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From their brief exchange, it was also clear the Demon Lord was stronger and faster than during their last encounter. He was now fully recovered, not to mention his new armor that their opening attack had not managed to damage in any meaningful way. They had gone for the neck with the expectation that the armor would not be easily overcome.

However, even if the boss had grown… Jake was fully confident they could handle anything the boss could throw at them.

One also had to remember that they had also grown a few levels since the last fight, primarily due to the thirty-third floor and the gauntlet of demons.

Anyway. If the first strike fails, try and try again.

Golden shockwaves rumbled from one side of the large throne room as the Fallen King let loose, releasing a barrage of interlaced blows. The Demon Lord scoffed and made a wide swing using both hands, releasing a crescent inferno, burning away the Unique Lifeform’s attack… but also leaving him open from behind. An arrow struck the demon right in his mid-section, exploding upon the armor, slightly throwing off his balance.

Sylphie descended from above as a whirlwind fell upon him, cutting away like a meat grinder. Annoyed, the Demon Lord stomped, making fire erupt from the ground all around him, but the wind refused to let up.

Right as the flames from the stomp subsided, an old man dove through the hurricane, the wind simply passing harmlessly over his body. He aimed for the leg of the boss, who tried to kick him in response, but the foot was thoroughly stuck as a semi-burnt vine slithered up from the broken floor and held him down.

The sword struck true, cutting across the armor, leaving a thin slit but failing to fully penetrate.

“Armor slightly above the predicted level of durability,” the Sword Saint communicated through the golden mark.

Retreating, the old man got out of range from the follow-up strike from the demon as they both went out of the green whirlwind. Sylphie materialized with the boss out of her attack, not wanting to waste more energy than necessary as she kept herself safe.

The Sword Saint prepared to attack again as the Fallen King flew closer to join him. Sylphie also prepared to dive down from above as Jake aimed elsewhere. Rather than target the Demon Lord, he went for the giant floating crystal above the boss’ head, wings springing from his back as he approached it.

While the four others kept the Demon Lord busy, Jake would address the giant artifact. This was one of the strategies they had discussed already, and Jake quickly closed in on the Demon Lord’s Heart. The heat it gave off was intense, but Jake coated himself in scales and managed to get right up to it. As expected, then a barrier sprung up the moment he did, but Jake had come prepared.

Summoning his Blackpoint Blade, he stabbed forward. The special void-attuned blade impacted the barrier and, with a solid push, pierced through, allowing Jake to embed his arm. As it entered the barrier, he had to grit his teeth from the sheer heat sealed within. The scales began to slowly turn red, and his flesh burned, but he managed to dismiss his katar, and with his arm pushed in all the way to his shoulder, he laid his hands on the actual Heart.

His hand began turning red, but luckily his legendary gloves empowered with Scales allowed him to hold on as he activated Touch of the Malefic Viper. He deployed the tried and tested strategy of just corrupting the living hell out of any energy source a boss used. It had worked against the Great White Stag, and he believed it would work here.

Below, the Demon Lord was pressed by the four people attacking, but he instantly noticed when Jake used Touch, confirming corrupting the Heart was a good idea. The demon’s head whipped up as he allowed the Sword Saint to hit him, but he only roared as he jumped.

Or at least he tried to.

He had barely left the ground as a blast of force sent him flying off-course, missing Jake. Mid-air, the demon still released a wave of flames towards Jake, but a wall of roots speared up from the ground, blocking the fire completely.

Before the boss could even land, a green gust swept him up and sent him flying down toward the far end of the room. The King followed up, with the Sword Saint also joining in as crescent water blades, green wind blasts, and waves of force kept the demon at bay as Dina assured nothing the Demon Lord tried would reach Jake.

A heavy thumping noise came from the Demon Lord’s Heart as it resisted Jake’s infusion of energy, and he felt himself be connected to it and the vast amounts of fire affinity energy sealed within. As the Prime Consort said, the energy had accumulated for a long time. Even if the Demon Lord had absorbed some of it to heal himself – both to recover after being sealed and deal with the wounds their party had just given him – there was still so much left.

The heat intensified as the Heart tried to fight him off, but it was a losing battle. Touch of the Malefic Viper slowly took hold as wisps of dark green energy slithered into the artifact, and small veins of dark green began pulsing around Jake’s hand as they began to mar the Heart’s surface.

In the distance, the Demon Lord tried what it could, but the Fallen King, Sylphie, and Sword Saint were going all out, having even partially activated their boosting skills to ensure the Demon Lord couldn\'t do anything. They had not fully activated their boosting skills yet, but they were running. Due to the Demon Lord focusing more on trying to get to Jake, they managed to land several worthwhile blows, but the Heart was still able to deliver energy despite Jake corrupting it.

Jake also knew he couldn’t stop, or the corruption would be burned away. Purified by the flames. What energy the Demon Lord got was already purified, as only parts of the Heart had been corrupted so far. Given enough time, the corruption would reach a threshold where it could spread on its own, and when that happened, nothing the Demon Lord could do would be able to reverse the process. Even now, Jake could feel the connection between the Demon Lord and Heart waver. Yeah, Jake would only need a good minute mo-

“You wish to destroy the Heart!?” the Demon Lord roared as he released a large blast of fire, making everyone retreat for a moment. “Then I shall grant you your wish. I no longer need it.”

The demon raised its hand in the direction of the Heart and grasped. Jake’s danger sense went into overdrive as he tore his arm away from the Demon Lord’s Heart and pushed off the barrier to launch himself backward right as it shattered.

For a moment, the entire world turned red. Jake was the first to get hit by the inferno as he crossed his arms in front of him and conjured a stable arcane barrier. It melted near-instantly, and Jake was prepared to take the hit as he suddenly felt as if a light breeze had hit him from behind. A green glow surrounded him, followed by an odd orange sigil flashing from his body. As it did, he instantly felt the effects of the fire lessen significantly.

“Used Greater Firebane Talisman,” Dina spoke through the link. Yep, Jake had definitely forgotten they even had that reward from the thirty-first floor, but an hour of increased fire resistance was more than welcome.

Jake refocused and adjusted to the changed color palette of the throne room as everything was burning. Dina stood, giving off an intense aura as she held the flames at bay around Jake, the Sword Saint, and herself, while Sylphie and the Fallen King attacked the Demon Lord again, seemingly not caring much about the fire. The Fallen King, due to his barrier, and Sylphie, as she had also activated her overpowered defensive skill: Green Shield. He was pretty sure that wasn’t the actual name, but that is what she called it.

“One artifact down,”Jake sent encouragingly through the mark.

“The Demon Lord powered up after its destruction,” the Fallen King responded. “Likely due to the more favorable environment.”

This was all within expectations based on what the “people” they had met on the prior floors said. And while they did not have a direct counter to the overwhelming fire affinity domain, they did have one way to alleviate it.

The Sword Saint raised his sword towards the sky. What looked like clouds began to condense, unbothered by the flames. Rain began to fall as the drops evaporated long before they reached the ground, but rather than make the entire throne room into one big steam chamber, it was all absorbed back into the cloud as a new cycle began.

Jake took out his bow and winced as he held it. His right hand and entire arm were burnt to a crisp, flesh and bone showing at places, making it painful and difficult to hold the bow properly. Still, he soldiered through the pain and nocked an arrow to help Sylphie and the Fallen King.

Unblemished Arrows also worked wonders allowing his arrow to not be destroyed by the environment, and the pain in his arm proved short-lived. Dina pointed her staff at Jake and fired a green bolt of lightning at it, and the spot where it hit new flesh instantly began to grow as his arm regenerated in real-time from the infusion of life energy.

His arrows found purchase as the Demon Lord failed to dodge as he was preoccupied with the Fallen King, allowing the stable arrow to pierce the demon’s cheek. He winced and unleashed his anger on the Fallen King, swinging faster than before and launching the Unique Lifeform backward.

Now only Sylphie was in melee with the Demon Lord. The Sword Saint had to focus on keeping the cycle of rainfall going, and if Dina stopped protecting them from the exploded Heart, they would all be in trouble. While the rain didn’t look to do much at first glance, Jake felt the environmental fire mana rapidly weaken in intensity and the temperature drop. The Heart had finite energy, and even if the Demon Lord had unleashed it all at once, it would still run out of power if they kept this up.

The Demon Lord knew this and switched his target to the Sword Saint. With the Fallen King out of the way, Sylphie didn’t stand a chance at stopping the large boss. With a wide swing, a massive wave of fire was sent out toward the Sword Saint. Dina conjured a green barrier, but it failed to block, and in the end, the Sword Saint had to jump back while releasing his own Rainblade slash into the flames to avoid getting injured.

Instantly, the raincloud began to shrink, making the Sword Saint raise his katana again to try and keep it going. Jake used One Step to try and cross the hall quickly, but the range was severely limited due to the fire domain, so he wasn’t able to assist as the Demon Lord closed in on the old man.

In the end, the Sword Saint had to abandon what he was doing as the Demon Lord jumped while smashing his sword down toward the old man. Shifting his stance, the Sword Saint met the edge of the massive burning sword with his own and somehow managed to slightly divert its path, making it slam down beside the Sword Saint instead of right on top of him.

The blast from the impact still sent the old man reeling back, his robe burning. Above, the raincloud soon dispersed as the Demon Lord gave chase towards the Sword Saint. He managed to dodge and parry a few blows by diverting their paths, but the difference in sheer power was too big.

With an upwards slash, the Sword Saint was sent airborne, and a follow-up slash sent him tumbling, flying through the air with the upper portion of his robe burned off, seared flesh showing beneath. Luckily, Jake managed to get close before the Demon Lord could continue to attack further.

Jake released a Descending Dark Arcane Fang as he stabbed the demon, but the boss shifted his stance, making the katar hit armor, which it just skirted across, leaving a shallow cut. With a grin, the boss attempted to grab Jake, but he vaulted over the hand as he stabbed it once with his other weapon.

Annoyed, the Demon Lord focused on Jake, buying time for Dina to assist the Sword Saint and Sylphie and the Fallen King to stabilize. Sylphie had flown far up in the air and started their backup plan if the Sword Saint failed to address the heat.

A large whirlwind appeared towards the ceiling as a hurricane was born. The heat was rapidly being dragged in, lessening the pressure on everyone and ever-so-slightly weakening the Demon Lord himself. Jake kept staying close to the boss as the Fallen King summoned two golden hammers, which he promptly slammed into the side of the Demon Lord.

Cutting attacks seemed to have little effect due to the armor… but blunt force still did a good job as the boss slid across the floor from the impact, tearing up half-melted stone tiles in his path as a slight trickle of blood ran down his lip.

Up above, Sylphie had created a potent whirlwind that sucked in all of the flames spread out across the room, and as the Demon Lord stood up, he stared at the hawk for a moment.

“So be it, have it your way,”the Demon Lord said, standing tall as his aura subtly changed.

The crown of metallic thorns – another of the artifacts - began to light up as the Demon Lord spoke once more.

“You fight valiantly… but you seem to have forgotten. I am a Demon Lord, not a mere brute,” he said, spreading out his arms. As he did this, three large pentagrams appeared in the throne room, spread out towards the edges.

In the center of each circle, a demon more than four meters tall appeared. All three had slender bodies and were armored from top to bottom, not showing a single inch of flesh anywhere. Each also held a staff with a burning brazier at its end and a shield in the other hand. The three of them did not have any legs but simply floated slightly off the ground.

Jake threw one of the three a glance, already knowing what he was looking at.

[Tower Demon – lvl 260]

Each summoning circle flashed again as the Tower Demons raised their staffs, as four more demons appeared around them.

[Tower Guardian – lvl 250]

Each of these also gave off quite potent auras. They wore various pieces of equipment, making it clear that these three Tower Demons had essentially appeared with full parties.

Suddenly the fight had turned from Jake and company winning by teaming up to being thoroughly outnumbered. What is more… the Demon Lord broke one of the usual video game rules:

He didn’t enter a passive state while the party was dealing with the adds.

Fortunately, they had somewhat planned for this.

“Now, the time of your doom approaches,” the Demon Lord said as he raised his sword toward the sky. He was prepared to swing down and release a blast toward the Sword Saint and Dina as Jake appeared before him once more.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Jake grinned, kicking the arm of the demon, throwing off his aim.

His party spread out as Dina and the Sword Saint headed for one Tower Demon, the King another, and a green whirlwind the third.

That left Jake standing alone before the Demon Lord, who looked at him and scoffed. “You mean to face me alone, pathetic human?”

Jake grinned as he took a stance and infused his voice with Willpower, and activated Pride of the Malefic Viper to mentally attack the boss.

“I should ask you the same… you mean to face me alone, pathetic demon?”

For a moment, the Demon Lord just stared, making Jake wonder if his taunt had failed. Then, it was as if the large demon’s eyes were set ablaze as he roared and attacked, his entire body erupting in flames of anger.

Never mind… taunt succesful.