The demon spit out a mouthful of blood from the impact, but managed to wheeze a few words. A handful of vines shot out of the ground and stabbed into Zac’s chest and legs, trying to bore further into him.
The pain was excruciating, but he could only ignore it and hope that his Endurance was enough to protect his innards from the roots. With a roar, he slammed down the axe. With his overbearing power, he completely destroyed the head of the demon and even created a crater where the axe-head hit the ground.
From jumping over until killing him had taken less than a second, giving the leader no time to stop him.
The roots that the demon had summoned didn’t disappear, but they seemed to have stopped moving.
As Zac was jumping away from the body, another arrow soundlessly hit his leg, completely punching through it. The sharpness must have been extraordinary, as it didn’t seem to slow down at all even with Zac’s high defense.
Zac screamed in pain but could only ignore it for now. The leader was upon him with another swing that almost ended him.
Zac was prepared for the swing as they drew huge wide arcs. He lunged forward after dodging in order to get in closer as the swing had passed. It seemed that the demon had ample battle experience, though, and kneed Zac right in the face as he got close. The knee was imbued with the dark lightning, and this time, it zapped Zac straight in the head.
Getting a knee in the face was bad; getting electrocuted in the head by demon lightning was worse. The power of the leader was huge, and Zac was flung away from the strike. The impact nearly broke his neck, and Zac was blinded by the pain.
But he roared and charged in again as he landed. Another arrow whizzed down, but Zac managed to hunker down so it only ripped a flesh wound on his back. He needed to turn the fight into a close-combat brawl, which would render the great sword useless. It would also hopefully stop the intermittent arrows from coming, as the ranger would be hesitant to hit her leader.
He decided to meet the great sword head on in order to get in close. The demon had just used the lightning attack, and hopefully, he needed to wait or charge it up again. The axe and great sword met again in a stupendous clash. The trees in the vicinity were actually moving slightly from the even stronger shock wave, and an incoming arrow was pushed away before even coming close.
When Zac was standing, he could better utilize his strength, and this time, he wasn’t pushed away. Shock was evident in the demon’s eyes, and he tried to create some distance. But Zac wouldn’t let him, so he pushed forward and grabbed the leader’s legs, and they both fell over with a thump.
Zac wanted a repeat of his last kill and swung down his axe. However, he was still a bit fuzzy from the shock and in the heat of the moment accidentally hit next to the leader’s head.
Zac refocused and started another swing, but the leader was fighting back. He punched Zac straight in the face and tried to push him away. The fist had the force of a wrecking ball, and a loud thud echoed out.
Zac got even groggier, but his constitution was no joke, so he could endure it. He also had been swinging an axe constantly for the last month, and muscle memory helped him. The half-moon edge swooped down toward the demon with superhuman force. As he had been pushed away, he couldn’t reach the head and instead aimed for the heart.
Zac noticed a surge of Cosmic Energy entering the armor from the demon mid-swing, and the runes on the chest plate lit up. The wheels were already in motion, so Zac could only bear down and hope for the best.
Just as the edge was about to slam into the armor, a golden sheen enveloped the leader. The axe hit the barrier, and it felt like he had slammed the axe into himself rather than his enemy. The armor had somehow redirected the force back toward him, and he flew up in the air from the rebound.
He slammed down right next to the demon, arms and legs akimbo. The demon quickly whipped out a dagger and tried to plunge it in Zac’s lungs just as he landed. He managed to barely edge away in time, but the dagger still drew a nasty gash along his ribs.
The demon kept stabbing down at Zac, trying to turn him into a sieve. The second stab hit straight into his arm, making Zac scream out. He tried to push down the demon again and wrestle the knife out of his hands with his own free hand, but the demon’s strength was at least equal to his.
In a last desperate attempt, he could only pray his constitution wouldn’t fail him. He let go of the demon’s hand holding the dagger, and intercepted the hand that was holding back his axe.
The demon immediately plunged the dagger into his gut, once more unleashing the black lightning. The blazing pain once again erupted in Zac’s body, but by now, he had somewhat acclimatized to the attack.
He ignored the spasms in his gut and ripped away the demon’s hand and finally managed to swing his weapon down full force at the demon’s neck.
A loud bang was heard as the axe slammed into the ground, creating a large crack. A second, smaller impact was heard as the demon’s decapitated head fell down onto the ground a few meters away.
Another arrow whizzed down from a nearby tree toward his head. But Zac had expected this and dodged the attack. The ranger had shot a steady stream of arrows at him during the melee, most at least grazing him. Luckily, he had been in such close proximity to the demons during the fight that she had only dared aim at his extremities.
He finally saw where the arrows came from, and as all the other demons were dead, he finally managed to focus and locate the elusive ranger. He spotted her up in a tree not far away from the fight.
With a steely gaze that spoke of death, he got on his feet and started running toward her.
29
Inscriptions
Zac was kneeling next to the body of the female ranger, panting with exhaustion.
The hunt luckily had ended quite quickly. She had immediately tried to run when Zac started approaching, jumping from one tree to another. Her speed up among the branches had actually been slightly higher compared to his own down on the ground.
She likely was a Dexterity-based class. She even had the time to shoot a few arrows while fleeing. Zac was fully focused on keeping up, so could only manage to deflect the projectiles if they headed straight toward his head or chest. That was because he simply held his axe right in front of his throat, moving it slightly upwards or downwards to intercept the arrows.
Suddenly, as she had tried to jump to a branch on another tree, Zac had used a sneak attack with his last dagger. As she was in midair, he flung it with full force, punching a hole in her back.
She didn’t immediately die from the attack, but she did fall down from the treetops. And before she managed to get back on her feet, Zac was upon her. He ended the fight with a swing without any words. He didn’t want another suicide-bombing incident on his hands, after all.
It was lucky as well, because if that dagger hadn’t hit, he’d likely have been forced to flee instead. He didn’t want to try throwing his axe, as it was his most important tool for survival on the island. Then the enemy would have a detailed description of him and his power.
He grabbed her bag and found some cloths he assumed were for bandages. After a quick sniff to make sure that they weren’t actually doused in some chemical or the like, he used them to bandage himself up. His whole body had holes punched in it, from everything between arrows and roots, and the bandages were only enough to treat the worst ones.
He was still bleeding, but it seemed that the wounds hadn’t hit any major arteries or organs. By now, normal puncture wounds usually stopped bleeding on their own after a few hours. He could still tentatively put weight on the leg, but he wouldn’t run a marathon. His whole body felt like he had been used as a punching bag, mainly from the black lightning of the leader.
Unfortunately, the ranger’s bow had snapped when she fell down from the tree, so he didn’t bother taking it with him as he planned to leave.
He did take the quiver and remaining arrows, though, as they had survived the fall. He also skipped taking the
armor, as his axe had destroyed the whole thing.
After dragging the body into some thick bushes, he turned back toward the location of the fight with the others. After slowly walking back for a bit, he was there.
A barghest had found its way to the corpses from somewhere, but surprisingly, it didn’t eat them. Zac had seen those demons eat everything, including members of their own race before, so it was interesting that this barghest only dared to sniff and growl anxiously at the corpses.
It reinforced Zac’s suspicion that these demons were not wild animals, rather beasts reared by the humanoids. They were a good tool to use as a meat shield to weaken and tire the enemy. Of course, they didn’t seem to work too well in the complicated terrain of the island. Zac edged to the beast and killed it with one strike as it was distracted by the bodies.
He didn’t bother with it anymore and walked over to the leader. He was most excited about the gear on him, and it was largely intact. The fractals had protected the demon from Zac’s strike on the chest, and the finishing blow had been on his head, which kept all the gear in good working order.
Zac, who was getting more and more adroit in undressing corpses, nimbly loosened the clasps and buckles and dragged the chest plate from him. He also gingerly touched the great sword, afraid that he would get zapped again.
Fortunately, there was no charge left, it seemed, and he picked it up. The sword was actually lighter than he expected. Of course, he was a bit unsure of his current Strength, so making exact measurements was hard.
He carefully looked at the weapon for some hidden function. The leader clearly had been unarmed one second, and in the next holding this monstrosity. It must have come from somewhere.
Zac suspected the sword might be able to grow and shrink on command, and it simply had been too small for him to notice before. Or the sword might be able to turn invisible.
After a quick rundown, he couldn’t figure it out, and he did not want to delay too long here in case reinforcements arrived. He quickly stripped all the remaining items from the leader, including a pouch, a few runed bracelets, and the large knife.
He put all of it inside a backpack, then proceeded to do the same with the other two fighters. He left their weapons and armor, though, as he simply was overburdened as is. Just bringing back the sword would be arduous with his battered body.
Finally, he dragged the bodies away and looked over the battlefield. A discerning eye would quickly notice that a battle took place here, but Zac couldn’t be too bothered anymore. This was the second scouting party he had killed, besides a herald and a throng of demons.
The humanoids would have to be crazy to not know that someone was hunting them by now. They had seen the trap used to kill the herald, so they knew it wasn’t a beast either.
He wasn’t too sure why they weren’t scouring the island for him. He guessed they either had limited resources or were preoccupied with something else. Who knew, maybe there actually was a city with humans hidden in the mountains that waged war on the demons.
He put the axe into his belt, hefted the great sword over his shoulder, and turned back. He had been out for half the day and either had to turn back soon or sleep in one of his hideouts.
He decided to head back, as the fight had given him some insights about the inscribed items that he wanted to try out in a safe environment.
Zac started heading back on a slightly altered path. Even if he was hurt, it wasn’t to the point that he couldn’t hunt some demon dogs on the way back. The worst part was his leg, and luckily, the demons always came running, so he didn’t have to chase them.
He soon ran into one and, with a swing of the great sword, completely split the barghest in two. The sword continued with its momentum and slammed into a tree, cutting clean through it.
The power was great, but it felt too unwieldy for jungle warfare. More importantly, Zac noticed that killing the barghest with the sword didn’t improve his quest for Axe Mastery. On second thought, he felt it made sense that the kills had to be made with an axe to complete an Axe Mastery quest.
As he continued on, he had to continuously swap weapons every time he ran into a demon.
Finally, he arrived at his camp as the suns were starting to set. After the customary sweep, he entered the camp. He threw some lumber into the firepit and lit a small fire and got some more dried meat. He was starting to run low, so he’d have to hunt something edible tomorrow as well.
His wounds had actually turned a lot better during his hike back, as he hadn’t sustained any new wounds from the lesser demons.
A quick glance at his status screen showed that he had gained roughly ten thousand Nexus Coins in one day. It made sense, as he had more than doubled the speed of killing barghest with his upgrades. Furthermore, the demons seemed to give out roughly a thousand Nexus Coins each.
Zac was somewhat surprised to find out that he actually had gained Nexus Coins and Cosmic Energy from the demon that the leader accidentally killed. He had somewhat felt the rush of energy during the fight, but at the time had been preoccupied with getting zapped by demon lightning.
He also felt that he had gained almost half a level from the intense fights. Risking your life really was the most effective way of getting stronger with the System.
His Axe Mastery had progressed as well, currently showing (69/1,000) progress. Most of the kills had been barghest while traveling, with a few of the more agile gwyllgi peppered in every now and then. Zac felt that if he put his mind to it, then he could kill roughly one hundred lower demons a day, which would allow him to complete the quest in another ten days.
He decided to put the ten days as a deadline. He would also match the quest for [Chop], so he’d chop a thousand times a day. Zac figured it’d take somewhere around two hours per day to get it done. He had no real idea as of yet what to do with the last skill, as it still showed 0/30.
He turned his gaze toward the day’s pile of loot after being finished with his meal. He had gained a whole new set of gear and a sundry of miscellaneous items in the backpacks. At the battle site, he hadn’t had time to properly go through everything, so he planned to do so now.
The two underlings had had small leather bags that were attached to their belts on their backs. In them was nothing of value. They held some gauze, flint, a whetstone, a small knife that seemed to not be for battle, and a small water bottle. It felt like it was some basic ordnance.
Both the bottles had some very rudimentary inscriptions on them, so Zac wondered if they had some special function. He poured the water out, but was surprised that the small bottle held far more water than it should.
It took almost two minutes for all the water to pour out. Zac was amazed that some inscriptions could do something magical like this. He felt no Cosmic Energy movements around the bottles, and it looked normal when he peered inside.
The magic bottle gave him a new idea about the sudden appearance of the giant sword. If a bottle could somehow store a large amount of water, then it wasn’t impossible that the leader had some similar gear that could store items.
30
Experimentation
Zac eagerly filtered out all the gear that had belonged to the leader and started to go through it. His first guess was the inscribed bracelets, as they were the only things except the sword and chest plate that had fractals engraved.
He looked over them multiple times and tried pressing different parts of the bracelets, but nothing happened. He tried putting them on and focusing on them, but there still was no response. He could only helplessly put them aside for now and continue to look through the other gear.
Zac picked up the pouch and opened it up. Strangely, the inside was pitch black, and he couldn’t see anything. His heartbeat sped up, and he felt that he had found the jackpot.
He first took one of the small knives and plunged it halfway into the darkness, then pulled it out. There was no damage on it at all as far as Zac could tell. He planned to do the same with his finger,
but as soon as he barely put it into the darkness, he felt a burning sting.
His fingertip had been singed clean off, and blood dripped down over the pouch. Maybe flesh couldn’t enter, he surmised. So he tried the same with a piece of dried meat, but this time, it reacted like the knife.
Maybe it’s live things… Zac thought. He had no critter to try this theory out, though, so it would have to wait.
The next task was how to activate the pouch. He had noticed some hints when he had fought earlier. When he had slammed his axe into the chest of the leader, he had felt that Cosmic Energy had entered the armor from the demon.
Zac had always only circulated the energy internally and wasn’t sure how he’d push it outside. He tried circulating some energy into his fingers, then tried to push it out from the tip. The only result was that the concentration of energy got too high at the fingertips, and they started rupturing.
He tried many different things for a few hours until he finally gave up. Zac guessed that there was an inherent problem with how he handled the energy. He had followed an image of a circulatory system of his blood when he had started bending Cosmic Energy to his will. Of course, he hadn’t imagined it to have outlets where it could flow out.
He started mulling over how to improve his system. He tried imagining a hole at his palm where he could let Cosmic Energy flow out.
But as he changed his energy circulation, a blazing pain erupted in his hand, and it looked like a bloody stigmata had appeared where he had imagined his exit.
A cold sheen of perspiration appeared on Zac’s forehead from the pain, and he had a sinking feeling. Just a small change like this and the pain had been this bad. If he wanted to improve the system on his whole body, how bad would it hurt?
He knew that the circulatory system he had devised in no way was an optimal method of using Cosmic Energy; it was just something he had whipped together. He had planned on getting some skill or method for it later when he had the opportunity. But he hadn’t imagined that the pain would be this bad.
Defiance of the Fall: A LitRPG Adventure Page 15
