Defiance of the Fall

A thick group of roots shot up in front of the demon , and meshed together into a wooden shield to intercept the swing . Zac’s stats were overpowering though , and he slammed through the roots easily . Wood chippings flew everywhere like small projectiles from the strike . Unfortunately for Zac , the brief pause in the swing had allowed the demon to reposition and he could avoid the swing .

Zac felt an intense danger from behind and he didn’t dare hesitate . He jumped forward and crashed into the underling instead of swinging his axe again , pushing them both a few meters away and bringing both of them to the ground . As he jumped forward he felt the wind move right above where his head had been , from a swing of the leader .

The demon spit out a mouth of blood from the impact , but managed to wheeze a few words . A handful of vines shot out of the ground and stabbed into Zac’s chest and legs , trying to bore further into him .

The pain was excruciating but he could only ignore it and hope that his endurance was enough to protect his innards from the roots . With a roar he slammed down the axe . With his overbearing power he completely destroyed the head of the demon , and even created a crater where the axe head hit the ground .

From jumping over until killing him had taken less than a second , giving the leader no time to stop him .

The roots that the demon had summoned didn’t disappear , but they seemed to have stopped moving .

As Zac was jumping away from the body , another arrow soundlessly hit his leg , completely punching through it . The sharpness must have been extraordinary as it didn’t seem to slow down at all even with Zac’s high defense .

Zac Screamed in pain , but could only ignore it for now . The leader was upon him with another swing that almost ended him .

Zac was prepared for the swing as they drew huge wide arcs . He lunged forward after dodging in order to get in closer as the swing had passed . It seemed that the demon had ample battle experience though , and kneed Zac right in the face as he got close . The knee was imbued with the dark lightning , and this time it zapped Zac straight in the head .

Getting a knee in the face was bad , getting electrocuted in the head by demon lightning was worse . The power of the leader was huge , and Zac was flung away from the strike . The impact nearly broke his neck , and Zac was blinded by the pain .

But he roared and charged in again as he landed . Another arrow whizzed down , but Zac managed to hunker down so it only ripped a flesh wound on his back . He needed to turn the fight into a close combat brawl , which would render the great sword useless . It would also hopefully stop the intermittent arrows from coming , as the ranger would be hesitant to hit her leader .

He decided to meet the great sword head on in order to get in close . The demon had just used the lightning attack , and hopefully he needed to wait or charge it up again . The axe and great sword met again in a stupendous clash . The trees in the vicinity actually was actually moving slightly from the even stronger shockwave , and an incoming arrow was pushed away before even coming close .

When Zac was standing he could better utilize his strength , and this time he wasn’t pushed away . Shock was evident in the demon’s eyes , and he tried to create some distance . But Zac wouldn’t let him so he pushed forward and he grabbed the leader’s legs , and they both fell over with a thump .

Zac wanted a repeat of his last kill , and swung down his axe . However , he was still a bit fuzzy from the shock , and in the heat of the moment accidentally next to the leader’s head .

Zac refocused and started another swing , but the leader was fighting back . He punched Zac straight in the face and tried to push him away . The fist had the force of a wrecking ball , and a loud thud echoed out .

Zac got even groggier , but his constitution was no joke so he could endure it . He also had been swinging an axe constantly the last month , and muscle memory helped him . The half-moon edge swooped down toward the demon with superhuman force . As he had been pushed away he couldn’t reach the head , and instead aimed for the heart .

Zac noticed a surge of cosmic energy entering the armor from the demon mid-swing , and the runes on the chest plate lit up . The wheels were already in motion , so Zac could only bear down and hope for the best .

Just as the edge was about to slam into the armor , a golden sheen enveloped the leader . The axe hit the barrier , and it felt like he had slammed axe into himself rather than his enemy . The armor had somehow redirected the force back toward himself , and he flew up in the air from the rebound .

He slammed down right next to the demon , arms and legs akimbo . The demon quickly whipped out a dagger and tried plunge it in Zac’s lungs just as he landed . He managed to barely edge away in time , but the dagger still drew a nasty gash along his ribs .