Chapter 62 (Patreon)

Zac brought out his second axe from his pouch, nervously glancing around. His plan had been to kill the herald as well, but being stared at by hundreds of hungry eyes quickly extinguished any desire to remain.

Zac shot back away from the tree, and started cutting his way out of the packed masses. But how could leaving with the treasure be so easy? Combatants from both camps furiously impeded his path, and he was beset by attacks from all directions.

With a furious roar he overcharged [Chop] and created a wide circle of death with a radius of 6 meters with one fluid motion before he continued. But he only managed to take one step as an intense hair-raising danger made him turn around.

A silver sword was aimed straight at his throat from behind, and Zac barely had time to block it with the enlarged edge of [Chop]. The power of the strike was enormous, and Zac was flung back from force. He didn’t even have time to land as a molten spear struck him in his back, the searing pain eliciting a howl.

Neither the herald nor the general were ready to give up the fruits, and for a second put their differences aside in order to hunt down Zac. The same couldn’t be said of their underlings of course, as their furious melee quickly resumed after the fruits were snatched. The monkey horde was once again starting to lose control of the situation, but this time Zac was too occupied to do anything about it. The fires started to grow, and soon the whole valley would likely be consumed in a conflagration.

Zac had no time to worry about his island burning down, as he currently had two formidable foes to contend with. With steely eyes he activated chop to the limit he could sustain it, and charged at the demons. With a roar he swung the axe in an upwards curve, rending a huge gash in the ground as he did. The edge flew toward the general, who Zac estimated to be the most formidable foe.

With a slanted blade the demon managed to nullify most of the force, and redirected the swing upward. He then immediately followed up with a quick forward stab aimed straight at Zac’s heart. Zac barely managed to inch his chest to the side in order to avoid the blade, but it still tore a bloody gash along his chest. The sword seemed to be of superior make, as it had actually ruined the inscribed dress he wore over his armor.

The herald wouldn’t miss the opportunity either, and spat some magma in Zac’s direction. Most luckily missed, but some splattered on Zac’s arm, and some sizzling could be heard. Zac could only press forward, hoping to end things quickly.

He used every trick he had learned from [Axe Mastery] trying to get past the sword of the general in order to do some damage. Each swing was imbued with all the strength he could exert, and wailing sounds of his axe filled the air. He even swapped between using his Dao and using [Chop] trying to disrupt the general’s rhythm.

But it seemed that nothing worked against the demon. He smoothly deflected or dodged every strike that Zac put out, seemingly not even straining. His strength clearly wasn’t at the same level as Zac’s, but he made up for it with skill with the blade. Still, Zac judged his Strength to be far above 100 though, as every strike with the blades created terrifying collisions, the shockwaves keeping any fire out of their way. The ground beneath their feet kept cracking and getting destroyed as well.

Even more dangerously it seemed that the demon also possessed a Dao Seed, or at least was beginning comprehend one. His strikes contained a sense of sharpness, and the shockwaves from his strikes actually cut small wounds on Zac’s body when the air hit him.

The herald had gone somewhat passive, seemingly content in letting the two duke it out for a bit. It threw the occasional spear or boulder at Zac, but also was helping out his brethren against the demon army.

Zac was steadily accruing wounds from his fight with the demon general, as he wasn’t able to dodge his lightning quick stabs. The best he could do was to avoid the sword hitting fatal spots by adjusting his body. Even worse, it seemed the general was one of the demons who used the black lightning attacks.

He used it far more freely compared to the first demon he had met. Every strike contained the biting sting of the arcs, and it seemed that the lightning was actually slowly accumulating inside Zac’s body. His arm suddenly jerked from the shock, completely exposing his chest. The demon seemed prepared, and with a lunge stabbed his sword straight in Zac’s chest.

Lightning poured freely into his body, and Zac coughed up a mouthful of blood from the damage. He might have passed out from the pain but the lightning kept him awake. To make matters worse lava spikes erupted from the ground from a stomp of the Herald.

Surprisingly, the spikes shot toward the general, with the largest one aiming straight towards his exposed heart. It seemed that the Herald tried for a double knock-out. However, the general simply snorted and suddenly all the spikes were cut off. Hovering next to him was the sword that the demon had kept on his back throughout the battle.

It crackled with black lightning, and seemed to have no problem with defying the laws of gravity. It hovered a few rounds around the general before it returned into the scabbard on his back on its own.

Abruptly the spike on the back of Zac’s axe head slammed into the temple of the Herald, instantly killing it. Zac had taken advantage of the brief pause in the herald after its attack, and used it to mount a surprise attack. Zac had consistently focused all his energy on attacking the general thus far, and the Herald had grown lax. It had all been in order to create an opportunity to take one of the enemies out.

A huge surge of cosmic energy entered Zac’s body, and he felt himself gain another level. There was no time to go over it though, as the general renewed his attacks on him. Zac once again found himself at an impasse, steadily losing ground.

A tremendous amount of roaring erupted in the surroundings as well. The monkeys seemed like they had lost their minds, and started madly swing at the demons. But in their madness they completely gave up on defense, and started dropping with even faster speed compared to before. One after another a monkey died, becoming food for the expanding fires. The flames hadn’t died out due to the death of the Herald, and it seemed they had become a force of their own instead as they spread over the dried leaves and husks.

He desperately tried to swing faster and with more power to turn the tides, but the general felt like an impenetrable wall of deft blades. As he kept fighting and swapping back and forth between [Chop] and the Dao, something suddenly clicked in his mind, and he once again summoned out the fractal blade.

This time it was different however, as it held a darker hue and emanated the aura of a lofty mountain. Even the fractals on the edge had grown denser, weaving another line of inscriptions along the edge. He finally managed to integrate his Dao with his skill, and the result wasn’t as simple as one plus one equals two. It rather seemed something new was born out of the fusion.

With renewed vigor Zac roared and furiously swung his axe at the general, aiming to end it all with one strike. It was a huge overhead swing aimed at the demon’s head, and it carried the aura of a falling meteor.

The demon immediately sensed something was wrong, but didn’t have time to dodge. With a roar the sword on his back flashed into his free hand, and he held up both his swords in the air in order to block the strike.

It wasn’t enough however, and the force slammed him down to his knees, the impact blowing any debris or bodies in the surroundings far away. His block wasn’t enough, and it pushed his blades down. A golden sheen flashed into existence, but it only held for a second before it cracked. The force in the strike contained everything Zac had learned and gained so far, and a flimsy armor inscription wouldn’t stop it.

An amulet around the neck of the demon started shining with blinding light, and a silver shield winked into existence. It looked like the shield a celestial, as it shone with brilliant lights as it met the oncoming axe.

The collision didn’t create a huge impact as Zac expected, but it rather seemed the shield somehow absorbed the momentum. After the strike the shield started to crack, and the general spit out a mouthful of blood, and a crack could also be heard in his right arm. It looked like using that amulet didn’t come without its price. But it was enough to stop Zac’s monstrous swing.

The general didn’t seem as lax as before, and with an angry roar he got to his feet. With a couple of furious slashes he created some distance from Zac, then pointed his sword towards the sky. His second blade crackled with an extreme amount of lightning, and suddenly flew over ten meters up in the sky. The lightning kept expanding around it, creating a wide field of a lightning hell-scape.

Suddenly the black arcs changed, and actually turned into sword silhouettes covered. It reminded Zac of his own cosmic energy edge, but the danger he felt from the roughly hundred swords sinisterly hanging above was above anything he had felt thus far. The general didn’t pull any punches anymore, and looked to completely eradicate him.

Suddenly the lightning blades started falling towards Zac like a heavenly punishment. Any one of the blades could kill Zac if it hit, and there were over a hundred of them incoming. Knowing there was nowhere to hide from the strike, Zac could only fight it head-on. Cramming all his remaining cosmic energy into his fractal on his hand he created his largest edge thus far, sporting almost 8 meters long blade. It was imbued with the Dao of Heaviness, and with a mighty roar he launched it like a projectile up against the incoming sword rain.

For a second it seemed like a colossal mountain rose from the ground to fight a heavenly thunder above, in a struggle between the Heavens and Earth. The collision was tremendous and the chaotic energies temporarily blotted out the sky. Errant lightning blades fell all over the area, killing and maiming both monkeys and demons.

Zac had managed to avert most of the attack with his colossal edge, but he was completely drained and his head hurt. Furthermore, his swing hadn’t been able to destroy all of the falling blades and he was impaled by multiple lightning swords. The general was panting as he walked over to Zac, one arm hanging limply to his side.

His second sword floated above his head, looking like a sinister scorpion’s stinger. Its crackling lightning had dimmed considerably, but it still held a strong killing intent within. Their eyes met for a brief second and the sword shot down towards Zac’s head. He tried to muster up a defense, but he could only feebly lift his axe in an attempt to avert the incoming sword.

A spear of complete darkness suddenly emerged out of the general’s chest and lifted him up in the air, forcing him to spit out a huge mouthful of blood. The sinister looking weapon completely impaled him, and likely completely obliterated his heart.

Behind the general a nondescript demon in average gear was standing, with a determined glint in his eyes as he looked upon his dying leader. The general arduously turned his head and when he saw his assailer his eyes shrunk to a needle point.

With his last breath he let out a huge roar that covered the whole battlefield, garnering the attention of all the combatants.

“OGRAS!!!”