Zac had wanted to use the skill a bit more to test it out in battle , but unfortunately , he spent a good deal of the battle without the axe in his hand . He really hoped he would be able to pick up some back-up axes , or even throwing axes , soon . Unfortunately Azzun had been the only demon so far who fought with an axe .
Even though he 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 took 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 arrow-head , but the ugly gash in his face was still open . He 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 though , 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 monsters grinding 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 acquired another magic pouch from the battle , although its space was smaller than his first . It was half-way 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 it was 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 the demons if they found his deserted campsite .
He also tried storing the nexus crystals 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 non-restricted 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 100 000 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 .
With a sour feeling he set out , moving toward the western part of the island , where he fought the Herald . After arriving at the vicinity he dumped the bodies and tried to stage the area to look like it had happened there . He wasn’t too optimistic that he’d fool anyone though , but he didn’t want to waste time with burying them . They’d know the party was dead one way or another soon anyway , and he hoped to move their attention to this part of the island .
The corpses were left on the ground without any of their gear and weapons , as it was all pilfered by Zac .
Done with the task he set out again , this time heading for the mountain .
Chapter 43 - Stone Monkeys
Zac moved through the forest with determination . He felt that he couldn’t look around for information or clues anymore . He simply couldn’t find the last Herald , and he was making no headway regarding the General either .
The general was likely holed up in the city , and the last herald either stayed in the cave or in the city as well . He had traversed the whole island while grinding for his quest skills , and hadn’t even seen a trace of the alpha beast . The city and the cave were the last two options that he could come up with .
He needed to progress his quests , and the monkey mountain was the only way he could as he saw it . The other option was entering the cave , but he felt it was too risky for now . There was a lot of foot traffic to and from that cave , and it seemed they placed great importance on it . He had no idea of the topography inside either , meaning he might be stuck in a large cave with no other exits .
The mountain was a safer bet . While it was somewhat close to demon activity , the cave was located at the foot of the mountain towards the southeast . If he kept his activities to the western part and the central area of the mountain he should be able to act unconstrained without any demons noticing . That was as long as another war party didn’t happen upon him of course .
But the mountain sported a complicated terrain with a multitude of outcroppings , caves , and paths , making it convenient to escape even if he was found out .
He soon arrived at the mountain and stealthily started making his way forward , looking for targets . He was planning on thinning the herd for a few days while looking for the monkey king . Since the stone monkeys had a strong sense of camaraderie he was afraid that the monkey Herald would be able to summon hundreds of monkeys with a shout .
But if those animals were already dead he’d be able to fight the boss without any interruptions . He had already seen that no reinforcements came through the crystal , so every monkey he killed was one less to worry about in the future .