Chapter 867: Nevermore: Twinhead Emperor

Chapter 867: Nevermore: Twinhead Emperor

Jake deserved a goddamn award for his performance as the mysterious yet powerful Lord of Hunger. Ah, not those awards given for good acting, but those reserved for extremely shitty performances because hot damn had Jake felt embarrassed while saying his lines.

He could at least partly excuse how horrible it was by blaming Sim-Jake a little. In order to really sell it, Jake had infused his body with curse energy and even sent it emanating out of Eternal Hunger while mixing it with his presence. Shit, he went as far as to summon his Eternal Shadow to overlap with his own body during the entire thing.

This did inadvertedly result in Jake being affected by his own curse energy. No way around it. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for Jake to feel like he could blame the remnants of cringe on Sim-Jake. At least his party members were kind enough to not say anything during or after his speech.

Not that they had much to complain about... because their plan had worked. Without them even having to use any of their two backups in case Jake’s acting had failed.

The ritual created by the Twinhead Emperor was in full swing as the curse and death energy exploded out of it. Over a hundred pillars of pure energy shot toward the sky as the two Twin Emperors merged into one being as their body was infused with energy all the meanwhile.

The energy pouring out of the many Totem Bone Spheres was the impurities, as the Twinhead Ogre only absorbed the cleanest of energy and Records. More than ninety-nine percent of this energy would not be used by the ogre as this ritual was never meant to raise their power, just their future potential. In all honesty, it was a damn impressive ritual, if also flawed in many ways, as it was rather forceful. Perhaps it would allow the Twinhead Ogre to reach B-grade, but akin to someone absorbing a fragment of the Viper and instantly evolving a few grades, B-grade would be the end of the Twinhead Ogre’s Path.Diiscover new stories at nove/lbin(.)c/om

Well, if he ever did manage to evolve... something Jake and company were going to make sure that wasn’t gonna happen. As the ritual was winding down, a system message appeared before Jake and the others.

Event unlocked: Return of the Twinhead Emperor.

The culprits behind the war on the Vast Plateau were moments away from having their wish come true at the sacrifice of most enlightened beings on the Plateau. Their ritual was complete, everything ready, all factors accounted for... except for the appearance of five unknown entities.

Despite their prior plans, the Twin Emperors have decided to once more merge with one another, rebirthing the Twinhead Emperor in a state more powerful than ever. They viewed it as their only choice to face this threat, even if it ruined all they had been preparing for.

Now, with all hopes of evolution squashed, they seek only their own survival and revenge on those for forced them into this state.

End the Path of the Twinhead Emperor once and for all, thus ending not only the conflict on the Vast Plateau but the cause of it. Do so that it may never happen again.

New Bonus Objective gained: Do not allow a single party member to be slain during the battle while fully slaying the Twinhead Emperor for good.

It was a message saying something borderline identical to what was on floor seventy-five with the event boss here, except it now even had an added bonus objective. Jake and company had completed all of the bonus objectives on this floor already, so to get a new one was a bit of a surprise... plus it communicated that the difficulty of this fight was high, as the only other time Jake remembered seeing a bonus objective like that was during their fight with Minaga.

Jake stared down at the Twinhead Ogre as the ritual fully came to an end. The whole thing had only taken ten or so seconds, as the ritual had already been well underway by the time Jake appeared and interfered. As all the energy began to die down, the ritual kept humming with energy as the two figures standing at the center turned into one.

The ogre had gotten slightly taller and was the same bundle of muscle as before. His armor had changed quite a bit, as it was now a mix of the two Twin Emperor’s prior equipment. All the most important places were protected by metal, while the rest was just cloth. The only mostly visible flesh was on the ogre’s arms, legs, and face, with a kilt the only thing defending his legs, with even the feet wide open as the boss wore some sandal-looking footwear.

As expected, the biggest change by far was what could be found above the neck... or necks, as it should be called now. Two heads rested side by side, each having the face of one of the Twin Emperors. On the respective sides of their heads, they also wielded the weapons of each Twin Emperor, with the right side having a giant sword and the left side a staff.

Using Identity, Jake confirmed the result.

[Twinhead Emperor – lvl 335]

Even if the ritual had not been done to gain more power, getting a few levels was still inevitable. In fact, Jake found it a bit lucky the boss had not risen in level further... because if the Twinhead Emperor had, this would have gotten even harder than it already was going to be.

The aura of the ogre had entirely transformed after the two had merged into one. Before, they had both been incomplete, while now, reuinited, the Twinhead Ogre could show their full power once more. In pure power, it was by far the strongest creature Jake had ever faced on Nevermore, outside of the B-grade he had tried to fight in Minaga’s Labyrinth.

Attacks that arrived soon after as Sylphie descended from above. She pierced down, aiming straight for the left head. Unfortunately, the ogre had been prepared as he raised his staff toward the sky and released a torrent of fire and rock, blasting upwards and lighting up the sky.

Right as the ogre did this, a blast of force arrived from the side, hitting the ogre in the arm, making the blast go slightly off-course. This allowed Sylphie to penetrate through the flames, but she was still forced to abandon fully committing at the very last second when a pillar of rock shot up toward her. Still, she managed to use all her momentum to launch a bullet of air that hit the ogre in the shoulder, drawing blood.

Both the Fallen King and Sylphie continued their many attacks as the Sword Saint stayed in melee range. So far, the ogre had yet to move a single time but had stayed mostly still throughout the entire battle. Yet he was not really losing any ground at all, handling the three of them. It didn’t help that the few minor wounds they did leave were healed within seconds, as the boss could even cast healing magic on themselves.

Not that their party was struggling much, either. The Sword Saint kept a primarily defensive style, as he stayed engaged with the right side of the ogre. He dodged all the blade swings and the blasts of death magic as he left minor wound after minor wound. Sometimes, he was a bit too slow to fully dodge an attack, which was where Dina came in with her healing.

A status quo was established, and the Sword Saint believed things were progressing far better than expected. They were buying time for Jake to do his thing without expending many of their resources, and they still had “that” prepared for later, too.

Continuing his attacks, the Sword Saint began to gain more confidence, as the boss was not as dangerous as first believed. The ogre wasn’t attacking much, but mostly defending, and when they did attack, it was to blast one of them away. It was almost as if the ogre was also buying time... but for what?

They would get their answer soon after.

The Sword Saint tried to land a deep cut on the arm of the ogre, but suddenly, he found a staff pointed at his head. Quickly, he dodged to the side as a bullet of air shot toward him, and before he could even raise his blade to block, a blade came swinging in from the side.

With alarm, Miyamoto was forced to use his newly gained evasion skill, as his body was replaced with a water clone. At the same time, he was sent back about five meters, where he still suffered from a shockwave of pure death energy released from the blade.

Stumbling, he didn’t even have time to stabilize before a shard of stone struck him in the shoulder, sending him flying back as blood splurted out. To make matters worse, he also saw the Fallen King suffer as a massive lighting strike came down right where he was standing, as Sylphie had been entirely pushed back by two summoned snake-like creatures of fire chasing her.

From one second to another, the ogre had entirely changed. Their moves were coordinated, calculated, and perfectly in sync. Retreating, the Sword Saint quickly felt Dina heal him as he ripped out the rock shard, luckily not getting injured too badly despite being taken by surprise. As he made some distance, he heard the ogre speak once more.

“It took a bit,” the right head said.

“A century apart was a long time,” the left followed up.

“However, I do believe-“

“-I’ve gotten used to it-“

“-once more-“

“-by now.”

That’s when the Sword Saint realized why the ogre had seemed so off... the two of them had been living as separate entities for so long it had taken them time to truly synchronize. Frowning, Miyamoto realized they had missed a great opportunity to strike, and looking at the entirely changed demeanor of the Twinhead Emperor, he hoped it was going to haunt them.

“How long?” he asked Jake.

“Ten seconds... brace for impact,” the hunter answered, the Sword Saint steeling himself as he and the rest of the party knew there was no time to hesitate.

Bending his legs, water condensed on Miyamoto’s blade as he activated Rain Blade and charged forward. From a cloud of smoke also emerged the Fallen King, swinging two large golden hammers on what looked like chains as he rapidly approached the boss. Sylphie also unleashed a blast of wind to push away the flame snakes as their entire party moved to ensure Jake would have his opening.