Golden spears started stabbing out of the Herald's body. He received damage every time that happened. His Chaos Armor mitigated the pain as it did when Jack's Infernal Cleansing Flame was burning his body, but it was still painful.
The Herald uttered a roar and a dark aura burst out of his body.
"Demonic possession…?!" Jack uttered. The visual cue was similar but the Herald's one was slightly different. It might be an evolved version of the skill.
With the golden spears coming in and out of the Herald's darkness-covered body, the Herald instead looked more intimidating. Several torrents of dark energy exploded from the Herald's two hands.
These torrents were ranged attacks and were very fast. They also hit multiple targets and dealt Chaos damage. Dragon Jack, Panda Jet, and Jeanny who were rushing over were hit by these Chaos torrents. Domon managed to dodge several torrents while moving away but the torrents were just too many and he was too close. He ended up getting hit as well.
These torrents were continuous streams. They weren't a single-hit attack. Once they landed on a target, these torrents stuck on that target and dealt repeating damage every second. To make matters worse, these torrents were not a skill. They were the Herald's standard attacks under the effect of demonic possession, which meant they had no cooldown.
"s.h.i.t! He still has this up his sleeve," Jack cursed. His true body was still trapped by the fiery symbol.
"He must be getting desperate," John said. "Keep the pressure!"
"What pressure? We are getting slaughtered!" Jack said.
Jet, Jeanny, and Domon couldn't endure the Chaos damage for long. They also couldn't free themselves from the torrents. They succ.u.mbed. When Jeanny died, the golden spears continued to ravage the Herald. It didn't end even when its owner was gone.
Dragon Jack was still alive because of his high HP. He had to fly until he was more than sixty meters away from the Herald before the torrents let him go. His HP was critical by then. Grace and Peniel hurriedly healed him.
Leavemealone was freed from Telekinesis when the Herald was. .h.i.t by Jeanny's Divine Dragon Spear. The Herald's fiery tentacles were also gone. Leavemealone tried to get to the Herald with John's two summons, but the chaos torrents also came at them.
Leavemealone was unable to get near due to the chaos torrents. John's two summons ignored the damage from those torrents. They endured the torrents and pushed forward.
"Follow behind!" John called. The Seasp.a.w.n and the Dire Alligator had very high HP. They were ideal tanks.
Dragon Jack flew back. Together with Leavemealone, they used the Dire Alligator and Seasp.a.w.n as meat shields. Meanwhile, John, Paytowin, and John's water serpent continued sending long-range attacks at the Herald.
The Herald used one hand to maintain his dark torrents. His other hand was casting a spell.
"It's his flame bloom spell!" John recognized the spell formation. It was the spell that conjured the huge lotus of flames.
"We have to get away!" Jack said to Leavemealone. The last time the Herald cast this spell, it hit the area around the Herald.
"The flame bloom doesn't always. .h.i.t around the caster. It is a spell that can be cast to an area a distance away," Peniel informed.
John also knew this fact due to his Hope's knowledge. He couldn't tell if the Herald targeted Jack and Leavemealone who were nearby or he, Grace, and Paytowin who were further away. He couldn't do anything for Jack and Leavemealone, but he could do something on his side.
"Grace, Paytowin, come to me!" He called.
However, the Herald's casting was completed before those two arrived at John's side.
"c.r.a.p! His casting is faster than the last time!" John cursed. He had memorized the Herald's casting time from their last fight, but this one was significantly faster than then.
It turned out it was because of the Herald's evolved demonic possession. Some evolves had similar effects and it was difficult to differentiate even if John and Peniel knew about them. The one the Herald had also granted him increased casting speed aside from turning his standard attacks into Chaos torrents.
The fire lotus appeared where John was at. John couldn't wait for Grace and Paytowin. The water serpent next to him coiled around him, forming a water sh.e.l.l just as the fire lotus bloomed.
Grace and Paytowin were hit by this fire lotus. Grace tried to use her Nine Yin Devouring Palm, but she had still not mastered this ancient art. She seemed to survive for a while by absorbing the flame but she couldn't convert the destructive mana that entered her fast enough. Both she and Paytowin were killed by the fire lotus.
John survived but his water serpent was gone. He didn't have the time to celebrate his survival, because a flame lance came at him once the fire lotus vanished. This was the same flame lance that killed the first Jack. The spell had a short cooldown.
John was dragged away and killed by the ensuing explosion. His dire alligator and Seasp.a.w.n vanished when he was gone. Without those tanks, the Chaos torrents a.s.sailed Jack and Leavemealone.
"F*ck this…!" Jack cursed. He was too close. His HP was also not full. He wouldn't survive flying away from the Herald's Chaos torrent's range. So, he rushed forward. He used the Realm of Sword G.o.d as he advanced. Countless swords rained on the Herald. The Herald ignored all these swords and just continued firing his Chaos torrents.
Leavemealone also rushed forward.
Both of them used their Nine Yin martial arts. Their attacks. .h.i.t but they didn't stagger the Herald. The herald had cast another spell, Flame Wrath. Multiple fireb.a.l.l.s were launched at them.
Leavemealone already died before these fireb.a.l.l.s even arrived. His HP couldn't bear the Chaos torrents for long.
Dragon Jack was raining his sword art to reap as much damage as possible from the Herald. He didn't bother dodging the fireb.a.l.l.s. He was killed by the fireb.a.l.l.s when the final sword from his Realm of Sword Got pierced into the Herald from above.
Only Jack's true self was left, but he was still helplessly trapped by the fire symbols. The Herald teleported in front of Jack. He lifted his hand slowly while staring at Jack.
"Next time then, mother*cker," Jack said before he was bombarded by the Chaos torrents.