A shuddering sound echoed in a dark cave.
Its walls were broken.
Drop… drop…
From those broken walls, fresh blood fell to the ground.
A man trembled, barely able to stand.
Every part of him wanted to collapse and accept death…
but the memory of his child's innocent face and his wife's gentle smile held him up.
Blood dripped from his body every second. His face grew pale as blood drained from his body.
One of his hand bones was visible; it was broken and protruding from the skin.
On his chest were five deep cuts.
His whole body was covered in blood.
Umbryss's eyes were staring at him with anger.
Drop… drop.
Blood gushed out from its arm; it had been cut open by a Tang Dao.
Looking at the Umbryss, a faint, mocking smile touched his lips.
"So this is your strength…?"
Umbryss's eyes became blood-red with anger.
"How dare a mortal human look at me like that?" it thought.
It attacked him without any thought.
"Come… faster…" One of his feet moved back, and his whole body turned around.
Umbryss missed and slammed into the cave wall, leaving a deep crater.
Stones exploded outward; its claw got stuck.
"Ahh, finally a chance," a smile came to his pale face.
His katana moved like light, cut the air, and stabbed its back.
Roar! Roar!
It roared in pain.
But his katana didn't stop; one, two, three—at lightning speed, it stabbed again and again.
In a moment, dozens of deep, round wounds appeared on its back.
With a roar, the monster broke the wall.
Stones shattered.
Its body turned around.
Its claw shot forward like an arrow and landed on his body. Blood came out of his mouth; his internal organs were damaged. The force was too much. His body flew away; his left side crashed into the stone wall. A couple more of his ribs broke.
"Ahhh…" a painful scream left his lips.
"It hurts… it hurts too much… I must find a way to kill him soon. My body can't take it anymore."
With that thought in his mind, his body fell from the wall.
Before his body could stand, the monster moved; its claw fell toward his legs.
He jerked his leg back just in time—
the claw slammed into the ground, leaving a deep hole.
His body moved faster. His left side was now totally useless; only his right arm and two legs were fine now.
His right arm moved; the katana cut open the air and landed on its face. Blood flowed.
Roar! A painful scream came from its mouth.
His body moved aside, and a claw fell on his previous standing place.
He exhaled sharply. "I have to move and attack. I cannot hit him twice at the same time; otherwise, it will hit me."
He made a plan.
His leg kicked the ground; fragments of stone flew toward its face.
Umbryss moved aside; at that time, his katana fell toward its back.
"Roar!" With a roar, it turned around and attacked, but a stone came toward its eye. It dodged again, and again the Tang Dao stabbed it.
This tactic worked two more times, but on the third attempt, it didn't dodge the stone attack; it took it head-on.
It was enraged. It attacked him mindlessly, but his body was faster than it.
"All those years… training… for this moment. And to use a katana, you need to have good speed. If this Umbryss were tier two, then I would be finished."
His body moved and dodged, but his speed was becoming slower because of blood loss.
Seeing his condition, he thought to himself that it was time to try to run away from the cave.
Seeing that, Umbryss attacked his back without any thought—boom.
His body moved.
Umbryss lost its balance.
His Tang Dao flashed like light. Umbryss could hear the sound of the air breaking, but it was too late to move.
Blood flowed; one of its eyes was stabbed.
Roar! Roar! It roared in pain.
But it disregarded its injury.
Its claw moved through the air, cutting it open, and was about to land on his head, but his Tang Dao stopped it.
Its force was too much; his body couldn't handle it and took a few steps back. He tried to move aside, but his body didn't respond to his command.
"Oh no… I lost too much blood. My body stopped working," he thought in panic.
Before his mind could find a solution—
Boom.
Its claw landed on his chest; his body flew toward the wall like a shooting arrow. A thought appeared in his mind.
"So… this is the end…"
His vision started to turn blue; his mind was going blank.
But a flashback appeared in his mind.
"Husband, come. I made dinner for you."
"Husband, come take a shower."
"Husband, I want to go to the city. I heard people there live in flying houses."
"Husband… husband…
Promise me you wouldn't leave me."
A gentle and happy voice rang like a bell in his mind. A slim face appeared before his eyes.
"Yes, I promise, Nuwa. I will never leave you."
His vision came back as he fell toward the ground.
Umbryss moved again; its claw pierced through the air and landed on his left leg, and instantly the leg became bloody; fragments of white bone were scattered everywhere.
Now it was impossible to stand up and fight.
But at that time, with his last strength, he hurled the black Tang Dao.
The blade sliced through flesh and buried itself deep in Umbryss's throat; blood flowed from it endlessly. It tried to stop the blood by holding it with its hand, but it was no use.
Soon it fell to the ground, lifeless.
"Hah… finally it's dead. But I think I also can't survive.
Oh, Nuwa… I couldn't go home… and my son Zi Fan, please take care of your mother."
His murmur echoed in that dark cave, then silence.
But on this side
Nuwa and Zi Fan were unconscious. An Umbryss in front of them drooled from its mouth.
It opened its bloody mouth to eat Zi Fan.
To be continued….