be burned 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

destroy the Heart!?” the Demon Lord roared as he released a large blast of fire, making everyone retreat for a moment.

the 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

the hit as he suddenly felt as if a light breeze had hit him from behind. A green glow surrounded him, followed by

Dina spoke through the link. Yep, Jake had definitely forgotten they even had that reward from the thirty-first floor, but

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,

artifact down,”Jake sent

up after its destruction,” the Fallen King responded. “Likely due

the “people” they had met on the prior floors said. And while they did not have a direct counter to

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 into the cloud as

bone showing at places,

arrow to not be destroyed by the environment, and the pain in his arm proved short-lived. Dina pointed her staff at Jake and fired a green bolt of lightning

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

only Sylphie was in 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

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

cross the hall quickly, but the range was severely limited due to the fire domain, so he wasn’t able

Sword Saint had to abandon what he 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

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

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

it just skirted across, leaving a shallow cut. With a grin, the boss attempted

to stabilize. Sylphie had flown far up in the air and

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

as the boss slid across the floor from the impact, tearing up half-melted stone tiles in

all of the flames spread out across the room, and

have it your way,”the Demon Lord said, standing