The Primal Hunter Chapter 1236 - Dragon Hunter (5)

As Jake endured the crushing pressure of the True Dragon’s mana, he had to concede that their reputation as the apex magical race was well-earned. The sheer manifestation of power as the glowing spheres locked onto him caused his danger sense to scream, signaling that he needed to prioritize defense immediately.

In a coordinated strike, the orbs discharged beams infused with the same essence as the earlier attacks. Individually, they were manageable—unable to pierce his scales—but Jake knew that multiple hits on a single point would stack their effects, leading to exponentially rising damage.

Since evading every single beam was impossible, Jake had to adapt instantly to prevent a fatal blow. He suspected that being struck by dozens simultaneously would result in his death, forcing him to concentrate with every fiber of his being.

With the Pride of the Malefic Viper active, Jake manifested mana barriers and bolts while darting through the air, attempting to keep his movements erratic. To his alarm, the beams curved in pursuit, accelerating the longer they remained in flight.

Jake’s only advantage was that Yrelstromoz was forced to dedicate her entire focus to guiding the beams, preventing her from launching other magical assaults during the channeling process.

The initial wave of beams soon reached him, clashing against a defensive screen of exploding arcane bolts and flickering barriers. Though he successfully neutralized several, the sheer volume was overwhelming, and they quickly closed the distance.

He used his katars to swat some aside, strategically taking hits only when he could ensure no more than three struck in a tight window. The Dragon's skill possessed a grace period that counted near-simultaneous hits as a single stack, forcing Jake to gauge exactly how much time he had between impacts to reset the danger.

Thousands of light streaks rained down every second. While Jake dodged or parried the majority, he couldn't stay untouched forever. Six beams slammed into his foot when his reaction lagged; his boots prevented his limb from being vaporized, but the concussive energy still caused agonizing damage.

Moments later, seven beams grazed his shoulder in rapid succession, searing through his armor and leaving a gruesome burn. This desperate cycle of evasion and defense continued for thirty seconds until the beams finally dissipated. Though the duration was brief, the life-or-death intensity made it feel like an eternity.

Surviving this "bullet hell" had cost Jake a massive amount of mana, as he had conjured thousands of freeform arcane spells to mitigate the onslaught. He had survived, though the outcome was far from clean.

As the light faded, Jake seized the opening to draw his bow, intent on ending Yrelstromoz. He loosed a volley of arrows while mentally directing energy to mend his most critical wounds.

His body was littered with nearly thirty burn marks. The most severe was on his left thigh, where thirteen beams had converged to char the flesh down to the bone. Despite the excruciating pain, his mobility remained intact. He doubted many other C-grades could have withstood that barrage—barring "cheats" like Eron—but by limiting the damage, he was able to retaliate while Yrelstromoz was still recovering her mana.

Three arrows found their mark before she could fully recover from the orb spell. The canopy of spheres dimmed as Yrelstromoz banked to the side, conjuring a barrier to deflect the remaining projectiles.

Her magic surged again before she even touched the ground. The fading orbs flashed brilliantly, merging into a single, massive sphere of concentrated light. Jake watched the orb warily while continuing his archery, bracing for the next move.

However, Yrelstromoz subverted his expectations. Just as she landed from her leap, her wings snapped forward in a powerful flap, and she vanished, reappearing instantly in front of him with a claw already mid-swing.

Jake’s eyes widened at the sudden burst of speed. With an arrow already on the string, he was caught off-balance. He was forced to dispel the projectile and use the riser of his bow to parry the glowing talons. The impact rattled his skeleton, and he gritted his teeth to swallow the blood rising in his throat.

Yrelstromoz pressed her advantage, lunging forward with a relentless claw combo. This time, Jake managed to draw his katars, blocking the next strike and slipping past the third to deliver a counter-jab.

Expecting another swipe, he was nearly caught off guard when the Dragon lunged with her jaws, attempting to snap him in half. Jake twisted away, looking to exploit the opening her overextended neck provided.

As he lunged with his katar aimed at her eye, she invoked the Draconic Language once more.

“Repel.”

An invisible tide slammed into Jake, throwing him back. He sensed a massive drain on her mana reserves, confirming that using Words of Power directly on a target was far more taxing than altering the environment. It was a costly move for her, but it prevented a blinded eye.

The exchange seemed favorable for Jake—until he realized where he was being pushed.

He was flying straight toward the massive orb of light. It wasn't a complex spell; Yrelstromoz had simply gathered the remaining mana for a singular, primitive purpose:

A self-destructing blast.

Jake was momentarily blinded as the orb detonated, releasing a shockwave of thermal energy that incinerated everything in its path. The blast hit him from behind, but the Dragon was already closing in, forcing him to turn and defend against her physical assault.

Using his wings as a makeshift shield, Jake was caught in a pincer between the explosion and the Dragon's claws. He blocked the swipe, but the blast from behind reduced his wings to ash and scorched his back.

Without the protection of his scales and the passive buffer of Arcane Awakening, the damage would have been catastrophic. Even so, the situation was dire.

Under the crushing weight of her offense, Jake’s instincts took control. He moved with mechanical precision, matching the Dragon's ferocity. The air, thick with the residue of the explosion, distorted their surroundings, making every parry more difficult. He refused to back down, searching for a gap in Yrelstromoz’s flurry.

Jake’s superior combat experience eventually allowed him to regain his footing. He began to push Yrelstromoz back, landing several deep stabs before she retreated. Though his back was a mess of charred flesh, he ignored the pain as new scales began to knit over the wounds.

In the brief pause, Jake noticed Yrelstromoz was flagging. Her reckless spellcasting had allowed the Dragonsbane Poison to run rampant, eating away at her essence. Her scales had lost their luster, and her natural regeneration was failing to close the wounds he had inflicted.

She had abandoned defense and healing to focus entirely on killing him—a desperate gamble that Jake acknowledged as her only path to victory.

Switching back to his bow, Jake utilized One Step to evade a series of light beams as Yrelstromoz began chanting a larger spell. They engaged in a fierce ranged duel, swapping arrows for magical projectiles.

While she favored light, Yrelstromoz displayed mastery over other elements. Jake was forced to dodge wind blades and earthen spikes that erupted from the terrain. He noticed she wasn't creating these elements from nothing, but rather manipulating the existing environment to save mana—an efficient tactic.

In a pure magical contest, Jake was outclassed. He fired his own arcane bolts to intercept her spells, often needing several of his own to neutralize one of hers.

Both combatants were becoming covered in wounds. Jake landed more hits, but he took a grievous stomach wound and a forearm gash that cracked his bone. In return, Yrelstromoz was riddled with arrow holes and katar stabs, the Dragonsbane Poison turning the edges of her wounds black. Her health was plummeting, yet her Draconic vitality kept her standing, proving why her race was feared across the multiverse.

Second only to humans, Jake thought. Or at least, this specific human.

Since Yrelstromoz was burning through her life force faster than he was, the stalemate favored Jake. However, he could feel her preparing a trump card. After a final exchange of blows, she unveiled her next technique.

Creating distance with a flare of light, Yrelstromoz took to the air. She let out a deafening roar as her body shimmered and split. Two dragons became four, then eight. Eight dragons made of pure radiance now circled the sky, their wings casting blinding flashes.

Jake initially thought it was an illusion, but the real Yrelstromoz was easy to spot as her glow faded. She remained at the center, surrounded by seven luminous duplicates moving in perfect harmony.

The purpose of the skill became clear when the seven constructs dove toward him. Jake retreated as the first one struck the ground, watching as its claws passed through the earth without leaving a mark.

A second dragon lunged. Jake used One Step to vanish, dodging the third and fourth in quick succession, but the fifth caught him.

Its wing phased through Jake’s chest. While the environment remained unharmed by the light constructs, Jake felt a searing, internal heat that bypassed his physical armor, damaging his very soul.

He realized these summons were dangerous spectral entities. Fortunately, Yrelstromoz seemed unable to physically join the fray while controlling them, giving him a chance to counter.

After narrowly avoiding the sixth and seventh dragons, the first two returned for a pincer maneuver. Jake unleashed a burst of destructive arcane mana, clipping one of the light dragons to test its durability.

The energies clashed, and a portion of the construct dissipated, though it reformed almost instantly. Jake pondered if he could destroy them with a sustained arcane output, but he had no time for calculations.

A dragon erupted from beneath him, having hidden within the ground. He barely escaped, only to find three more circling for a coordinated dive.

As they passed each other, Jake noticed thin filaments of light connecting them. He realized they couldn't stay too close to one another for long without interfering with the spell, a weakness he immediately exploited to navigate the "safe" zones between them.

He began focusing his fire on a single construct, peppering it with arcane bolts and arrows. He tried to target the real Yrelstromoz, but three of the dragons stayed back to act as her shields, while the other four harassed him.

Her multitasking wasn't perfect. In about thirty seconds, Jake managed to disperse the first light dragon. The pressure eased slightly, and he continued to use their proximity limitations to stay alive.

Within another minute, two more dragons fell. With only one dragon left on the offensive, Jake began landing shots on the real Yrelstromoz. Unable to maintain her barriers while controlling the remaining summons, she was forced to take the hits directly.

When only three light dragons remained, the True Dragon abandoned her strategy for a final, desperate move.

The three constructs charged him simultaneously, ignoring the interference between them. Jake’s assumption was proven wrong as two of the dragons were absorbed by the third, which swelled to a massive size.

The empowered dragon accelerated beyond his expectations. Even with One Step, Jake couldn't clear the area in time. The massive entity flew straight through him, its entire body passing through his core.

Agony flared through his system. Jake countered by flooding his body with stable arcane mana to stabilize his meridians. He endured the burning sensation until the light construct finally flickered out and vanished.

As he recovered, Jake wondered why she hadn't merged them sooner—and then the truth dawned on him.

The dragons weren't her primary weapon. She hadn't been struggling to control them; she had been using them as a distraction to buy time for a much larger ritual. That was why she hadn't combined them until the very end.

The realization hit just as the mana around them reached a boiling point. A shockwave of light rippled outward, leaving the air crackling with static. The environment transformed as a colossal magic circle, spanning over a thousand kilometers, manifested on the ground below.

High above, a mirrored circle appeared in the heavens, radiating equal power.

Jake dropped into a defensive stance, his eyes locked on Yrelstromoz. The strain of the spell was visible; black veins of poison and mana exhaustion were spreading across her scales. But as she took a deep, rattling breath, Jake knew exactly what was coming.