Jack was ready for the monster's retaliation. And he was right.
Its counterattack was swift and brutal. It roared in anger. Its other claw, as large as a tree trunk, swept towards Jack's head.
Jack twisted his body. Bringing his armored forearm up to defend. The claws raked across his Naraka Armor. Leaving deep gouges but failing to penetrate the flaming plates.
The impact threw him back a few feet. But he quickly dug his heels into the soggy ground. Refusing to fall.
"Good! It seems like you actually feel that." Jack muttered. A grim satisfaction in his tone.
The appraisal panel indicated physical damage reduction. But not immunity. And not pain removal. This creature was immortal. And extremely hard to damage. But it wasn't invulnerable to pain or disruption.
His job wasn't to kill it. But to keep it busy. To force it to focus on him. To become its sole obsession in this moment.
The monster lunged. Its frog-mouth opened wide. Revealing rows of needle-sharp teeth. It let out a guttural croak that pulsed with dark energy. A primeval roar that seemed to drain the very light from the air.
Jack felt a wave of despair and fear wash over him. An instinctual urge to flee. It was the creature's [Primeval Roar] that should caused fear and mental disturbance.
But he stood his ground. And his [Mythical Adaptation] quickly worked. He cold feel that he gained another type of immunity. Immunity against fear and similar psychological attacks.
He met the charge head-on. Swinging his war hammer in a wide, horizontal arc. The blow connected with the creature's chest. Just above its abdomen.
A sickening THUD reverberated. And the Frog-man was actually forced to take a step back. A grunt of genuine pain escaping its throat. More dent appeared on the impact point. A mark on its supposedly impenetrable hide.
"That's it!" Jack growled. "Keep your focus on me, you overgrown toad!"
He knew this was a war of attrition. One he couldn't win. But one he couldn't afford to lose either. He had to hold the line until Reina and the others found a solution inside the temple. Until they could activate whatever ancient seal remained.
The Giant Frog-man was enraged by the sustained assault. It roared again. Even louder this time. It lashed out with both claws. A whirlwind of furious destruction.
Jack ducked under one. Blocked the other with his hammer. The force of the blow shocked him to his core. He slid back. The swampy ground churned under his armored boots. But he maintained his defensive posture.
The creature pressed its attack. Relentless. Its movements were surprisingly fluid for its size. Each strike carried immense power. Jack soon found himself on the defensive. Parrying. Blocking. And trying to redirect its colossal limbs.
He occasionally managed to land a retaliatory blow. More to keep its attention and inflict minor discomfort than actual damage.
Its [Physical Damage Reduction] meant his attacks were vastly diminished. But they weren't entirely ignored. Enough to keep it angry. Enough to keep it focused solely on him.
He could feel the raw, corrupting aura of the Ink Dragon Claw washing over him. It was trying to erode his will. To seep into his very essence. To break him down on a fundamental level.
But the immunity characteristics from his [Mythical Adaptation] repelled the insidious influence. Status effect that didn't instantly kill him wouldn't affect him for long. He would not yield.
...
Meanwhile, Reina expertly piloted the hoverbike towards the temple. The Laycard couple behind her clung tightly to the hoverbike.
"They're already there!" Jeanne Laycard shouted.
Indeed, Leon Drake had landed gracefully on one of the temple's wide, stone platforms. Folding his draconic wings immediately.
Dr. Crafton and Chloe Chase had been dropped smoothly next to him.
The Baroness and the three logistic members were already there too. They were approaching a large, intricately carved door. Their faces were grim. Ready to face whatever lay within.
"Good. They're making progress." Reina murmured. Mostly to herself. A flicker of hope was in her voice.
She brought the hoverbike to a hover near the platform. Allowing the two explorers to disembark.
"Alright, you two." She said. "Get in there and figure out how to seal this thing. My husband is counting on you."
The Laycards nodded frantically. Exchanging a worried glance at the titanic struggle unfolding on the lake bank below.
The air still trembled with each thunderous impact of Judge Jack's hammer against the Frog-man. They quickly joined the others at the temple entrance. Disappearing inside the ancient structure.
Reina watched them enter. Then turned her full attention back to the battle. Judge Jack was a small, unyielding silhouette. Against the huge transformed abomination the Ink Dragon Claw had become.
They were clashing again and again. Jack was taking hit after hit. She could sense his armor was groaning under the immense force. But her man wasn't faltering. He was a storm of focused sentinel. Buying them time. Buying them hope.
Reina gritted her teeth and disembarked from the hoverbike. She joined the archeologists. Entering the temple. The best way to help Jack would be to find a way to seal the creature as soon as possible.
...
Outside, the battle was still a brutal, relentless dance of futility. The Giant Frog-man was undefeatable due to its [Immortality] and great defense. Judge Jack was protected in his formidable Naraka Armor and overpowering traits.
Jack swung his massive hammer with the force of a battering ram. Each strike connected with the mountainous scales of the Frog-man. Sending shockwaves through the air. But leaving no lasting mark.
The ten-meter-tall demonic creature roared its defiance. Its own colossal fist pounded down on Jack's armored form. The sound was like thunder rolling directly overhead. A concussive blast that echoed through the valley.
Jack absorbed the blows. His [Mythical Adaptation] trait rendered him immune to the creature's attempts for psychological attack. The Naraka Armor blazed with dark flaming energy. Deflecting, absorbing, and dissipating the kinetic force.
Cracks spiderwebbed across its surface with each impact. But then, almost instantaneously, the fissures sealed themselves. The dark bone-and-metal plates knitted back together.
His [Hyper Regeneration] characteristic was working overtime. Repairing his body within the armor, whenever it was injured by the fight.
He was a wall. An immovable object against an overwhelming force. Blow for blow, they exchanged. But the true engagement was a stalemate.
Jack could not create serious harm against the monster. His mighty Judgement Warhammer was a flyswatter against a mountain.
The monster could still get damaged. Especially when the hammer's true damage triggered. But, even when it did. Its scales simply rippled or cracked. And within seconds they were regenerated immediately.
The creature was immortal. A fragment of something ancient and un-killable. Capable only of being sealed. And Jack knew it. He wasn't trying to win. He was trying not to lose. He was buying time. An agonizing, long time.
Hours bled into one another. The sun had begun its slow descent towards the western horizon. The sky shifted from a vibrant blue to twilight hues. Painting the surrounding rock formations in stark silhouettes.
...
Inside the floating Ink Dragon Temple...
Reina Night paced impatiently. Her long, black hair was tied back in a practical bun. But strands escaped, framing her beautiful features. Her eyes darted between the various archeologists scattered throughout the main chamber.
They were huddled over stone tablets and murals. Trying to decipher the runic glyphs on them.
"Anything?" She demanded in anxious tone.
She approached Dr. Crafton. One whose brow was furrowed in intense concentration over a large, weathered stone stele.
Chloe Chase was nearby. Tracing glyphs with a gloved finger. Her lips moving silently. Not far, Leon Drake consulted a personal journal filled with meticulous sketches.
Dr. Crafton sighed. Running a hand through his thinning hair. "It's… difficult. This dialect is exceptionally archaic. Even for Nagaean. It speaks of the great Five Deities and their eternal struggle against the 'Ink Blight'. But the precise sealing method is maddeningly elusive."
"The 'Ink Blight' is the Ink Dragon?" Reina pressed. Her focus unwavering.
"Presumably." Dr. Crafton affirmed. Adjusting his spectacles. "The text implies it was... dismembered. Its parts scattered and sealed in various temples. This seems to be the one containing a 'Claw of Whispers'... if I translate that correctly."
Chloe chimed in. Pointing to a section of a mural. "This depiction shows the Ink Dragon's body parts as sentient, malicious entities even when separated. The 'Claw of Whispers' might be a creature born from the claw, rather than the claw itself."
"Whatever it is, my husband is fighting it." Reina stated. Her tone was flat. "He can't kill it. He can only stall it until you find a way to put it back where it came from."
Her gaze flicked to the wall. As if she could see through the stone to the constant loud impacts outside. Each distant tremor was a reminder of Jack's struggle. A prickle of cold fear in her gut.
Tomme and Jeanne Laycard were poring over a series of smaller tablets. Their faces were etched with a similar frustration.
"The ritual described here involves specific astronomical alignments." Tomme mused. Tapping a stone tablet. "And a sacrifice of... 'true light'?"
"A metaphor, surely." Jeanne added. Frowning. "Or a reference to some rare, radiant material. Not a living sacrifice, I hope."
"Whatever it is, we don't have it," Reina shot back in frustration. Her patience was wearing thin. "We need something practical. Something available. Now."
Baroness Artheim, usually composed and analytical, looked just as stumped. She was examining a large, cracked obelisk.
She murmured to herself. "The wards in these sections are definitely for containment. Yes. But they require a power source of immense spiritual purity."
The logistic members, Bell, Ned, and Moby, were doing their best. Offering their limited knowledge of Nagaean folklore. But this wasn't their field. They obviously felt out of place here. Clearly overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the archeological crisis.
As the sun continued its inexorable decline, the sense of urgency morphed into a creeping despair. The archeologists were hitting a wall. Despite all their collective brilliance.
The ancient texts were maddeningly obscure. Written in a language steeped in metaphor and forgotten context. Every potential lead seemed to trail off into ambiguity. Or demand resources they simply did not possess.
Reina felt a cold knot tighten in her stomach. She could feel Jack's struggle outside. He was holding his own, she knew, but for how long? Immortality was a formidable opponent.
It wasn't about strength. But endurance. And even Jack's incredible endurance had limits.