Defiance of the Fall

Zac knew he couldn’t keep stalling and threw a dagger at one of the mages , who quickly summoned a barrier . The translucent wall shook when the dagger hit it , but it held true and the dagger dropped to the ground . Zac didn’t want to throw his axe as his other one still was lodged in the mage some distance away .

Needing to break the status quo , he moved his hand down to his belt , and with underhand throw hurled a large crystal sack at another demon . The demon slightly froze from seeing a small mountain of wealth flying in his direction , and even instinctually reached out his hand to catch it .

But how could a heavy sack thrown by Zac be so easy to catch? It hit the demon who crashed into the wall behind with a wet thud . He slumped down on the ground and didn’t move . The other five demons all charged at him as if by command , throwing desperate attacks at him .

With only 5 demons left Zac finally threw his axe at a mage keeping his distance . He hastily erected an earth wall , but the axe had the momentum of a meteor and passed the rising wall and blasted a hole through the mage before he could also activate his stone skin .

He took out one of his large swords out of his pouch and with a sweep slapped away two incoming spears . He then charged straight at the closest warrior . The warrior tried to keep Zac at bay with his spear , but Zac simply swung his sword at it with enough force that it broke the fingers of the warrior , and continued into melee range .

With a growl , he stabbed the great sword into the demon’s gut , and with a ferocious upwards tug ripped him in two , drenching the surroundings in a storm of blood . A second spear stabbed into his side , but it only added yet another shallow wound to the tally . The three remaining demons seemed to understand that they didn’t have the power to contend with him , and simultaneously started absorbing inordinate amounts of cosmic energy .

Zac didn’t want to see what a triple suicide explosion looked like , and desperately ran toward the closest target and decapitated him . He continued toward the next immediately , but as he approached a resounding explosion threw him ten meters away and straight into a wall .

Zac puked out a mouthful of blood , and his wounds only got worse . Just as he shakily got up to his knees his vision filled with a bloated demon falling down in front of him . It was the last living demoness , chock-full of cosmic energy . The demoness stared into Zac’s eyes as she shed one solitary tear before she blew up with a tremendous explosion .

Chapter 58 - Quest

The world was shaking nauseatingly and an incessant ringing filled Zac’s ears . He shakily got to his feet but immediately fell down again . His state was already pretty bad , but the last blast completely messed him up . His new dress had used the golden protection just a few hours ago , making it unusable for another day .

Luckily he managed to drag a corpse over at the last second to use as a shield from the blast , otherwise , he might have bit the bullet , 103 Endurance or not . And now he was covered in a blood mush from the demon shield to boot . However the last minute protection was far from enough , and it felt like everything in his body was broken .

But he knew he couldn’t stay where he was . The demons somehow knew his position , and he had no other recourse but to flee . He shakily got to his feet and collected his two axes , and only swiped up a few knives if convenient . Zac didn’t dare to properly loot the bodies as he needed to put distance from the cave .

His movements were extremely slow , even if he mentally screamed at his legs to move faster . He desperately wished he had some health and stamina potions right now like in a game , but the only thing he got was a cauldron full of poison .

After hesitating for a few seconds he took out his canteen with the azure water from the pond . The water was crammed full of cosmic energy and might help him recover enough for him to properly flee from the area . The problem was that he had no idea whether it also contained something else lo poison or deadly super bacteria .

Zac knew he couldn’t be picky at a moment like this , and had to risk it . With a few chugs he downed a couple of mouthfuls of the azure water . It tasted sweet and cooling in his mouth , and was hands down was the best tasting beverage he ever had . But as soon as the water entered his throat it started burning worse than the strongest spirits he knew , making him feel like he swallowed a sun rather than some water .

The burning feeling didn’t abate in his stomach , but rather kept intensifying . He felt his body was turning into a pressure cooker that was ready to burst . Veins popped out all over his body and he was forced to stop walking from the intense pain . Sweat was pouring down his face like a waterfall and even his eardrums popped from the pressure .