Wasting no time he rushed toward him , trying to avoid the leader and his great sword . The great sword whizzed in a wide upwards arc , seemingly trying to cut Zac’s in two .
Zac pushed forward with his legs and jumped forward into a roll to avoid the swing , but somehow the leader changed trajectory mid swing , and still managed to nick Zac in the side . The cut drew blood but wasn’t too deep , and fortunately the black lightning didn’t emerge again . It seemed the leader couldn’t continuously use the skill .
Zac ignored the pain and quickly got on his feet and charged at the underling . The leader was right behind him , so he quickly swung his axe downward , hoping for a quick kill .
A thick group of roots shot up in front of the demon , and meshed together into a wooden shield to intercept the swing . Zac’s stats were overpowering though , and he slammed through the roots easily . Wood chippings flew everywhere like small projectiles from the strike . Unfortunately for Zac , the brief pause in the swing had allowed the demon to reposition and he could avoid the swing .
Zac felt an intense danger from behind and he didn’t dare hesitate . He jumped forward and crashed into the underling instead of swinging his axe again , pushing them both a few meters away and bringing both of them to the ground . As he jumped forward he felt the wind move right above where his head had been , from a swing of the leader .
The demon spit out a mouth 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 actually was actually moving slightly from the even stronger shockwave , 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 he 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 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 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 axe into himself rather than his enemy . The armor had somehow redirected the force back toward himself , 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 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 focus and locate the elusive ranger . He spotted here up in a tree not far away from the fights .
With a steely gaze that spoke of death he got on his feet and started running towards her .
Chapter 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 mid-air he flung it with full force , punching a hole in her back .