Defiance of the Fall

After half a month of living with the demons , he was finally exposed . It was better than he expected to be honest , as he wasn’t really the stealthy type . It seemed he could only begrudgingly give up on finding any more mining foremen , and instead refocus on the monkey king . It was time to head back the way he came from , and search for an alternative exit .

But suddenly Zac got an acute sense of danger , and instinctively dove to the side . A soundless black arrow flew past him where his head had just been and a throng earth spikes followed right after . Zac scrambled to his feet and found himself face to face with over twenty demons swarming into his cave from all exits .

This clearly was an ambush that they prepared for some time , as they entered from both exits simultaneously . Feeling like a caged animal , Zac growled and immediately ran toward one of the groups , trying to avoid a pincer attack .

As if practiced beforehand , the group started to back away from him , with all the mages erecting barriers to keep him at bay . There were the translucent magical barriers accompanied by earth walls and earthen spikes . There was even a tree mage who manipulated the subterranean vines to ensnare his feet .

Meanwhile , Zac got pelted by the other group of demons with an array of ranged attacks . He could only give up his charge in order to avoid most of it . As he dodged he turned around toward the attackers who harassed him from behind and swung his axe in a mighty horizontal arc .

A translucent blade grew to four meters long in an instant and then shot toward the surprised group . Only a few in the back managed to dodge in time , and the others could only hastily erect defenses .

With Zac’s power the defenses of the average demon were simply insufficient , as it tore through them one by one . The blade wasn’t perfectly stable though , and after slicing through 6 demons it flickered out of existence .

Two daggers came whooshing straight behind the huge blade , one slamming into an eye and the other into the gut of another demon . Satisfied , Zac turned back and started pressing forward through the defenses of the group .

He summoned his large edge but kept it at maximum stable capacity for now . As the attacks from behind had paused from his strike he could once again focus fully on the group he had initially charged at .

He slammed the axe down on one of the translucent barriers and it cracked like fragile glass . Two spears stabbed into him as he advanced , one lodging itself in his side and the other got stuck on the bone of his pelvis .

It was two warriors who used their long weapons trying to keep him at distance . Zac ripped one of the spears out of the hands of the demon , making him stumble forward , and slammed the butt of the spear at the other warrior . The spear broke in two and made the demon fly into the wall with a thud .

Immediately after he actually threw his axe straight in the chest of one of the mages . He didn’t know which kind he was , but he died instantly from the strike . He brought out his identical axe from his pouch and continued to press forward .

A few arrows slammed into his back , but only elicited a grunt in response as he pressed forward . He once again got the prickling sensation of danger and sidestepped without hesitation . An arrow flew straight past him and once again missed his head . Unfortunately , the archer that shot the super-powered black arrows still was alive .

He kept pushing forward , and with a great leap he was within the group of demons . He ate a spear strike and two stalactite attacks by the earth mages due to his reckless charge but now he was within striking distance of the demons . Zac started madly swing his axe , with Chop] charged to its limit .

He kept taking various hits but for every strike he received , he returned one in kind . And with Zac’s far superior stats he whittled down the group to only 3 combatants from 9 in under 10 seconds . The survivors from the other group joined their brethren in the fight , and Zac found himself encircled by the 6 last surviving demons .

Zac was completely drenched in blood by now , both his own and the demon’s , and filled with small wounds from head to toe . Almost ten arrows were sticking out of his body at various spots , making him look like a demonic porcupine . He was panting and it looked like it was a chore to keep his axe raised , but he was still standing . Fighting twenty demons at once was a bit more than he could confidently handle , even in an enclosed space like this .

None of the demons were keen on being the first to attack , as over 15 demons already had made the ultimate sacrifice and they didn’t want to be next in line . They seemed to be content to simply watch as Zac slowly bled out .

They all kept a healthy distance from him , making him unable to reach them even with Chop] , and he currently didn’t dare use his ranged attack due to the huge consumption of energy .