Not wanting to fill his stomach with too much water and later cramping up, he took a few small sips, then put the bottle back. Checking that everything was in order, he once again set out into the jungle, continuing his path of gradually moving inland. He did not bother remaking a spear for now, at least until he found some far stronger wood. Abby had talked about trees taking the properties of metal, and he desperately hoped he could find a tree like that.
It was not long before he ran into another demon dog. This one was slowly moving around, almost looking like a scout or like it was patrolling. He quickly decided on the place for the battle after a quick look around the surroundings. From there, it proceeded much like the last fight. A rock was thrown to taunt the beast, and it almost knocked itself out cold on a boulder. This time, Zac instead swung down his hatchet on the spine between the two sets of frontal legs. He strove to incapacitate two sets of legs and only leave the front-most legs in working order.
This was as close to the head as he dared attack at the moment, though, as he had seen how fast the demonling had swung its head to snap his spear in two. He was somewhat certain that the demon was like a crocodile in that regard; if something entered the maw, it would not leave.
The attack proved far more effective than he could have imagined. The blade fell down right between two vertebrae and continued almost unimpeded into the torso of the beast. Zac saw his opportunity and twisted while he tugged out the axe toward the side. He hoped to wreak as much havoc as possible in the demon’s insides, destroying both lungs and heart. The axe was quickly completely ripped out of the chest, and a great gout of blood followed it and sprayed all over Zac.
The forceful tug swept Zac off his feet, and he fell backward into the grass. He quickly got up to his feet, axe at the ready, but soon realized it was unnecessary. The demon was lying on the ground listlessly. Blood was pouring out of the wound like a waterfall. After a shudder, it stopped moving, and Zac felt the now familiar warmth once again enter him.
Zac realized he must have hit the heart of the beast. There seemed to be no other possible explanation for the copious amounts of blood that had streamed out of the wound. Seeing as how he wasn’t even out of breath from the fight, he immediately left and continued to look for more prey.
Zac’s day continued like this, and by evening, he had killed roughly twenty demonlings with varied amount of success. He still had not leveled up to level 18, but he could somehow sense that he was close. After every kill during the day, some of the Cosmic Energy had entered his body. And if his body could be considered a container, it felt as though the container was starting to get full. Zac guessed that the moment he felt “full” from the Cosmic Energy was the moment he would level up.
Zac stood and overlooked the aftermath of his last victory. He had gained a few new wounds, but nothing threatening. This latest fight had been the most dangerous one so far, simply because he had fought two demonlings at the same time. The second one had burst through the vegetation while he was already fighting the first one.
Luckily, the beasts were truly clumsy, and with dodging around the natural environment, he’d managed to mostly keep out of harm’s way until he could bleed them out. Zac hypothesized that the natural environment of these beasts likely had no greenery and very few obstructions. The monsters simply seemed completely unaccustomed to fighting in this type of terrain.
Zac was about to leave, when he suddenly heard a twig snap behind him. Taking no chances, he lunged to his right. He just heard the sound of wind while falling, but suddenly, his left shoulder exploded in pain. Ignoring the pain for now, he got to his feet and finally got a good look at his assailant.
It was a demon, but a different type from the ones he had fought so far. If the demon dogs so far had been depending on brawn, this one clearly leaned toward agility. Measuring up to his navel, the beast somewhat looked like an oversized greyhound dog. If the dog had turned into a zombie. Just like the other demon, it looked almost like it had been skinned. There were some differences with the greyhound, though, such as the head with the oversized maw. The three rows of sharp teeth were clearly showing as the monster silently growled toward him. It had no fur and instead had thin red skin with the wiry muscles clearly showing beneath. This beast also only had the customary four legs, compared with the six legs of the other demons.
Its paws were also larger than a normal dog’s, and Zac could clearly see large sinister claws sticking out of them. The sinewy tail seemed overly long, even for a monster of this size, slowly swaying behind it.
Finally, he noticed that one of the front paws was bloodied, dying the grass red. That explained the burning pain on his shoulder. He had no time to come up with any fancy strategies at the moment and could only fall back on his go-to method for dealing with demons. He slowly repositioned himself so that he once again would have his back to a tree. He had immediately discarded the idea to run away. With its lithe build and long legs, it obviously was built for speed, and he had no delusions of being able to shake it off. Hopefully, the high speed would come in handy for him when it slammed into the tree behind him.
Suddenly, the hound shot toward him. Zac knew it would be fast, but it looked like it flew across the ground. The thirty-meter distance between them was erased in seconds, and Zac barely had the time to jump out of the way to let the hound slam into the tree.
Just as the monster was about to slam into the tree trunk, it swung its long tail. This somehow changed the direction of its momentum. Instead of slamming into the tree, it actually used the trunk as purchase with its legs to push itself forward toward Zac’s falling figure. Even before he had hit the ground from jumping away, the beast was upon him.
Zac swung the hatchet while in midair, but the beast was too close for the blade to hit its head. He managed to punch the jawline with the haft of the axe, though, stopping the maw from chomping down on his head.
Zac landed with his back on the ground, and the hound fell on him. All the air was knocked out of his lungs, and he could taste the iron of blood in his mouth. He was face-to-face with the beast, its acrid breath filling his nose.
Zac desperately held the head at bay with his left arm, swinging the hatchet with his other. Dismayed, Zac saw that he couldn’t generate enough strength to create more than flesh wounds from this awkward position. The beast struggled to reach him with its maw, meanwhile clawing on Zac’s chest. Each swipe ripped straight through his shirt and left a bloody gash on his torso.
This stalemate could not last; he would be cut to ribbons if he didn’t do something. He swung the beast to the side and slammed it into the ground on his left, giving him a brief moment of respite. He didn’t dare hesitate and immediately swung his axe in a broad arc. His body screamed in protest, but he could only grit his teeth.
The axe howled and swung down toward the demon hound.
15
Desperation
The axe swung down, and with a thud, sank into the side of the hound. The hound tried to get up, but Zac still had his left hand clamped on its throat, keeping it down. A few more swings in quick succession and the beast was dead. He felt the warm cosmic force enter him again. This time, it felt like he gained almost twice the amount compared to the demonlings. This was also the final amount he needed to gain a level, bringing him to level 18.
Zac was a bit shaky after the encounter, but a day’s worth of bloodshed and risking his life had steeled his nerves somewhat. He immediately left the site of the battle, not bothering with the three carcasses lying there. He needed to find somewhere to bandage himself.
While walking, he allocated the two points into Dexterity and Vitality. Zac felt that by now his Strength was enough to seriously hurt the monsters he had encountered with a few swings, and speed would likely help him more than more Strength. He still put a point into Vitality, as he kept getting hurt more and more.
Finally, he found a secluded spot and quickly drank a few mouthfuls of water and patched himself up. Zac w
as bruised and battered and completely unwilling to fight any more today. He had also run out of gauze after patching up his chest. The demon hound had carved a maze of scratches on his chest. The wounds were not deep, but together they had bled quite a bit. Luckily, his high Vitality seemed particularly effective against these types of smaller wounds. He sensed that the bleeding had already almost stopped, and scabs had started to form over the wounds. It seemed that he would be all fixed up in a day or two.
From the fight, he also realized that the amulet from the gathering array was quite sturdy. The hound had clawed both the little wheel and the string multiple times, and not a scratch could be seen on it. It seemed that a stronger force than some dog claws would be needed to damage it. For a brief moment, he imagined decking himself in hundreds of amulets, making him near-invulnerable.
Of course, that wasn’t realistic. But it showed that there were probably many sturdy materials in the Multiverse that could be made into extremely strong defensive gear. He put the stray thoughts out of his head and started his return trek.
On his way back, he walked in an even more surreptitious manner, stealthily making his way back toward the base. He was forced to kill one more demonling, which had accidentally found him while bounding through the forest. He had seen a few more demons but chose to ignore them. It was getting late, and the suns were slowly setting. This made his vision limited, and the forest was gaining a sinister feel to it. Zac decided that even if he wanted the extra Cosmic Energy, he should get back to camp. If another of the demon hounds ambushed him while fighting the demonlings, he might be hard-pressed to fight them off.
He simply was too tired and wounded, and visibility was getting worse. He had accomplished what he set out to do today, and he couldn’t get greedy.
As he passed one of the sites of his previous battles, he suddenly noticed movement by the corpse of the demon. Zac immediately stopped moving and hid behind a tree to scout out the scene.
At first, he thought he saw a child standing by the carcass, but soon discarded that thought. The thing was roughly as large as a six- or seven-year-old child, but it was clearly a new type of demon. The thing looked like an imp from old fairy tales. It was completely naked except for a loincloth. It had purplish skin full of scars and what looked almost like tumors, giving it a sickly look. It almost seemed like it was suffering from radiation poisoning. On its back was a set of bat wings with a span of roughly a meter per wing.
Zac was unsure if the wings were actually serviceable, as the imp had a stocky build with a fat stomach. It had no hair and seemingly no ears. He couldn’t make out any facial features, as it was currently looking down and poking the corpse of the demonling. It seemed like it was examining the wounds and trying to figure out what had happened.
That was not good news for Zac. It was one thing if the island was full of deadly but dumb beasts. He could deal with that as long as he went out killing every day, killing some at a time. But if there were smarter enemies who could team up, he might start meeting more and more organized resistance on the island. They might even send out search parties to look for him. The island was quite large, but a concerted effort would sooner or later flush him out of hiding.
He wanted to stay under the radar for a while longer. If the corpses were left alone, hopefully, the local wildlife would eat them. Then it would look like the beasts were killed in fights with other beasts rather from a few swings of an axe. His plans of slowly grinding levels and gaining battle experience would be over if this thing flew back and reported to its superiors.
There was only one solution. He had to kill it.
Luckily, it did not look overly powerful with its small stature and scrawny arms. One good swing with the hatchet and it would be decapitated.
Zac did not want to take any chances, however, and decided on a surprise attack. He slowly circled around and closed in on the imp from behind. He kept a careful watch for its reactions, but it seemed absorbed in examining the corpse.
A snap was heard from beneath Zac’s foot when he was only five meters away from the imp. The failing light had caused him to not notice a fallen twig lying in his path. He froze for a millisecond but then immediately charged at the imp with all the speed he could muster.
The imp’s preservation skills were impressive. As soon as it heard the sound behind it, it jumped over the carcass of the beast while letting out a high-pitched screech. It managed to turn around in midair with its wings, and Zac saw its face. It had four pitch-black eyes. One set was placed like a human’s, and the other set was placed slightly more apart up on its forehead. It had no nose except two holes, and its mouth was a small circle full of sharp teeth. From the few flaps of its wings, it seemed like it was unable to fly, but able to elongate its jump considerably.
Zac desperately tried to catch up, afraid it would be able to get away. The imp did some obscure gestures with its hands while floating away, as Zac was closing in on it and the carcass of the beast. Suddenly, a purplish-black flame erupted on the imp’s hand, and it somehow threw it straight toward Zac’s head.
Zac barely had time to position his head out of the way, but a part of the sinister flame managed to land on his shoulder. Any plan of killing the imp flew out the window as Zac’s mind turned white in a blinding explosion of pain. The black flame was far more dangerous than normal fire, and it seemed that it somehow managed to burn his soul. The pain on his singed flesh was nothing compared to that pain.
Zac was completely dazed by the pain and fell over the demonling carcass instead of jumping over it. The imp landed a few meters away, still screeching at him. After a few seconds of observation, it once again started to summon a flame with its mysterious hand gestures.
With a shake of his head, Zac managed to clear his sight. Unbeknownst to him, his eyes were completely red, and tears were streaming down. As soon as he got back up on his feet, he had to immediately jump out of the way from another of those insidious black flame balls. It missed him and fell upon the corpse of the demon instead. The fire caused the corpse to visibly shrink, as though all the moisture was burned instead of the flesh.
He once again charged toward the imp, but it simply kept jumping backwards. Its wings helped it gain momentum, and it was even slightly faster than Zac. It even had time to occasionally turn around to make sure it didn’t run into anything.
The imp was essentially kiting him, throwing out a fireball every few seconds. The closer Zac got to it, the harder it was to dodge. After a minute, he had been hit another three times when he got close. The first time, it barely grazed his arm, so it was not too bad, if you could call the pain of getting stabbed a hundred times not too bad. The second hit him in the gut, which almost made him double over and puke his guts out from the agony. The final one hit his leg.
That hit had made him unable to keep chasing the imp. He could barely put any weight on the leg. It felt like it had been paralyzed. The pain was so bad, he almost swung his hatchet to chop it off. He knew that he would not be able to dodge anymore when it threw its next fireball.
In a last desperate attempt to survive, he hurled his hatchet with all the strength he could muster straight at the chest of the flying demon.
16
Choices
Zac was on his knees, panting heavily. His clothes were a completely burned and bloodied mess. All around him were signs of the imp’s rampage, with pockets completely drained and devoid of life. Zac realized that the fire of the imp did not burn like a normal fire; rather, it burned life-force or Cosmic Energy. His burns looked like all the moisture had been drained from his skin, and it now had a pallid gray color. It was like those parts of his body were that of a desiccated corpse’s.
The corpse of the imp was lying against a tree roughly ten meters away from him, the axe still firmly planted in its chest. The constitution of the monster was quite frail, and it had died immediately when the axe hit.
As soon as the monster had died, it seemed as though the source
of the fires had been removed. The fires had quickly extinguished, the marks left behind the only proof they had existed at all. Had it not quickly dissipated, then the fire would have completely destroyed him. Maybe not his body, but all his life-force.
Zac was nauseated and on the brink of passing out, but he somehow summoned power he did not know he had and got up on his feet. He shuffled over to the imp and yanked out the axe. He had no energy to search the corpse and simply continued his way back home.
He was almost delirious by this point and was barely able to keep his bearings. Luckily, he was quite close to edge of the island now and almost on the opposite side of the pillar. The monsters were pretty scarce this far out still, and he didn’t encounter any more demons that night.
With the last strength in his body, he managed to stumble back into his camp. As soon as he saw the familiar sight of the metallic camper, his legs simply gave out. He fell down onto the ground and let the sweet darkness embrace him.
It was midday the following day when Zac woke up again. His body was stiff, and he sported a splitting headache. It was as if he had been drinking until passing out last night. He spit out some gravel he had got in his mouth and slowly got up.
After a quick checkup, it seemed that most of his wounds were in decent shape. None of the scratches and tears from the demons were still bleeding. Some of the more shallow wounds were just a white line today. A few of the worse wounds would have to stay bandaged for at least another day, though.
The spots where the black fire had burned him yesterday were still a bit gray and shrunken, but had gotten noticeably better. He felt that the headache he had likely came from these wounds. The fire yesterday must have had some magic properties that damaged in other ways than just burning. He shuddered when he remembered the pain from those blasts.
Defiance of the Fall: A LitRPG Adventure Page 8
