Chapter 937: Prima Guardian (5)

A lot of things happened at once. More than a dozen of the Prima Guardian's eyes exploded as it used Gaze on so many powerful people at once, but that didn't stop it from moving its body. It attacked the five people who weren't able to defend themselves with reckless abandon, Jake, a moment too late to interfere.

Vesperia was struck with its staff on the side of her head, sending blood, bone, and brain matter flying as nearly her entire skull was crushed, and the Sword Saint couldn't dodge as a leg blade swept up, cutting off one of his arms and legs. The Fallen King had the other leg-blade sweep in from the side, trying to cut him in two but only getting around halfway as the Unique Lifeform was nevertheless still left with a nasty injury and a blade stuck in his body.

For Carmen, the chimera chose to only punch her in the chest to send her away, perhaps knowing it couldn't deal meaningful damage with a single blow.

Caleb was a bit further away but was still struck with three breath attacks at the same time. However, luckily, what the Prima Guardian had done wasn't a Primal Gaze, but only a normal Gaze of the Apex Predator, allowing Caleb to partially fade into the shadows, avoiding taking too much damage.

The others had also moved a slight bit right at the end, using their mana, avoiding potential death. But, the Prima Guardian wasn't done. Its maw opened as it mowed to bite down on the Fallen King right as Jake struck.

He attacked with his own Primal Gaze as he made eye contact with some of the remaining glowing eyes. This stopped the Prima Guardian long enough for everyone to retreat slightly, as blood began to roll down Jake's cheeks from using the skill.

This creature's soul was just ridiculous. It hadn't taken any meaningful soul damage even after using Gaze on five extremely powerful people, and if Jake had tried the same thing, he was pretty sure things wouldn't have gone well for him. Still, the Prima had been smart by not using Gaze on Jake. If it had, things wouldn't have gone this well for it. Even so, he knew that the Prima wouldn't be able to use Gaze again. He would make sure of that.

Despite hitting his Primal Gaze, no one could take advantage as Sylphie chose to help evacuate those injured, blasting them all away with a great gust of wind. The Fallen King also took this chance and released a golden explosion, getting himself free as he staggered back. Gritting his teeth, Jake cursed internally at how shitty things were going... as a black line impacted the Guardian, cutting across Jake's vision.

A hole about the size of a fist was left in the chest of the Prima Guardian, as Jake saw its very soul have a part of it sheared right off. He also recognized where it had come from, as Jake couldn't help but flash a brief smile. There was only one person he knew with the power to shoot a goddamn void beam from who-the-fuck-knows-where.

Still, the situation wasn't great, as Jake felt forced to teleport forward as he appeared right in front of the Prima Guardian. Pulling out both his katars - Eternal Hunger easily reclaimed as it was part of his soul even if he had left it within the Prima before - as he entered melee with the boss.

The attack from Arnold had done great damage, but the chimera wasn't a creature that made any sense, and Jake doubted it would stop unless fully killed. Fighting it alone wasn't something Jake felt confident doing, but he felt as if he didn't have any other choice. At least if he was in melee, he could ensure it wasn't going to use Gaze because he fucking dared it to try to use his own skill on him.

He would need to buy some time for the others to at least recover a little. Vesperia didn't look like she could even fly straight, nearly her entire head gone, and the Sword Saint naturally couldn't fight with half his limbs cut off. Carmen and Caleb were still able to fight, though Caleb wasn't in a great state either. The Fallen King would clearly also need a bit, which left only Sylphie, Jake, and Carmen.

Fully focusing, Jake pushed his Arcane Awakening as far it could go - and perhaps a bit further - barely avoiding the attacks of the Prima Guardian. Its leg blades shot up at unpredictable times, bending unnaturally as they moved almost autonomously. All the meanwhile, Jake had to not get caught by the Guardian's punches or the staff, not to mention the occasional magical attack.

At least the wyvern heads on its back didn't attack Jake but went for the others who were dealing with their injuries, with Sylphie protecting them. Not wanting the Guardian to disengage when it realized it couldn't deal any meaningful damage to Jake quickly, he began to go more on the offensive.

Baiting it in, the boss thought it caught Jake in its grasp, only to find the version of Jake it had in its hand dissolve into cursed energy, allowing Jake to land a Piercing Fang with his Voidblade, tearing another hole in the Prima's chest. His opponent responded by releasing a golden explosion of force, making Jake stumble back as the Prima counterattacked instantly, forcing Jake to block the staff as he felt his arms buckle from the impact, his bones cracking.

Luckily, he had bought enough time for Caleb to attack from behind, knocking the boss slightly to the side and buying Jake a moment to stabilize. Carmen also entered the fray to help Jake, as the two of them faced off against the Prima Guardian together.

While Jake managed to avoid nearly all attacks, only taking minor injuries himself, Carmen wasn't the same as she constantly had to take blows directly. Jake noticed how her skin had begun to crack in places, small fractures forming all over her body. He knew she couldn't keep this up forever, but in truth, they didn't really have a choice.

The Prima Guardian didn't come out of this unscathed either. The Fallen King had recovered enough to protect the injured, allowing Sylphie and Caleb to resume their strikes, though without Jake's constant harassment with arrows, their damage output had been severely reduced.

As Jake was struggling, he suddenly saw someone enter his sphere, and a calm aura fell over him. He felt his hurting body begin to mend as healing energy washed over their entire group. Their healer had returned to the battle and went all out as his body began to glow with a powerful healing aura. The Sword Saint, Vesperia, and Fallen King all started to heal in real-time, as even some of the fractures on Carmen healed rapidly.

With a moment to spare, he looked over where Eron had been sealed down by five Primas not even a dozen seconds earlier and saw metal reflecting the sunlight as a single mage faced off against four Primas on his own - the fifth one falling toward the ground, blood trailing its descent.

William held a lot of resentment toward Eversmile for making him miss several system events. He had been convinced that the Treasure Hunt, Myriad Paths, and even C-grade Nevermore weren't things he needed or should do. They were wastes of time for someone like him. To this day, he couldn't understand why his former "master" would even do that. Was he just trying to sabotage William for the fun of it? Trying to hurt his Path? He had lost out on so many titles that would have made him stronger, and he felt so damn far behind.

But... that wasn't going to make him give up. How would he ever get his revenge on the Primordial by giving up?

One thing was for sure, he wasn't going to miss more events. As for this particular system event, he had chosen to just fall in line and do as Ms. Wells told him to. He was fully aware he wasn't in any kind of position to make any demands. It was already lucky they allowed him to take part, and he would do his utmost to be useful.

The section he had been assigned to defend wasn't particularly difficult, and the outcasts he had been grouped with barely had to do anything. Even if It wasn't hard, he was contributing, right? Things had been going smoothly until he suddenly noticed that one of the Primas flying toward his section suddenly changed direction, and not toward another section, but toward where the Prima Guardian was.

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He saw that it was going for the healer from the Dao Sect called Eron, who had been blasted their way by what looked like a giant golden barrier. Other Primas were also flying over, with five in total going for him.

Frowning, William wasn't sure what to do but quickly decided to step in. Especially when he saw these Primas weren't even truly fighting Eron; they were just trying to stop him from returning to the rest of the strike team.

"You all handle this area; I'll go help the healer," William said to his section mates as he shot after the Prima, going toward Eron while retracting his metal wires - the legendary weapon Eversmile had given him. It was one of the many mixed messages his old teacher had sent, where he, on the one hand, helped William a lot and, on the other, actively tried to sabotage him.

Catching up to the charging Prima, William summoned a spear and shot it toward the gorilla-looking thing. It quickly reacted and defended itself, William taking the chance to launch a barrage of ranged attacks toward those bothering Eron.

The healer was defending himself with an ocean of white flames, but the Primas mostly ignored this as they kept pushing Eron further and further away from the strike team. Despite blowing up his body like a balloon of blood several times, the man couldn't get any leeway. With time, he would surely win by burning down the Primas, but would the strike team hold on long enough?

By that, William didn't mean them losing. He couldn't imagine that monstrous hunter truly losing... but he could see a few of the others dying. Best to avoid that, William reckoned, as he finally got close to Eron and decided it was time to unleash his boosting skill.

A silver aura appeared around him as William released a web of strings, instantly forcing two Primas to react. These Primas seemed conflicted for a moment. William understood why, as he saw the almost tangible karmic thread between these Primas and the Prima Guardian look slightly different than usual. The karmic bond was one so strong that William had known from the beginning that these Primas were tied intrinsically to the Guardian. They wouldn't die if the Prima Guardian died, but they would find themselves severely weakened. This also meant that any orders given by the Prima Guardian were absolute, and defending against William likely clashed with their directive to keep the healer busy. This directive was also the cause of change in the karmic bond between these Primas and the Guardian, likely because these five were the only ones carrying out direct orders.

Something William gladly took full advantage of as he decided to make the coming fight a bit easier for himself. While the Primas were still trying to figure out what to do, William summoned a large silver spear that he promptly impaled the gorilla-looking Prima with. It stumbled back as William channeled his energy into the spear, the Prima's body slowly turning to metal as its energies fought against the intrusion.

Which left it distracted when the true attack arrived.

From below, a spinning thin disc of metal shot up, pulled by metal threads, as one of the gorilla's legs was cut off. A second disc struck it right on soon after, but the gorilla caught it with both hands... only to have a third one strike it from behind, blasting it toward the ground with a nasty cut right on its spine.

His attack finally caught the attention of the other four Primas as William worked his karmic magic. He pulled on the threads of karma and began tying them to himself. The resentment born from the attack was enough for him to take the attention of all the Primas as they all turned toward him, and for a moment, he became their main target.

"Get to the rest of the strike team now; I'll keep these busy," William said as he finished temporarily overriding the order the Primas had been given by the Guardian. It wouldn't work for long, as he was effectively just jamming the order while drawing attention to himself.

Luckily, Eron quickly caught on and took the moment William had gifted him to pull out an item from his spatial storage that made space shiver around him for a moment before he picked up speed and began flying back to the strike team at a rapid pace.

William sighed as he cracked his neck with the four Primas now charging for him, the one below also far from dead. He was pretty confident in himself, but dealing with five Primas was perhaps a bit too much, seeing as just killing one was a damn struggle with their overflowing vital energies. Better kill that Guardian quickly...

With Eron back on the field, the tides of battle began to shift once more. Having a healer just added so much value, and even if the Sword Saint and Vesperia wouldn't be back in action instantly, the simple knowledge that they eventually would be able to contribute again held immense value.

Carmen could also hold on for far longer, as she and Jake kept the Prima Guardian busy, the Fallen King staying on pure defense. The wyvern heads kept shooting attacks toward him, but Sylphie and Caleb helped as they kept attacking from behind, focusing much of their attention on the wyverns.

The acid rain falling upon them was still a problem, but the Sword Saint focused on addressing it as he channeled his own mana to take over the skies. He wasn't strong enough to entirely dispel the acid rain, but he could dilute the rain that fell while ruining the balance of the clouds, making the occasional black lightning strikes stop entirely. Even if he was heavily injured, he still wanted to contribute what he could.

Vesperia also clearly wanted to, and once some of her head was healed and she had one eye to see, she began to provide ranged support, shooting her stingers like a railgun.

Speaking of guns, Arnold had clearly set up somewhere, as the occasional black beam would pierce through the battlefield. His timing was always impeccable, happening just as the Prima Guardian was unable to move or in the middle of an attack.

The Prima Guardian was finally also showing clear signs of weakness. It regenerated slower than before, and while it was still incredibly dangerous, light was now at the end of the tunnel. They were still on a timer, though. They all had their boosting skills fully active, and while some of them had skills that they could keep active for a very long time without any problems, others couldn't. Jake was one of those people who had a boosting skill taking a toll on his body.

His skin had long begun to flay here and there as veins of destructive arcane energy lined his body, wreaking havoc within. Carmen was clearly also struggling, especially with all the hits she kept taking. Eron was doing his best, but there was only so much a healer could do against someone overdrawing their own power. However, no matter what, there was no backing down now... they had to finish it.

Picking up his pace even more, Jake began to take more risks as he landed several blows. He was waiting for the final opening to land a big finisher with the Protean Arrow he had been preparing in his quiver, to be fired alongside all the Hunting Momentum he had built up. It wasn't time yet, though, and Jake had to stay in melee to ensure Gaze wasn't even an option for the boss.

Carmen also got more reckless, with Eron now backing them. She gladly took three hits to land a punch of her own as the Guardian looked more and more beaten and bruised. Realizing this wasn't working for it, the Prima Guardian switched target and went for Vesperia, who was not yet fully healed, but she still managed to barely block the attack.

Jake quickly followed as the True Royal defended herself. The Sword Saint had a tired look as he nevertheless raised his blade, likely for the final time in this battle. The old man still only had one arm and leg, his aura wavering. Yet, at that very moment, his body burned with power as he prepared to stab forward. Jake knew what he was about to do, and he opened his eyes wide as they flashed.

The pain was instant as Jake used yet another Primal Gaze, and he felt his vision waver as his eyes took severe damage. However, it was good enough. The Sword Saint, Caleb, and Sylphie all took full advantage as three powerful attacks fell upon the boss at once.

"Glimpse of Spring: Erosion"

"Thunderfall of Tenlucis."

"Ree!"

A thin beam of water blasted off one of the Prima Guardian's arms as Caleb, wrapped in black lightning, descended from above along with Sylphie, both passing straight through the Guardian, roasting it from within and cutting up its body, sending blood flying everywhere. As a pleasant surprise, another void beam also hit the Guardian, taking off a leg.

Carmen and the Fallen King also wanted to join in, but the Prima Guardian exploded with pure mana at that very moment, as all of the wyvern heads self-destructed, pushing everyone back, including Jake. He had to use his scales to block the massive explosion as he saw it had knocked out the Sword Saint, and Vesperia looked much worse for wear, as everyone had taken a good bit of damage from the blast.

Stabilizing, Jake pulled out his bow in preparation to attack as he released a Pulse... and saw that on the back of the Prima Guardian, two wings had appeared. Two very familiar wings.

No... no fucking way.

A dark green bubble of poison appeared around the Prima Guardian before Jake or anyone else could strike... and with a single beat of these newly summoned wings, it activated Wings of the Malefic Viper's escape function and disappeared, fleeing the battle.

Not happening.

Without even a moment's hesitation, wings also appeared on Jake's back, and his body began to turn dark green. With a wingbeat of his own, he too disappeared in pursuit of the Prima Guardian, fully intent on hunting it down no matter where the bastard tried to escape to.