The Primal Hunter Chapter 1251 - Second (Final?) Phase

Maybe taking out the Guard Captain prior to eliminating every last Elite Guard wasn't the wisest move, yet Jake harbored no regrets over his choice. Even supposing this led to a tougher fight than necessary, he didn't see it as a negative outcome. Actually, wouldn't ramping up the difficulty just amp up the thrill?

Sure, if they were genuinely on the ropes, that would have been foolhardy, but neither Casper nor Jake had unleashed their full potential so far. Not even close.

Down on the floor beneath, Casper aimed to dispatch a handful of additional Elite Guards, only for them to pull back en masse toward the sky beam and the ziggurat. Jake fired off shots to drop a couple, but the relentless surge of energy pouring from the ziggurat diluted the impact, allowing the guards to cluster and deflect with ease.

The Risen chose not to press the assault either, opting instead to soar upward and join Jake in observing the shift in phases.

“You good?” Jake inquired of the undead. Casper had sustained injuries, admittedly, but Jake couldn't gauge the severity, given how little the Risen seemed to care about his physical form.

“I’m fine,” Casper replied.

“How about Lyra?”

“I’m also fine,” the ghost responded courteously. “Thank you for asking.”

“Please, it’s the least I can do when we’re fucking up Minaga’s dungeon together,” Jake remarked with a grin, shifting his gaze to the ziggurat that continued to unleash waves of power despite everything.

“Can you see what’s happening inside that beam?” Casper wondered.

“Not clearly,” Jake denied with a shake of his head. “But I sense we’ll discover it shortly, as the power level is dropping.”

Just as Jake predicted, the energy flow diminished rapidly, vanishing completely after mere seconds to expose the Formation Master, who lowered her hood at last and pivoted to confront the intruders.

Jake felt confident she was female, though to be fair, telling genders apart in this bizarre race crafted by Minaga proved tricky. It hardly signified anything; their vulnerabilities remained the heads, with key organs mostly housed in the torso.

The Formation Master regarded them, flanked by every surviving Elite Guard. “You are too late, brave adventurers! My work here is complete, and all that awaits you now is death by my hand! Now come! Face a master of formations!”

Minaga’s peculiar flair for dialogue stayed predictably awful, to the point where Jake suspected it was intentional. Casper appeared faintly mortified, prompting Jake to offer a sympathetic grin.

“It’s okay, we can finish her quickly and not give her time to speak too many more lines,” Jake assured, attempting to ease the Risen’s discomfort.

“We both know her death dialogue is going to be even worse,” Casper exhaled as the curse energy swirling about him surged stronger. “But yeah, let’s finally let loose and hope there’s not a third phase.”

“I doubt there will be,” Jake dismissed with a shrug. “This is just a mid-tier boss, and Minaga will definitely save a third phase for the final boss of the dungeon.”

“Unless the last boss has three phases and then another hidden phase,” Casper countered.

“Nah, something like a hidden phase is something you can only do once, and seeing as this place is part of a series of dungeons, he’ll have saved that for the final boss of the final dungeon,” Jake declared with strong assurance.

“Good point,” Casper agreed with a nod. “You know, seeing you know Minaga so well, maybe you should-“

“Fools, I shall allow you to strategize means to defeat me no longer! Behold, my power!” the Formation Master bellowed rudely from her perch on the ziggurat.

True to her declaration, her aura burst forth explosively, while streams of magical script traced paths along the ziggurat's flanks. These energy lines seeped into the gray sand composing the chamber's floor, blending seamlessly.

At the same moment, the armor on the Elite Guards ignited with glowing magical script, and in unison, they drew guns that evidently drew enhancements from the Formation Master's efforts.

Anticipating the impending assault, Jake and Casper veered apart, evading a barrage of bullets targeted at their former position. From below, the sand stirred with a low rumble before surging upward, lunging at both of them simultaneously.

Jake and Casper evaded cascades of sand and bullet storms while evaluating the chaos. To clarify, Jake sidestepped it all flawlessly, whereas Casper absorbed minor strikes occasionally, deflecting numerous bullets besides.

True to their prior plan, they abandoned the defensive stance swiftly. Casper initiated, his aura erupting skyward, revealing what Jake presumed was a distinct second enhancement skill, unrelated to the curse ability he'd employed all battle.

Jake recognized this one too, as turquoise energy radiated from Casper's frame, his aura taking on hints of Lyra's essence. Their fusion took effect promptly.

Casper ceased evasion, letting a sand wave traverse his form just as it turned intangible. Bullets followed suit, phasing through him and inflicting harm via their embedded energy, yet Casper paid it scant heed while lifting a hand.

Spectral energy coalesced around him, birthing scores of cursed wooden stakes that swiftly drank in the ghostly power, the energies intertwining much like Casper and Lyra themselves.

With a thought, he propelled the stakes downward at the ziggurat, compelling the Formation Master to act by withdrawing a staff and driving it into the earth, conjuring a formation that birthed a vast translucent shield.

The stakes collided with the shield collectively, fracturing it extensively as they embedded midway. Casper thrust his hand ahead, unleashing an energy pulse that drove the stakes deeper, shattering the shield and directing them toward the Formation Master.

Yet, five Elite Guards dashed to shield their superior, each wielding a script-etched shield from the Formation Master that enlarged them notably.

They thwarted Casper’s onslaught effectively, and the Formation Master retaliated by evoking a airborne magic circle that twisted and coiled, manifesting a enormous spear forged from tiny runes.

As she prepared to unleash it, an explosion engulfed her along with a spray of blood when an Elite Guard lost his right arm entirely. Jake, far from spectating idly, had persisted in dodging bullets and sand surges until seizing the moment to disable another guard.

The Formation Master, sustaining the spear's charge with one hand, swiveled toward Jake and gestured with the other, summoning more gray sand to encircle him. Four pillars rose and morphed into hands inscribed with magical scripts, bolstering their resilience and might as they sought to seize Jake.

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Emulating Casper's approach, Jake ceased restraint. He ignited Arcane Awakening completely, pairing it with Pride of the Malefic Viper to counter the advancing hands.

Upon nearing, the hands halted abruptly, and with a mere mental nudge, Jake conjured multiple arcane bolts that riddled and detonated the sand constructs, freeing him to target the true foe.

He readied a swift Arcane Powershot and felled yet another Elite Guard moments before the Formation Master loosed the colossal spear at Casper. The Risen opted for evasion alone; still, the boss augmented it with sand to constrain Casper's mobility.

Compelled to defend, Casper extended both palms toward the spear. The atmosphere rippled, and right as it neared, a ghostly energy barrier materialized. The spear pressed against it without breaching, the wall yielding elastically to deflect the weapon mere inches from Casper.

Observing this, the Formation Master snapped her fingers, detonating the spear into a volley of lesser spears aimed at the unprepared Risen. Several pierced his phasing body, landing solid blows.

Amid the frenzy, Jake dispatched two additional Elite Guards and began orbiting to pick off those he'd separated by hurling them from the ziggurat's summit.

Casper seemed more irritated than injured, channeling greater might to invoke a grand magic circle at his back. Rather than deploying it, he generated more blight-laced cursed stakes, launching them at the Formation Master and obliging her guards to protect her, granting Jake further opportunity.

With his enhancement at peak, the Elite Guards struggled against Jake's heightened velocity, enabling him to thread curved arrows through armor seams, letting the poison infiltrate deeply.

The Formation Master persisted in hurling spells, primarily at Casper, as the Elite Guards fired at Jake or shielded against the arrows and stakes assailing them.

Before long, Jake eliminated three more Elite Guards, each kill simplifying the subsequent ones. The survivors fared poorly too, since even parrying Casper’s strikes proved detrimental, as they burst into curse- and blight-tainted fragments.

Nevertheless, for all their progress, neither had landed a blow on the Formation Master herself. Jake noted the prior blood and blast hadn't touched her, halted by an unseen barrier hovering just beyond her robe.

Direct strikes remained infeasible thanks to the Elite Guards' readiness to sacrifice for her defense, and Jake suspected the magical scripts on their gear influenced their zeal.

Regardless, Jake preferred clearing the guards before tackling the Formation Master. In his quiver, another Protean Arrow took shape, tipped with Eternal Hunger since melee wasn't required. Thus, once she stood vulnerable, he'd eagerly consign her to the Guard Captain's destiny.

It wasn't long until all fifteen Elite Guards teetered on collapse or lay slain. With Jake and Casper unleashing their utmost, their prowess soared beyond prior levels, overwhelming the guards as curse and blight sapped their strength while Jake's arrows and toxins finished them off.

Truthfully, their synergy proved effective, and Jake almost wished for a debuffer like Casper in his Nevermore Party. That said, he wouldn't trade any current comrades, and though Casper held his own impressively, his raw damage fell short.

It sufficed for the Risen to claim the last Elite Guard kill, a cursed stake embedding in one's throat. At last, only the Formation Master endured, exposed atop the unscathed ziggurat that bore no marks from the battle.

“Damn your interference! I seem to have underestimated you, adventurers, but make no doubt, you shall still die this day!” the Formation Master proclaimed, Jake wincing preemptively as she elevated her hands. “My comrades may have fallen, but their spirit and desire for victory shall live on through me!”

Jake wouldn't label the ensuing development a third phase outright, though interpretations varied. The armor from the Elite Guards and Guard Captain alike glowed with familiar magical script, levitating from scattered spots to converge above the Formation Master. Shattered fragments joined the ascent.

The armor contorted and reshaped into a four-meter humanoid figure. Weapons disassembled and reformed into a hefty rifle and sword. A brilliant flash marked the birth of a new entity, which Jake promptly Identified.

[Summoned Armor Golem Guardian: lvl ???]

“Go, my Guardian, slay these adventurers and show them the folly of their actions!”

Obeying instantly, the Guardian barreled toward Casper with startling swiftness, its sword swing revealing formidable power. Meanwhile, the Formation Master dropped to her knees, pressing palms to the ground to evoke a magic circle and deploy further spells... or so she intended.

Jake envisioned a swifter conclusion, spotting the unguarded Formation Master with no cause for delay.

“Event Horizon.”

Briefly, Jake's perception drowned in void as he brushed the Event Horizon. The Formation Master froze mid-action, her eyes widening in primal fear and bewilderment.

Jake focused solely on his invoked Event Horizon, and as the vision faded leaving the luminous ring around his mark, he drew his bow to sight. Frantically, the Formation Master redirected the golem toward Jake over Casper, but the Risen caught on and triggered his rear magic circle.

It unleashed a flood of Lyra-like ghosts that engulfed the golem, while Casper sowed explosive traps around it, chains erupting to ensnare and immobilize the construct.

Jake sustained his Arcane Powershot charge despite the Formation Master aiming a finger skyward and firing rune spears at him. They impaled his abdomen and torso, yet he held firm without flinching.

In desperation, the Formation Master cried out, upheaving the ziggurat's surface; her gradual formations dissolved into one gigantic spear she hurled unhesitatingly at the hunter.

Jake remained unmoved this time, though he had no intention of enduring it. The spear targeted his chest squarely, and instead of evading or parrying, he deliberately eased his guard.

Precisely to provoke his danger sense at peak intensity upon approach, as planned. With demise looming, time dilated, letting Jake seize the instant. Though Arcane Powershot hindered motion, he gradually drifted aside, clear of the spear's path, all while powering his shot.

Time resuming, the spear streaked harmlessly beyond Jake, its velocity preventing the Formation Master from halting it before it cratered into the Grand Labyrinth's wall.

The Formation Master gaped in utter confusion as Jake sensed his strike primed. He released the string, propelling the Protean Arrow forth laden with all accumulated Hunting Momentum.

Then came the Formation Master's ultimate ploy. Through one final ritual, she recalled the hampered Guardian Golem to her despite Casper's efforts. It swiftly merged its weapons into a towering shield, interposing between itself, her, and the arrow.

However... no barrier could halt the arrow's inexorable path. Though swift, the Protean Arrow arced flawlessly around the golem, slamming into the stunned Formation Master, frozen by a timely Primal Gaze.

It pierced her chest dead-on, hurling her from the ziggurat into the void. Her personal barrier exceeded Jake and Casper's expectations in durability, briefly resisting the arrow.

Upon wall collision, the abrupt halt shattered the barrier like fragile crystal. Eternal Hunger's arrowhead burrowed into her flesh and the Labyrinth's metal, pinning her fast.

The Formation Master lifted a hand to summon a minor magic circle, spurring Jake to ready another arrow. Yet before he loosed it, her arm slumped inertly, eyes dulled, vitality ebbed, as the golem crumbled into scrap metal heaps.