Chapter 421: True Strike (1/2)

Zac was about to make up some story about why he was here, but he stopped himself as he realized the old demon was asking a rhetorical question.

“Your heart and mind are in conflict, and you do not trust one over the other,” the demon said. “This is something a seasoned warrior can exploit.”

Zac understood all too well what the demon was talking about, and it felt a bit embarrassing as this was exactly what he had chided Emily for doing back during their sparring sessions. He had been talking big about decisiveness, but yet he found himself crippled by indecision during the battle with this old demon.

“So what should I do?” Zac said, ignoring the wound on his side. It was nothing too serious that wouldn’t heal up with a normal healing pill.

“A burning heart will stop a mind from being frozen with indecision. A calculative mind will help you distinguish between decisiveness and foolishness. But in my opinion, one must be the leader and the other follower. You might be able to find true balance in the future, but it is much too early. Perhaps when you can walk the sky like the celestials in legend.”

“A leader and a follower?” Zac muttered.

“Are you a warrior of instinct, or a warrior of expertise?” the old man asked.

Zac first wanted to say expertise, but he stopped himself as he knew that wasn’t the truth. He wasn’t some adept weapon master who followed some great set of techniques, and he hadn't trained with a weapon since young like most cultivators in the multiverse.

He was more like a beast, fighting based on instinct and his superior constitution.

“It seems you understand,” the old man smiled. “Again.”

Zac was already moving the moment the demon disappeared, and he swung toward his right without thought or hesitation. A deep thud echoed across the summit as the demon appeared, his arm glowing with a golden sheen as he blocked Zac’s punch.

“Good!” the demon laughed. “What’s the use of calculating and thinking when you’re an idiot?”

Zac’s face scrunched up, but he had no time to refute the words as the old man launched another barrage of punches, kicks, and attempts to grapple him to the ground. He no longer tried to think or anticipate what the old man did, he only moved the way his instincts indicated him to move.

He was still somewhat of a punching bag, but it wasn’t one-sided any longer. The old man had been a martial artist for hundreds of years, and trying to match him in skill had only made him weaker than he actually was. Now that he relied on instincts, he at least managed to get in a few good punches as well.

The old man suddenly jumped backward, looking a bit worse for the wear from the high-paced battle.

“Good!” the said while breathing a bit heavily. “You are passable. A rough gem that can be polished through thousands of battles. See if you can understand the essence of my skill, [True Strike]. If you can learn it you will even be able to use it with that axe of yours. Watch how I attack your left side.”

Zac breathed in relief that he had passed the test to at least get a chance of learning the skill. The ancient demon had already helped him out by pointing out his weakness, so he would feel a bit bad about defeating him just to pass the floor.

So Zac immediately got ready to defend while trying to understand the truth behind [True Strike]. He kept his eyes wide open as the old demon’s left hand essentially turned into a golden spear as he slowly walked toward him. It was the same skill as the one the demon used before when he confused Zac's senses.

The demon’s eyes were trained at a spot just beneath Zac’s ribcage on his left side, but Zac could oddly enough feel another spot on his body heat up. Zac tensed up as confusion filled his mind once again. His instincts told him that the demon would strike his right side, but he was obviously aiming for the left side.

At last minute he decided to follow his instincts to protect his right side, but he was shocked to see that the demon had attacked the spot he had looked at since the start.

“What the hell?” Zac muttered with confusion.

“Good instincts!” the demon laughed. “[True Strike] is a mental attack powered by battle intent. It confuses the instincts of the opponent, allowing you to forcibly create an opening. It is the fruition of 580 years of delving into the psyche of battle, and my grandest accomplishment. See if you can understand it now!”

A powerful golden aura congealed around the demon as he once again targeted the same left spot as before. Zac's instincts were still telling him that the demon was targeting another spot, this time his right leg. Zac quickly tried to take control of the conflicting emotions, but his brows suddenly frowned.

His left hand moved up to block his throat with shocking speed while his whole body got infused with Fragment of the Coffin. [Verun’s Bite] appeared in his right arm at the same time, and it swung down in a fierce overhead arc.

The old demon’s face scrunched up in anger when his sneak attack aimed at Zac’s throat failed, and he quickly jumped back as the razor-sharp claws he had suddenly grown retracted into his hand. The facade of a righteous old warrior was gone, and his ice-cold eyes were those of a ruthless killer.

After having spent so much time with Ogras, would Zac simply put down his guard due to a smiling face? The fact that the old demon had been willing to teach him from the beginning was suspicious in and of itself. There was no guarantee that the floor guardian would be a willing teacher just because the quest told him to learn a skill.