Screeeech!
The monster screamed as it descended at Vincent with its hollow beak.
Swoosh!
Boom!
In the last second, Vincent tilted his body, dodging.
He jumped a few steps back, distancing himself.
The demon had slammed into the ground; its long beak had pierced into the ground, stuck.
Before VIncnet could use the opportunity to attack, the demon effortlessly pulled out its beak.
Standing on its two legs, the demon was the same height as Vincent.
Uaaghh!
The zombies around glared at the demon and slowly moved to attack him, but they were too slow.
Swoosh!
Before they could even reach it, the demon flew up into the sky.
'Damn!' Vincent stormed running; he moved swiftly among the ruins while the demon calmly flapped its wings in the sky, its gaze locked on VIncent and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
He didn't even know the stats of the demon. He didn't use Probe as he was saving his mana. He only had 40 mana left, which he kept in case he needed to form a contract.
And what if he knew the stats of the demon? It's not like he could stop and fight it. Even if it was weaker, it just needed to stall for time for the demon hound to arrive.
Swoosh!
As Vincent disappeared behind a mountain of rubble, the demon started descending.
'No!' Vincent's eyes trembled as he came out from the other side of the rubble.
His eyes met with the demon's.
The pointy, hollow beak was right before his eyes.
'I'll die?'
SWOOSH!
Just as this thought came to his mind, his primal survival instincts kicked in, and he twisted his body, jumping back.
BOOM!
The demon crushed into the ground again, raising a cloud of dust.
"Damn," Vincent cursed as he held his right shoulder.
Violet blood seeped through the gaps between his fingers.
He couldn't dodge entirely. The demon had thorn a piece of his flesh.
Swoosh!
The demon flew out of the dust cloud.
Vincent again twisted his body to dodge, but the demon tore another piece of his arm below his elbow.
Violet bloo covered his right arm.
"Bastard," A smile spread on Vincent's face despite the pain.
Screech!
The demon let out a scream.
Swosh! Swosh!
The pieces of flesh it took from Vincent came flying from its beak.
The smile on Vincent's face turned upside down.
He intended to rely on his flesh to turn the emon into a zombie. But he never expected the demon to spit out his flesh.
'Could it sense the danger from the flesh?' Vincent couldn't help but assume.
'But ordinary demon hounds couldn't sense the danger. If not, why would it bite me head-on? It also doesn't have the intelligence to recognize the threat,' He analyzed. 'It means...the chances are this might not be a lowest-grade demon but a low-grade demon like that demon hound,'
This made matters even more troublesome. If he assumed this demon had a similar perception to that demon hound and combined with the ability to fly, he saw no way to escape.
Uuaaghh!
The sound of zombies rang from the distance.
The commotion had attracted the zombies from the nearby streets.
This slightly eased the grave situation for Vincent.
Swoosh!
Before the demon could attack him again, he stormed, running towards the zombies.
Bom!
The demon flapped its wings and flew forward, aiming at his back.
Swosh!
Vincent jumped to the side, swinging his bloody arm.
Purple droplets flew in the air at the incoming demon.
Screech!
The demon screamed and flapped its wings again, rising in the air and dodging the blood.
'Good,' Vincent continued running towards the zombies while the demon rose high in the sky, observing him and waiting for an opportunity to strike.
While he ran, the demon tried attacking him several times, but he used his blood to repel it.
With his open wounds, he at least had a weapon to repel the demon.
It didn't take long; he reached the zombies and jumped among them, mixing with them. At least the demon wouldn't dare attack him while he was among the zombies.
A smile spread on his face.
'I didn't expect the commotion to gather so many zombies.' Looking around, Vincent saw at least several dozen zombies.
But the impending doom he felt only increased. His heart rushed, beating almost out of his chest.
'There are a lot of zombies,' He thought. 'But would they be able to stop that demon hound? He has stats four times theirs. They can overpower it with numbers. But the real question is, will I be safe? They are just mindless creatures; they can't protect me.'
Vincent directed his gaze at the demon in the sky. 'Not to mention, the flying demon is still here. One mistake will cost me my life.'
Rip!
He tore a piece of his clothes and wrapped his wounds, trying to stop the bleeding.
Swoosh!
Without hesitating anymore, Vincent stormed. He ran between the zombies while the demon flew in the sky, closely following him.
He didn't want to meet that demon hound again, at least not yet. He had only one chance now and a way to survive.
Since he couldn't escape the demon, he could only get an army of zombies large enough that they wouldn't dare attack.
Soon, he reached the other end of the group of zombies.
Swoosh!
As he left the group, the demon flying in the sky immediately attacked.
BOM!
At the last second, Vincent barely dodged the demon's beak, tearing a piece of his clothes.
The zombies immediately rushed at the demon, but it was fast and rose in the air, rendering them helpless.
They moved around restlessly for a while, but the scent they could sense soon disappeared, and they lost their target.
Vincent sighed in relief and continued moving.
He repeated the pattern several times.
When he left the group, the demon would attack, and the zombies would gather around him again.
He used this method to move the group of zombies.
And as he moved, he got used to the demon's speed and attack pattern.
While he moved, the commotion attracted other zombies, and the army quickly reached over a hundred zombies.
But despite this, Vincent's expression only grew darker.
"Huff...Hufff!" Vincent panted heavily, his lungs burning.
Sweat rolled down his forehead.
"I...can't continue anymore,"
Thud!
Vincent collapsed on his knee.
His body trembled in exhaustion.
'The demon is still in the sky...' He glances up. 'And it shows no signs of giving up,'
Vincent was well aware of his perilous situation. He might be safe for the moment, but what if the demon continued pursuing him?
He needed to eat and drink water. Even now, his mouth had cracked, and his throat dried. He hadn't stopped the bleeding from his arm.
Not to mention, at the moment, he faced a huge problem.
"I-I...have to continue," Vincent tried standing up. "If I don't..."
The zombie group has grown so large that if he didn't constantly move and make the demon attack him to attract the zombies, when the zombies lose their target, they would start disbanding.
He had to move, or he'd lose even the little safety he had.
ROOOAR!
Suddenly, a roar rang from the distance.
"NO!" Vincent's eyes widened, his heart skipping a beat. His face paled.
The demon hound had caught up to him.
'Damn!' He cursed internally. 'I wanted to gather a larger army before I faced it.'
Uaaaghh!
The zombies turned in the direction of the roar.
"No..." A realization dawned upon Vincent. "Damn!" He cursed out loud, gritting his teeth.
The roar got the zombie's attention, and they started moving.
Fortunately, they moved slowly, but even so, to Vincent's exhausted body, it was torture. He couldn't get a second rest.
He had to move and not get left behind.
...
The minutes passed.
The pain Vincent felt in his legs increased, but mainly, his mental pressure increased.
With each step he took, he couldn't help but doubt himself.
Could he face the demon hound and the flying demon? Could he survive?
[Ding]
[You've overexerted your body]
[You receive: (0.3 Stamina); (0.1 Agility)]
Vincent's eyes widened a pleasant surprise.
"T-This...I didn't expect this,"
But at the moment, he couldn't care about it much.
It didn't matter if he couldn't survive this encounter.
Willing in his mind, all the status windows before his eyes disappeared.
He focused entirely on the incoming battle.