Defiance of the Fall

It followed up with a few frantic swipes with its claws , which rent long gashes all along his back while he helplessly lay on his stomach beneath the impaled beast .

Luckily for Zac the thrashing didn’t continue for too long , as a huge amount of cosmic energy entered him . Some helped replenish a small part of his severely depleted reserves , while most worked toward leveling him up .

The surroundings felt extremely quiet after the sounds of battle had subsided . He lay panting on the ground , and couldn’t help smile with bloodied teeth . He’d done it .

But just as Zac felt elated over his victory , a responding roar echoed in the distance . And then another , and suddenly the forest was filled with a cacophony of bestial roars .

Backup was coming .

Chapter 21 - Hurt

Zac only knew pain as he pushed forward through the forest , not even knowing if he went in the right direction . From all directions he could hear roars from different beasts closing in . His consciousness was hazy , and he only moved on instinct by now . He had been fleeing for a while since being forced to run from the roars in the forest . He had only had time to yank the mangled hatchet out of the Herald’s eye socket before using the little cosmic energy he had to speed away .

A crash was heard to his left and a barghest bounded toward him to intercept his flight . He intuitively tried to dodge but his feet did not listen to his commands , and he fell over . It was lucky too for Zac as the demon dog flew straight over his fallen form .

Zac numbly got to his feet and continued on . Soon the barghest had managed to run around and came toward him again . The scant cosmic energy in Zac’s body circulated as he suddenly turned toward the demonling and with a growl swung his mangled hatchet down in a mighty overhead arc .

The strike hit clean on the beast’s forehead , slamming the maw closed and its head into the ground . The power was so strong that its thick cranium cracked and both blood and brain matter covered the axe . The beast was stopped right in its track and lay on the ground convulsing

Zac had no time to finish off the beast as a movement in his periphery made him instinctively swing outward . The axe head hit a dark shape and elicited a pained yelp . It was a Gwyllgi which had planned to take advantage of the fight and strike a finishing blow at his head . Unfortunately for the hound , this had happened dozens of times by now and a response had been engraved in Zac’s subconscious by now .

The Gwyllgi fell down , likely with a few broken ribs from the impact of the axe . It had hit the beast with its blunt side , but with Zac’s power and cosmic energy such a strike was still lethal if positioned correctly . Zac wasted no time and finished it off with another swing down on its head .

The physical exertion worsened his wounds even more , and he suddenly puked out a mouth of blood with chunks of something else .

But he didn’t stop . Zac drudged on almost like a zombie , felling any foolish oncoming beasts in an eye-for-an-eye type of disregard for his own body .

After either a few minutes or a few hours the onslaught of demons had ended , a familiar sight jolted his almost dormant consciousness awake . It was a large oak standing solitary in a glade , with an assortment of flowers strewn across the ground . The sight gave almost a spiritual impression , like the oak was a spirit tree of some woodland elves .

And more importantly , this tree actually represented salvation for Zac . He shakily put his axe into his belt , and started to slowly climb the tree . His left arm didn’t quite respond , and he had to arduously move upwards with his right arm and legs . On a normal day he could be at the top of the tree in seconds , but now it felt like climbing a mountain .

He had completely run out of cosmic energy , and it felt like each cell in his body had been completely wrung out . Every movement was powered by force of will rather than anything else .

Finally he was roughly five meters above the ground , and crawled up on what looked like a plateau . It was three sturdy branches that grew in a close proximity in a row , with the middle branch grew slightly lower . They had together had formed almost an enclosure . Along the branches there were vines wired to make walls and flooring , and finally some cut of branches full of leafy growth had been placed around to insulate and hide the enclosure .

It was one of the many camps Zac had created over the last few weeks . Every time he found a tree , a cave , or some other natural formation that could be turned into a secluded resting stop he had stopped and turned it into a camp .

One never knew when one had to hide from beasts or wouldn’t be able to get back to camp , so he had prepared these as a precaution .