Defiance of the Fall

Perhaps putting points in these stats wouldn’t be a waste for a warrior , and not because it would help with his lacking sense of direction . He had been pondering on attributes a lot while healing up from the poison . If he was to throw his 1-stat-strategy out the window he needed a new direction . One alternative was to focus on all his physical stats , including dexterity and vitality as well . Find a good balance between the stats that still had Strength as the main focus , but not as lopsided as now .

But a new alternative he hadn’t thought about was to start focusing on wisdom and intelligence . When he let go of his chosen path he started to think more deeply about what the various attributes could help him with , and he believed the mental attributes might help him with the Dao and Skill advancement .

If putting his free points in Intelligence allowed him to improve his Dao Seed faster and acquire new ones it might be more effective compared to putting them into more physical stats . If putting 10 points in wisdom helped him get another Dao Seed that gave 15 bonus attribute points , it was a worthwhile investment .

It might also be possible that even physical attacks needed those stats . His Chop] skill was approaching the realm of magic as it could be turned into a projectile now . Perhaps Wisdom and Intelligence would help it fly faster or further , rather than Strength .

He could only put aside those things for now , and for the hundredth sighed that he had no one to ask about these things .

The sounds of battle in the distance interrupted his thoughts . Who would be fighting down in the tunnels? Intrigued , Zac moved towards the clangor . He soon arrived at the mouth of a cave and saw four huge salamanders in a pitched battle against twice the amount of demons .

Earthen Spikes were shooting at the monsters while warriors were keeping the lizards at bay . A pyromancer conjured a huge fireball that shot into the open maw of a salamander , burning it alive from the inside . It started to furiously thrash about , slamming one of the warriors into the wall , at least breaking a few bones .

It was clear that apart from the fireball the salamanders held the advantage . Had the demons met only one or two of the monsters they’d likely have been able to defeat them , but four were too many .

The warriors didn’t have the power to keep the monsters occupied , and the earth mages’ attacks were largely ineffective . After their kill , one of the warriors sporting a large hammer and a shield shouted something in demonic and their party started to move backward .

Zac was happy to let this play out and hid behind a boulder , but the development put him in a predicament . The demons were moving in his direction .

After some deliberation , he picked up a few rocks and started pelting the demons . With his Strength he could likely throw them hard enough to blast through their bodies like bullets , but he controlled his power output . The first stones hit one of the warriors in the neck and in the back of the head of another .

It didn’t knock them out but contained enough force to daze them . In a pitched battle like this a brief mistake could be deadly , and the salamanders unhesitantly pounced . They bit onto the two demons and after a few furious shakes threw their mangled corpses away .

A small stream of cosmic energy entered Zac , and he was delighted to see that the System only awarded a small part of the full amount to him . It looked that the system did use some sort of distribution method that somehow gauged contribution or damage dealt .

He managed to throw another stone that actually knocked one of the mages out cold before he was discovered . One of the mages screamed angrily and shot a few earth spikes toward him . But a few hastily summoned spikes possessed no danger to Zac , and he broke them off with a wave of his axe .

Zac moved forward quick as lightning and grabbed the scruff of the mage . Then with a grunt he threw her like a doll right at the warrior that ordered the retreat . She slammed into him with enough force that they both helplessly went sprawling on the ground .

The salamanders were quick on the uptake and started helping out with the pincer attack . The two downed demons were quickly dealt with and suddenly it was four demons left versus three salamanders and Zac .

With the frontline down the remaining mages were in dire straits . They desperately erected defenses against the hulking monsters , and then tried to force their way through Zac . But Zac was well versed in anti-mage tactics by now and quickly threw the pyromancer over the hastily erected wall . The mage wailed and then went quiet forever .