The Primal Hunter

Even if they didn’t have to do the bonus objective to dispel the curse, they still wanted to kill this Prime Summoner, as it would no doubt reward extra Nevermore Points. Jake couldn’t really say he felt sorry about breaking whatever scenario Minaga had planned, though he could see what their host had been going for.

If they had done the first part without freeing the Demon Lord but had instead gotten help to teleport here, they would have met this Knight who was tasked with guarding the gate. He would then tell them about rumors of cultists recently appearing further into the labyrinth and task them with slaying the Prime Summoner because he feared that this cultist was trying to free the Demon Lord.

Jake and company had instead freed the Demon Lord themselves, and the Demon Lord had attacked and killed the Knight. Seeing them as intruders, the Knight would use a curse to make Jake and the others kill this Prime Summoner instead of merely asking them to do it. The curse would only have resulted in slightly lower overall resource pools and evil whispers from the dead Knight, admonishing them for their crimes and screaming at them to kill the Prime Summoner, so it would have been more annoying than impactful.

Now, back in the original story where Jake and company didn’t free the Demon Lord. What would have happened when they finally reached the Prime Summoner was that they would find her just as she was about to succeed. Luckily, they would have arrived just in time – no matter if they had spent an hour or a year walking the hallways – and would naturally best the evil Prime Summoner. However, just as she was about to die, she would sacrifice herself to still release the Demon Lord.

One might ask why Jake knew all this? Well…

“Then, when the Demon Lord is summoned, a magical circle will appear at the entrance of the room, and the formation mage who helped you in the first part will appear together with the Knight. The Knight will engage the Demon Lord, and they will have a totally epic battle! The Knight of Light’s Dawn versus the evil Demon Lord! Sadly the Knight is no match. He will tell you to run, and the mage will assist in teleporting you away into another part of the labyrinth. Sure, you would also be able to join the Knight and fight the Demon Lord as you did before and then have the demon teleport away again if you wanted to do that, and that would give an achievement, but I definitely find the first scenario way more fun. Ah, but the Knight would still die, having overused his boosting skill during the fight. This always happens… well, unless you knock the Knight out before he can use it. That has happened, but he stays back to protect this part of the labyrinth anyway, so it doesn’t do much in later parts… though that again rewards an achievement.”

Minaga had decided that while their party rushed through the hallways, he would narrate the entire story they had missed and really go into detail about the different scenarios they were now locked out of. Jake wouldn’t exactly call the story good or original, and Minaga did also interject with clarifications that the story was written solely to set up good challenges and not actually to tell some exciting story. Though… even if he did say this, Minaga also seemed overly interested in sharing his so-called “bad” story.

Besides an even more talkative Minaga, the thirty-second floor was quite similar to the thirty-first, with the biggest difference being that the hallways were no longer empty of life. Patrols of cultists wandered about, which usually wouldn’t be that much of a challenge, except that they had to fight them within the fog. Perceiving your surroundings and moving about was made more difficult, but at least this also affected the cultists as both sides struggled.

These cultists usually patrolled around in groups of three to seven, with their levels being around level 240. Jake had identified three types of cultists so far.

[Demonic Cultist Flameblade – lvl 242]

These were the usual fire types, and all acted like fanboys of the Demon Lord. They had similar skills, and their identical weapons all looked like replicas of the Demon Lord’s sword. They were pretty easy to deal with overall, as their blades all lit up and made them easily locatable, even within the fog.

[Demonic Cultist Cauterizer – lvl 241]

Fire healers. Somehow their fire was able to mend injuries, really bending the definition of cauterize to straight up make it healing. They could also do some offensive fire magic, making them double as mages. Individually they were very squishy, and Sylphie, in particular, liked killing them as she broke through the defenders.

This brings us to the last type of enemy.

[Demonic Cultist Bulwark – lvl 242]

These were pretty standard defensive warriors wielding large shields, though they did also have the entire fire theme by making barriers of fire, and they could even release torrents of fire from their spiky shields. Usually, these Bulwarks worked hand in hand with the Cauterizers, but due to the small size of the groups, every encounter was too one-sided to truly get into insight into their synergy. These patrols were clearly just made to put the people exploring on their toes, and Minaga also shared some other reasons.

“Thematically, the patrols are to signify that the demonic cult has claimed this entire part of the labyrinth as their own. Mechanically, it is to combat a very obvious strategy many groups would have no doubt made use of on the prior floor: divide and conquer. While a lot of Perception-related abilities are blocked, blocking everything that allows party members to locate and keep track of one another is simply not feasible, and I wouldn’t want to even if I could. So, in order to make splitting up less safe, I introduced these patrols into the hallways. Sure, for a team like yours, you could still split up, but for the average party – even those capable of doing the labyrinth on Archmage difficulty – it would be incredibly dangerous and a risk they didn’t wanna take. It isn’t like a normal group can send their healer running around solo and expect them to return unscathed.”

“That does actually make perfect sense,” Jake said as they walked away from another patrol they had just killed.

“However, it is also to communicate to the challengers when they are closing in on this Prime Summoner,” the Sword Saint stated.

Jake had already pretty much confirmed this through his Pulses of Perception, and the Sword Saint had also easily figured it out. The patrols all came from somewhere, and by backtracking their paths, one would get closer and closer to the headquarters of these demonic summoners.

Of course, it wasn’t entirely that simple. Some groups came from other rooms not containing the Prime Summoner, and some even purposefully tried to lead Jake and company into traps, but with Jake in the lead, they kept their course straight and rapidly made progress toward the Prime Summoner. At the edge of his most recent Pulse of Perception, he saw a room bigger than any before on this floor, so he felt pretty confident it was there. Extremely confident, actually, as he also applied his improved tracking skills and, despite the fog, vaguely got the feeling that the strongest source of demonic energy was in that direction. This was definitely helped along by his Bloodline-empowered intuition too.

Minaga had also clearly noticed this as he made a few snide comments here and there. Their group had already decided to replicate what they did on the prior floor and not bother with all the optional rooms. The only potentially optional thing they would do was to kill this Prime Summoner for the bonus points. Was it possible that skipping this step would reward some kind of achievement? Sure, but it was equally possible it would just result in them missing out on points.

Soon enough, they reached their destination. This was an even larger room than any they had encountered before, and as on the prior floor, the fog dispersed as they walked through the fog wall and entered. Instantly as they set foot inside the room, Jake’s danger sense reacted.

Several Demonic Cultist Flameblades descended upon them, but an expanded golden barrier from the King sent them all stumbling back. Jake pulled out his bow and sent one of them flying even further back as the Sword Saint, Dina, and Sylphie also released their own attacks, making quick work of their welcome party.

Needless to say, this would not be a stealth mission. The design of this massive room reminded Jake of an old temple, but it was so large that towards the back of this temple, a large cathedral sat. Jake used his tracking skill quickly, and without the fog, it was clear as day.

“Prime Summoner is in the cathedral,” Jake shared with the party.

“Let’s make haste and quickly dispose of the trash before getting there,” the Fallen King said as he rose into the air. The large temple hall was filled with cultists, and Jake spotted at least a few thousand, though it had to be noted that the vast majority of them were truly in the trash mob category. In fact, more than ninety percent had barely reached C-grade.

[Demonic Cultist – lvl 201]

The races of these cultists varied widely. Beastfolk, humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, and a bunch of more exotic humanoid races Jake didn’t know. All of them burned with fanaticism and gladly picked up arms against the evil invaders, all spurred on by some of the higher-leveled cultists among them.

Just then, a massive projected head of a woman wearing a mask appeared in the sky.

“Lord Gubrothas has already informed me of your meddling, outsiders. For daring to lift a hand against his honored lord, the only true recompense is death. Rejoice, as your souls will be used to fuel my ascension. Attack, my faithful!”the lunatic woman yelled.

The group of fanatics was thrown into a frenzy as Jake and the others prepared to fight, but as they were about to step forward, the Sword Saint spoke.

“Would you allow me?” asked the Sword Saint as he walked forward. “This place seems fitting for something I have been waiting to reveal.”

“Go right ahead,” Jake said, wondering what the old man wanted to show them.

He smiled as he drew his blade, and his aura spiked. Toward the ceiling of the room, rain clouds appeared out of nowhere as a light drizzle fell upon the entire hall. The Sword Saint charged forward into a crowd of Demonic Cultist Flameblades and Bulwarks, moving away from the rest of the party.

Sylphie was about to take flight, but Jake lifted his hand and gently pushed her down on his shoulder. “Let the old man have his fun.” The Fallen King also summoned a golden barrier to cover them and block the rain, as well as any wayward attacks.

They had times like these on prior floors where they allowed one of them to have a bit of a solo show. It was a way to not make them too bored and a chance to show off their skills. Jake and the others thus stood back and observed the Sword Saint engage an entire army of cultists in melee as they stood back near the entrance of the hall.

He had fully activated his boosting skill and expertly dodged every single attack as the rain fell down all around him, soaking the floor of the temple and creating puddles everywhere. The rain weakened all of the fire affinity fighters, and after a few minutes of the Sword Saint just cutting down cultist after cultist, the big boss made her appearance.

From the cathedral, the Prime Summoner stepped out together with two actual demons. Jake checked them all from afar to see if the old man could still deal with them.

[Demonic Cultist Prime Summoner – lvl 260]

[Demon Guardian – lvl 255]

It would be tight, but Jake had confidence. The Sword Saint was incredibly well-versed against opponents like these. They were humanoid, used fire affinity abilities, and the primary foe was a caster. Jake had seen him fight large beasts and struggle, but against other humanoids, he was an absolute monster.

Jake also noticed something else was off. The movements of his opponents were slow… too slow. Somehow, the rain seemed to stick to them and make their movements slower, making Jake consider if perhaps the Sword Saint had gotten inspiration from the underwater level or something. However, what Dina said next dispelled that thought.

“Time… every raindrop is infused with the concept of time,” Dina said with astonishment.

Taken aback, Jake reassessed the situation. He always scanned the environment but hadn’t bothered checking out the individual raindrops. Upon doing so, he realized Dina was right. Every single raindrop contained a bit of time energy. Individually, it was meaningless, but as the rain accumulated, it would rapidly build up and have a noticeable effect. But… the energy expenditure had to be utterly insane doing it, and checking the Sword Saint, Jake did notice some sweat mixed in with the raindrops. He was truly straining himself just to keep up the massive chamber-spanning domain.

Things got worse as the two Demon Guardians properly joined the brawl, and the Prime Summoner began doing some magic in the background. The regular cultists had never truly joined the fight, but now all grouped around the Summoner as she raised her hands to the sky.

“Loyal subjects… today is the day we ascend!”

She yelled loudly as a giant magical circle appeared, spanning a huge section of the chamber. All of the regular cultists began chanting, and the energy level in the room began rising as the Prime Summoner’s aura grew.

Jake had read enough about rituals to know what this was. He was about to tell the King to dispel the barrier and have them join the fight before the ritual could complete, but before he could, the Sword Saint spoke through their telepathic mark.

“Jake, I remember you being curious about my mythical rarity skill. Well, formerly mythical, now legendary,” the Sword Saint asked, making Jake stop.

Opening his eyes wide, Jake sent a mental confirmation.

“I would advise you to strengthen the barrier, Fallen King. This attack is indiscriminate,” he added. The King reacted as he infused the barrier around them with his golden energy, and Dina also assisted as she put a green membrane around it to strengthen it further.

Retreating from his foes, the Sword Saint took a deep breath as he shifted his stance and kneeled down while holding the blade with the tip of the blade resting against the floor like he was about to do an upwards sweep.

Then, it happened. The raindrops falling all over the massive chamber stopped moving in mid-air as they simply floated there. An incredibly intense aura erupted from the Sword Saint, and Jake saw the Demonic Cultist Prime Summoner react with panic as all of the raindrops began moving backward in time, the puddles on the floor starting to slowly drip upwards.

“What is-“ the Summoner began, but she was cut off.

The Sword Saint raised his blade in one fluid motion as the rain followed suit.

“Rain of Time: Reversal.”

Rain reversed in time as every droplet that had fallen became a small blade piercing the clouds above. The entire chamber rumbled as the ground was torn up, an area of several square kilometers seemingly lifting off the ground as heavenly destruction sundered the hall. Within less than a second, every single raindrop had been sent flying back to the clouds above.

Raindrops, each only containing enough energy to lightly injure a peak E-grade or early D-grade… but when there were millions, the result was devastating.

Jake was taken aback by the attack, but what happened next was almost as ludicrous. The Sword Saint raised his blade, and the rainclouds above descended upon him like a whirlwind, the energy entering his body as Jake slowly felt the old man be revitalized. Not only had he reversed the raindrops… he had returned a large amount of the resources he had spent on the skill.

Looking out at the chamber, the chaos had finally started dying down, and the scene of the Sword Saint’s devastation was revealed. The entire terrain was filled with small pencil-sized holes all over, and in the center of it all kneeled the Prime Summoner, blood running down her lips. The two demons also still lived, standing at her sides.

As for the weaker cultists… not a single one remained. Only a few sparse but heavily injured Flameblades, Cauterizers, and Guardians were spread here and there.

“You… you ruined everything! I was to ascend!” the Prime Summoner screamed, her ritual having failed with the deaths of thousands of her subjects and the circle itself being utterly torn apart.

“Yeah, well, tough shit,” Jake said as the King had long dispelled the barrier, and he had walked over and joined the Sword Saint.

“I… I will kill you all!” she screamed as her body erupted in power, and the two Demon Guardians both bulked up.

Anyway, skipping the boring part, the group walked towards the cathedral to check what was in there ten minutes later, leaving only corpses in their wake. Jake even got a level, and they all got a nice achievement when the Prime Summoner died.

*’DING!’ Class: [Arcane Hunter of Horizon’s Edge] has reached level 210 - Stat points allocated, +50 Free Points*

*’DING!’ Race: [Human (C)] has reached level 210 - Stat points allocated, +45 Free Points*

Bonus Objective Completed: Defeat the Demonic Cultist Prime Summoner. 200 Nevermore Points earned.

Achievement earned: Defeat the Demonic Cultist Prime Summoner before she can carry out her ascension ritual. 250 Nevermore Points earned.

All in all, good stuff.

Seeing the achievement of not allowing the ritual to happen, Jake was glad they had stopped it, though he also wanted to see what would have happened if they had allowed her to do it. As for why they were headed towards the cathedral… well, Jake had spotted something interesting there. Or, more accurately, someone interesting.