Suddenly, as he was approaching, spikes shot out of the ground. They looked like thin stalactites, so it seemed one of the demons was a rock mage. Not expecting the attack, one of the spikes managed to stab into his gut before he could react.
His breastplate was high-quality work, but unfortunately, it only covered his upper torso. Therefore, his only protection on the rest of his body was the common leather armor, which barely impeded attacks. He broke off the one impaling him and then destroyed the other with a swing.
An arrow crackling with electricity zoomed toward his head as he was getting rid of the stone spears. He had to dodge before properly removing the tip of the spike from his stomach, making it do some extra damage while he rolled away.
As he got back to his feet, the fire mage already seemed ready to fire his spell. But to Zac’s horror, he wasn’t actually aiming at him or the camp, but straight up. The demon intended to use it as a signal flare while the others impeded him.
Zac desperately infused all the Cosmic Energy and heaviness he could into his arm and threw his axe with a grunt. The axe sounded like a propeller as it ripped through the air at the mage. The magic shield that stopped his knife shattered like a mirror, and the axe-head slammed into the mage’s chest, instantly killing him.
Luckily for him, the ball of flame snuffed out as soon as the mage died, just like how it did with the imps he had fought. There would be no signal flare or forest fire, this time at least.
But Zac didn’t have time to breathe out in relief, as a barghest slammed straight into him. The demonic brutes could charge straight through smaller trees, so the force completely winded him. Had he been prepared, he could have used the inscription on his chest piece, as his chest armor held one charge where it could nullify an attack. But Zac himself had to activate it, and he hadn’t been prepared for the body slam.
An arrow shot into his stomach as he was pushed backward as well, piling on to his misery. Luckily, his Endurance was up in the high 70s by now, and it didn’t get far into his body before stopping.
However, the arrow released a lightning shock right into his intestines, making him unable to breathe for a second. Zac coughed out a mouthful of blood but didn’t dare move the arrow, remembering that leaving the weapon in the wound when stabbed was safer. He could only break it off and ignore it for now. Instead, he punched the barghest, which caused it to crash hard into the ground.
A flash of pain erupted on his back, and he noticed a gwyllgi had approached soundlessly from behind. Normally, these beasts were of no concern, but he also had to worry about the mage and archer. There also were two more demons who still stayed put. One of them carried a two-handed sword and, with his muscular build, looked very much like a classic warrior.
But the other’s gear gave Zac no indication of her means of attack. He assumed she was some sort of mage, as she held a tome in her hands.
Zac growled in annoyance and kept the barghest down on the ground with one hand and grabbed a knife out of his pouch with the other. With a quick stab, he tore its throat out. It was still alive but wouldn’t be for long. He just barely dodged another arrow coming at him right after his kill, but simultaneously, an earthen spike tore straight through the dying barghest and headed for his head.
Just as he was about to dodge, a splitting pain in his mind made him completely blank out, and as he tried to dodge the incoming spike, he realized his body didn’t respond.
But with a muffled roar, Zac used all his willpower to force himself to move. He succeeded in breaking the odd restriction and managed to move his head somewhat away from the stone spear. It still tore a huge gash in his left cheek, doubling the length of his mouth.
Breaking free from the binding left him with a pounding headache and a bit woozy, and he had to shrug his head to reorient himself.
A quick glance at the enemies showed that one of the demons who earlier had been staying put was puking blood while looking aghast at Zac. It was the one who was holding a tome, looking mysterious. He didn’t have time to think about what kind of skill she used, as he was beset from both behind and the back.
A gwyllgi charged at him again, but this time, he was prepared. With a quick stab, blood gushed out of its chest, and it crashed into the ground. He took another arrow, this time to his leg, but it was a worthwhile price for another enemy down.
He grabbed the dying gwyllgi by its neck and used it as a shield while charging toward the group. The distance wasn’t far, and he was upon them before they could send another salvo of earthen spears and arrows.
Zac ran toward the downed mage in order to get his axe back, but the warrior demon who had stood rooted until now placed himself in his way. From his bulging muscles, he seemed he focused on the Strength attribute, which actually made Zac relieved rather than anything else. If it was one thing he was confident in, it was his supreme strength.
The warrior roared and swung his sword toward him. Zac didn’t dare use his knife to intercept and could only use the beast carcass as a club. He swung it at the warrior, trying to angle it so that he would hit the flat of the blade rather than the edge.
The corpse and the sword clashed, and the corpse exploded in a mangled shower of blood and viscera, drenching both Zac and the demon. But it did its job, and the sword was deflected once. That was all he needed, and he crashed into the demon with all the strength he could muster.
The warrior was flung away like a ragdoll, not being able to muster any resistance in the slightest. He fell down a few meters away, and whether he was alive or dead was unknown. The demons seemingly hadn’t expected that outcome of the collision, and he managed to immediately snatch up his axe before they could react.
Zac then made a beeline for the archer. At these close quarters, the archer had actually dropped his bow and instead held a short sword and a blade respectively. Zac would have expected him to gain some distance like the last archer he’d fought. But perhaps he either actually focused on blades, or didn’t dare turn his back on Zac while fleeing. Both the blades were crackling with the same lightning as the arrows he had shot at Zac earlier.
Zac ignored an earthen spear stabbing into him and pushed on toward the rogue-looking demon. He wanted to make short work of him and swung a horizontal swing intended to cleave him in two.
However, the demon almost seemed to have no bones in his body and curved his torso to avoid the swing and then retaliated by trying to stab Zac’s heart and throat. Zac was out of position with the swing and could only desperately protect himself with his free arm, really wishing he had a buckler right about now.
The knife heading for his heart plunged into his bicep, and the short sword changed trajectory slightly to avoid hitting his arm as well. It at least managed to nick his throat, and a small gout of blood spurted out. But at least it hadn’t hit an artery. The electric shocks hurt as well, but with Zac’s Endurance he could grit his teeth and simply force his body not to spasm. These arcs of lightning couldn’t compare to the black lightning he had tasted earlier as well.
He turned his hand to readjust his edge and tried to swipe the demon on the way back. The demon once again deftly repositioned his body so that he would be able to avoid it, but this time Zac wouldn’t be denied. Just as the axe blade was about to miss the demon’s throat, a translucent edge grew out a meter and cleanly decapitated the ranger.
Zac didn’t really want to show his ace while there still were three demons alive, but he had to kill the ranger. The ranger was the only one he wasn’t sure he would be able to catch if they started to flee. And if they were sane, they should. He had decimated half their force in almost no time. His wounds looked grisly but were nothing that would stop him from continuing his onslaught.
With his new skills and power-ups, he truly felt like the apex predator of his island.
42
Exodus
With only two demons left, not including the knocked-out warrior, Zac charged toward his next targets. The two demons briefly looked e
ach other in the eye, and both launched an attack before fleeing.
The tome-wielding demon’s attack was an almost invisible ripple in the air, whereas the earth mage erected a large wall. Zac once again threw his axe just before the wall completely obscured the two fleeing combatants, and then he crashed straight into the wall.
The wall was hastily erected and couldn’t withstand Zac’s momentum, and he blasted through it like a wrecking ball. Just as he did, the ripple hit him, making him nauseous and disoriented. But the attack wasn’t as strong as the earlier one, and he soon managed to dispel the effects.
A quick glance at the demon who used the ripple attacks showed her dead with an exploded chest, with his axe stuck in the ground some distance away from her corpse. But before he could continue on to kill the earth mage, he felt an intense amount of danger as he heard a whistling sound. It was the sword-wielding warrior Zac had punted earlier.
Somehow he had gotten up and snuck right behind Zac without him noticing, and his two-handed sword was bearing down on his throat. Zac had no time to dodge and could only put his hopes on the spell on his chest. The familiar golden sheen of the armor’s skill immediately enveloped him, just in time to intercept the large sword.
With a crash, the warrior was flung backward once again, and this time, Zac could hear the sound of bone breaking.
The earth demon was still running, and Zac couldn’t let him get away. He barreled after him and threw a knife at the back of the mage. A block of rock rose behind him, intercepting the dagger, but the scare made the mage stumble.
Zac immediately rushed to the fallen demon and ferociously stabbed down at his throat. However, a layer of rock appeared on the mage’s skin, creating another layer of defense. The knife simply couldn’t cut through it.
Terror was still evident in the demon’s eyes, and it stuttered some words in its own language. Zac ignored it and brought out the huge great sword from his pouch. He increased the weight to the max through the inscription on the blade, and slammed it down on the body. It was cruel, but he wouldn’t risk letting the mage somehow alert the army to what was going on.
Over 130 Strength and a heavy great sword resulted in a ruptured lump of flesh on the ground, and even a crater was created.
Zac didn’t waste any time and immediately ran back toward the last demon. He found him limping away from the scene of the battle, his sword discarded where he fell. He soon noticed Zac approaching, with fear and hatred evident on his face. Suddenly, he completely disappeared, shocking Zac.
He wondered if the demon had used some sort of teleportation skill that would allow it to escape. He furiously ran toward where the demon disappeared and looked around for any clues.
Zac saw a glimmer in the distance and immediately threw a dagger at it. Suddenly, the background looked like it was distorting, and the warrior reappeared, the dagger lodged in his arm. Zac ran over and, with a swing of the great sword, ended the fight.
The last demon had used an illusion skill like his array or something similar. That was also how he’d snuck up and almost decapitated him earlier. Zac was a bit surprised a meathead-looking warrior knew such a skill, as that felt like something that usually belonged to rogue-like classes.
It made him realize he couldn’t rely on his gaming experiences for everything. The system was quite omnipotent, and anything was possible.
With the demons killed, there was no hurry anymore, so Zac quickly treated most of his wounds and then gathered up all the corpses and their gear in his pouch. This also made sure none of the demons pulled a ruse on him and played dead, as nothing living could enter the pouch. He also retrieved his daggers and axe, and while doing so, he was attacked by the last barghest and gwyllgi from the roving party.
With their masters dead, they went back to their ordinary hyper-aggressive behavior. Without any demons shooting various things at him, he finished them off easily, officially eradicating the war party.
The fight had gone above his expectation, and he was almost like a fox let loose in a henhouse. His stats were getting increasingly scary for his level. Furthermore, the fight had also made him realize something. Not one of the demons he had fought thus far had used any Dao while fighting. They had used battle tactics and skills, but the indefinable quality of Dao, such as Zac’s heaviness and force he could imbue into his strikes, were missing. Perhaps gaining a Dao Seed was something uncommon, or at least hard, making it a rare boost reserved for the elite.
He was also very satisfied with his new skill [Chop]. It worked just as he hoped, providing a great method of sneak attacking. He wasn’t sure if it was designed to be used this way, but he felt it was the most effective method in this type of combat.
Zac had wanted to use the skill a bit more to test it out in battle, but unfortunately, he’d spent a good deal of the battle without the axe in his hand. He really hoped he would be able to pick up some backup axes or even throwing axes soon. Unfortunately, Azzun had been the only demon so far who fought with an axe.
Even though he’d luckily stopped the signal flare and finished the battle quickly, Zac didn’t feel relieved. The fight took place right by his camp, making him realize it was just a matter of time before he was exposed.
He spent the next hour going over the scene of the battle, meticulously removing any traces of battle that he could. He was forced to crush the earthen spikes into rubble, but the wall was crumbling by itself for some reason. Perhaps it was erected so hastily that it couldn’t properly stabilize, sort of like his [Chop] blade when making it too long.
When finally done, it wasn’t readily apparent a battle had taken place outside his camp. There were sections of overturned earth, though, as Zac had to hide the blood and viscera somehow. Hopefully, a day or two in the sun and wind would make it appear more natural.
Finally, Zac returned to the camp and properly stitched himself up. He had already removed the arrowhead, but the ugly gash in his face was still open. He’d prioritized hiding the scene of the battle and had only kept his mouth closed in hopes that it would help the wound close by itself.
After taking a look in the mirror, he saw it was already slowly starting to close. He knew that it would leave an ugly scar, permanently disfiguring his face.
Well, better ugly than dead, I suppose, Zac thought with a sigh. Besides, that scar was only the latest in a litany of wounds on his body accumulated over the last month.
Finally, he closed his eyes to sleep for two hours before getting up. His wounds were getting better. Most of the wounds had been quite shallow thanks to his high Endurance, and he felt healed enough for another day of battle.
While cleaning up the scene during the night, he made a difficult decision about his future. He would abandon camp, at least for now. The risk of returning home after a day of grinding monsters and finding himself in an ambush started to feel too high for comfort. He would only return if absolutely needed.
He started to pack up anything of use to bring with him. Luckily, he’d acquired another magic pouch from the battle, although its space was smaller than his first. It was halfway packed with various rocks and plants. It seemed that the demon parties were roving the island to collect samples of various things. Zac didn’t know why, but he felt they didn’t do it to compose a botanical encyclopedia.
His guess was that it was for healing remedies or poisons. Even before the world changed, plants with healing properties existed, and if they got crammed chock-full with Cosmic Energy, the effect might be far greater. Maybe the demons had some means to test whether the local flora possessed any value, so they collected it to be tested. That would explain why there were only a few samples of each type in the bag.
He left the rocks and herbs in, as he didn’t require a lot of space. The herbs might come in handy in the future, after all. He filled the other half with spare gear and the two luxurious chairs. He kept the table, rug, and parasol in his original pouch. He had grown fond of the furniture and didn’t want them seized by th
e demons if they found his deserted campsite.
He also tried storing the Nexus Node and the array flags, but it didn’t work. He wasn’t surprised, as he already knew he couldn’t move them too far from the camp either. He once tried it earlier, as he had wanted to use the gravity array as a trap device. But when he moved the flags too far away from his designated outpost, the flags started to vibrate ominously.
Apparently, they would self-destruct if they were moved too far. They were bought by the System as an outpost improvement, so the System restricted them somehow. Maybe he could purchase nonrestricted versions in the future in the shops he had seen in the outpost store. He could only leave them where they were and hope that the demons didn’t destroy them. Most of the things would be pretty cheap to purchase again, but losing the gathering array would hurt.
Finally, he tried to store his new pouch in his old one, but it didn’t work either. Perhaps one couldn’t place a magic space inside a magic space, as it would violate some law of space or whatever. He could only carry the two pouches next to each other on his belt.
Having packed all his essentials, he paused as he looked over the camp briefly, some sadness welling up in his heart. He probably wouldn’t return here until the demons were dealt with. He now had both brought a demon here for interrogation and also fought a large battle right at the steps of his camp. The risk of staying here was too large.
He could buy defensive arrays, but he held little assurance that something that only cost around a hundred thousand Nexus Coins could keep a whole demon army at bay. Besides, they simply needed to siege him by leaving a hundred men outside, and sooner or later, he would run out of resources and also fail his quests.
Defiance of the Fall: A LitRPG Adventure Page 22