Journey West 5000

Chapter 45 - Combatus Interruptus

Wukong took a lazy step to the side, dodging the makeshift shield of lashed-together breastplates. Twirling his quarterstaff, he eyed the Lion-Tiger Demon drawing his broadsword. Finally, a good fight! It had been a while, he was going to enjoy this! Wukong grinned, baring all four canines.

The demon ran straight forward, arm held back, preparing for a heavy slash. And... there it was, just as telegraphed, a slash aimed to cut him from his neck, diagonally down to his waist. Too predictable.

With the tip of his quarterstaff, Wukong deflected the broadsword, causing it to swing wide to the sound of clashing metal from the rings on the back of the broadsword, while exposing the demon's entire side. Already spinning into the movement, the other end of his quarterstaff swung to hit the demon in the ribs, right below the arm.

There was a loud crack, but instead of broken ribs, the only result of Wukong's cunning counter was a tiny fracture in the scaled force armour covering the demon. The fracture seemed to be more cosmetic than anything else, slightly marring the red-tinted surface.

Now it was the demon's turn to grin, its leonine aspect making it look more like a hungry snarl, exposing way too many sharp teeth.

The demon changed to a two-handed grip while inching close to Wukong, eyes intent like it was stalking prey. Wukong tried for a bashing strike at the demon's head, but the demon was faster, lunging forward with a slash angled upwards. In that split-second after launching his attack, Wukong registered the approaching broadsword. Acting on reflex, he hunched over while pulling in his head and arms like a tortoise holding a huge joss stick. The broadsword zoomed past the top of his head, hitting his quarterstaff so hard, he spun in a circle.

Reacting true to form, Wukong let the momentum take him off his feet into a spinning kick. His foot lashed out, hitting the demon with the force of a sledgehammer.

The only thing his kick achieved was to launch him further back, while the demon remained completely unhurt. It didn't even budge, making it seem as though Wukong had tried to kick a mountain of granite.

The demon didn't allow Wukong any time to recover, feet pounding forward with broadsword held high in both hands, it began slashing without pause the moment Wukong came within reach.

It was all Wukong could do to defend himself from the aggressive slashing, avoiding the incoming slashes by deflecting them or dodging. Even without meeting the attacks head on, the sheer effort needed to deflect the attacks spoke to how strong they were. He finally realised, it wasn't that his opponent's fighting style was too straightforward and predictable. When there was no need to worry about defence, all that was needed, was to focus on hitting one's opponent.

It felt like the demon's attacks were getting even faster, but even so, the fact that he committed fully to every single one of his attacks could be exploited. Predictability was a weakness.

The next time Wukong deflected a slash, he added a strong push, deflecting it even more. Spinning the quarterstaff to get it in position, Wukong seemed like a coiled spring that sprung forward with a powerful thrust at the unbalanced demon, hitting it right in the eye.

CRACK!

A small web of hairline fractures formed on the force armour. Good, hopefully it would obscure its vision. This should work. Blind it, then pound that lion face into the ground.

Now that Wukong had chanced upon a tactic, he followed it with confidence, continuing his deadly dance with the demon, searching for a chance to hit its eyes. Once! Twice! Again! He took every opportunity to create an opening, using the attack he had practiced so many times, utilising his entire body to launch the thrusting attack. By now, the force armour on the demon's face was covered in cracks, and the demon's attacks were starting to be just a bit off, just a bit easier to deflect. Soon, it would-