Chapter 935: Prima Guardian (3)

Chapter 935: Prima Guardian (3)

Jake was the first to react as a katar shot out right as the Prima Guardian appeared amidst their group. It quickly blocked with one of its bone swords, but Jake’s quick movement had awakened everyone to react appropriately, making distance from the chimera.

Following up, Jake released two more blows before retreating, the Sword Saint and Carmen now actively engaging the boss. Its four arms moved unnaturally to defend against them as the formerly large and bulky creature turned agile and flexible, even dodging an attempt from Sylphie.

The creature smiled, showing a maw full of teeth as what looked like hand palms grew on its skin, shooting beams of magic toward the charging Caleb and Fallen King. Both were taken by surprise and had to block, sending them flying back from the impact. Stepping down once more, the chimera teleported after Caleb, but Vesperia had predicted this movement and charged in to defend Jake’s brother.

Somehow, the Prima Guardian still dodged the stab of her stinger-like lance and responded with a kick that looked far too short to reach. However, as it raised its leg, the entire thing grew several meters in length and hit Vesperia like a whip, sending her crashing into the wall of the hallway before her Queen’s Guard could even react.

Cursing, Jake pulled out his bow and shot a barrage of arrows, joined by Maria doing the same. The eyes on the back of the chimera proved extremely annoying as the damn thing saw everything coming, and two of the eyes even began to glow as a blast of telekinetic force tinged in gold shot through the hallway, repelling some of the arrows.

“The movement skill it’s using-” Jake began.

“It’s yours,” the Sword Saint interrupted Jake as he sent a thin stream of water toward the Prima Guardian, making it dodge out of the way and also giving Caleb and Vesperia some time to stabilize.

The old man was entirely correct. The damn Prima Guardian was clearly using his One Step to teleport around, making Jake even more perplexed. Before, he thought it only copied forms of mana... but this was straight-up copying a skill.

That had... a lot of implications.

None of them were good.

They also realized that fighting in this hallway was problematic, as while it did limit the movements of the Prima Guardian, it also boxed in the strike team and made it hard for them to assist one another. This only got worse when the Guardian decided to blast Eron out of the Prima Vessel entirely, as it condensed a golden barrier and pushed it all the way down the hallway with their healer stuck to it.

“Get out of here!” Casper yelled telepathically as he knelt down and made the white tiled floor erupt with wooden spikes all around the Prima Guardian, making it dodge back while cutting down the stakes to avoid getting impaled to the ceiling.

Everyone began to move away, and Jake quickly caught Casper by the nape of his neck to toss him away just as a beam of black lightning shot his way from one of the four arms. The Risen threw Jake an offended but thankful look as he ran down the hallway, Jake staying back to make sure they all made it out. Not alone, though, as Sylphie chose to also stay for a moment to keep the Guardian at bay.

Magic began to revolve around the Prima Guardian as it raised another arm that rapidly began to morph into the head of a wyvern. Jake didn’t let that happen as he teleported forward, punching upwards into the dragon arm and redirecting the beam of energy toward the ceiling.

Sylphie also struck as a massive windstorm hit Jake from behind, not affecting him at all but lifting the Guardian off its feet as it began tumbling backward. It quickly reacted as two of its arms extended and turned into grappling claws that caught onto the walls.ViiSiit novelbi/n(.)c/(o)m for latest novels

Jake swiftly shot an arrow into one of the arms, making the chimera lose grip and fly down the hallway for a little as he exchanged a glance with Sylphie. Together, they turned heel and talon before sprinting down the lengths of the hallway,

Mana gathered behind them as they ran, forcing them to dodge bolts of all sorts of affinities exploding in their wake. A few moments later, the Prima got return fire, as at the exit of the Prima Vessel, Maria, the Fallen King, and Caleb had stopped and released attacks toward the Guardian, buying Jake and Sylphie a bit more time.

When Jake and Sylphie got close enough to the exit, Maria and the Fallen King exited, with Caleb doing out a moment later alongside Jake and Sylphie. When they got out, they kept flying, and Jake felt the movements of energy both beneath and above them right at the exit.

A second later, the Prima Guardian also flew out. The moment it did, the magical circle above the exit triggered, exploding with cursed energy and sending the Prima Guardian tumbling downwards, followed by Vesperia, Carmen, and the Sword Saint, who released a barrage of attacks.

Massive amounts of sand exploded upwards when the Prima hit the desert with a loud thump. However, while in mid-air, all the sand began to move as it shot up toward Jake and the others, the tips turning into spears of glass. Below, the Prima Guardian erupted upwards, challenging the three melee fighters directly as it wielded a sword, a staff, a wooden stake, and a lance.

The voice came over the Golden Mark, and Jake reacted along with everyone else. A cursed ritual circle appeared, followed by a suppressing golden presence. Sylphie also quickly released a tunnel of wind to push the boss down, as Jake chose to release a wave of powerful destructive arcane mana. Not against the boss itself but against the environment itself, disrupting nearby space and making teleportation harder.

“Impact in three.”

Even this was not enough to stop it, as the Guardian was about to launch itself upwards. That’s when three large wasps appeared from below the sand, all grabbing onto the boss. The Prima Guardian responded by cutting the legs off one and nearly smashing the head of another, but the Queen’s Guards refused to let go even if not doing so meant their deaths.

“Two. Make distance.”

They did as told, all continuing to keep the Prima Guardian down, as another Queen’s Guard died, with the second of the three not long for this world. None of them were giving up, as it appeared Arnold was finally about to make his move, and it had to be a good one with all that build-up, right?

“One.”

A second Queen’s Guard died, with the third one barely hanging on. Jake kept disrupting space, and he saw the Fallen King and Casper struggle as the Guardian fought back. They were all doing their best, but they didn’t have long. That’s when Jake saw something out of the corner of his eye breaking through the clouds far above. It looked like a-

In the very next moment, his vision was filled with sand that turned to glass in mid-air from sheer heat as something struck the ground with more force than a dozen fully powered Arcane Powershots combined.

Rods from God.

At least, that was what this weapon was called in the common tongue or among enthusiasts. Arnold preferred simply referring to it as kinetic orbital bombardment. It was a theoretical weapon that had interested Arnold ever since he was a child, and seeing it in action left him pleasantly surprised.

It was perhaps the most simplistic weapon imaginable, at least on paper. It was nothing more than a long metal rod coated in material allowing it space flight and reducing friction. The metal, in this case, was synthesized with inspiration from the staff Jake carried around for a while with the ability to change its weight based on the mana infused.

From there, all he had to do was attach thrusters and have it speed up while orbiting around Earth a few dozen times before finally using its rudimentary and mostly manual targeting system to strike. A strike that proved most successful, as a shield activated around Arnold, blocking the sand, whipping past him faster than speeding bullets.

This was the primary weapon Arnold had prepared for this Prima Guardian, with the hope that it could slay the event boss in one go. It hadn’t been fast enough to arrive for the first phase, but here for the second one. Based on the feedback from one of his skills, the damage done had been utterly tremendous, however...

Its durability is far above expectations... to think this would barely stop it for a moment.

As he had that thought, a broken mess of a creature appeared behind Arnold. More than half of its body was gone, with the rest bent and broken in unnatural ways, as it had indeed taken tremendous damage. Without its cheat-like vitality, it would have been dead... but it wasn’t.

It wasn’t even enough to truly weaken the creature as the Prima Guardian was still more than deadly as its blade descended upon him before the scientist had a chance to react. His defensive barrier was cleaved straight through as Arnold felt the bone sword penetrate through his skull as his entire body was cut cleanly in two.

Arnold’s final thoughts as his consciousness faded were filled with nothing but regret...

Regret that he hadn’t made a more durable android for this battle.

Alas... it was difficult to add proper defensive capabilities when he also had to make space for all the explosives.