The slap reverberated through his skull, and he was sent flying. He slammed against the wall with a painful thud.
Pain coursed through his head, and his right ear throbbed. Azaroth sat up with a groan and looked at his stinging hand. "Glad that I put the energy on my left hand."
At the last second of the monster's slap, Azaroth had protected his head with his energy-covered hand.
"My head would probably have been blown off if I hadn't." He checked his chaos core, which was not as full as before. "I wish I had the full essence of my normal core too."
He swayed a little as he stood. The monster hadn't checked if Azaroth was alive or not. What exactly was the monster doing here? It was stronger than the Crypt rank. Probably an Initiate rank.
"How much essence will it provide?" he wondered as he started walking toward the monster. The monster was searching the corpse.
What are you looking for? Azaroth wondered, watching the play of muscles on the creature's shoulder. One swing of that massive hand and Azaroth was gone.
The trick was to not get hit. Azaroth knew, but it would be almost impossible. The creature was impossibly fast, and its reflexes were as good as Azaroth's. He also couldn't match it in strength. The only option was to keep redirecting its axe.
Azaroth got closer, and the monster swung its axe in a wide arc, but Azaroth had expected it. He simply moved back and let it pass. Then he darted in, his sword struck fast, and he cut off one of the monster's ears.
The monster stared at Azaroth and then at its bloody ear, as if it could not believe this weak human had cut it. Then it bellowed and charged at him.
They traded furious blows, and Azaroth was using all his energy to keep redirecting the powerful strikes that sent stinging vibrations through his arm every time.
Every time the monster's axe went wide, Azaroth was there to take advantage. Now the creature was dripping blood all over from the shallow cuts Azaroth had given it.
It growled in frustration, backing away a little.
Azaroth tried to control his breathing. He was getting tired, and his shoulder ached from the strong blows he had exchanged with the creature.
"The only thing keeping me alive is my swift movement, thanks to the chaos technique making me fast and a little strong. But it won't be enough to kill this monster." Azaroth directed his energy to his sword hand.
Then he charged the monster. The creature's dark eyes widened in surprise that Azaroth was now running toward it.
It swung its giant axe low at Azaroth, but the lost seconds cost it. Azaroth jumped as far as he could and twisted in midair while slashing down. His sword met the wooden part of the axe, cut it cleanly in two, and sent the axe head deep into the wall.
All the while, Azaroth had vaulted off the face of the monster when the sudden weight loss unbalanced it.
Azaroth hit the ground hard, but he was already backing away. He smirked as the creature stared dumbly at its hand; it now held a useless broken stick. "I bet you didn't see that coming."
It had been a risky gamble, and Azaroth hated taking unsure gambles, but he had no choice. He would take risks when needed.
The monster threw the wood in its hand down, bared its fangs, and flexed its claws.
Azaroth gripped his sword tight. The energy warped around his hand had doubled the strength of each of his swings now.
They charged each other—Azaroth with his sword and the monster with its claws out. They traded blows again and again, and this time it was in Azaroth's favor, even though the monster was using two hands to fight now.
Azaroth pumped energy into his hand and went for a violent slash that sent the monster's right hand flying.
It roared, and its eyes bulged as it gripped its right elbow with its left hand. It went low on its knees and growled in pain.
Azaroth smirked. "Strength is not everything, especially if you don't know how to use it."
The monster growled at him.
"Indeed, I agree," a playful voice said.
Azaroth went very still. Who just answered him? He kept an eye on the monster and glanced around quickly. Who could it be? Could it be the red eye? He dismissed that thought. The red eye didn't sound like this.
"Who are you?" Azaroth demanded.
"Oh... so cold. You don't have to be so suspicious. I might just be your best friend."
Azaroth narrowed his eyes. Whoever was here, he doubted they were the Hound. How long had they been here? It disturbed Azaroth that he couldn't sense any presence until it revealed itself. He was getting tired of it.
"Are you with the Hounds? Are you a Hound?" Azaroth asked.
"Of course not, and you know it... you want to trace my voice, don't you?" the voice said in a sing-song tone.
Indeed, that was what Azaroth wanted to do, but he didn't deny or accept. He only asked, "What do you want?"
"Shesss. I'm here just to watch you, of course! Handling the goblin like that! What a gem. It was a great idea to bring it here... oops." The voice stopped.
Azaroth froze. So that was what happened. Someone must have been following him since he entered the Crypt and even planted the monster—goblin—in the lair he chose.
He knew the voice had let it slip on purpose. Why? To let him know they had their eyes on him?
"Why do you do it?" he asked, knowing he would not get a truthful answer.
"Oh dear. Do what? That was just a slip of the tongue. I did not do anything."
Azaroth narrowed his eyes to slits. The voice had no location; it kept changing. It must be some kind of Awakened skill.
"What do you want?" he asked again.
"Just to watch you, my dear. Just to watch you... oh, see, dear, the monster's getting close!"
Azaroth knew that the monster had been staggering toward him. The monster was unbalanced on its feet, probably due to blood loss.
It growled weakly at Azaroth, and he sent his sword through its neck, sending its head rolling.
"Ohhhh, chilling! We will see again, cold boy!"
Azaroth said nothing and saw a shadow pass. He saw a mask and a fluttering robe. The mask was that of a Hound.