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.

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.

Each weapon moved almost independently as they still worked together to push back the Sword Saint and Carmen, but Vesperia managed to land a blow with her longer reach, sending the Guardian spinning. Sylphie also expertly dodged around all the sand spears and collided directly with the chimera, cutting up one of its arms.

Turning in the air, it pointed its staff toward Sylphie as the air mana around Sylphie was infused with energy. A loud screech instantly pushed away the chimera’s influence as a barrage of wind bullets was returned. Perhaps the Prima Guardian could mimic many things, but it had a limit… trying to imitate an Authority was certainly one such limit.

During this exchange with Sylphie, the Guardian didn’t stop fighting everyone else as it kept manipulating the sand and swinging its other weapons, not to mention the eyes that shot out beams or the magic circles that appeared in the air, shooting out bolts everywhere.

Jake dodged everything and released a few arrows, two of which got blocked before the third one hit the Guardian in the chest, barely penetrating its thick skin. A follow-up arrow hit right around the same area but was completely repelled, as the skin there had adapted to resist piercing attacks.

Using the skill in a way he rarely did, Jake summoned a Penetrating Arrow instead of infusing it into another skill, shooting it the Prima Guardian’s way. As expected, it wanted to repel the blow by blocking it with its strengthened skin, taking it by surprise when the arrow penetrated deeply into its chest.

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That also allowed Jake to confirm something else. This arrow had been coated in his blood, as he wanted to see if the chimera had adapted and mimicked Palate… to which the answer was no. It did still build up resistance to any particular type of poison he used, but Jake could get around that by simply using his blood and changing its variety slightly with each blow.

Nocking another arrow, Jake wanted to do more damage but found himself pushed back by a large gust of wind mixed with a blast of force, just pushing him away without truly doing any damage. A similar blast had hit Maria, Eron, Caleb, and Casper, forcing them back to give the Guardian some space as it disengaged from the specialized melee fighters.

The Fallen King proved to be its next target as the chimera teleported up and appeared right behind the Unique Lifeform. The King responded fast and summoned a barrier along with a golden claw, but the chimera was faster. A staff hit the King in the side, a stake stabbed through his stomach, and a lance penetrated his leg, as finally, the sword tried to cut off his neck. In the final moment, the Fallen King angled his head, making the sword hit his mask, deflecting it at the same time as he released a golden explosion from the claw impacting the Guardian, allowing the King to gain some distance.

Before the Prima Guardian could continue its assault, the Sword Saint and Sylphie arrived, and with the Unique Lifeform, they held on long enough for more assistance to step in. Eron quickly came over and began mending the Fallen King’s body, though especially the cursed wooden stake proved difficult to deal with, as the damage simply wouldn’t heal properly. Not that the poisoned stinger-like lance that had penetrated straight through his legs did him any good.

This brief exchange with the Fallen King also truly confirmed to them all that this Prima Guardian in its second phase was far more dangerous. A point that got further hammered home when Carmen had to block a heavy blow from a staff wrapped in black lighting, making her forearm crack as a bit of the insidious energy entered her body.

Ranged attacks flew for the Guardian again, as Jake managed to land an arrow on one of the chimera’s eyes, and Maria attempted to find a good opening as most of her arrows were deflected, though at least distracting the boss a bit. The smaller form of the chimera proved challenging, as it was hard to land ranged blows without risking hitting any of the melee fighters, especially when the boss moved around so much. It was incredibly fast, and they had to try and stick semi-close together to not risk getting singled out like the King had.

The only ones comfortable with being singled out were Jake and Eron. One of them because he felt comfortable not getting hit, and the other because he felt comfortable even if he got hit. Based on what the healer said, many of his weaknesses before were now addressed, and he seemed empty of fear of whatever the Prima could throw at him.

Working together, the melee fighters managed to buy good time for Eron to heal the King, and the chimera clearly noticed this standstill was not to its advantage as it switched target, going for Casper instead. It tried to do a repeat of the clash with the Fallen King, but Casper’s body turned ethereal right as it was hit, the sword phasing right throw.

With a second swing, this time wrapped in lightning-infused water, Casper did seem to take some minor damage, but Maria had time to help as she released a massive arrow that looked like a bird of flames, forcing the Guardian to defend. Jake also took this chance and landed another two arrows, each exploding with destructive arcane energy.

My turn now, Jake thought, as his danger sense warned him right as the Guardian stepped down again. It appeared right behind Jake, who already had both his katars in hand as he ducked under the staff and spun his body around while avoiding the sword. Leaning into the boss, he made it awkward to use the lance, as he only had to sway to dodge the stake as he stabbed the boss with Eternal Hunger.

It didn’t even flinch from the blow as its flesh morphed, and two small hands grew out, grasping Jake’s forearm right as he penetrated the Guardian’s chest. Jake quickly twisted his wrist, getting free and letting go of the cursed weapon as he blocked the wooden stake with his Voidblade. Opening his eyes wide, Jake quickly raised a foot to stop the Guardian from kicking as its entire leg morphed into one massive curved blade.

Jake was hit on the sole of his foot by the sharp blade as he was launched upwards. Not a single drop of blood was spilled, but Jake felt as if something had broken within his boots. As for the boots themselves? Completely unscathed. There naturally wasn’t even a small mark on them, as how could something like the Prima Guardian possibly damage his boots?

Vesperia arrived just then, stabbing forward with her lance, making the Guardian parry, only to get struck from above by a descending bird, leaving a cut down its back. Caleb also snuck out of a shadow left by the huge wave of sand still whirling around, striking the Prima on the leg, throwing it off-balance just in time for a golden beam from the Fallen King to nail it, blasting it down back into the dunes.

“Restrict its movements if possible.”

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.

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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.