Free Web NovelChapter 47: Stone Staff
Victor remained on his knees, taking deep breaths to catch his breath as he stared at Gravisk with determination in his eyes. The dust from the explosion of dark energy was still dissipating.
"H-how did you do that, human? How did you make air become material?" Gravisk asked incredulously.
Victor stood up slowly, holding his sword in his right hand and keeping his gaze fixed on the demon. "I’m not a wizard like you, Gravisk. I’m a hunter, and hunters learn to use what’s around them to survive."
The demon watched Victor intently with its glowing eyes "An interesting power... but it won’t be enough to beat me, a demon of unparalleled power!" It slammed its stone staff into the ground and the sound echoed like a roar throughout the cave and beyond.
Victor wasn’t intimidated by Gravisk’s grandiose words and he knew exactly why Gravisk had hit the ground with its staff like that. Gravisk did it to lure the monsters outside the cave inside and surround Victor.
As it was, Victor now had little time before he was completely surrounded, so he had no more time to lose.
When the demon pointed its staff at him again, threatening to launch another magical energy attack, Victor threw his sword hard in the staff’s direction.
Gravisk, for its part, raised the stone staff as a barrier, believing that this would be enough to protect it from the sword.
However, Victor had put so much force into the throw that when the sword collided with the staff, the impact was like a pickaxe breaking stone. freewebnøvel.com
A crack echoed through the cave and the staff began to crumble a few moments later, the sword falling to the ground along with the stones that made up the staff.
Gravisk, surprised and stunned, took a few steps back and watched what was left of its object of power fall at its feet.
"Impossible!" Gravisk growled, looking at Victor with an incredulous expression. "You shouldn’t have that much strength! You’re an ordinary human!"
Victor didn’t reply immediately. He took advantage of the demon’s moment of confusion to catch his breath and plan his next move.
It was then that Gravisk stretched out one of its hands to attract more stones and try to form another staff.
On the other hand, this gave Victor another opportunity to advance. So he advanced towards Gravisk who tried to form its staff more quickly, but, before it could complete the job, Victor struck a sharp blow, cutting Gravisk’s outstretched hand.
A cry of pain echoed through the cavern as the demon stepped back again, clutching the bloody stump where its hand used to be, and the demon’s left hand fell to the ground.
Shock and bewilderment mingled on Gravisk’s cadaverous face.
"What? What? Your sword...?" It was saying, but when it looked at Victor’s right hand, it wasn’t the same silver sword as before that the human was wielding. It was the black sword of Elban, which had been the main part of the seal for the last fifteen years.
"Wait, wait a minute!" Gravisk tried to argue, retreating further back.
The demon even raised its right hand in a gesture of apparent surrender.
"You win, human," muttered Gravisk. "I underestimated your skill and courage. Please spare my life. I pose no further threat to you."
Victor watched the demon warily, his expression revealing no sign of confidence in Gravisk’s words. He knew that a demon would never surrender easily, especially one like Gravisk, whose cunning was as sharp as its claws. And the glint in Gravisk’s eyes revealed that it was only trying to buy a little time.
"I won’t fall for that trick, Gravisk," Victor replied sternly.
Gravisk let out a theatrical sigh and didn’t take long to act. It slammed its one hand down hard, and a translucent wave of energy swept through the chamber in a second.
Victor felt a dark energy pass through him and permeate his surroundings, leaving the whole place with an icy, sinister atmosphere. This was unlike anything Gravisk had done before, it had done something it shouldn’t have.
"What did you do, Gravisk?" Victor asked, feeling the Den’s intense shaking around him.
The demon smiled mischievously. "You were right. I would never surrender so easily, especially to a human." Gravisk growled, its voice echoing like thunder in the cave.
At that moment, a silhouette began to emerge from the ground in the center of the chamber, and Victor retreated a few steps the moment he saw it.
Then another silhouette came out, this time just two meters from Victor, and then another and another. They were like shadows, but they were standing and muttering inaudible things. Without stopping, these things began to come out of the ground all over the place.
"You brought obsessive spirits into the real world? Do you realize how serious this is?" Victor asked, looking at the shadows.
"I’m a demon, do you really think I care how my actions affect others? I can play with the souls of mortal people like you after they’re gone and make them work for me! What could be more appropriate and fun for a demon?" Gravisk asked and was finally free to make another staff.
To make matters worse for Victor, the grunts and screams of the undead who were roaming the forest and had been attracted by the demon began to echo through the cave, coming from the path behind Victor. This path was the only way in and out of the entire cave.
"Looks like you’re surrounded, human!" said Gravisk with the wide fangs in its mouth covering much of its face in a genuine expression of contentment. "Now, you must choose between having your soul completely consumed by the obsessing spirits or having your flesh devoured to the bone by my minions. I’m going to sit here and watch you die." It said, crossed its arms and literally sat down to watch what Victor would decide.
After all, Gravisk was right about Victor’s limited options.
If Victor chose to stay inside the circle, he could try to fight off the slow-walking obsessing spirits, but they were in their dozens and their numbers were increasing, not to mention that Gravisk still had all their hearts.
Besides, Victor didn’t know what would happen if he had his soul completely consumed by spirits. Would he die and come back or would it be different?
Any normal person would choose to continue fighting in this place, because fighting a horde of undead in an environment as cramped as a cave was suicide, and Victor was naturally tempted to do so too, because Gravisk was injured.
On the other hand, he knew he had to think logically and put into this equation that dying to the undead probably wouldn’t be the end of the story for him.
