The Primal Hunter

Chapter 957: Methodologies of War Chapter 957: Methodologies of War

”Fire,” Caleb said as a string of black beams shot out, landing on the creature as it roared in anger and pain. It turned toward the position of the snipers and began charging their way as Caleb spoke again. ”Activate illusory array four.”

A second later, the entire area seemed to warp slightly. The charging Prima Guardian didn’t even look like it noticed as it kept charging… but rather than head toward the snipers, it began to slightly curve to one side, with it soon running an entirely wrong way.

The array wouldn’t last long before the Guardian noticed, but it was good enough for now. Caleb directed the thirteenth and eighteenth squads of assassins to move in while the Guardian was distracted as ten people erupted from the shadows and attacked the boss, each unleashing powerful skills right away. Caleb also took the chance to glance at the boss yet another time, noting its growing injuries while also throwing in another Identify for the heck of it… and because he wanted to make sure this one couldn’t somehow evolve mid-combat, primarily because he remembered the one on Earth having a different name.

[Honored Prima Guardian – lvl 323]

Turning to look at the people that attacked it, the Guardian was faced with only shadows as the ten assassins retreated once more. Another barrage of sniper fire hit a moment later, this time from across the valley from the exact opposite side as the first attack.

Having noticed something was wrong, the Guardian began to release pulses of mana, both analyzing and disrupting the formations and arrays they had placed down in a massive area around the Prima Vessel. The response was quick, as the mages of the Court responded by disabling some of the magic circles temporarily, fooling the Prima into thinking it had destroyed them.

This was the first planet he had gone to after leaving Earth to help the Court of Shadows, and so far, he would say things were going well. The Prima Guardian was also surprisingly weak compared to the one he had fought before, yet pretty damn strong if the planet was meant to have faced it by itself.

Then again, they weren’t meant to face it yet, but after potentially over two and a half years, during which they would wipe out most Primas, leading to a weaker Prima Guardian, too. If this wasn’t the case, Caleb would have expected the majority of planets with enlightened across the universe to be wiped out, but as things were and the current rules… the Court of Shadows intelligence network put the expected percentage of planets who would end up ”destroyed” at twenty-two percent.

It was yet undecided if the Milky Way would drag this stat up or down… but Caleb would do his utmost to ensure it would go the right way.

He continued to direct the flow of combat as more than four thousand members of the Court of Shadows participated in this Prima Guardian hunt. Many of them were supportive members, helping with the formations and arrays to control the Guardian, but there were still over five hundred melee assassins on the battlefield and about an equal number of ranged attackers.

Individually, none of them could do much to the Guardian. However, the Court of Shadows did have some unique abilities that allowed them to still participate. Out of perhaps every faction in the entire multiverse, the Court was the best at having their members be able to still deal damage to things they really shouldn’t be able to even touch.

A random newly evolved D-grade attacking someone like Jake, more likely than not, wouldn’t do any damage at all. That is to say, you could get a million of the same guy and have them all attack, and unless they used some means to combine their attacks through rituals or formations, none of them would cause any harm. Jake’s durability would simply be too high for them. It was a threshold they couldn’t pass.

The Court of Shadows had ways to circumvent this threshold. Shadows were slippery and ethereal and could penetrate even the natural defenses granted by the system, even if the damage would be incredibly minor. Even a skilled D-grade assassin could deal damage to a peak C-grade with a single sniper bullet or a stab of their dagger.

Now, the damage would be absolutely negligible. As in, perhaps not even doing one health point’s worth of damage… but just the mere fact it did any kind of damage at all was massive.

Needless to say, a bunch of mid-tier C-grades attacking a late-tier C-grade could do far more than a single health point of damage with every blow, but individually, they really were too weak to stand a chance. Yet, in this battle, they were enabled and able to fully participate. All of this was part of the core strategy the Court of Shadows often deployed to take down dangerous foes:

Isolate, harass, kite, confuse, and wear down. If a target couldn’t be killed quickly, kill them slowly in a dragged-out assassination where you controlled all factors. Use the shadows to limit their Perception and hide away, never giving them time to recover, and eventually, even someone far more powerful than the assassins would eventually fall.

if it was possible to go in with overwhelming power to kill the target instantly, that was preferable. In most cases, that is… this not being one of

was than the one on Earth, he reckoned he would have a good chance in a one-on-one.

of this, though. This Prima Guardian system event was viewed as just another training exercise in the eyes of the higher-ups of the Court of

the natives get stronger themselves would reflect well on him

whittled down. It did adapt a little to their attacks, but they attempted to counter this with different elemental attacks carried out primarily through formations or ritual

been ongoing for over ten hours with the Prima Guardian just slowly running out of steam, the entire reason why they needed these kinds of training exercises was shown. While there was a certain level

that’s exactly what

up, with the backup casters not ready in time to react. The assassins that had just emerged to follow up the attack of a group of snipers found themselves fully exposed as

moment to react on their own or maybe even make this a lesson, even if it would cost lives.. but

bit, lest they forget the Judge

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were fully activated as Caleb shot across the battlefield, emerging behind the Prima Guardian before it even had time to kill the first assassin. He didn’t mask his approach to make sure it wouldn’t kill any of them, as it quickly spun around to face him, only to find itself faced with a

corporeal again, slamming his staff down as the ground below the Prima Guardian erupted with lightning, dark thunderclouds gathering above. Attacking again, Caleb landed several blows with his staff before the Guardian could properly adapt to his speed, the ground below the Prima Guardian exploding once more a moment later, sending a bolt of lightning flying toward

a moment as he channeled his energies and spoke, his words echoing through

“Thunderfall of Tenlucis.”

in an instant, passing through the Prima Guardian as a pillar of black lightning consumed it. In its damaged state, it simply wasn’t able to adapt to the oppressive powers of the black lightning as its body was burned from within, and its soul crumbled before the overwhelming

323] – Bonus experience earned for killing

materialized himself in front of the burnt corpse of the Prima Guardian as he infused his voice with mana, addressing

sloppy finale. I expect a full report from all responsible squad leaders within two hours, outlining what went wrong and how to ensure it won’t happen again. We move to the next planet in ten hours, and I

many methodologies of

of things in common despite their antagonistic relationship, one of which was their

accurately, how they viewed those participating in a fight. Many forces in the multiverse focused on elite groups, minimizing losses and only

all through rituals to empower their elites and bring victory. This had even been shown several times on Earth, both during the Treasure Hunt

of the Holy Church simply wouldn’t work. It was their faith that gave the Holy Church power, even in such rituals. Across the Milky Way Galaxy, rituals were carried out one after another to face not only

so gladly gave their lives was because, to many, what came after would be better. The Holyland would be an improved existence to their normal mortal lives, with many even viewing it as a privilige to be allowed to die in a ritual. Of course, to be allowed

this Prima Guardian one was far from the first of

merely being statistics for an event boss to wipe out, they could be converted to tangible power that could help bring down the threat.