Chapter 28: Melee
Zac was a bit unsure of how to proceed. He knew that one should maintain the initiative in a battle, but he didn’t want to just charge over like a stupid barghest.
His enemies made the choice for him. The leader started advancing on him, anger smoldering in his eyes. Both his hands gripped the great sword, which was angled down toward the ground.
The other man was stationary, but mumbling something in their own language.
Zac could only put his game face on. He was still hurting all over from the dark lightning, but he pretended he was fine. With his axe in his hand he got ready for round two.
Zac really didn’t want to meet the great sword straight on. The leader seemed to have roughly the same level of strength as he did, and even if he managed to parry the strike, he was afraid that he would be shocked again from the skill. He would have to fight around it somehow.
Luckily a weapon of that size was unwieldy, and the trajectories would hopefully be telegraphed.
Zac took out a second knife, leaving him with only one remaining. He launched it at the weaker enemy, and started to rush forward.
The demon deflected the knife with a couple of roots even though the force from Zac’s throw was immense. The demon obviously was some sort of earth- or tree-mage, and the roots were far sturdier than something coming from a normal tree.
The demon was interrupted in his chanting though, which was Zac’s main goal. If he actually had managed to hurt him, all the better.
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 andgreat 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.