The Primal Hunter

The very next second, the orb of steam above Minaga exploded, bathing the entire room in dense white fog. What’s more, this steam had some of the concepts from the mist in the labyrinths infused into it, meaning that within a second, he had severely limited the sense of everyone. Well, everyone except Jake, that is. With his Mark of the Avaricious Hunter and Perception, he was pretty much unaffected, considering the size of the room.

“Dina, left, fire,” Jake warned her, and she responded just in time as she turned and manifested a wooden shield right as a staff slammed into it, exploding in a huge inferno that blasted her backward. She slid across the ground as Bobo had managed to help shake off the last of the damage, dozens of tendrils of wood extending from her body.

Minaga was about to strike again as a stable arcane arrow pierced through the mist, hitting him in the shoulder and penetrating through his robe.

“Man, how bloody high is your Perception stat?” Minaga questioned as he telekinetically pulled the arrow out just before it exploded, once more making it clear he knew what Jake and company were capable of. Except he seemed to have underestimated Jake’s Perception.

Jake also had a bit of a theory as he shot another arrow. Minaga reacted a bit slowly but managed to block it with a barrier he summoned with one staff as he pointed the other toward Dina, who was about to cast some magic of her own.

“Dina, dodge to the left.”

Without hesitation, she stopped casting and jumped to the left, just in time to avoid a beam of light that burned a tunnel through the mist. Minaga seemed a bit surprised she reacted in time but was even more surprised when two arrows flew around his barrier, hitting him in the shoulder and arm.

Both were once more pulled out telekinetically instantly, but Jake had confirmed his theory. The mist is also limiting his Perception somewhat…

Minaga was less affected than anyone else, though. Even Jake was hit harder by the mist; he just managed to overcome it through sheer stat points. To continue his testing, Jake loosed another arrow, this one of the destructive variety. It was blown up in mid-air halfway toward Minaga as he shot a small beam of light at it.

Another flew right behind it that Minaga was forced to sidestep, the Unique Lifeform looking slightly annoyed at Jake interrupting him. With Jake distracting him, he had lost his chance to deal damage to Dina before the Fallen King, Sword Saint, and Sylphie could reenter the fight.

A massive tornado gathered as Sylphie addressed the dense steam that hampered everyone except Jake. The tornado lifted all the steam just as the Sword Saint and Fallen King got close to where Jake told them Minaga was standing, the old man attacking with a more cautious approach this time around.

From behind, the Fallen King summoned a large massive ball on a golden chain that he swung from the side, timed to arrive at the same time as the Sword Saint’s attack.

Minaga saw the attacks coming and smiled as he sunk into the floor, making both attacks miss entirely.

Jake’s eyes opened wide.

“Dina, behi-“

It was too late as the Unique Lifeform popped up right behind Dina, who was decidedly not ready to respond. In one hand, he held a ball of fire, and in the other, an orb of frost, both giving off intense energy. He brought them together as he did a double-palmed strike only a meter behind her. The moment the fire and ice met, Jake’s danger sense exploded, and he instinctively used Gaze of the Apex Hunter on Minaga to try and delay him.

It only managed to freeze him for a minuscule moment, but it was enough for Dina’s guardian to at least respond. Bobo counter-attacked instantly, as hundreds of roots shot out to meet the mixed fire and ice attack.

With what happened next, Jake was incredibly glad he had given Dina a chance to defend herself.

A massive explosion of white energy blasted an entire section of the room apart as Dina was sent flying, her entire form encased in a mix of flames and ice. She smashed into the other side of the massive room as Minaga stood still for a moment.

“Good response from both of you.”

He did not have time to say more as the Sword Saint closed in, and this time Minaga did not pop into the ground as the entire floor erupted from the Fallen King telekinetically lifting it with such force the tiles shattered.

Minaga seemed unbothered, but the old man was intent on being a threat. Water surrounded his blade as he did an upwards slash, and Minaga moved to block again, only to find himself feinted when the sword abruptly shifted direction. The Unique Lifeform was ready and had already moved to block the sword… only for the entire blade to vibrate as it seemed to rewind in time for but a moment. It threw off all timing as the Sword Saint slashed the surprised Minaga across his stomach just as he jumped backward.

“Also a good one!” Minaga smiled as a faint trickle of blue blood dripped from his stomach, with only a light cut left there. Jake had already had his suspicions, but the Sword Saint confirmed it.

“His body is more durable than expected…” the Sword Saint said just as he charged in again. “Dina, are you okay?”

The Sword Saint engaged Minaga as Jake offered range support with the Fallen King as the two of them worked together to ensure the old man was not instantly overwhelmed.

“I’m fine… but Bobo is hurt badly,” Dina communicated through their telepathic link as she dislodged herself from the wall. Her robe was torn, and the wooden armor usually covering her body was broken in several places from a mix of frost and flames. ”I will need some time to heal him.”

”Let’s hope he can’t do that frost-fire attack again,” Jake answered as he kept shooting arrows. Talking and fighting at the same time was not particularly hard with a C-grade mind.

By now, Sylphie had already managed to thoroughly get rid of all the steam as she prepared an attack from above, even if she still had to keep the tornado active to keep it up there. The Fallen King was also cooking as Jake and the Sword Saint fought Minaga, who was not particularly pressured. Jake did notice that he did not do any magic after the big attack he had sent Dina flying with, though.

Even so, actually damaging Minaga was an uphill battle. It was good that he didn’t seem to have any healing spells as he slowly began to push back the Sword Saint. Jake’s fellow human was simply too out of his league when it came to sheer stat disparity. Luckily, they only had to hold on for so long.

The Fallen King was done with his preparations. Both of his claws were shining golden as his golden crown flashed with energy. A golden veil fell over where Minaga stood as he. With a look of surprise on his face, he was pressed into the ground as everything around him seemed to vibrate. He slightly buckled as all the tiles around him cracked, and a dent in the floor was made in the area the golden veil affected.

This magic was an extension of what the Fallen King had practiced during his time on the city floor. Usually, he was always the direct source of all his force magic, resulting in it often functioning more as direct ranged attacks rather than what it truly was: an advanced form of telekinesis.

Now, he was capable of not only shooting it out from his body but could strike from even more angles.

With Minaga temporarily suppressed, the Sword Saint and Jake made their moves. The old man pointed his blade as he used his erosion stab while Jake released an Arcane Powershot.

”You’re pretty good too!”Minaga grinned as his eyes began to glow. The golden veil of energy started lifting off him just as the Sword Saint and Jake’s attacks arrived.

With the pressure slightly lessened, Minaga managed to point his staff and meet the stab head-on, resulting in the Sword Saint getting sent flying back from the sheer feedback of his sword hitting metal. As for Jake’s blow, he hit himself in the chest with his other hand, blasting himself backward and out of the golden veil.

”Nice tr-”

A green pillar of highly consensed wind energy descended from above, drilling down in a constant stream. Sylphie had hidden within her own giant tornado, successfully proving it was a superior method of stealth than any other, making Minaga not notice even as she prepared her attack. Mentioning the fact that the steam was mixed into the tornado helping to hide her was not necessary. Not at all.

Rock from the already shattered tiles was sent flying everywhere as the constant stream of wind energy continued, bearing down on Minaga. Jake did not sit idly by and already had an arrow nocked as the others also prepared themselves to strike the moment Sylphie’s attack was completed.

It turns out they would get their chance sooner than expected.

From the floor, a massive amount of rock speared out and momentarily blocked off the wind long enough for Minaga to jump out of the attack. Just as he did this, three ranged attacks arrived at once, but he clearly had all his magic back as he summoned a thick metal shield, borrowing the momentum from the attacks to retreat slightly.

”Gotta admit, I did forget about the bird for a moment there. Big mistake,” Minaga’s voice echoed through the hall as he landed safely on his feet. The attack from Sylphie had frayed his robe and left Minaga just in his pants. His upper body was covered in small cuts here and there from the slashing winds, with a few small holes on his arms and the cut from the Sword Saint being the only other outward injuries.

With a wave of his hand, Minaga took the time to put on a new pair of identical robes. Above, Sylphie was annoyed at him for escaping her attack as a barrage of wind blades descended, but Minaga just casually swept his staff across the air as a brown magic circle appeared, radiating with earth mana.

It didn’t fire right away as Minaga had to dodge a Splitting Arrow from Jake first, but before anyone else could make a move, he grabbed one of his staffs with both hands and held it like a baseball bat.

“Batter up!”

Minaga swung the staff hard as he hit the magical circle. The moment he did, a more than ten-meter-wide rock flew out, leaving a trail of fire behind it like it was a meteor.

Sylphie’s wind blades all hit the meteor, but they failed to have any impact, forcing her to dodge out of the way. At least she tried to. Below, Minaga pointed his staff at the meteor as it began to pulse, and even from the ground, Jake felt the gravitational pull from the large boulder.

The bird tried to get away, but the pull was too powerful. Sylphie summoned her Green Shield as she flapped her wings as best she could, and at the very end, she managed to get mostly out of the way. Emphasis on mostly. The side of the meteor still hit her, sending her tumbling as her green shield exploded into wisps of green energy. She had wisely not tried to turn herself into wind, as Jake could only begin to predict the effects that would have had.

She got away with only a damaged wing and a few burns as Minaga stared up at her, clearly a bit disappointed at his attack, failing to do anything of note. Seeing the power of the attack, Jake also had a prediction as he shot several arrows at the Unique Lifeform.

Minaga reacted by dodging and hitting away one of his arrows using his staff, and even when the Sword Saint attacked, he did not use any magic at all. This allowed the Fallen King to swoop in from the side, having realized the same thing as Jake. Minaga – seemingly unable to use magic – tried to block the Golden Claw using one of his staffs, but the sheer scale of the attack still landed several gashes up his arm.

Exactly five seconds after he used his meteor attack, Minaga slammed one of his staffs into the floor, making it erupt into a sea of sharp spikes that forced the Sword Saint and Fallen King back. The arrow flying for him he also barely blocked as a small metal plate appeared in front of his face for a brief moment.

“Five seconds,” the Fallen King and Jake sent through the telepathic link at nearly the same time. Jake allowed the Unique Lifeform to elaborate as the King continued. “Every time he does a major spell or combination magic, he cannot use any magic for five seconds afterward. That is our time to strike.”

Jake nodded, as that was his conclusion too. It did also make sense… because if Minaga could spam out spells like what he used on Dina, they wouldn’t have a good time. Shit even when he didn’t do combination magic, they were pressured.

Minaga went on the offensive with his magic up and running as electricity crackled in his surroundings. Lightning bolts were sent flying towards the Sword Saint, the old man summoning a wave of water to absorb it.

With a palm, he shot off a giant fireball toward the Fallen King, making the Unique Lifeform block the other Unique Lifeform. He was about to also shoot something towards Sylphie as the ground below him rumbled. He quickly stomped as the ground shook, and a small earthshake vibrated the entire hall, but even if he tried to stop it, a powerful vine full of life energy still shot up from the ground. Just as it did so, it grew thorns and wrapped around his arm.

Minaga quickly shot out a wind blade to try and cut it off, but before he could, the vine ripped itself back into the ground. The thorns dug into the arm and cut through the flesh as blood flew into the air, making the Unique Lifeform cringe.

“Okay, that actually hurt.”

The attacker had naturally been Dina, who had managed to stabilize herself by now and rejoined the fight. She had laid low and waited for a chance to strike, and seeing the torn-up arm, Jake would say it was definitely worth it.

With her back in the fight, the fight was equal for a while as they repeatedly traded blows. Minaga did take a few hits here and there, but his tricky spellcasting also caught them by surprise occasionally, resulting in far worse wounds. Luckily for them, they now had a healer back in the fight.

After a solid few minutes where a balance was reached, the Unique Lifeform retreated slightly as he lifted both staffs, smashing them into the ground as a massive wave of pure force magic pushed Jake and the others back while also disjointing any projectiles.

With the space disrupted by his shockwave, Minaga raised his hand as sand began to gather, followed by an intense flame that embraced the sand. Within a second, all of the sand turned into an odd orb of glass with hundreds of flat surfaces all across it, making it look like a hollow disco ball, which-

Jake’s eyes opened wide.

“Defenses, now!”

His warning came just in time as Minaga pointed a finger gun at the glass orb. A beam of light shot out, entering the disco ball as condensed lasers shot toward them – one for each. Every single of them had reacted and summoned their own defenses, with Jake standing behind a stable arcane barrier. However… even behind the barrier, he saw the laser slowly burn through it, and from what he saw, the Sword Saint and Dina were struggling as several layers of their barriers were already melted through.

Minaga pointed the ray of light into the ball as he grinned. Then, the rays of light hitting them all disappeared as Minaga just stood there, shooting light up into a ball that was slowly growing brighter and brighter.

“Let’s take this spell for a spin!”

Using his other hand, Minaga raised it as he telekinetically pushed the side of the ball as it began spinning – the entire boss room getting turned into a deadly laser-rave in the very next instant.