[Alfheim Online, New Aincrad, The Demonlord's Domain]
[Yuuki's POV]
I've never seen a dragon like this before, and it even shares Malzeno's name. This was the inspiration for both his aliases... talk about over the top. Speaking of, I looked behind us to see he hadn't moved at all, I don't even think he flinched when the boss roared. I wanted to help him, making knock him out of this funk given the danger, but...
"Tecchi, move Malzeno to a safe spot, everyone else, fan out!" I ordered, brandishing my blade as I saw Primordial march towards us, every footstep shaking through my legs. "Siune, support us and warn us on what he can do!"
"On it!" She kept back, doubling as Malzeno's guard until he snapped out of his trance.
I wouldn't want to put more stress on him after what we've just witnessed. The game itself brought his dead friends back only to take them away again? How cruel is that? Regardless of my feelings towards this awful quest, I also didn't want to fail and have Pix and the others repeat this form of limbo either. We're going to beat this boss no matter what.
Primordial quickly performed a front flip, landing with his tail slammed in mine and Tecchi's direction before thrusting it toward us like a spear as we narrowly dodged both it and its body landing between us.
Twirling my sword forward, I instantly charged with Savage Fulcrum, etching a '4' through its thick foreleg scales as it eyed me and swiped against my blade before snaking its head toward me in an attempt to bite me, only managing to graze my skirt while I spun around and drew Horizontal Arc down its face.
Behind it, the tail suddenly jerked upright and struck down, seeing Jun's HP fall from the metallic impact while Primordial snarled and flexed a wing to cover it crest, the stance it took... was just like a sword! "Duck!" I called over to Tecchi and Nori as I narrowly threw myself backward in time for the silver wing to sweep hard and fast, tearing up the earth in an arc behind me in a violent wave.
It followed up the attack with a second wing swipe from the same wing, thankfully sailing overhead. Growling as Nori pressed forward, striking it across the foot with a deadly slam as well as Talken's spear splashing green across its tail, Primordial flapped its wings hard, the wind pressure forcing us to brace.
I gasped, barely evading the diving slam as it struck Tecchi instead, his tower shield barely managing to hold the towering dragon back before I felt the tail pincers slash at my side, tossing me forward with a grunt. "Ow..."
Then, a flurry of green motes of light surrounded me and the others, Siune coming to our aid as our support. Grinning, I brandished my blade and lunged with Nori and Jun, inflicting dozens of scars with Horizontal Arc between its legs, sliding out from under its stomach as Nori's hammer glowed orange, rising to slam straight into its chin twice, causing the great beast to flinch, stumbling into Jun's Avalanche, scarring its neck with vibrant red lines.
Suddenly, Primordial performed a black flip over us, both wings crossed like a shield before it performed another similar skill to Shield Bash, slamming straight into all of us bar Siune and Talken when it fanned its wings outward.
"This thing can use sword skills, so unfair!" Jun whined, rubbing his neck.
"No, this elder dragon is considered to be the Knight of the Kingdom within its universe, this is reflective in both its regal appearance and its fighting style!" Siune, ever the Monster Hunter geek, relayed. That gave us something to watch out for at least.
"So we treat it like a swordsman? Alright," Tecchi murmured, keeping his shield risen for any new attacks.
I then had an idea. "Okay, Tecchi and I will draw its Hate, rest of you flank and batter its limbs, try to do what we did to that Redhelm Arzuros, weaken the armour!" If this was just like Monster Hunter, then we needed to focus on core parts of the monster to really deal damage.
"You got it, leader!" Nori swung her hammer low in both hands, banking left to evade the tail thrust from Primordial that led into a wide sweep of the tail, skimming by my toes as it landed.
Tecchi's shield then unleashed a tremor of red light, raising his Hate so that Primordial now eyed us, thrusting a wing like a spear towards us before slashing the ground, my head barely ducking in time as it repeated the move with its right wing, skimming the face of my obsidian sword and straight across Tecchi's shield with a slant.
With it in a state of delay, I brought my sword overhead, quickly performing two slants into a vertical chop, then a thrust to the head as it tried to bite me as I spun over head, passing the horns to slash its crown. Landing, I performed another overhead slam, unleashing a volley of scarlet slashes to pelt its face with Phantom Rave.
Suddenly, Tecchi advanced to use Shield Bash, striking it across the snout as it hissed, sweeping in a retreating slash with its wing, Tecchi tanking the blow for me before I had to press against his back when both wings shielded Primordial in its advancing charge, the impact sending a tremor through my bones.
Distracted, the Elder Dragon recoiled forward towards us when pieces of its scales fell from its right foreleg due to Talken's Fatal Thrust as it ignored the armour. The others had continued to batter the dragon when I witnessed something completely abnormal, enough that even Siune gasped.
"It's enraging!" She cried out as I and Tecchi slowly moved away when a swarm of vibrant red creatures flew to encircle Primordial, causing it to wince and recoil as they attached themselves to its forelegs, chest and tail. Its chest was now a vermillion fur-like crest, same for its forelegs as the tail pulsed between the talon blades. And both its eyes turned a bright red as it roared on its hindlegs, threshing both wings wide.
With a mighty beat, it flew back and unleashed a volley of crimson energy blasts that pelted all of us, leaving me, Nori, and Tecchi inflicted with some debuff with three blood drops. "Wait, I'm losing health?" I gaped, quickly flashing my eyes to Siune who provided another boon of health regeneration.
"It's Bloodblight, it'll slowly eat away at HP and reduce the effects of healing items, you need to attack it to regenerate health until the debuff disappears!" Listening to Siune, I had to admit, that was a really cool ability if not very annoying that we can't just remove it.
"Here it comes!" Jun screamed, diving away from Primordial as it slammed the ground.
Roaring, Primordial covered itself with one wing and advanced, sending Talken and Nori flying as it threshed it out and thrust its tail toward me just as I dove out of its reach. I charged a new, golden skill when my eyes tracked it as it flew backward to swipe my blade with its tail, only to land and cross both wings again, rushing into a slash that nearly disarmed me, my blade ringing in my ears as my skill was interrupted.
It attempted to slash at me with its front claws, but I quickly recovered my footing and swiped it across the right foreleg with Snake Bite, diverting the arc of the swing while its tail simultaneously punctured the ground, throwing Jun back on his heels as he narrowly guarded with his greatsword.
With it distracted, Tecchi advanced and struck forward with his shield, drawing the Elder Dragon's ire as his mace swung with his body, striking downward across Primordial's face with three, powerful slams, the wisps of dark purple dispelled from his heavy mace. Utilizing the monster's own body, I vaulted up and over its broad shoulders, twirling around to deliver four wide strokes across the shoulder blades while I springboard off its head, delivering a final, vertical slash to complete the square, forcing the neck to jerk downward violently.
It flew backward, thrusting its tail toward us, then spun through the air to try and catch out blind spots with the same attack. I narrowly evaded, watching it circle above us for a moment, a large plume of crimson light filling its jaws. "It's a blast, evade it!" Siune warned.
Primordial spat at the ground, leaving an unstable sphere of light before us as the hairs on my body stood on end. The tail then swung wide, dispersing the orb into a wave of deadly energy, forcing me to jump while Tecchi shielded against it.
I took this opportunity to judge how it would land, then charged back my blade perpendicular to my face, bathed in scarlet. With an exhale, I split across the arena like a wave of energy of my own, stripping across both forelegs as I hear the satisfying crack of scales, followed by a strained growl as the towering dragon stumbled.
Despite my deadly blow, my smile fell, Primordial shook off the weakened armour and swung its backside wide, the tail clipping Nori's chest while Jun dove over the sweep. His sword buried itself in the ground, sending three waves of slashes like a shovel towards Primordial who flew away from the attacks, thrusting its tail like a spear into Jun's side had Talken not intervened, his spear parrying the first thrust, but the second spun to their blind spots, striking them both.
"Guys, fall back!" I ordered, seeing their health plummet to the yellow, that Bloodblight eating away at their HP gradually. "Siune said healing is reduced but no nullified..." "Siune, heal them a little!"
"On it!" She began her chant soon after, leaving the rest of us to draw the Elder Dragon's gaze.
Nori was the first to act on this unsaid plan, bringing her hammer down on its hindleg, breaking it too to interrupt one of its attacks as it visible stumbled. It quickly shielded itself with both wings, rising with a single jump, drawing both wings wide in a massive, horizontal slash that tossed rocks and debris through the air.
Suddenly, the air felt so much colder. Primordial stood tall, hiding itself behind its wings as though it were in pain, more of the those alien-like creatures swarming it before it let out a powerful roar, wings flared out. Gone was the rich dark purple, replaced with a vermillion pigment across all its purple membranes, the scales beginning to darken in certain spots.
"It has a phase two...!?" Nori sounded like she choked on her own breath exclaiming that.
"Be careful, it'll have a much greater variety of ranged attacks!" Now Siune tells us, this is perfect...
Going for a combined assault, all our weapons... phased through it, watching it simply vanish in a burst of red as I felt its eyes on our backs. "It can teleport too!?" Was all I could muster, seeing four columns of light stretch over us, Primordial fanning out its wings.
There wasn't a need to say it before we either threw ourselves out of range or hid behind Tecchi when four, powerful blasts of light expelled from its wings. It snarled, failing to hit us and instead swept its tail wide without looking, slashing Jun's forearm while his greatsword buried itself through its left forearm.
It ignored the blow and teleported further away. Only, it wasn't a warp ability, more like it was moving extremely fast that it had the illusion of teleporting. "Okay, that is probably the coolest ability for a dragon but that's not important right now!" Scolding myself, I had to run wide as another volley of blasts showered the arena.
Landing, Primordial continued to batter us with almost frenzied array of attacks, forcing Siune to work as efficiently as possible, though with the Bloodblight, we at least had a way to heal unconventionally. But that didn't mean we weren't taking heavy hits, this monster was unbelievable, it might as well be a floor boss!
I avoided the thrust of the wing, the slash nicking my skirt as the secondary jab slammed against Tecchi's shield, the slash nearly toppling the big guy. It flew high, swiping the area in another gargantuan horizontal cleave before landing to turn and look at me and Talken, breathing a destructive blast of energy that rippled and tore up the earth in a blasting cone shape.
Diving over the blast, I managed to land my devastating flurry of strikes, driving my blade between its legs and towards the tail, leaving deep wounds across the legs and stomach before pulling back for a destructive thrust, splitting a brilliant, red line through the stomach to the tail pincers, causing of of them break off at the tail-end of Nova Ascension. Several rings of light expanding behind me and around Primordial.
Tripping over itself, Primordial swiveled around, curling its wings in a familiar stance as it spun forward like a dark drill, parrying all our combined attacks, then it warped behind me, I just barely managing to jump forward to evade an attack that never came. Staring up at Primordial, it summoned a ring of volatile orbs, capturing all of us in its circumference.
With a spin, Primordial dived toward... "Siune!" I cried out, but too little too late as both wings slammed the ground like a pair of blades, leaving two deep wounds through the Undine's torso while the orbs erupted, shooting in various directions, some hitting the others.
It warped again, now towering over Siune who wasn't fast enough to stand. If she died, then our best chances of beating this boss would go up in smoke, if not for her healing, the buffs she provided. Just like all those failed floor bosses before, the second we lost someone, it was only a matter of time before another group stole the victory from under us.
But more than that, Malzeno's friends, their spirits were trapped here, he was still suffering so much and I don't want to put him through this again. I squeezed the handle of my sword as tight as possible, narrowing my eyes as I took in the deepest breath possible, feeling my muscles tense.
"Vorpal Strike..." I felt my boots dig through the ground, lunging at a hair-raising speed like never before, the tip of my blade meeting Primordial's deep, radiant gaze as I turned its head and released a howl of pain when my blade struck the right horn, breaking it and the surrounding scales in a single, radiant contrail at my back.
Rolling to break my fall, I swiveled and grabbed Siune in time to throw us both between two wing thrusts through the ground, Primordial sending forth a destructive wave of debris. It snarled at us, then warped a few meters back, a crackling storm accumulating within its chest. The others quickly advancing.
"No, don't, it's an AOE!" Siune tried to stop them as I could only sit and watch as Primordial roared aloud, unleashing a blast that summoned several waves of Qurio that struck all of them, leaving them stunned and afflicted with that debuff.
Biting my cheek, I watched as Primordial turned to us, thrusting its tail into the ground to sweep in a wide arc, keeping Jun and Tecchi, the only two still standing, from advancing as they were struck by the bladed tail. The beady eyes of the Elder Dragon upon us. "Siune, heal them as best you can, use whatever you think will work right now to prioritize our survival,"
My voice had gotten lower, managing to stand as my body was being devoured by Bloodblight, I still had one good trick up my sleeve. Drawing back my arm, I made sure to level it with the wounded head of the beast, "I'll inflict as much damage as quickly as possible," Now, amongst the crimson skies and our backs to the wall, I wore a grin Malzeno would be proud of. "No matter what it takes, I will defeat you!"
In response, Primordial suddenly recoiled, its wings shielding itself as the largest swarm of Qurio gathered around its injured frame, almost like it was starting to burn at the boss's body. Then, that heat exploded outward, igniting what dead bushes and trees grew within the arena, setting the edges alight for what I couldn't only describe as a demonic mutation.
The light was absorbed by Primordial for a few seconds, making its highlights stand out further before it stood tall on its hind legs, fanning out its scorching wings with the loudest roar to date, enough to make my ears ring. Now, it's scales and armour had turned completely black, and its wing membranes, mouth, head crest, and gaps between its scales began to glow brightly with fiery orange light.
"That's... it's Bloodlust state, the last form it can obtain," Siune's voice caught in my ears, so this was its final stand. I... no, I can do this, I'll buy all of them as much time as possible, no matter what happens to me!
Primordial then warped several times in a chain, practically towering over me and my radiant, purple blade. It raised both its wings, intending to crush me on the spot-
Ting-Boosh!
Sparks flew by my widened eyes, seeing a trail of bright purple flames left to stain Primordial's wings as both were thrown back at the last possible moment to counter. It stumbled back, shaking its wings only for both to erupt with a small blast of violet flames, inflicting it with Burn surprisingly.
Finally, my eyes fell to what had interrupted its attack, I know for a fact no one else in our party could do something that precise but me, and... I don't know why, but my smile warmed up considerably, and I felt my eyes soften.
The others looked on around me in states of bewilderment, shock, or hope, maybe all the above. When an arm threshed out a katana. It had red and purple patterned handle with a gold pommel and rounded guard, the blade curved with large silver 'teeth' against a black blade. The onyx shade from the guard up glowed with a brilliant, ocean-blue texture that faded to dark blue to purple nearest the flat tip of the sword. The scabbard a similar make.
Even under this dark sky and blaze either side of the arena, the blade exhaled a line of cursed flames across its face, the wielder bringing it to bear towards Primordial.
[To Be Continued...]
[Author's Notes]
And a cliff-hanger! What an amazing fight, obviously, not as long as an actual fight with Primordial for obvious reasons, gets too repetitive for storytelling but we're in the final stretch. Can I just say how freakin' badass that final state of Primordial is? Like, that's the greatest transformation for a monster I've ever seen!
Ahem, anyways, I'm sure the endings got some of you itching for what's to come. So I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; see ya in the next chapter, Players!