The Primal Hunter

Chapter 936: Prima Guardian (4) Chapter 936: Prima Guardian (4)

Jake was a moment too late as he saw Arnold get attacked. The man had stayed a reasonable distance away and even applied some stealth field around himself during the fight so far. However, when the Prima Guardian - whom Jake could barely believe was still able to move around so fast - teleported behind him, the man had no time to react as the blade fell.

For a brief moment, Jake was filled with panic as he saw the scientist get cleaved in two… until the sky exploded, getting bathed in a blue blast of fire and electricity. Jake momentarily saw a spark before the explosion, as the inside of Arnold’s body did not have any flesh and blood to be seen. Instead, it had apparently been all explosives.

“What the hell just happened!?” Carmen yelled through her Golden Mark.

“I just felt the Mark upon the mechanic disappear,” the Fallen King responded before Jake quickly clarified the situation.

“It was a robot of some kind; I would assume the real Arnold is fine,” Jake clarified as he shot out a barrage of arrows almost instinctively while he was in a bit of turmoil internally, trying to figure out how the hell the scientist had pulled this off.

Jake… hadn’t noticed it wasn’t the real Arnold. He questioned how the hell he hadn’t, but he tried to excuse it by never looking that closely at Arnold. Due to how souls worked, the Soulshape was almost just one big entity, and Arnold had looked entirely like a real person to most of his senses. The man had felt “metallic,” if that makes sense, but wasn’t that also pretty damn normal? That this feel came from his armor or something? Wouldn’t it be a normal assumption that the man wasn’t actually a robot apparently made up primarily of explosive material?

He also saw what exactly Arnold had hit the boss with. It was a large metal pole, about ten meters in length, now entirely bent and twisted as it lay in a massive crater in the sand, already getting covered as it turned all the sand that was near it liquid simply due to how hot it had been upon impact.

“Do not let your minds wander. The Guardian is far from defeated,” the Sword Saint sent through the Golden Mark, making Jake also abandon his silly thoughts as he focused on controlling the arrows he had fired.

The chimera was pushed back as its body was filled with electrical burns and blue fire from Arnold blowing up his “body,” and it didn’t react in time as the barrage of arrows struck it in the back. Some of them were repelled, but some penetrated where the creature had adapted to deal with Caleb and Carmen’s attacks.

Speaking of Caleb, he and Sylphie struck just then, breaking through some of the still-falling glassified sand, landing a hit each as the Guardian only had one functional arm. It also only had one leg, but its flesh was quivering and moving, making Jake and the others certain its heavily damaged state wasn’t long for this world.

So they had to take full advantage while they could.

Everyone attacked at once, as the Prima Guardian defended itself primarily with magic. It created barriers of stable arcane energy, golden force, wind, water, and fire, trying to limit any damage it took. While it did help, it was far from enough. Carmen punched it square in the face with a heavily empowered blow, the Sword Saint cut its stomach, Vesperia pierced it through what was left of its chest, and Sylphie managed to shred the remaining arm, nearly cutting it entirely off. The damage it took from the assault of them all made the creature rapidly grow out a new foot, only to step down and teleport.

Right as it appeared again, a thunderclap sounded out as a dark pillar of black lightning descended, sending the boss reeling back down into the sand. Jake, Maria, and Casper followed up with an Arcane Powershot, a massive fire arrow, and a wooden stake that looked more like a large pillar. These attacks all fell upon the chimera, making the ground explode a mere moment after the boss landed.

“Don’t give it time to rest,” Jake quickly said as he continued shooting arrows. Others also threw all they had at the boss while it was crowded, Eron confirming to the group they were doing damage as the chimera just seemed to take the beating for a little while… preparing.

As Jake nocked another arrow, he noticed it had become overcast. He threw a quick glance the way of the Sword Saint, wondering if he had used a skill to make it rain, but the old man looked just as perplexed as Jake. That’s when a raindrop fell on Jake’s arm, and he instantly felt it sizzle and burn his clothes.

Oh… fuck.

warn them

“Acid rain.”

he did add something: “Don’t hold anything

Jake pushing it all the way as he felt a real sense of danger. Not just from the clouds above, but the Prima below. Everyone had stopped attacking for a moment to deal with the rain that had begun to pour down, as they all fully activated their boosting skills, the sky lighting up from everyone, unleashing their energy. This brief moment of dealing with the rain wasn’t even a full second… but it had been enough

sent sand flying as the chimera shot into the air, burning with power as it revealed its healed form. The four arms had become only two, one of them with a staff and the other not wielding anything. Its legs now just looked like two long, curved, single-edged blades, and on its back, the wings it hadn’t used before had been replaced with four long necks extending out, each with wyvern-like heads. The only

also looked far more uniform, no longer a mix of scales, skin, and bark. Now, it only had a single slightly golden tinge to it that Jake recognized immediately… the runic tattoos also quite the giveaway. It had mimicked something Jake

the Prima Guardian. It was truly a ridiculous creature that couldn’t exist under any normal circumstances. Jake was ready to defend as he felt a gaze land on him. One

as the boss suddenly disappeared. There were no ripples in space this time, and Jake’s eyes opened wide when he realized what happened, as he felt a slightly familiar form of energy. Caleb had recognized it

“It’s using the sha-“

Caleb could fully warn

ritual as the Prima Guardian appeared behind him. The overcast skies had made the entire area overcast and unnaturally dark… leading to plenty of shadows for the chimera to travel

ethereal, but he wasn’t fully in time. A staff slammed into his stomach, an audible crack sounding out as his body turned ghostly. He tried to get away, but the chimera punched with its other hand as it turned golden, unleashing what was effectively a Golden Claw. Jake quickly stepped in before it could land a third attack, making visual contact with the Guardian as it

by visiting Royal Road for

with the monstrosity before him. What he felt was utterly unnatural, a mismatch of pieces that were forcibly held together by a fuckload of system-made duct tape. That’s also when Jake knew that the system never planned on having these Prima Guardians rule any planets… because Jake wouldn’t even give this chimera a decade before its Truesoul would fall apart. In other words, it wasn’t built to last at all and only persisted by the grace of the system’s direct

stakes appeared behind him. With a yell, he shot them all forward, and all

Sword Saint released a piercing stab, making the chimera address him instead. Carmen

be in quite a bad state,

Sword Saint was forced to block the staff, smashing him down into the ground. Carmen’s fist clashed directly with the Prima’s, as she was the

back. That’s when Sylphie

away by the staff. The fire archer was having a harder time than everyone else with the constant acid rain, as not only was

rumbled. A black lighting strike descended, taking Maria by surprise as she was struck directly. Before she could properly comprehend what had happened, the Guardian appeared right before

unnaturally bending, grasping her hair in its hand as it pulled backward. The giant maw on its head then opened as it bit down, with Maria barely forcing her head out of the way in time by burning away her

“Glimpse of Spring: Stormcut.”

was cut cleanly off. Jake’s arrow also arrived, striking the Prima in the

the wyvern heads could grasp her. It instead chose to just shoot a beam of energy her way that Sylphie flew in front of to redirect with a large

retreat… Its teeth are fucking poisoned and cursed… good luck,” Maria spoke, shooting into the distance. Perhaps Eron could have healed her and allowed her to keep fighting, but she knew that the current situation wasn’t favorable

didn’t count the four Queen’s Guards that had all died too. Maybe Arnold