The Primal Hunter

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.

Jake wasn’t even the one to warn them all first as the Fallen King spoke.

“Acid rain.”

However, he did add something: “Don’t hold anything back anymore… it’s third phase time.”

Arcane Awakening activated, 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 for the Prima Guardian as its body exploded with power.

A small shockwave 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 thing that remained kind of identical to before was the eye-filled head.

Its entire body 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 wasn’t even sure could even be mimicked: the natural defenses of a Runemaiden.

Except without any of the drawbacks, as mana whirled around 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 of the wyvern heads opened its maw and released a ball of fire his way, the other three heads also attacking others.

Jake dodged, nocking an arrow, 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 a moment before Jake and quickly yelled.

“It’s using the sha-“

However, before Caleb could fully warn them, it was too late.

Casper had been preparing another minor 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 through.

The Risen tried to react, even turning 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 momentarily froze.

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Primal Gaze activated as Jake felt his own soul clash 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 interference. For now, it was stable, though, and Jake felt quite the backlash as Primal Gaze nevertheless worked.

Casper exploded with cursed mana, taking the chance as four massive ghostly wooden stakes appeared behind him. With a yell, he shot them all forward, and all four pierced through the body of the Guardian before fading away.

That’s also when the Prima could move again, and it tried to strike Casper once more, but the Sword Saint released a piercing stab, making the chimera address him instead. Carmen and Vesperia joined the old man as they faced the Guardian with a united front.

Eron was already flying over and healing Casper, who looked to be in quite a bad state, as the three melee fighters tried to restrain the chimera… and things weren’t going super well.

With a kick, the chimera landed a large cut on Vesperia, shattering part of her natural armor, as the 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 one who got pushed back, only to find herself on the receiving end of a wyvern’s breath.

Vesperia tried to take advantage, but the chimera dodged her blow expertly, only to counter her instead, sending her reeling back. That’s when Sylphie struck, proving once more she was the fastest in their group as she cut off one of the wyvern’s necks with a flyby.

Maria also tried to land an arrow, but it was swatted away by the staff. The fire archer was having a harder time than everyone else with the constant acid rain, as not only was the rain aspect bad for her, but the acid also proved very effective against her defensive skill.

Perhaps the Guardian noticed this, as it pointed the staff it had just used to destroy her attack, as the clouds above 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 her, proving it still had One Step available.

Jake had already shot an arrow that he redirected, but the Prima Guardian chose to ignore it and instead attacked. Maria exploded with flames that the chimera just pushed through as it punched her in the chest, its fist piercing straight through, sending blood and bone flying 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 own hair as half her neck and her entire shoulder were torn off, parts of her arm falling toward the ground.

“Glimpse of Spring: Stormcut.”

The Sword Saint appeared below the two of them as he cut upwards, the clouds momentarily parting and the blade sinking into flesh as the arm holding Maria was cut cleanly off. Jake’s arrow also arrived, striking the Prima in the head and piercing one of its eyes before exploding, making the Prima stumble a slight bit.

This left Maria with a tiny opening as she kicked off the chimera and turned into a ball of fire that shot away right before one of 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 blast of wind.

“I… need to 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 for her, and with her weakened after using her escape skill, she knew her contributions to the fight had ended.

The first of their fighters was officially eliminated – if one didn’t count the four Queen’s Guards that had all died too. Maybe Arnold was also out of the fight? At least he had lost his robot… but that didn’t mean Jake was going to write him off.

Refocusing on the Prima Guardian, it switched its attention to Eron again to stop him from healing Casper as the healer faced the chimera. Waves of white flames washed over the boss as it flashed its blade legs a few times, cutting Eron up. It first tried to cut off his limbs, but Eron responded by blowing up his own body whenever his movement got too impaired, making the chimera switch its strategy slightly. Instead of directly fighting him, it created a tunnel of wind before blasting him away within a bubble of stable arcane energy and golden force, sending him flying all the way to one of the sections where people were fighting the regular Primas.

“Do not fret,” Eron spoke while flying away. “Its power surges as its spark wanes. It’s burning through its very own life with every passing moment. Keep going.”

Jake didn’t need to be told that twice as he released an Arcane Powershot, blasting the Guardian in the shoulder and sending it spinning, Carmen flying over, her fist burning with power. It appeared as if the Guardian welcomed another clash as it punched toward her while spinning, but the Runemaiden wasn’t just throwing a casual punch this time around.

A skill Jake recognized as Fist of Ragnarok roared out as an explosion lit up the sky, the impact sending blood and bone flying everywhere as the Guardian tumbled through the sky, its entire arm broken and twisted. Carmen was also blasted back, her arm bent at an unnatural angle.

She threw Caleb, who was beside her where she stopped, a glance, and he quickly understood as he slammed his staff into her side, pushing the bone back in place as the Runemaiden flinched.

Back at the Guardian, it quickly stopped itself in mid-air, as it cut off its own limb before a new arm regenerated in less than a second, ready to receive the attack of Sylphie and Vesperia while even counterattacking, landing a nasty cut on Vesperia and a wyvern’s breath on Sylphie.

Several more breaths also flew out, aimed at Jake, who dodged, and Casper, who was already struggling due to his previous injuries. The Fallen King stepped in to defend the Risen, but it was clear Casper was overdrawing on his own power to stay in this fight. Still, he looked like he wanted to get in at least one more big contribution.

The fight was at a stage where every moment was perilous. If the Prima Guardian had its way with someone for even a full second, they could take lethal damage easily, while their party just had to slowly land blow after blow, trying to whittle down the chimera’s resources. All while dealing with it still adapting to everything they were doing, though to a lesser degree. Oh yeah, and then there was the constant acid rain. While Jake could block it with the passive barrier from Arcane Awakening, and someone like Carmen was entirely unaffected, everyone else had to, at the very least, expend energy to not be negatively affected.

Nevertheless, they held on as they repeatedly clashed with the Prima Guardian over and over, dealing solid damage themselves but also taking quite a beating in return. Casper did manage to get his final attack off as he activated the marks left by the four large stakes earlier, leaving a curse of weakness upon the Prima. It wouldn’t last long, but it gave them some reprieve as it slowed down the boss while it was slowly adapting to deal with the curse.

After that, Casper became the second one to exit the fight as he had to retreat. Eron also tried to return to them, but it appeared as if the Prima Guardian did have some level of control over the regular Primas, as a few of them disengaged from their existing fights with the rest of Earth’s forces purely to lock down Eron. It was annoying, as without their healer, things became a lot more risky.

Luckily, their core group of melee fighters remained, as Carmen, the Sword Saint, and Vesperia did wonders, keeping the Prima Guardian at bay most of the time. The Fallen King also stayed close to melee, assisting the group with barriers and occasional blasts, while Sylphie and Caleb functioned as a hit-and-run team, both showing off their speed.

As for Jake… well, he was the only one doing any solid damage, as the Prima Guardian was too busy dealing with the other six to handle his curving arrows and powerful Arcane Powershots. The chimera did try to go for Jake a few times, as he was isolated alone, but he proved himself a bad target every single time when he responded by pulling out his katars and engaging it until help arrived, without taking any meaningful injuries in the process. On the contrary, the boss took plenty of damage from this decision, as Prima attacking Jake freed up everyone else to attack.

A tightrope was walked as the fight was barely balanced, with any little thing able to tip it over. Jake felt the words of Eron ring true as the Prima Guardian was burning through its life and resources at an alarming rate, especially as it had to regenerate all the time from the constant damage it took. At the same time, any minor mistake from any of them could result in the balance instantly tipping if another fighter was put out of commission…

Ultimately, it turned out the tipping point didn’t come from a mistake any of them made but from a severe miscalculation.

As the Sword Saint managed to land a blow, and Carmen blocked one of the leg-blades, Vesperia was slated to avoid the swing of the staff. She was clearly ready for it and was already retreating slightly away from the swing as suddenly, all of the Prima Guardian’s eyes opened wide…

Without any warning, they all morphed into yellow bestial eyes that seemed to stare into your very soul, their gaze freezing not just Vesperia but the Fallen King, Carmen, Sword Saint, and even Caleb, who had just been about to land another sneaky blow from behind.

What happened next was just one brief moment… but that was all it took for the tight balance of the fight to shift entirely.

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