Jake took to the air as he made some distance from the Prima Guardian, his boosting skill activating during his ascent. The creature wasn’t following him, as it had plenty of other dangerous foes to contend with, all of whom had also activated their own boosting skills, though not at the highest level. They had all felt the aura of the chimera and knew that holding back too much wouldn’t end well for them.

Carmen quickly closed in, joined by the Sword Saint and Vesperia who had already entered her warrior form, flanked by her four Queen’s Guards. Sylphie and Caleb would adopt a more hit-and-run style, while Maria and Jake would bombard it from range. Casper was more a control and ritual-type fighter, and was working on curses, while the Fallen King used his mid-range attacks, staying semi-melee to step in when needed.

Eron was naturally the healer of the group, and Arnold… well, he was doing stuff Jake was sure.

This was their fundamental strategy for dealing with the Prima Guardian they had discussed during the flight there. The power of the Prima Guardian was perhaps a bit higher than expected, but that didn’t really impact how they would handle it at all.

As Carmen and the Sword Saint got close, Jake also finally saw the meaning of those legs on its sides as it attacked with its claws. The three heads also worked in unison as the chimera’s flesh rippled and seemed to be in a constant state of change.

Magical barriers sprung up here and there, blocking the attacks of Maria and the Fallen King, but Carmen managed to slip through and land a punch on the newly regenerated head. Another head tried to attack, but four stingers impaled it from different sides as the four Queen’s Guards struck, with Vesperia coming in a second later to land the most devastating blow.

The Sword Saint tried to deal with the final head, but a barrage of bone spurs erupted from the chimera’s body, pushing him back momentarily. Not that the final head had time to do anything, as a staff slammed into its skull with the sound of thunder as black lighting spread out from the impact. At the same time, a whirlwind of wind tore through the entire creature’s body, and hundreds of small cuts were left everywhere.

Yet, even so, the Guardian was undeterred as it struck back.

Dozens of hands growing out its back began to glow with energy as each of them began casting magic. All sorts of magic schools, even ones usually in conflict, were cast once, pushing back all the melee fighters in a giant explosion of pure mana.

Before anyone even had a chance to strike again, the heads were all fully healed, as three breaths were unleashed upon their group, with one of them hitting Caleb mid-retreat, singeing his body. Jake was still flying up but soon stopped as he judged the distance good enough and began his own preparations.

”This being is utterly overflowing with vital energies, far more than such a vessel can usually inhabit,” Eron spoke through the Golden Mark to the entire group while already healing Caleb.

”Its soul is also ridiculously dense and robust, and it appears to be in constant flux,” the Fallen King also added. “None of my soul attacks have any effect as of yet… in fact, I feel like striking its soul is counterproductive.”

The conclusion was pretty simple: they would have to kill this Prima Guardian a lot more times than any usual C-grade. This was truly a boss monster, especially in the sense that such a creature usually wouldn’t exist in the wild. It was also infused with too much energy for it to handle, but the system allowed it, stabilizing the chimera. The Prima Guardian effectively had several full health pools and likely more mana and stamina, too, making it an incredibly durable and resilient creature.

That wasn’t a big problem, though. At least not if they went by what the chimera had shown so far. All it meant was that the fight would take longer.

Jake was already charging his Arcane Powershot with his pre-prepared Protean Arrow as the melee fighters closed in again. The Fallen King joined them, this time fully, as he unleashed his golden claw, tearing up the Guardian’s side and sending blood spewing up before switching to his hammers. The others also attacked, landing blow after blow while defending themselves from any counterattack. Any attacks they did fail to fully dodge, Eron quickly healed, allowing them all to stay constantly engaged.

Soon enough, Jake was also ready as he loosed his arrow. A pillar of pure destructive arcane energy descended from above, and for the first time, the Prima attempted to dodge. However, Casper came in clutch as dark chains suddenly appeared all over its body, locking it down in both body and soul for just long enough.

The arrow struck the chimera right in its mid-section and, without stopping, was on track to penetrate straight through. Jake didn’t let it, though, as he exploded the Protean Arrow inside of the massive chimera’s body. The explosion temporarily lit up its body as beams of light shot out of holes all across its body from the destructive arcane energies burning it from within.

Others also took advantage of this opening, as they attacked all at once. Stingers, wooden stakes, and arrows penetrated, two of the three heads were cut off, and over a dozen arms and hands were torn up, smashed, or severed. Jake also released a follow-up, as he could practically feel the chimera’s vital energy being consumed, the creature constantly healing itself.

Then… something unexpected. One of the heads had just regenerated, and the Sword Saint quickly moved to cut it off, but when he swung down his blade, it failed to cut but just slid across the newly formed metallic scales on its neck. As he was taken by surprise, the old man had the very same head he failed to cut slam into him, sending him reeling back.

Carmen also tried to hit the chimera from below, but as her fist made contact, it simply sank into the Guardian’s body as if it were soft clay, trapping her. Maria’s flaming allows also suddenly failed to do much damage, as a weird gel-like substance was excreted from its skin, seemingly nullifying the fire damage.

Even Jake experienced something he had never thought he would see. One of the hands that regenerated began to glow in a familiar pink-purple glow as a barrier of stable arcane mana appeared, perfectly blocking his destructive arcane energy.

One of the other heads that had also just regenerated also turned toward Casper, who barely had time to react before a breath of black lightning washed over him. Eron reacted quickly and sent out a healing pulse, only to find himself pushed back with a wave of force tinged with gold.

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Floating far above, Jake opened his eyes wide as he saw all this happen, and pretty much all of them spoke at once through the Golden Mark.

“It’s adapting.”

From being completely on the defensive, the Prima Guardian now attacked, having chosen Eron as its first target. Sound logic, usually. He was the healer of their group, and it was only basic logic to always get rid of the healer first, something even mindless beasts seemed to understand instinctively. And while this chimera had yet to show great signs of intelligence, it was far from a dumb beast.

In this one instance, targeting the healer wasn’t the wisest move, though.

Before any of them could help, the Prima Guardian sank its teeth into Eron, tearing his body apart and chomping down his entire upper body. A blast of destructive arcane mana destroyed the rest… only for the man to pop back into existence a few meters away as he raised a hand and unleashed a torrent of white flames.

The chimera roared loudly, as the flames sure seemed to work well. However, the offensive might of Eron wasn’t that great, and the Guardian quickly turned and swiped its tail, destroying the man’s body again. Right as he regenerated, a blast of golden force shot down from above, but Sylphie arrived just in time and blasted it apart with a gust of wind.

Caleb also struck quickly, smashing through one of the barriers of stable arcane energy on its back and into its soft body that exploded with blood flying everywhere. An arrow from Jake also arrived, having flown around the barriers to strike one of the tails, easily penetrating before it exploded, blowing off the tail entirely. A second arrow arrived a moment later, striking where Caleb had just shattered a barrier, but this one did far less damage as Jake reached a realization Arnold shared with the group in more detail than Jake would have given.

“Local adaptation. Particular sections or body parts can adapt to damage taken, as it absorb all we throw at it. However, no defense is absolute… strike where the defenses aren’t made to counter you,” Arnold sent, standing a good distance away, just holding a tablet and seemingly not part of the fight.

The Sword Saint was the first to take this advice to heart. Carmen, who still had an arm stuck in the creature, tried to free herself as the Sword Saint teleported down and cut upwards. His blade easily tore through the soft flesh made to nullify the blunt fists of Carmen, and the Runemaiden quickly got the gist of it. Once freed, the old man gave her a boost as he launched her toward the head he had failed to cut, only to see Carmen’s fist shatter the tough scales like they were made of glass.

Shifting their strategy a bit, their group began to attack different areas, never allowing the Guardian to adapt in time. With so many different forms of attack, it couldn’t keep up in the first place, as it honestly felt like they were just beating up a spikey punching bag, where you only sometimes had to be careful not to punch something sharp on accident. Not that the only person actually punching in their group cared much about the horns or spikes.

Still, it was unquestionable that the Prima Guardian had grown stronger, and with every attack it suffered, it continued to grow. Rather than having any kind of traditional boosting skill, it instead absorbed a bit of energy every time it took damage, growing that way.

As for its adaptability… it was far superior to anything Jake could have expected.

Jake continued bombarding with arrows from above, even switching up his poisons to combat the internal adaptability of the chimera. Right as he was about to loose another arrow, he had to rapidly dodge as an arrow flew up toward him, followed by a dozen more.

From the flesh of the Guardian, hands wielding bows of bone and sinew had grown, with the arrows made of horns or antlers. What’s more, he saw Caleb be pushed back when long tentacle-like arms wielding swords chased after him, as suddenly, the boss was wielding a whole slew of different weapons.

This didn’t mean its usual offenses were gone, as the three heads persisted and caused trouble for everyone. Vesperia managed to land quite a few good hits, especially when she shifted to her ranged form and shot what looked like a railgun of stingers, penetrating deep into the boss with every shot.

Sadly, this was where they had their first major casualty.

Out of nowhere, a hole opened up in the side of the boss. The inside of the hole glowed golden as a blast erupted straight toward the True Royal faster than she could react. Luckily, one of her Queen’s Guards was ready and moved in front of her, getting half its body blown apart in the process but leaving Vesperia unscathed.

Still, the investment in this attack meant the Prima Guardian took many blows in return, including Casper, who had been cooking up a big attack of his own. Nine wooden stakes slammed into the chimera’s side, seemingly ignoring the piercing-resistant skin, as they all glowed with scripts of pure death energy. Casper summoned a magic circle beneath himself as the ghost of his girlfriend overlapped with his body as he made some odd seal.

These nine stakes instantly extended, piercing all the way through the chimera, and with another motion of Casper, all sprouted thorns, making them harder to remove, even as they pumped out curse energy. Roaring, the boss tried to attack the Risen, but the Fallen King, Sword Saint, Carmen, Sylphie, Vesperia, and Caleb all got in the way.

The poor boss didn’t react properly to the attack from above either. A large ball of stable arcane energy fell toward it, a few bone arrows striking it mid-air… which definitely was a mistake on the Prima Guardian’s side. The ball exploded as the liquid within was released.

A large splash of sizzling acid struck the chimera, making its skin bubble and burn, followed by bottles of Heartrot Poison dropping into the newly opened wounds. While it could certainly adapt to his poison, it still had to burn through a shitload of vital energy before doing so.

The melee fighters once more took advantage, and soon, another three heads had been crushed, and not even the tails had time to attack, as Maria managed to blow one of them off, while two Queen’s Guards restricted another.

More than thirty tentacles shot out from the Guardian, wielding staves, swords, bows, and wooden stakes as it swung them for the vanguard. The Fallen King raised barriers to one side while Carmen released an explosive fist to the other, allowing everyone else to strike the Prima Guardian freely.

It had begun taking far less damage due to its adaptability, but it was still suffering devastating blow after devastating blow, as its flesh was torn off or exploded repeatedly. By now, it had to have lost its entire mass in flesh and blood a couple of times over, but it showed no signs of weakening in the slightest, continually trying to counterattack. Sometimes, it was even successful, but Eron quickly healed any injuries.

Jake had also switched to Arcane Powershots now, having realized another truth. While the chimera could adapt to attacks to better block them, this could still be overcome by just making the attack powerful enough to break through even what naturally defended against it. His arrows struck one after another, many of them piercing straight through and into the ground below, as Jake was pretty damn sure any normal C-grade would be dead by now.

The fight had entered a standstill that was incredibly advantageous to their strike team. Yet Jake didn’t really ever think the Prima Guardian was weak in any way… in fact, it was incredibly powerful. If Jake had to fight it alone, he wouldn’t even be sure how to do it, as adapting to a single foe was far easier than around a dozen. They had too many forms of attack for the chimera to properly adapt, too many angles of attack for it to defend, and too many people for the boss to ever properly lock down one target for long enough to do meaningful damage without five other people stepping in.

It was almost an inevitable outcome at this point, yet something still bothered Jake. The Prima Guardian wasn’t the smartest, that was certain, but it wasn’t stupid either. There had to be a method to the madness he just hadn’t figured out yet.

Then, the Prima Guardian finally did something. It began glowing with magic as it exploded, sending out a shockwave of many schools of magic at once, pushing everyone back and deflecting any ranged attacks coming toward it.

And then… then the Guardian ran away.

Straight back into the Prima Vessel, their entire strike team was dumbfounded momentarily before Carmen asked.

“Do we follow or what?”

Jake frowned and answered: “Let’s go; it may just be trying to regenerate or something.”

Spoiler… it wasn’t “just” trying to regenerate.