Malik, for the first time since his return, was going to solely rely on his weakened strength without having a safety net ready.

Worse yet, he didn’t plan to use his Ember’s Touch Rune much, if at all.

And yes, that remained the case even though he had it unlocked now, being a Class Eleven, not needing a Soul Glyph to access it.

He needed the Rukh.

Rukh that he could use for much longer by only enhancing his body and nothing else.

And so, he recalled Stranger’s Ring from his system and quickly extracted all that was stored in it.

Thanks to the system’s protection, and in turn his Soul, Corruption didn’t affect it.

A secondary and much-appreciated reward to his quick thinking, both ensuring his anonymity and saving his Rukh.

His body was quickly flooded with extra strength, and his reflexes sharpened, enough so that he now stood a chance against the Demons.

A slim chance, yes, but a chance nevertheless.

Fortunately, thanks to that lucky coincidence in the village, he realized how best he could sustain his power and stretch it out over time.

Of course, that would be the case as long as he did not unleash any spells.

He needed just one single drop of dread from this land to give him the edge he desperately needed!

"I won’t fall here."

Malik looked down at his disciple, who had deliriously called him "teacher" before losing consciousness, and then at his little sister.

Next to her was a blade.

He picked it up.

The hilt was wrapped in dark leather, the pommel set with a small crimson stone, and the blade itself was so thin it looked like a needle from the side.

It was perfect for what he had to do.

He changed his stance to suit the weapon, or rather, fell into a stance that he felt had been unlocked from deep within his muscles.

A remnant of the Sultan’s countless battles.

Tucking his left hand behind his back, Malik held the sword close to his chest with his right, the tip pointed directly at the encroaching darkness.

It was a stance that both minimized his target profile and readied him to strike at a moment’s notice.

Crunch!

The snow exploded under his boots as he sprang forward, directly into the jaws of the towering monstrosities.

There were more than a few dozen of them now, all of whom followed his movement as one, their hollow faces tracking him despite having no visible eyes.

The first Demon lunged, its bladed arm sweeping horizontally at waist height, an attack meant to cut him in half.

Malik dropped into a slide, the blade whistling over his head, and came up inside the creature’s guard.

He drove Huda’s sword upward into the soft flesh beneath its arm, sinking it deep, and ripped it out sideways with a spin.

Black ichor sprayed across the snow, and the Demon crumpled, dissolving into mist before it hit the ground.

Two more came at him from the left and right simultaneously.

Surprisingly coordinated, the one on the left thrust its sword-arm straight at his chest, while the one on the right swung low at his legs.

Malik jumped over the low swing and twisted his body mid-air, the thrust grazing his ribs instead of piercing them.

He landed in a crouch and kicked out, sweeping the left Demon’s legs from under it.

As it fell, he reversed his grip on the sword and drove the point down through its skull.

The right Demon was already moving, its bladed arm coming around for another strike.

Malik rolled to the side, the blade digging into the snow where his head had been, and came up behind the creature.

He stabbed twice: once through the back of the knee to buckle it and once through the base of the neck to finish it.

Three were down but...

’Too many are left.’

All that had happened in under a few seconds, yet it was still too long.

The Demons were learning, or perhaps they were being directed; either way, this really wasn’t going to be easy.

Malik picked up the pace, increasing his Rukh use, and killed them even faster.

Yet that didn’t matter, as they started pressing together, too many for him to kill, and herded him towards the Tree of Life behind him, where his movement would be restricted.

Noticing their plan, he changed tactics.

Instead of meeting them head-on, he started to play dirty.

If they were trying to crowd him, then he would do the same to them!

Instead of outright killing the Demons, he cut them enough without completely terminating them.

He used them as walls to force the others to separate.

Each time that happened, another would fall, and more walls would form, helping him further.

They never managed to lock him in one place because he never once stopped moving, striking them only to retreat and then strike again.

If the Demons were capable of it, no doubt they’d have started cursing his ancestors by now.

But, of course, the fight was taking its toll.

Every dodge, accelerated dash, and precise strike burned through his Rukh at a terrifying rate.

Worse still, the atmospheric Corruption continuously ate away at his remaining reserves, leaching Rukh from his body with every breath he took.

His Stranger’s Ring was nearly empty.

Malik could feel himself slowing and his reactions worsening.

Thump...

And one couldn’t forget about the Tree of Life in the distance. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Caring not for Malik’s predicament, its deafening pulse returned.

He was forced to quickly take cover by a smaller Tree of Life mere moments before the red fauna arrived, more than ready to end him in a blink.

Malik pressed his back against the bark, breathing hard, and watched the Demons fan out around him, unaffected by the fauna.

No, they weren’t unaffected.

As the pulse died down, he noticed a change.

Many of them seemed... strengthened.

One of them had gotten bigger as well and much more menacing.

Malik didn’t have time to think about that change.

Not when what they were after had finally happened.

Indeed, these Demons, far from mindless, had already surrounded him.

They cleverly used their numbers to cut off his escape routes, making it so that he needed to fight at least one of them if he wished to get through their circle.

—

[Fear Points: 15.7]

—

He had yet to get enough Fear Points.

Yes... things couldn’t really get any worse.

Just how was he getting out of this one?