He wasn’t worried about running out of food on the island, as it was teeming with wildlife, and many trees were bearing fruit as well. He filled the pit quickly after throwing it all in, and with his strength, he was as efficient as an excavator.
With the unnecessary things in the pouch thrown away, he continued on his journey. He was still hurting from both the fight and the conversion, so he simply killed barghest at the outskirts of the island.
He also managed to find a supersized boar that would last him a good while, even with his enhanced appetite. He was surprised to see that the animal actually gave some Nexus Coins and experience now. However, he only gained a minuscule amount of energy and twenty-one Nexus Coins.
It also gave progress on his Axe Mastery class. It seemed that something had changed lately with the beasts. The boar was quite a bit stronger than a normal human, but it wasn’t quite at the level of a barghest. It also didn’t seem too much stronger compared to the snake he had killed a month ago, yet the snake had given no currency for the kill. Neither had any other animal he had killed for leather or food.
Perhaps something had changed with the passage of the first month for the animal kingdom, just as it had with the incursion. Zac didn’t mind, as it only meant that there were more targets to practice on now.
It was a marvelous feeling fighting with his new and improved circulation pathways. Being able to use magic items and project Cosmic Energy wasn’t the only benefit. His powers hadn’t really increased, as there still was the limit of how much Cosmic Energy his muscles could take in. But the energy flowed far more smoothly through his body, making it effortless to switch between attack, defense, and movement seamlessly.
He also seemed to use up less energy while fighting, as somehow the new pathways were more efficient. He wasn’t too surprised at that, as he had surmised that his usage before had been inefficient since the start. He had noticed how much energy was wasted pushing it into his muscles compared to using his skill [Eye of Discernment].
Higher efficiency meant he’d fare better in a protracted battle. Maybe he wouldn’t have been so haggard after killing Vul if he’d had this level of Endurance.
He kept killing demons and animals for the rest of the day, only returning to camp when the suns had practically set. His pouch was full of various large beasts he had killed. He thought he might as well stock up on dried meat in case something happened.
He also wanted to try just leaving some slabs of meat in the pouch, just to see how well they kept.
The fruits that the demon had kept in the pouch before were things he had never seen before, meaning it must have brought them from his home planet. They still looked pristine as though they were just plucked, so Zac hoped that the pouch would also work like a portable freezer.
That would come in handy in case of the weather changing. The weather had been great since the world changed, with only a smattering of clouds in the sky every now and then.
It seemed the trees didn’t suffer from the lack of rain. On the contrary, the forest had kept growing and mutating at an astonishing rate. Zac assumed it had to do with the Cosmic Energy in the atmosphere. It might work as a substitute for both sunshine and water for all he knew.
The island felt tropical by now, like the island was a primordial forgotten vestige at the edge of the world, where dinosaurs and other prehistorical beasts could be found.
That meant that there might come a tropical rain season. Zac really didn’t hope that was the case, seeing as everything had gotten bigger and more extreme since the integration into the Multiverse. What would a torrential downpour powered by Cosmic Energy look like?
It took the better part of the night to skin and clean the beasts. He simply threw the skins on top of the car, not really bothered whether they dried properly or not. He didn’t really have any use for skins anymore, as the pouch and better armors kept him covered.
He was somewhat disappointed to see that he was unable to absorb Cosmic Energy from a Nexus Crystal while doing other tasks. He first tried putting it in a pocket while he was cleaning a carcass, but he couldn’t sense the stone when he did.
Having it in one of his hands was too unwieldy and slowed down his progress on the meat considerably. Finally, he stuffed the crystal in his mouth, hoping the contact with his body would make it possible to absorb the energy without occupying a hand.
The only result from that was that he almost choked himself to death on the energy rock. After a few more experiments, he could conclude that he only could absorb Cosmic Energy from one crystal at a time and that he had to completely focus on the absorption for it to work. As soon as he tried to multitask while absorbing a crystal, the absorption simply would stop.
Disappointed, he could only put aside the crystal and keep it for a later date. He was planning on saving some of them in any case, as he wanted to give them to his father and sister when they met again. They were nifty, but only of limited use for him. But for people of lower levels, they’d be a great tool.
If they could be used to help his family protect themselves better, they were worth saving, even if it meant slowing down his own leveling speed slightly.
33
Infection
Zac awoke at the light of dawn, and after preparing an assortment of tools in his pouch, he set out. Today, he would properly gather intelligence. His wounds were largely better now, just a bit red and sore.
He made a beeline for the incursion this time, heading straight toward the center of the island. Large parts would be uncharted territory for him here, as he had stayed somewhat at the outer edge since the start.
He had a theory that there should be a fourth kind of beast somewhere on the island that he still hadn’t seen.
There were four heralds, and at least one herald was a pack leader of its race, the barghest. But he had only encountered imps and the gwyllgi apart from the hunkering demonlings.
There should be a fourth type of beast as well somewhere based on this, and Zac guessed that they either were located around the incursion or had moved their territory into the mountains.
Zac kept a rapid pace, moving at a speed that could be considered a sprint for a normal human. Still he made no sound as he passed through the forest, instinctively knowing where to put his feet to soundlessly proceed.
During his travels, he noticed that his third class skill, [Forester’s Constitution], had finally had its first progression either during last evening or this morning, now showing 1/30. The problem was that he wasn’t quite sure what he did to progress it. The System gave no ping or notification when his quests progressed, leaving him with no information on when it happened.
A log of his actions would have been very convenient, as then he wouldn’t have to estimate his Nexus Coin gain from monsters or how much energy they gave all the time.
After he had moved for roughly ten hours, he finally slowed down. He was far closer to the incursion now than he had ever been before. This close, he started to notice some jarring changes. For lack of a better word, the forest was infected. The red light of the incursion suffused all the surroundings, and the trees looked different, almost sickly.
Some had weird growths on them; others seemed to have completely lost all their leaves, even though the summer was in full swing. The grass on the forest floor was turning a purplish color. There were also many young sprouts of a pitch-black tree Zac had never seen before, which seemed to thrive in this odd environment. The very air seemed to be different as well, having an almost astringent taste. It didn’t seem to be a problem for Zac, luckily, apart from feeling uncomfortable.
It seemed like the red pillar was slowly transforming its surroundings, likely to better suit the invaders. This made Zac even more anxious to complete his quest, as he didn’t know if this effect was reversible and whether it would spread outwards. He didn’t want to create his town on a desolate island that smelled a bit like farts.
He also was astonished at the number of beasts he saw
. It seemed that all the demons preferred to stay in this environment, and the forest was packed with monsters. He shuddered at the thought of this horde of beasts being unleashed upon a human city. Luckily, they were stranded here on this island.
It also made him realize that it might not have been more beasts spawning during his month of grinding, it was enough that a few strays would leave the central area of the island for the edge of the island to be refilled.
What would’ve looked like hell for many, Zac saw as a treasure trove. He almost drooled at the prospect of grinding here, but he had a mission today. Most human cultivators would likely have trouble killing one barghest since they had their upgrade, but Zac had no trouble facing multiple at a time by now. He might get a few bites and scratches if there were too many of them, but that wouldn’t be anything new for him.
Those plans could only wait, though. He needed to gauge the magnitude of the invasion to make a proper plan. There was a lot to do in the coming month. Of course, he wouldn’t hide from the beasts either, so everything that entered his path was met with a swift swing of his axe.
By now, he was only a couple of kilometers away from the incursion, so he started to slow down and focus fully on stealth. He did not want to enter combat again this close to the enemy base. Who knew what kind of forces they had.
The incursion was in a valley, which stretched toward the mountains, and Zac gingerly moved toward the edge to see what was happening inside.
As he was almost at the crest, he saw a solitary demon sitting next to a tree, currently napping. Zac was again shocked at their bad discipline, and it felt like the whole invasion was handled by a group of undisciplined children rather than an army. If he thought that the horde of barghest around the valley would be enough protection and give prior warning of an attack, then he was sorely mistaken.
After slowly looking at the vicinity to ensure there were no more scouts around, he approached the demon soundlessly. He didn’t bother to identify him, afraid he would sense the scrying. When he was ten meters away, he switched gears to a sprint, brandishing his axe.
The demon woke in the last moment and made a terrified expression. He didn’t have any time to activate any defenses or shout for help, though, as the axe descended and cleanly decapitated him.
Zac quickly grabbed the head and put it on top of the body before hiding again. He had already scrubbed his face with some dirt, giving him a grayish complexion similar to the demons. With his gear already of demonic design, he should probably pass as a demon from a cursory glance from a long distance. Of course, if anyone took a second glance, he’d be found out instantly, so he didn’t want to try it out.
He stayed next to the corpse and wormed closer to the edge. This part of the valley ended with a steep cliff, meaning that Zac would have to scale down twenty meters if he wanted to enter. But it also meant that he got a good view of the whole vale.
If the other parts of the wood had started to shift into a demon forest, then the valley looked like it was imported from another world. It was as though even the sky was different up above, feeling washed out and gray.
There should have been a great deal of vegetation just like the rest of the island, but it was sparse and looking sickly. There also was evidence of a large amount of felling, as he saw hundreds of cut-off stumps. The combination made the valley look completely desolate. The ground was partly covered with smatterings of purplish black grass, but most was just black stone.
The demons clearly needed lumber for something. But for what, Zac couldn’t tell so far. His eyes kept going over the valley until finally looking over to the huge red pillar.
Zac could finally see the terminus of the incursion for the first time since he had arrived. It was a huge crystal that reminded Zac of the Nexus Node at his base. However, this crystal was red and at least three meters tall.
The very air around it pulsated from the power the crystal emitted, and Zac could feel the huge energy that it released all the way from his hiding place. It continuously shot out the light that formed the large pillar that had been a constant part of his life for the last month. The glow was so strong that he couldn’t see anything of what was happening behind it.
Next to the pillar was a building, and Zac could see a few demons milling about.
Zac planted himself within a bush, and while gnawing on some meat he had brought in his pouch, he started waiting. After waiting for a full three hours, he felt confident that there likely were limitations to the invasion.
He had not seen a single being appear from the crystal, nor disappear into it. Either they only came at certain times per day, or they couldn’t go back and forth between the island and their home world. The demons at the small building seemed to be guards left there just to make sure nothing happened to the crystal.
They were mostly milling about or even taking naps in the shade of the house.
Of course, Zac would have to stay for a good while longer if he wanted to confirm that the gate was closed, and he didn’t have time for that. However, it made sense that they could only enter at certain intervals, from how the demons had appeared on the island.
The first-wave assault had been the demonic beasts, and they’d arrived as soon as the world was integrated. The second wave was the humanoids, who’d arrived after a month had passed. At the same time, some limitations had lessened on the beasts, making them stronger.
If the crystal only opened once a month, it would explain why Abby the eye had told him to finish the quest either within one month or within two. It stood to reason that the difficulty would take another noticeable leap within a month.
Zac was not sure if he would be able to handle that, as he was not powering up as quickly anymore as before. He had already gotten his class now, and gaining levels took more time now compared to earlier. The increase in Strength he could gain within thirty days would likely be smaller compared to the one before, meaning that he really should try to end this invasion sooner rather than later.
As nothing was really happening on this side of the valley, he decided to keep venturing further in. He moved along the edge of the valley in a roundabout manner toward the mountains.
The incursion and valley were located between the middle and the north of the island, while the mountains took up almost all of the northern quadrant. So Zac soon had travelled across the whole island, starting from his campsite in the far south.
Daylight was starting to wane, but Zac had already prepared himself to sleep outside today. While he was advancing, he was keeping a lookout for possible temporary places to spend a night unnoticed. He had found some potential spots, but hadn’t bothered to prepare them yet.
During his travels, he had killed four more demons. They were quite sparsely placed, making Zac more and more convinced that they were not too concerned about invasion in the immediate vicinity.
Soon he had walked along half the valley, and he could now see what was hidden earlier behind the red glow.
There actually was a town down there.
On a second look, a town would be a slight misnomer. The buildings were quite large and rectangular, reminding Zac rather of barracks than civilian domiciles. He noticed that the missing trees had been processed into houses and fortifications. There were a few structures that seemed more refined, maybe for the officers and generals of the army. Those buildings did use both stone and lumber in their construction and had a quite elegant atmosphere.
The whole settlement was surrounded by a wall that was a few meters tall and at least thick enough to have watchtowers and a large number of guards patrolling. Zac couldn’t fathom how they’d set up such a large wall in only a few days. He could only explain it with magic, as even hundreds of individuals with Zac’s strength would have to work for months of gathering stones and setting up the wall.
Finally, in the middle of the town, a grand structure was being erected at a speed visible even from his great distance.
34
Conspir
acies
Ogras Azh’Rezak was already starting to tire of this whole enterprise. The humidity of this baby world was far higher compared to what he was used to, and the two blaring suns forced him to keep squinting through the day. The terraforming was helping, but it would still take a long time until the climate got to the point it was comfortable.
He somewhat regretted exhorting his ancestor to let him lead this invasion. With his status in the clan, he still would have been entitled to any good items they could seize on this world, even if he stayed at home.
But he knew this invasion was his opportunity if he wanted to stay alive. If he could find enough goodies for either himself or the clan, he’d be safe until he was strong enough to protect himself.
But who would have thought that the Ruthless Heavens would place them on a godforsaken island? It had rendered his tactic of unleashing his packs through the portal seem like a joke. There had already been voices of disagreement in the clan to such a cowardly tactic, but Ogras had only sneered at their snide remarks.
While most baby worlds were disorganized and paralyzed from the huge changes, some were quite dangerous. There were many anecdotes of new planets resisting and even sometimes completely massacring all the different invaders.
Of course, it was usually the forces behind the other incursions on the planet that were the real enemies, rather than the weak natives.
In any case, he wasn’t about to stick his neck through a portal before increasing his odds of survival, even if it was considered cowardly.
His seven elder brothers had been heroic warriors, always charging into the fray, leading any charge in skirmishes. And now they were all food for the maggots. Some had been killed by their enemies, and some had died from machinations of their own clan members.
Defiance of the Fall: A LitRPG Adventure Page 17