A Warlock's Ascent

The monster flew back, crashing into the ground. But Grump knew, his left hook wouldn't have done a lot of damage, and sure enough, the monster soon stood up. With the help of its great sword, it pushed itself up, wiped the blood on the corner of its lips, and spit the shards of its broken teeth and a glob of blood. While he on the other hand couldn't help but smile, he had managed to wipe the smug look off its face.

SCREEEEEE!!!

The monster screeched, its roar had a lot of anger in it, swiftly it raised his great sword in the air, up to his shoulder, it started gritting its teeth, it was very angry. It lunged forward at full speed, he did the same, they were about to clash with each other once again.

The monster jumped on the old man, swinging its sword diagonally, slicing the air like butter, he avoided the attack by stepping backward. It is then the monster who still airborne started using magic, it started spinning midair, and with twice the momentum, it brought its sword on the old man.

In a hurry, the old man did avoid the attack, but while stepping back, he stumbled, tripped, and then he fell.

BAAAANG

The sword landed just a few inches from his crotch, and he started sweating profusely, if the hit would have landed, then he couldn't have lived with himself,  it was a very close call. He didn't have the time to thank his luck, the monster became more aggressive than before, and it didn't want to give time to recuperate.

The monster picked up its sword once again, with all the power that it could muster, it swung its sword diagonally once again, Grump narrowly avoided the attack by doing a reverse barrell roll, and standing up as quickly as he could.

SLING SLING SLING SLING

The monster kept swinging its sword, diagonally, horizontally, vertically, trying to cut the old man just once. But even after the fatigue, the old man was a veteran adventurer and warrior, he kept dodging here and there, avoiding every strike send his way.

Moving with a such a high speed, started making him more tired, he started slowing down, hs moves started became sloopy, he was afraid that he would not be able to play this game any more.

While the monster on the hand was not slowing down at all, even skillfully swinging its great sword with such incredible speed, there was no sloppiness in its moves, that thing was not getting tired any time soon.

The old man knew he wouldn't be able to keep up with the monster's aggression after some time, if he wants to do something, then now it is time, other wise he may wound up cut in half. He then started concentrating on the swinging patterns of the sword, trying to look for any opening.

After observing for a few seconds, he understood the pattern to his best abilities, so he moved in. As quickly as he could, he stepped into its attack range, narrowly avoiding the sword as he got in, he threw a mean right liver punch, which was enough to make the monster squirm in pain. The monster staggered back, giving him more opportunity.

He didn't stopped there, his left jab targetted the monster's head, slamming into its jaw once again. The punch was so impactful that it made the monster let go of its sword, which made a smile bloom on his face. Before he could go for a right liver punch, the monster got its bearing back.

SCREEEE

The monster slammed its head onto his head, making him stagger back, monster jumped on its place, then slammed both of his legs on its torso, ultimately making him fly back.

SCREEEE

As soon the monster landed back on its feet, it started screaming, like an ape it started beating his chest, then it lunged towards the old man, who struggled to get up, it jumped on him, and started slamming its hand on his chest.

The old man covered his face with its hands, he struggled to shake off the beast from his chest, and with the constant beating, he couldnt do anything.…

His chest started aching with pain, the monster would break his ribs if it continues like this. He was pinned down with no help or idea of what to do, the old man started thinking that maybe this was the end of the line for him.

It is then, the monster stopped beating him and screamed…

SCREEE!!

BAAAAAAM

He felt something slam into the monster, making it move from his stomach, getting this chance, he immediately got up. He saw that the face of was monster was covered with what looked like dirt, and Dave was standing beside him, with a broken club of a Kong.

A smile bloomed on his face, and he couldn't help but ask. "What took you so long?" the Earthian shrugged his shoulders. "I had company as well old man"

With bloodshot eyes, the monster looked very angry now, it turned its head, glancing at the great sword lying not too far away from it. Then abruptly it around and started sprinting towards its a sword, but none of them ran after him. Both of them were tired and needed to second, before they could continue.

"What is the plan?" Dave asked. The old man looked cracked his shoulders. "I am going to try to hold him. You do the rest. Can you do that?" the earthian nodded, getting into a running stance.

The old man was the first to start running, while Dave followed closely behind him with a bloodied spear in his hands, by the time they reached it, the monster was also ready with its sword in its hands.

The monster swung its sword diagonally, trying to slice Grump, the old man dodged the attack very easily, while Dave on the hand sprinted to the monster's right, circling around the beast. Just he reached beyond the monster's supposedly blind spot, he threw the spear at him.

Whether the monster had a sixth sense or what, they didn't know, but it saw the spear coming, and it dodged it too easily, while the old man utilized this time frame to get into his guard and deliver a solid right lever punch to the monster.

The monster winched at the pain, it screeched, and hurriedly tried to jump back, trying to make distance between it and the old man. But before it could move, it got impaled, by another spear, thrown by Dave, who was now running towards it.

SCREEEEEE

The monster tried to screeched again, but its yells were blocked when Grump connected another one of its right hooks to its jaw.

The monster staggered backward, it is then Grump steeled his resolve and started raining on it a fury of punches. Dave, came running towards the monsters and jumped in high air. Now airborne, he raised his hand, only to take out the old man's ax, and with all of its power that he could muster, he slammed the damn thing on the monster's head.

The Ax pierced the monster's skull, penetrating its brain. If it were some other monster, it would have died straight away, but this was a tough mother fucker. Even after the last blow, it flayed around its hands, trying to punch Grump who had safely made some distance between him and it.

After a few seconds of struggle, the monster's dead body fell on the ground lifeless.

With heavy breaths, the old man started mumbling. "This.. Is.. What you get… when you mess… with me."

Dave who was tired as well, couldn't help but shake his head. As far as he could remember, without him the old man would have died by now. "Yeah, yeah. Let's get out of here first, if I see another of these things here, then I commit suicide right here, right now." he said.

Grump nodded. "Sure. But first take this one's body, as well as its weapon. We would be able to sell it afterward." With a heavy sigh, Dave nodded. "Sure."

***

He and Grump met up with the grandson and grandfather duo after a rather peaceful and slow 30 min walk, they were exactly where the old man had left them, and were unscathed as well. As soon as they got to them, both them slopped down the ground, they were very tired, it is only after a peaceful 2 hour did they started their journey once again.

Although he was feeling very tired and wanted to rest for a bit longer, he didn't said it out loud. It was solely because one more the stupid dumb rules of the old man, according to the old man he had to follow some pretty simple rules, when they move, he would move. He would not any special treatment there.

As climbed further onto the mountain, the trekking started becoming rather difficult, there was not solid path up the mountain, so they have to climb up on steep slopes. Ricardo was having trouble climbing, he saw that the young man's body was stumbling from time to time, and his wobbly steps make him fall down. Also he was climbing very slowly, pissing off Grump

He decided to help him out, he got the young man to on his back, giving him a piggy back ride to the top, Hamel was pissed seeing this, but he didn't say anything, because Grump was getting pissed at their climbing rate.

When the terrain started becoming a lit bit simpler, they started coming fallen trees, the bark of those tress were pretty scratched up, he could tell that it was done by an animal, but he didn't know any beast that could have talons that big..

Grump took a look at those marks and started gritting his teeth. "Mountain Bear, we must be careful on our way. We are in no condition of fighting bears." Everyone unconsciously nodded to his suggestion

Seeing those marks, he started wondering whether this bear was anything like the ones found on Earth. He had come across this version of apes, they carry around clubs and giant swords with them. Thinking about Kongs, he couldn't help but wonder, if a being who has the body of a bear, but stands on his hind limbs and carries a giant ax with it.

His imagination started giving him chills, so he stopped thinking and followed quietly followed behind.

After, they reached the summit of the mountain, Grump ordered him to start preparing food for them, which he was very happy to cook. The old man then went ahead to scout the area. Seeing this he became happy, the old man's scouting meant that this is going to be a rather large break, and he needed one desperately.

Ricardo went to the side and started sleeping. While he laid it pots and whatnot, started preparing food, Grump didn't take long to return, and when he did, it was evident from his face that something was not right.

"What happened?" The old alchemist asked, as he saw Grumps face. Grump sat down by the fire and shooked its head.

"You know Cloudhold?" Grump said.

"Yeah."

"Well it is not there anymore. I think Cloudhold had fallen."

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