Defiance of the Fall

So it was with a mix of self-preservation and greed he had grit his teeth and finally decided to assail the first of the Heralds tomorrow , even if he wasn’t at the power level he’d like . The last few days he had scouted his target out , and he thought he had a fighting chance after observing it .

He woke up with the dawn of light the next day , and after his preparations he immediately set out . He had limited time until his self-imposed time limit . Depending on how the fight went , he might try to kill a second Herald today as well .

He walked through the forest with practiced ease , avoiding twigs and roots while still keeping a high tempo . The forest had changed considerably during the past weeks . It had grown extremely lush , gaining almost a primordial unsullied air . The trees had grown more robust , and the undergrowth was varied with both bushes , vines and a medley of flowers .

He did not know where they had come from , but it seemed that there were far more critters and other animals as well roaming both the forest floor and up in the crowns . However it always was quiet around his camp lately , as if the animals instinctively avoided his domain .

Zac made a beeline towards the western central area from the southern edge where his camp was located . During his excursions in the past weeks he had actually found the second herald , while last two still eluded him . He guessed that one of them resided in the mountains though , as it seemed that each Herald lorded over a cardinal direction of the Incursion . He hadn’t ventured into the mountain as of yet , as he had his hands full grinding monsters closer to home .

The unlucky Herald Zac had obliterated with a lucky roll had been in the southern part of the island . Zac had occupied the domain of the herald in a sense . That had explained why there were relatively fewer demons close to his base , as it was far from the lairs of the three remaining Heralds .

Chapter 19 - Vul

Even though Zac moved like a specter through the woods he couldn’t always avoid fights . A barghest was lying hidden behind a few bushes , and noticed Zac before he could reroute around it .

It immediately got up and without hesitation charged upon him .

Zac was completely unfazed by the oncoming beast , and circulated a small amount of cosmic energy through his body down to his legs . With a quick step he avoided the beast at the last second , giving it no time to adjust . He then followed up with a vicious swing down the throat of the passing beast . The barghest would have been decapitated had it not been for the limited size of Zac’s hatchet .

Instead he tore a huge gash that severed both muscles and jugulars from the top and then continued until exiting down on the bottom , resulting in the head barely staying on .

The demon continued for a few meters before collapsing with a thud . Zac continued on while going over the state of the axe . By now he had killed hundreds of barghests and the recent fight barely registered in his mind , even with the power-up of the beast . Even if the barghests had become stronger , they still were the most common and stupid of the monsters on the island .

The empowered Gwyllgi that focused on speed were far more annoying to deal with . He still had a hard time dealing with them without getting a cut somewhere .

When looking over the hatchet he couldn’t help feeling a sour lump in his throat . The axe was in a state of disrepair with scratches all over . The head had become a full two centimeters shorter from repeated sharpening against rocks . Zac knew the only reason the weapon still somewhat held together was that it was made from a solid piece of steel . Still , the shaft had started to bend , showing the strain it had been put under .

The combination of Zac’s superhuman strength and the hardness of demon bones had slowly warped the metal . He was quite worried , as he did not know what he’d do when his weapon finally broke . He would be able to buy a shop and hopefully get a weapon that way when he finally upgraded the outpost to a town . But until then there simply seemed to be no weapons on the island .

Zac sighed and continued on his way .

He barely used any energy during the fight , only enhancing himself for a few seconds . With the help of the gathering array he would be topped off again within a minute .

Zac kept stalking through the woods like death incarnate . Anything that was foolish enough to attack him was quickly ended with a swing .

He had initially been afraid that his daily excursions would we found out by the demons , but after a few days of observation he was quite content knowing he was safe as long as he did not hunt too close to the Heralds .