Defiance of the Fall

Zac expected the Herald to be bisected , but with a shocked expression saw its seemingly simple robe light up and protect its body . The robe couldn’t remove the huge momentum from the swing though , and the monster was shot into a close wall like a rocket .

Zac rushed after it and was almost upon it to end the fight .

The Herald spat out a mouthful of purple blood from the impact and screeched angrily at Zac . Its four eyes started blazing ominously , and once again summoned flames . This time nothing in the cave was safe , as black insidious waves billowed in all directions from floor to ceiling . The Herald was like a demonic sun that radiated nefarious flames that wanted to consume the world . The mounds of resources instantly turned to ashes , and the few leftover imps perished as well . The only thing that could stand the onslaught was the cauldron which seemed completely unaffected by the flames .

Zac had already used his armor’s one-time defense inscription , and could only grit his teeth and force his way through the sea of fire . The fires would extinguish as soon as the Herald died , so he placed a bet that the fight wouldn’t last long .

The scorching pain that enveloped him was far worse compared to the normal hellfire of the smaller imps , and it caused him to scream and stumble . The swing that was supposed to cleave the Herald in two lost much of its power and his aim got off-kilt . But he at least managed to slice one of the Herald’s arm clean off spraying blood everywhere .

He shakily prepared to swing his axe once more , but the Herald had had enough . With a few flaps of its wings , it desperately tried to flee , leaving a trail of burning blood in its wake as it escaped through the flames . Every flap of its wings caused the flames to erupt in the air , creating a natural barrier from chasing it .

Zac couldn’t afford to let yet another Herald to flee his pursuit , and charged most of his remaining energy into Chop] once again , and furiously swung a five meter edge after the fleeing imp . But the imp was quick and he saw that his edge wouldn’t reach even when maxed out .

That was extremely bad news as the whole cave was still covered in the black flames , and they were quickly consuming him whole . If he didn’t kill the Herald he would likely perish before getting out of there . Anger and desperation filled Zac’s mind as he maniacally tried to increase the reach of the blade .

REACH! - he roared as the edge was moving horizontally in the imp’s direction .

Suddenly , the blade detached from his axe , and continued outward like a wave . It moved as fast as his swing did , and soon reached the back of the fleeing Herald . It proceeded and penetrated the imp without any resistance from the magic robe , Splitting its torso and wings in two .

The body various body parts of the Herald fell to the ground , and Zac thankfully saw the flames covering the cavern quickly snuff out . He didn’t have time to go over the battle scene , as a gang of screeching imps entered through the entrances . Now that the hellscape had subdued , the back-up could finally enter without being incinerated .

Zac was in no mood to fight these little demons , and threw out the huge salamander carcass to block the incoming fireballs . With the newfound room , he placed the Herald’s cauldron in his magic pouch and dashed out the same way as he came .

He kept running through the tunnels to create some distance from the area controlled by the imps , elated with the result of the fight . His bet had been successful .

He had planned to avoid a drawn-out fight with the Herald , and thrown everything he got on it from the start . With how dangerous the small imps were he knew that the Herald would be a true terror if allowed to fire off its attacks . He hadn’t even taken time to use his Eye of Discernment] on the boss , afraid it would slow him down a fraction of a second .

He had also learned his lesson from the fight with the Monkey King , ending the battle before reinforcements could arrive . Certainly , last time he had been tricked into thinking he killed all the backup until they sprang out of the ground like mushrooms . But that only showed that anything could happen in a fight , and the longer it dragged on the more variables could crop up .

With his blazing speed the imp boss only managed to shoot two attacks before he was killed , and only one of them had managed to hit him .

Zac touched to his scalp as he ran and grimaced as he felt that all the hair on his head was singed clean off . After a quick confirmation , the same held true for his eyebrows and beard . He didn’t have a mirror with him but he could only assume he looked like a beggar monk by now .

His felt body felt drained and burned , and he stopped as soon as he felt the distance was enough . He had consumed almost all his cosmic energy during the fight , and the hell flames the imp spewed out burned his vitality or soul as well , making him feel truly wrung out .