The Dawn of the New World

Hao Xuan vanished from the spot and reappeared a little over three meters away...sandwiched right between the two swine demons. The smaller one heard the noise first and turned to look him right in the eyes.

His pupils contracted from the shock, 'Motherfu-!'

"Snort?"

The smaller swine demon grunted in confusion after seeing a live human walking about but a second later it realized there was an intruder. It raised its head to the sky preparing to warn the others, leaving Hao Xuan with no choice but to strike.

He leaped forward while swinging the hammer overhead with all his might.

The hammer landed just before the swine demon could make a sound but sadly, the noise from the attack itself was much louder than he had anticipated.

*THUUD*

Its entire skull was crushed on impact while the hammer continued its descent unabated and landed soundly on the ground below creating a minor tremor that could be felt for tens of meters.

Hao Xuan felt the ground shake beneath his feet and his heart skipped a beat as a result.

He spun around on the spot intending to land the second hit on the bigger swine demon before it could react but halfway through he found himself flying through the air.

The bigger swine demon was not only leagues stronger but also faster. It shifted its entire body to the side and smashed into Hao Xuan before he could do anything.

He was thrown into the air and instead of waiting for him to land the swine demon attacked again intending on impaling him with its half-meter-long tusks.

But despite finding himself in quite a precarious situation Hao Xuan was calm as he could be. He saw the two sharp tusks coming his way in slow motion and quickly reached out to grab one of them before they could pierce his body.

He pulled himself up and around, landing squarely on the swine demon's back.

But with only one functioning hand Hao Xuan had no choice but to let go of the hammer so now, he was unarmed while riding a demonic beast as it thrashed about trying its best to turn him into meat paste.

He straddled the swine demon's bloated form as best as he could while landing punch after punch to the back of its head.

*BANG*BANG*BANG*BANG*

*SHULP*

It took four full-powered punches to the base of its skull before it finally cracked open and did some real damage.

It was stunned and immobilized but still standing. There was an intense heat beginning to climb up his arm so Hao Xuan pulled his hand out of its skull and jumped towards the hammer. It seemed like the demonic energy was congregating around the wound trying to close it up.

He picked it up in one go and without giving it a chance to recover, unleashed a barrage of heavy strikes.

It looked like someone had thrown it into the meat grinder as pieces of bone and flesh were sent flying in all directions. Only when its headless corpse fell to the ground did Hao Xuan stop.

His chest heaved up and down as he let out gasped for breath, staring at the two shiny pieces on the ground.

It was the tusks. There was not a scratch on them even though he hammered the hell out of them. In fact, they were the only ones still left in one piece.

He bent down to pick them up one by one, immediately sensing the energy pulsing through them.

"There is strong demonic energy in them, much more so than all the rest of its body."

It was almost hypnotic. Hao Xuan could hear the sound they would make while piercing through flesh and bone, feel it like it was his own body going through the motions. And if Baracus hadn't interrupted him who knows how long he might have been stuck in that dazed state.

*Beep*

"Reminder: Time is running out."

"Huh? Oh yeah," he waved his hand to store the tusks away before doing the same to the hammer that was as good as new apart from all the blood.

"I'm surprised, it didn't even crack."

"The material's tensile strength has been significantly boosted."

"Mhm, that totally makes up for not telling me your sensors are fucked up. Now keep it down."

"Then I should wa-" Baracus tried following up with something but was quickly shut down.

"Zip it, not now!"

He went over to the smaller swine beast first with an extended hand, [Devour]

Its body shrunk and was pulled towards Hao Xuan in the form of a fine mist.

[Cellular Regeneration Detected]

[Internal Energy Reserves Increased to 71%]

A couple of new notifications popped up but what he was actually looking for wasn't there.

"No ruby," he murmured before walking over to the bigger swine demon's corpse and absorbing it too.

The process was the same but the amount of mist was much greater, increasing his internal energy to 84%.