Zac felt like he was no match for a party like this. There were too many variables and things that could damage him at the same time. He hadn’t tried fighting those parties, staying far away as possible. Now that he knew what he was up against, he realized he really only had one advantage.
He knew a lot about them, but for them, he was still an enigma.
36
Determination
After observing the demons for two days, Zac also was certain that they were real living, breathing beings. He had always had a sneaking suspicion that they might be puppets, or NPCs if you will, created by the System to give a challenge to Zac and Earth.
But the last two days, he had watched them go about their day. They had worked; they had joked around and played cards. He had seen a few start a fierce brawl until a leader ran up and broke them apart. In essence, they were alive.
He hadn’t really thought about it properly before, but they were just like him. Did they even want to be here, or were they forced by the System just like him? Could he just keep regarding them as the enemy, and killing them simply a means to an end?
But Zac had soon steeled his heart. The world had fallen, and chaos reigned. They were invaders on the island, HIS island. From everything he had seen and hypothesized since the integration in the Multiverse, he knew he couldn’t go soft and hope for a peaceful solution.
Even if that somehow was possible before, he already had pulled the trigger and killed a bunch of their kind. Any opportunity for negotiation was already out the window. He would sooner or later have to decide how to act if he ever managed to reunite with humans again, but for now, the only diplomacy he’d deliver would be with the swing of his axe.
He couldn’t and wouldn’t give up on his goal of finding his family, and he knew that he had to become powerful to accomplish that. He had to become a true Defier, as Abby called it, someone defying fate and breaking through his limits. Just his small island was fraught with danger, and this was only a small corner in this world. He had no idea how the rest of the world looked since the System had merged it with multiple others, but he held no illusions that it had become some sort of paradise.
If he had to sacrifice these demons to reach his goals, then so be it.
Besides, Abby had warned him of not completing quests given by the System. It could have unexpected and horrific consequences, it seemed. It meant that people like Zac were almost like slaves to the System, forced to play its games. Unfortunately, he was incapable of doing anything about it and could only play along.
Zac started heading back to his own camp after his second night at close proximity to the incursion. He had seen what he needed to see and now needed to get back. Being away from his camp for prolonged times filled him with anxiety, especially with the new larger war parties roving through the island for some reason. If a party found his camp while he was gone, he would be forced to hide in the tree crowns and caves until he finished the quest, and he had no desire to do that.
Still, he made himself stop at the demonized part of the forest and farm barghest and gwyllgi for a good ten hours before continuing on. He could never stop fighting and killing in order to progress his skills. Besides, the density of beasts in the central area was so high that he was gaining coins and Cosmic Energy at a furious rate.
The only difficulty was that they were in such close proximity to each other that often one or a few demons would hear the sounds of battle and join the fray. He got a few gashes and cuts from the onslaught, but nothing that would impact him.
Eventually, he left the area and started heading toward the south. Finally, late at night, he started to arrive at more familiar parts of the island. He had seen signs of the demon parties on the way and had made a hasty retreat in order not to get entangled with them.
After a while, he finally arrived back at his camp and kicked off his shoes and sat down on his comfortable, newly acquired throne. In the beginning, he had felt isolated and afraid as he was stuck in his little camp, fretful when hearing roars in the distance. Now it felt like a safe haven, a home.
Even with the dried viscera from the exploding demon, the still somewhat visible aftermath from the first fight with the demonling, and the bloodied indoors of the camper, he felt his heartbeat and breath calm down just from entering through the illusion array. In this little bubble, he didn’t need to be a walking slaughterhouse wreaking havoc on the demon population; he could just be.
He sat on his new chair and closed his eyes. He felt the luxurious rug between his toes and the wind caressing his hair. For a second, he could forget the hellish existence he had led lately.
A bestial roar in the distance woke him up from his reverie. Zac sighed and got up on his feet. He still didn’t have the luxury to relax; there were things to do.
His scouting excursion had given him most of his answers, but he was struggling with coming up with a plan that might work. From his guesswork, he believed one of the heralds was somewhere up in the mountains, while the other was still unaccounted for.
Finally, he had to kill a general, and Zac guessed he would be the big boss. It likely was one of the fancier-looking demons in their city, but he had no idea as of yet how to actually get to him, or how strong he was.
He held no illusions that he would be able to take the straightforward approach and kick the gate down and charge his way through. He’d be punched full of holes before he knew what happened.
There was the possibility of sneaking in during the dead of night and assassinating the general. But Zac felt that this was unlikely to succeed as well. For one, he didn’t know who the general was, but more importantly, he didn’t have the skill set to pull off such a caper. He wouldn’t have any problem scaling the wall or climbing into a window in the palace.
But doing so soundlessly and without any of the numerous guards noticing was the real challenge. While the scouts at the edge of the valley had been very lackadaisical about their task, the military command seemed far stricter in the actual town.
There were guards in the towers and in the walls around the clock, with changes at intervals Zac couldn’t figure out. It seemed almost randomized. He’d seen no chance to sneak in during a guard change. Furthermore, most of the vegetation had been cut down in the vicinity of the town, making a stealthy approach nigh impossible.
Zac had even considered tunneling into the town, but that felt much too risky. If a demon party found his entrance, he’d be stuck inside. Besides, he had seen that the demons had multiple stone mages who built the palace. They might be able to detect him even when underground with some spell.
He had also toyed with the idea of trying to destroy the crystal. But he eventually gave that up as well. For one, it contained such extreme amounts of energy that he was afraid it would explode and obliterate the whole island if he managed to crack it.
But more importantly, it seemed that the demons were not worried in the slightest about the crystal. They just left a few men there and then left to build their town further north. If the crystal was instrumental to their invasion, they’d surely protect it far better, as it seemed to be no effort for them to erect walls quickly.
Zac could only put it aside for now, as he had gotten nowhere the last two days. He would focus on what he could do for now.
He had missed a few days of cutting wood while outside and had some catching up to do. His killing speed on this three-day expedition had been astonishing, mostly due to the sheer number of targets in the center of the island. As he rhythmically swung his axe, he mentally brought up his quest panel.
Active Quests:
Dynamic Quests:
Off With Their Heads (Unique): Kill the four heralds and the general of an incursion within 3 months. Reward: 10 E-Grade Nexus Crystals, E-Grade equipment, unique building depending on performance. (2/5)
Incursion Master (Unique): Close or conquer incursion and protect town from denizens of other alignments for 3 months. Reward: 5 E-Grade Nexus Crystals, outpost u
pgraded to town, status upgraded to Lord. (0/3)
Class Quests:
Axe Mastery (Class): Mastery is born through battle. Fell 1,000 enemies. Reward: (548/1,000)
Chop (Class): First chop Wood. Then their bodies. Reward: (1,240/10,000)
Forester’s Constitution (Class): Fight in the forests, be one with nature. Reward: (3/30)
He still hadn’t gotten any new active quests since finishing the class quest. He was starting to suspect that the active quests were locked to certain areas and events. He wouldn’t get anything like an upgrade-class quest for some while, he suspected, as he had just gotten his class. Meanwhile, maybe the Demon-slaying quest he got was tied to the denizens of the island, and the note said he could only get one such title.
Either that or he was missing something about the quests. Perhaps they simply were quite rare. The one he completed did give him a title, after all, and those were permanent upgrades.
Zac kept cutting wood long into the night before finally sitting down for a few hours of sleep. He still stayed outside, as he didn’t want the walls of the camper to dampen any sounds of a potential demon war party heading his way.
The next day, he woke up early and immediately headed out. He had decided to stop killing any demons close to his camp. He was afraid that a complete lack of beasts around a certain area would alert the demons. He headed toward the center, this time toward the eastern part.
He was planning on grinding beasts while looking for clues about the fourth elusive herald. Ur’Khaz had been killed in the south as it occupied the same space as him, and he had killed Vul in the western area. The monkey king was likely somewhere in the mountains to the north, and that left the eastern quadrant. He thought that he would try to gather some more intel while finishing up the class quests.
He went back to camp when the night approached and chopped wood for a few hours. He was lucky that he had found the pouch, as he was starting to accumulate a ridiculous amount of firewood. He had decided to leave most of it in a few dry spots around the island. Just for safety, he’d construct a simple roof with some branches and leaves to protect the lumber from a downpour. The lumber was proof of his effort, and it felt wasteful to just throw it away.
He kept this routine going for a few days. His intense activities left him with less than four hours of sleep, yet he felt refreshed when he woke up. He wondered if he’d get to a point where he didn’t have to sleep at all if his Vitality and Endurance got high enough.
Suddenly, as Zac slammed down his axe into the head of a barghest, a huge surge of Cosmic Energy entered his mind, causing him to almost black out.
37
Monstrous Power
While having some difficulty staying conscious, Zac finished off the other three beasts that had arrived due to the noise of the fight. Luckily, the surge of energy soon dissipated.
He quickly retreated after the kills, not wanting to keep battling any more barghest for the moment. After running for a few minutes, he reached one of his hideouts, another construction high up in a tree.
As he sat down on the bedding of leaves, he could finally focus on the new things in his head. Just as he suspected, he had completed the quest for Axe Mastery with his last kill. His speed of killing had far surpassed his expectations. He had given himself a ten-day deadline but had finished it in just below a week’s time. It was mostly thanks to the high density of monsters in the central part of the island. The monsters were everywhere, and he didn’t have to waste a lot of time traveling looking for his next target.
Zac closed his eyes to go over his new skill and was surprised to suddenly find himself standing on the edge of a cliff. Jolted by the change in scenery, he immediately opened his eyes, only to once again see the familiar sight of his hideout.
It had only been an illusion or something created in his mind, but it had felt so real, he had thought for a second he had been teleported somewhere. Zac calmed his breathing and slowly closed his eyes again.
He once again found himself standing on the desolate cliff. As he looked around, he found that the cliff was part of a seemingly endless canyon. It stretched further than Zac could see, and the bottom was shrouded in a thick mist, giving the impression of being bottomless. The illusory world itself was a dull gray, as though all life had been sucked out of the area.
The most shocking sight wasn’t the canyon, however; it was the enormous axe that was embedded in the ground a few hundred meters away from him. It was at least fifty meters tall and gave off a pressure that almost made Zac collapse just from standing in the vicinity.
The axe itself was simple and unadorned, with a straight wooden haft. It was a double axe made in seemingly ordinary steel with curved edges. Even though it looked simple, Zac felt that he was gazing at a supreme treasure just from the towering aura it exuded.
As soon as Zac’s eyes landed on the edge of the axe, he stumbled backward, his face turning a ghastly white. It had felt like he was being split in two from just looking at the edge.
After regaining his bearing, he tentatively looked up at the axe again, careful to avoid looking at the edges. But as he did, his vision once more changed.
The bleak dead world changed to one that could best be described as a paradise. Golden clouds hung in the sky, and there were fantastical buildings upon them. A network of translucent bridges connected the sky cities, and flying contraptions could be seen gliding about.
Zac himself was floating far up in the sky, seemingly unencumbered by gravity. Facing him was a vast celestial army. The army shone in a splendor of white and gold, and the generals radiated a terrifying power that Zac wouldn’t even be able to begin to grade. A few groups of the army were circling pillars as large as skyscrapers, and it took Zac a moment to realize the huge structures were actually supersized array flags, like the ones he had in his camp.
There were even titans among the ranks of the humanoid army, the shortest standing being at least a hundred meters tall. Their muscular frames looked strong enough to carry mountains.
The army gave Zac a holy feeling, but it also emitted a monstrous killing intent, which largely seemed to be focused on himself. The very air seemed to vibrate with resentment.
Zac was terrified, as he instinctively knew that each and every one of these warriors would be able to end him without breaking a sweat. He tried to turn around and flee, but he couldn’t move even his eyes.
A sigh escaped his lips, making him realize he was not just an incorporeal being spectating, but inhabiting a body that was out of his control. It seemed he was viewing the scene through the eyes of someone else.
His eyes suddenly looked down on his body, seeing a muscular frame covered in simple linen clothes. His feet were bare and dusty, looking as though he had walked all day without any shoes. Suddenly, an axe entered his vision. It was hefted in his right hand and looked identical to the enormous one he had seen in the first vision at the canyon.
The hand holding it was extremely rough and calloused as if it had been holding and swinging the axe for an eternity.
His vision went back to the army, who now seemed to be preparing to attack. The air was rife with runaway power, almost to the point that the Cosmic Energy would liquefy.
Thousands of warriors started infusing cosmic power into the towering array flags, which started to shine with a white light that superseded even the pillar on his island.
Suddenly, two enormous gates appeared above the army, summoned by the arrays. As the gates started to open, an even stronger power started to leak out. It felt like a god’s punishment was held within those gates, and if they opened, he would be destroyed body and soul.
But even against this force, the being Zac inhabited didn’t react. He simply lifted his axe and, with a grunt, swung it down in a vertical arc.
It was as though the world turned white with that swing, and nothing existed except its almighty arc expanding outward. Nothing could withstand it. The celestial soldiers were dismembered without
managing to even muster up a defense.
The pillars shattered, and the titans roared and tried to defend against the wave with their superior physiques. It was to no avail as they crumbled when the wave passed through them.
Some of the leaders frantically summoned awe-inspiring amounts of Cosmic Energy to muster up defenses that left Zac in shock. Others ripped open tears in the air itself to escape, shock and horror visible on their faces. But the blade’s arc pushed through and crushed the defenses like dry twigs, annihilating the last remnants of the army. Soon after even the void was split apart, and dismembered body parts were thrown out of jagged rifts, and Zac could see it was the leaders who had tried fleeing through the void.
Zac’s vision started to blur, but the last thing he saw before everything faded was a hideous scar on the ground that stretched to the horizon. It looked like the world itself was maimed, and vast amounts of Cosmic Energy bled through the gash.
Zac’s vision returned to the canyon and the huge axe. Only now he understood it wasn’t a canyon, but the rift caused by that endlessly powerful axe swing. The once celestial vision he had seen during the battle was gone, replaced with the empty desolation of a dead world.
Zac’s emotions were in turmoil after the battle. He had become steady as a rock after over a thousand battles on the island, but he wasn’t prepared for what he had seen. Who was that man, and why was that army trying to fight him?
Was that how a war in the Multiverse looked? If so, then Earth was well and truly screwed. If someone arrived on Earth with only a fraction of the power of the man with the axe, then there was nothing the earthlings could do. It would be like ants trying to stop a tank.
Defiance of the Fall: A LitRPG Adventure Page 19