The Primal Hunter

Dozens of orbs appeared all around Minaga as beams of light shot out, but Jake expertly dodged them all as he stepped down one final time, teleporting to appear right in front of the Unique Lifeform. A staff flew down towards his head, but Jake had already slipped by it and landed a solid jab at Minaga’s chest. This time the weapon penetrated far deeper than on the real version, leaving a solid wound.

Metal chains shot out from one of the staves right as Jake shot out a shockwave of arcane mana, shooting them away before he managed to land another cut. Minaga retaliated fast as he unleashed an explosion of fire, making Jake jump back. Mid-jump, he pulled out his bow and fired a single arrow in an instant, taking the Unique Lifeform by surprise as he got a nice hole in his chest.

Landing, Jake teleported into melee again as Minaga was already preparing to launch a ranged attack. He successfully interrupted Minaga by stabbing his arm, continuing his relentless assault. Jake had no plans of letting up as he continued his all-out aggression to never allow Minaga to cast a major spell, assuming he could even do the major casts in this split form. This required him to make some sacrifices as his Scales of the Malefic Viper had to handle quite the brunt of magic attacks Jake chose to endure or only partly dodged to avoid disengaging for too long.

Minaga eventually began adapting as he became more defensive and summoned metal barriers to defend himself as he kept attempting to get some distance. Jake tried to stay close, but a powerful mix of earth shards and wind magic made it difficult as momentarily, the fight shifted to ranged combat.

Momentarily.

Through the use of Eternal Shadow, Jake managed to avoid a large spike of lava as he once more closed the distance.

Jake had time on his side as the poison was slowly accumulating within Minaga, but he was also on a tight timeline. He had a nagging feeling that he was on a timer… as for if this timer was due to his party members being in danger or some unknown factor, he had no way of knowing.

Either way, the best course of action would be a swift victory, no matter the scenario.

Elsewhere, Jake’s other party members also faced their respective clones. Sylphie’s room was a glorious battle of two domains of magic fighting one another as a bird and Unique Lifeform flew within, trying to find chances to strike at one another. Both sides consumed vast amounts of resources, with no clear winner in sight.

The Fallen King fought Minaga straight on, the other Unique Lifeform meeting him with a similar mindset. In the end, they were both Unique Lifeforms. A natural compulsion to compete was ingrained within both of them, even if Minaga was by all rights far more powerful, both in this form of himself within the dungeon and his true, likely divine, version outside.

Other Unique Lifeforms were simply the closest they could ever get to kin, and this left them with a need to prove themselves superior. It was the same as with the Ashen Devourer. As such, their fight was fierce, as both parties went all out from the get-go, trying to prove themselves the better Unique Lifeform.

Dina took a far more calculated approach as she communicated her strategy through the Golden Mark, and it was instantly approved. Rather than fight Minaga, she went entirely on the defensive, not even trying to attack unless it was to interrupt something she found too dangerous to block, avoid, or heal through. She was strong, yes, but in a one-versus-one, she was likely the weakest in their party overall. Her offensive prowess was simply not that impressive.

This left Jake’s final party member… the Sword Saint.

Miyamoto listened to Minaga finish his speech as he prepared himself. The Unique Lifeform stood in front of him, seemingly just waiting for his opponent to make a move… but the Sword Saint had something bothering him.

”You’re holding yourself back, aren’t you?” he asked Minaga.

”What makes you ask that?” Minaga asked with a smile and a raised eyebrow.

”Your movements are at moments almost intentionally stilted when you swing the staff. As if you are purposefully making sure you do not pass a certain self-imposed threshold of technique. I have done so before when practicing with others,” Miyamoto answered.

”Man, you are crazy good at fighting for a C-grade, you know that?” the Unique Lifeform shook his head.

”I shall take that as a compliment,” the Sword Saint bowed.