The Primal Hunter

Chapter 870: Nevermore: Independence Achieved...

As for the magic itself… it was rather basic, if extremely powerful in scope. Clearly, the Twinhead Emperor had absorbed a shitload of death and curse energy into the blade from all the different battlefields and was now unleashing it upon their group. Usually, this wouldn’t be that huge of a problem, as a bunch of undead filled with curse energy would just attack everything indiscriminately… except for one minor detail.

Jake and company had been the cause of many of their deaths and clearly the target of their resentment.

From where the ogre had stabbed down his sword, a deep pitch-black pit opened up, and within seconds, Jake heard screams coming from beyond the grave. Spirits began to pour up from the hole all around the ogre, screeching with anguish and anger as the boss opened up what looked like a portal to the underworld.

Gritting his teeth, Jake quickly pulled out his bow and shot an Arcane Powershot at the Twinhead Emperor, who was protected by the beam of death surrounding him. The arrow pierced through the death energy but was severely weakened by the time it hit the boss. Not letting up, Jake kept shooting, landing several on the boss, who focused on protecting his heads while doing the summoning magic.

He continued loosing arrows until he was forced to stop as the summoned spirits began to close in on him. Checking them out, he saw their levels weren’t super impressive, pretty much mirroring the soldiers they had killed on the battlefields.

[Cursed Battlefield Ghost – lvl 302]

[Cursed Battlefield Ghost – lvl 306]

[Cursed Battlefield Ghost – lvl 311]

Each of these spirits was a mix of black and white ethereal energies in a humanoid shape. Their eyes were hollow, and while they did look like the many different enlightened races they had slain, many of them looked very disturbing. Especially the beastfolk, who did not have a single trace of hair on their ghostly bodies, looked off.

Retreating, Jake focused on getting some distance. Jake counted around a hundred total ghosts already summoned, with a few still exiting the abyss every second or so, but it was clear the boss was running out of ghosts to summon. Every ghost wasn’t really a single dead individual, but more the gathering of energy from several. Most of the energy had also been absorbed by the bone spheres, and this felt more like the leftovers.

All of these ghosts were coming straight for Jake, seemingly ignoring his entire party. Something that proved pretty damn unwise as soon it started to rain. Jake responded by empowering the small stable arcane barrier covering his body to not get infected by the rainfall as he knew what the Sword Saint was doing. At the same time, he also stopped retreating, as he instead circled around and began taking potshots at the boss.

By now, the Twinhead Emperor was finished with his summoning and stood back up and used his blade to block Jake’s attacks. However, he didn’t move as he instead seemed to be focused on controlling his legion of ghosts. The boss naturally also felt the rain infused with time magic as he commanded his ghosts to spread out and head toward the rest of his party - something that would prove more difficult than he liked.

A few ghosts were flying away but were suddenly rebuffed and sent flying back toward the boss. A powerful wind swept through as a tornado formed around this entire section of the battle. Far up in the sky, Sylphie was flying in circles, making the tornado even stronger and effectively creating a barrier, forcing all the ghosts to stay within the somehow unaffected rainfall.

Turning to look at Jake, the Twinhead Emperor flashed a smile. “Abandoned, huh? Or do they believe you are enough on your own? Very well, you can die first, then.”

Remember what Jake said about the ogre not moving because he was too busy controlling the ghosts? Yeah, that was out the window as the Twinhead Emperor charged with his army of ghosts rapidly surrounding Jake. Wings sprung on his back as Jake tried to dodge as best as he could, but even he had his limits.

The ghosts were relatively limited in their methods of attack, but they were far from harmless. Every ghost could summon tangible long white claws to try and cut him, release blasts of pure death energy, and even just charge straight through his body, dealing significant damage in the process.

In order to make some space for himself, Jake repeatedly made arcane explosions around himself, making the ghosts, at the very least, hesitate to charge through him. Still, Jake was not in a good spot as several ghosts managed to land blows, with the Twinhead Emperor getting too close for comfort quite a few times. At least he was only capable of swinging his sword while also controlling the ghosts, but that was still a lot considering the vast difference in stats between the ogre and Jake.

As things were starting to get a bit too hairy, Jake finally got the message he had been waiting for.

“Now.”

Without hesitation, Jake’s wings began to glow with energy as his entire body turned dark green, and in the blink of an eye, he disappeared. Only for half a second, everything warped, as Jake appeared a good fifty kilometers away, his wings burning away from using his escape skill, just in time to see the old man stand at a small hole in the tornado and execute his move.

“Rain of Time: Reversal.”

The entire terrain was torn up, and the tornado began to unravel. All the ghosts were ripped up, some of them scattering from the attack alone, as even the Twinhead Emperor was caught in the mythical skill. Only a dozen or so ghosts died from the initial activation of the skill, but the Sword Saint quickly did the follow-up.

“Rain of Time: Thousand Blades Descent.”

Blades of rain collected in the sky above before rapidly descending toward the ogre and the many ghosts. There still weren’t quite a thousand blades… but the old man had gotten closer this time around.

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Nearly a thousand blades fell, each aimed toward the ghosts and the Twinhead Emperor himself. Dozens more undead were slain as they were stabbed through, but a bit over a third still remained even after the mythical skill had been used. Partly because the Sword Saint had focused more than half of the falling blades on the big boss himself.

The Twinhead Emperor had hunkered down as all the blades came, trying to defend himself. Even so, he was still stabbed more than a hundred times, leaving his back even more damaged than before. He didn’t really seem to bleed in his grey semi-undead form, and while the ogre did begin to heal once more, it was clear he was starting to not have as much energy left in the tank.

Things got even worse, as Sylphie wasn’t done doing her part either. The tornado had far from fully scattered, and now Sylphie regathered all of the wind as she made it close around the many ghosts with the Twinhead Emperor still in the middle, creating a massive cutting windgrinder.

Even more ghosts were torn apart as the boss finally roared. A torrent of death energy erupted from him, the boss standing back up with a furious look on his face. Swinging, he sent out a wave of pure death, creating a hole in the tornado that he quickly passed through, followed by the twenty or so surviving ghosts. Two did end up getting caught as the tornado reclosed, but he still had eighteen left.

The Sword Saint was the closest, as the ogre quickly locked in on him. The old man was breathing heavily from using his mythical skill after already using Glimpse of Spring and being heavily injured early on. Both he and the Fallen King were in pretty shitty states, to put it lightly.

Charging forward, with ghosts flying alongside him, the Sword Saint was far from ready to meet the ogre in combat as the boss roared. “If you thought I would fall this easily, you are-“

He didn’t get further as his eyes opened wide. Jake smiled to himself as he saw Dina had decided it was her turn to show off a bit. A green aura exploded out from where the dryad was standing as her entire body began to transform. Her antlers grew, her dress changed, and she even grew a bit taller. It was naturally her ultimate boosting skill, showing Dina was done messing around.

The still-charging ogre suddenly found himself surrounded by thick bark-covered vines as the ground erupted. At the same time, Dina’s aura washed over both the boss and the many ghosts, the dryad purposefully controlling and amplifying it.

Slamming her staff into the ground, a massive tree formed from all the aura, seemingly taking root right on top of the boss. The ethereal summoned tree stood nearly ten kilometers tall, as its thick trunk covered the Twinhead Ogre, Sword Saint, and all the undead.

While the Sword Saint’s injuries began to heal at a rapid pace, the experience was not the same for the undead. It turned out that infusing death with life resulted in a rather… explosive outcome.

All of the remaining ghosts screeched as they blew up one by one, the grey body of the Twinhead Ogre also beginning to rapidly break down. His skin cracked open as life mixed with death, Dina not letting up as her entire form began glowing more brightly as the tree became more and more tangible.

More roots also began to shoot up and stab at the ogre, tearing apart his skin further. The boss tried to resist but was quickly forced down on one knee as a vine wrapped around the neck of the sleeping head, thorns growing on it.

Without any hesitation, the Twinhead Emperor raised his sword as a look of sorrow flashed on his face. Without any further warning, Jake’s vision temporarily turned black as the world was covered in darkness. Only a second later did he feel the shockwave and heard the sound of an explosion. Powerful energy of death flew past him, forcing him to raise his arms and summon an arcane barrier to defend himself as he stared at the devastation.

In the distance, he saw the giant ethereal tree rot from within as its leaves scattered like ash. Quickly looking over, he saw Dina down on the ground, propping herself up by her elbows as her transformation had been undone, blood flowing from every orifice due to the backlash of having her transformation forcibly undone. Jake saw the worry in her eyes as he understood what she was afraid of.

Shifting his gaze, Jake spotted the Sword Saint getting dragged away from the epicenter of the explosion by the Fallen King. One of the Unique Lifeform’s arms was missing, and Jake saw what looked like black metal fragments sticking out of his frontal armor. The Sword Saint had a few black veins covering his body, but he was still alive and conscious. Jake only now fully realized what the boss had done as he saw those black metal fragments.

Fucker blew up his sword.

As the thick miasma of death began to finally fade, the true destruction was revealed. A large crater had formed where the Twinhead Ogre had blown up the sword, all life more than a kilometer around him entirely wiped out. Not a single trace of anything Dina had done remained save for a few black leaves here and there.

In the middle of this crater was the Twinhead Emperor, standing tall. Yet his aura was different compared to before, showing that his last attack had truly taken a lot out of him. His skin no longer carried the aura of death either, as whatever boosting skill he had used was clearly over.

Jake was already flying over in case the boss attacked again so he could assist his party. All of them besides himself and Sylphie were in pretty rough shape, and while Dina had taken some damage, she wasn’t that bad off and could easily still take up a supporting role. It wasn’t as if Jake and Sylphie were uninjured, either. Sylphie was doing the best of all of them, most of her attacks made from range as she had pulled off every role she had been given. Jake had taken a good beating when he was buying time earlier, but he was still more than fit for a fight.

Something Jake really hoped the Twinhead Emperor wasn’t… but seeing how many damn tricks the ogre had already pulled out his ass thus far, Jake wouldn’t count on him being down for the count. At least he didn’t have to wait long to be proven right.

Just as he arrived at his party, a few seconds after the miasma from the explosion had fully subsided, the boss spoke once more, saying some unexpected words.

“I… am sorry…” the Twinhead Emperor said… no… only the warrior head was speaking. He was not speaking to anyone in Jake’s party either. Except, he looked over at the second head that began to open his eyes and wake up.

“I… failed… was too weak,” the warrior said with a melancholic smile. “I didn’t think any of us would want it to end this way… but… you were always the stronger one of us… so let it be you.”

Now fully awake, the shaman head looked at his second half. The shaman closed his eyes for a second before nodding in understanding. “Thank you.”

Jake was confused about what was going on as suddenly the head of the warrior fell down, limp. Dead. That is when Jake understood, and the boss made everything absolutely clear mere moments later.

An ear-piercing roar sounded out from the ogre as his entire body exploded with power that made the ground below him crack. A staff appeared in his hand and his voice echoed throughout the whole area as his aura soared to a level it had never been at before.

“My second half… killed… I wanted solitude… independence… but not like this.” the Twinhead Emperor, who had now been reduced to only one head, said. His energy kept surging as Jake felt the pressure on him intensify. “But luckily, I shall not be alone for much longer…”

“The second soul… merged fully into the first one. It’s unsustainable. Won’t last for more than a minute or two… but during that time…” the Fallen King warned, a clear sense of trepidation in his voice.

Jake and the others all understood… during this time, the Twinhead Emperor was in an even more empowered state. However, once it was over, so would the fight end, as the sheer backlash of burning away half of your soul couldn’t be healthy.

Quickly, Jake responded as he reached out, his hand glowing dark green, not wanting the ogre to make the first move even if he was empowered. While the other head had been alive, his death energy had helped to suppress much of Jake’s poison. This had led to much of the death-affinity poison going dormant, but now that the warrior was gone, Jake could truly let it all lose.

It spread throughout the body of the ogre, and Jake felt it do significant damage… but the boss didn’t seem to care in the slightest.

“You think your poison matters? I… am already half-dead and have no plans on lasting much longer. Soon, it all will be over. But fret not,” the Twinhead Emperor said as he slammed his staff into the ground, and runes lit up all over his body, more intensely than ever before. “You shall join my other half in the grave before my time is up.”