Chapter 684: Nevermore: Third Phase

Jake ignored all the happenings around him for the most part, though it was a bit distracting with the flashing golden lights, giant raincloud, and what sounded like a category-five tornado. The Demon Lord also clearly noticed his summoned help was being pressured and was several times about to go help one of the Tower Demons, forcing Jake to pull the big guy's attention back on him.

"You dare try and run away!?" Jake yelled as the Demon Lord took a single step in the direction of the Sword Saint. Enraged, the boss attacked, but he still seemed a bit distracted by all the other fights. Jake easily dodged the blow, but the boss only did a lazy follow-up as Jake felt himself lose his opponent's attention.

Perhaps I was a bit too relaxed offensively, Jake surmised.

If that was the case...

Charging forward, Jake took advantage of the Demon Lord being partly distracted. With full power, he thrust both katars into the chest of the Demon Lord, sending the demon skirting back from the impact. His blow did little, and yet he charged in again as the annoyed boss tried to swipe him away. Jake grinned as the hand approached as he made his move.

Jake jumped straight up with Eternal Hunger aimed at the Demon Lord's one eye. At the same time, another version of himself simply took a step forward and placed a hand glowing dark green on the armored chest of the demon. As expected, his opponent went for the version of Jake aiming for its head, the Jake below even obscured from vision by his jumping clone.

At the very last moment, the jumping version stabbed toward the hand trying to grab him, as the Demon Lord happily took that trade. Two katars penetrated flesh in exchange for grabbing the annoying human that had pestered and insulted him? Why would he not go for that?

"I got yo-"

The moment the boss closed his hand, Jake turned into black mist. Confused, the Demon Lord tried to figure out what was going on, as it was only then he seemed to notice the other Jake standing with a hand on his armor.

It took the Demon Lord a moment to act as he just stared at Jake, looking back up at him with a grin on his face.

"Blind as a bat," Jake said, not even bothering to infuse his voice with Willpower. He didn't need Pride to make this taunt work.

The demon's expression warped as he roared, Jake already jumping back as he landed and teleported even further away. Right as he landed, the Demon Lord charged, swinging his blade widely, making Jake once more go fully on the defensive.

"Actually, that was rude. Bats aren't even blind," Jake muttered as he dodged a large swing, closing in and briefly touching the same spot as before as Touch activated once more.

In an attempt to crush him, the Demon Lord summoned a giant seal of fire above himself and brought it all down, exploding an area nearly fifty meters in diameter. Jake had already teleported away, and the moment the flames subsided, he stepped down once more and teleported into melee, dodged under a punch, and once more gave the boss a poke with Touch.

"Yeah, you are worse than a bat. Wait, do you even know what bats are? Probably not. You don't strike me as the clever sort," Jake kept talking as he dodged attack after attack.

"Silence, you pathetic vermin!" the Demon Lord roared as he quite literally breathed fire.

"Wow, yeah, that is nearly correct; some do classify bats as vermin. Some also call them flying rats. Or mice. Not sure. Either way, good job; I am proud of you," Jake said in a mocking tone.

"I said silence!" the boss said, slamming his sword into the floor, sending tiles and fire flying everywhere. Jake had already jumped and protected himself with an arcane barrier as he prepared himself for the next blow.

"Silence? Nah, I don't think so. Unless you want to start by listening to me first?" Jake grinned. The Demon Lord stabbed toward Jake, but he once more used Eternal Shadow to split himself as his two versions dodged to either side of the wide blade.

The demon looked momentarily confused at seeing him split in two and failed to respond as Jake landed his next blow. This one was purely mental in nature.

"Could you-" the real Jake said as he kicked the Demon Lord in the face for no real damage.

"-be nice-" his Eternal Shadow followed up as he kicked the other chin.

Angry, the boss went for the real Jake, and as he tried to grab him, Jake used the Demon Lord's own chin as a stepping stone to activate One Step.

"-and stop-" Jake said just as he teleported away.

The Eternal Shadow didn't have time to finish as the Demon Lord summoned a magic circle and blasted the clone way, leaving only the real Jake. Rather than attack again, Jake just stood there and stared at the Demon Lord as the boss seemed to be waiting for something. After nearly two full seconds, the boss groaned.

"What did you dare attempt to ask me?"

"Oh, not telling you now when you so rudely interrupted," Jake said, acting extremely offended. "Calling yourself a Demon Lord and having the manners of a common... wait, what is the name of a really low-tier demon vermin? Actually, never mind, let's just use that."

"Use what?"

Jake smiled. "Your new name. Rather than call yourself Demon Lord... I shall henceforth refer to you as Demon Vermin."

The Demon Lord - or Demon Vermin - flinched, but the taunting seemed to no longer be as effective as he didn't attack in a rage anymore. Jake also understood why. At the other side of the room, the final Tower Guardian was about to be torn apart as the Sword Saint and Dina proved themselves the slowest at killing their assigned enemies. With Sylphie and the Fallen King joining, the cleanup was swift, and the boss knew it.

He knew he would soon face their full party again.

They seemed to have entered a lull as Jake took the chance to properly catch his breath and allow what minor burns he had suffered to fully heal. He was lucky that his Hunting Momentum gave him some leeway to take minor damage because completely avoiding everything had been impossible.

From behind Jake, his party all approached. They looked a bit worse for wear but were otherwise still fine. He did see they had all used their boosting skills to some extent, which put them on a timer.

"Everyone is good?" Jake asked through the golden mark.

"Acceptable, but mana has been dropping fast," the King answered.

"Better than ten minutes ago," the Sword Saint said, now at least healed.

"Fine," Dina answered shortly.

"Ree," Sylphie explained, making Jake know that she was also a bit low on resources but otherwise fine.

"The three towers have fallen... my castle is in shambles," the Demon Lord said, having once more entered his scripted boss-dialogue portion of the encounter. He turned his gaze towards the party as Jake knew they were about to enter the third phase of this boss fight. "You have ruined everything. As such... I shall ruin you in return."

"Go!" Jake said, his danger sense warning him. He pulled out his bow, and the four others all attacked instantly as the Demon Lord's armor began shining and expanding, covering his entire body as he raised his sword high.

"Behold..."

The sword began to shine bright red as it seemed to resonate with the entire hall. The four massive pillars around the throne room then suddenly began to shake as spiderweb cracks appeared all over them, each pulsing with energy.

"Ruination."

Four pillars exploded as each released an inferno upon their destruction. The ceiling began crumbling, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what was about to happen.

"The fucker is bringing down the entire castle," Jake cursed.

"No," Dina said with a resolute voice. "We will end it here."

Jake felt her determination and grinned. "Then let's fucking go. No holding back."

Nobody knew what the next phase of this fight was supposed to be, and they didn't see any need to. All of their boosting skills activated at full power, Jake gladly pushing his Arcane Awakening to the maximum 60%. They all powered up significantly, but one more than the others.

Dina's body erupted with power as her aura rapidly spiked. Bobo, her living armor, grew to cover even more parts of her body and changed shape to resemble a dress filled with glowing green rune scripts. The small outgrowths on her head rapidly grew into large wooden antlers. Even her vine hair grew in length as more and more flowers bloomed upon it. She even grew a few centimeters as she transformed.

Lifting her staff, she slammed it into the ground.

"Nature, heed my call."

A green fissure spread from the impact of the staff as the entire floor erupted. Thousands of vines speared up from nothingness. The collapsing pillars were suddenly reinforced as a network of vines invaded them, stitching together the collapsing stone. These vines were teeming with pure life, capable of fighting off the heat.

As fast as the collapse of the castle had begun, Dina had stopped it dead in its tracks. The Demon Lord stared with confusion at the transformed Dina as she pointed her staff at the boss, his eyes barely visible through the helmet that now covered his head.

A massive trunk erupted from the ground and smashed into the demon, sending him flying as he smashed into the wall at the far end of the hall. Before he had time to extract himself, the entire wall behind him exploded as hundreds of thick vines wrapped themselves around him, aiming to crush his body.

Fortunately - at least in Jake's eyes - the Demon Lord would not fall that easily. An orange glow came from within the mass of vines as a large cut was made, burning a path. Out of this path walked the Demon Lord, fully covered in his black armor and holding his large sword. The crown had seemingly merged with the armor, and Jake felt the boss was stronger than ever.

What is more, the fire affinity mana in the air had rapidly decreased. But it was not gone. Instead, the Demon Lord had absorbed it through his body and into his sword. It appeared that even within collapsing the castle, the boss had still powered up fully.

However, even if he had gotten stronger, their group had also used their own boosting skills. Jake observed the boss walking towards them as he observed the armor closely. He smiled as his suspicions were affirmed, and he relayed his plan.

They were on board.

No more holding back now.

"Your pathetic attempt to-"

He didn't manage to get further as a giant golden hammer descended from above, smashing him into the ground and forcing him down on his knee. A tornado descended from above right after, increasing the pressure further as Jake released a Powershot aimed straight for the chest of the Demon Lord. The arrow exploded on impact, leaving a mark a bit bigger than usual. That was the last confirmation Jake needed.

The Sword Saint stormed forward too, and in a single instant, he released a dozen of minor slashes all across the armor, leaving small knicks here and there. Their attack had done little damage as the Demon Lord smashed his fist into the ground, momentarily summoning a giant formation all around him as the crown shone bright red.

A fiery explosion erupted, but the combination of a green wind and pure nature affinity mana heavily weakened the blow, allowing the Fallen King and Sword Saint to not even bother retreating as both attacked. Jake coated several arrows with his blood - to use a specific type of poison in mind he didn't have a good version of - and began to let loose arrow after arrow, aiming at the same spot on the Demon Lord's armor every time.

Seeing his first attack had failed primarily due to Dina, the boss quickly directed his anger toward her. She seemed ready for his charge, and so was the King, which is why they were taken by surprise when the Demon Lord didn't go after her physically. Instead, he pointed his sword her way as it shot forward, piercing straight for her chest.

Dina hastily erected a barrier of roots as Bobo also reacted and formed a shield of green life-filled wood. The sword pierced both barriers before exploding, sending a burning Dina flying through the air. For a moment, Jake was worried, but with a green flash, the fire was all extinguished, and her slightly burned form emerged.

The thrown sword from the demon wasn't just idle after it exploded. Rather than return, it seemed to take on a life of its own, flying straight toward Jake as the boss controlled it somehow. Without his sword, the Demon Lord had lost his most potent offensive measure, but that didn't mean he wasn't dangerous. With both fists raised, he began punching, showing the skill of a talented pugilist as he pressured both the Sword Saint and Fallen King.

He also began to use even more fire magic, even if it was clear this was not his forte. Jake kept going with his ranged attacks, and the Demon Lord ignored him for the most part, as none of his arrows managed to do any worthwhile damage. At least not in the eyes of the boss.

The improved full-body armor truly made the Demon Lord into a living fortress, with their attacks doing limited damage. The only good thing was that blunt damage still proved effective, making the Fallen King their primary damage dealer as he pummelled the demon over and over again with giant golden hammers. The Sword Saint went for precise cuts around the joints of the armor, but even that proved nearly impossible. Slashing damage simply wasn't cutting it.

Even the Fallen King had issues getting through, and Jake had to try and get potshots off in between dodging the flying flaming sword that had an annoying tendency to explode whenever it got close to him. Luckily, Dina rejoined and began to help assist Jake and the others, though it proved difficult for her to handle the sword. That is where Sylphie came in. She had difficulty doing much to the Demon Lord, but the flying sword? That she could handle, as she began to throw it around the room with massive gusts of wind, pretty much nullifying it. Even when the Demon Lord wanted to recall it, Sylphie kept it away, primarily by using the large pillars to hide it behind.

Even so, as the battle dragged on, their party didn't do a significant amount of noticeable damage to the Demon Lord. In fact, he seemed to slowly be getting the upper hand. Their resources were dwindling faster than his health pool, their boosting skills couldn't be sustained forever, and the Sword Saint even had to drink a health potion after getting hit by the boss and having his one arm get pretty fucked up.

Not that it was a problem... because they had a strategy. Minutes passed as a status quo was established, with them all primarily defending as Jake kept just shooting his seemingly useless arrows. Sylphie and Dina focused solely on making sure no one was injured further, with Dina nullifying the demon's magic, with Sylphie handling the flying sword.

This kept going a bit longer, but soon enough, Jake got a gut feeling, and his skill also confirmed it. It's enough now.

It was time to finish this.

Without hesitation, he spoke through the golden mark.

"Now."