Defiance of the Fall: A LitRPG Adventure

by TheFirstDefier

  Zac started using the vegetation as a basis where to head when he reached crossroads. He simply chose the one with a higher density of subterranean growth, as that passage should have a higher density of Cosmic Energy.

  He was starting to get very curious why there was so much energy in the mountain, and he believed that the demons were so interested in the cave for the very same reason. There should be something in the depths that either contained or produced an immense amount of energy, to the point that it leaked out into the whole mountain range and valley.

  If the demons removed it and took it with them, then Zac would lose a potential gold mine. He added the task of finding out what created the energy as well before leaving. If it was something small and portable, he would try to steal it. If this much Cosmic Energy could be poured into a couple of arrays, he wouldn’t have to worry about the demons ever again.

  Zac had walked for almost an hour when a sound made him stop in his tracks and shrink against the wall. It was light hurried steps that echoed through the tunnels not far ahead. They didn’t seem to be coming toward him, so Zac slowly ventured forward, careful not to make a single sound.

  The steps slowly were becoming a bit more distant, and Zac hurried up until he reached a crossing. He carefully looked around a corner toward where the sounds came from to see what made the steps. And just before it turned another corner, he could briefly spot a small imp trotting along.

  Zac’s heartbeat sped up, as seeing the imp opened up a possibility. Perhaps the imps’ main area of activity was underground, which would explain why he had encountered so few up above ground. And if it was, then their herald was likely down here as well.

  50

  Crystals

  Zac waited for a bit to make sure no other imp or demon was incoming before he ventured down the same path he saw the imp take.

  He surreptitiously glanced around any corners or crossroads, but even after a minute, he still hadn’t seen any signs of the imp or anything else of interest. Either the imp was a lone explorer in the caverns or it was out of the way for some reason.

  A scratching sound stopped his train of thought, and Zac moved to the next intersection to see where the sound came from. He finally found the small imp again, and it was just ten meters away from him, currently digging through some moss. After it removed a top layer, it sneakily put something inside and then carefully put the moss back on top. It got up and turned around, and suddenly found itself staring right at Zac.

  Zac didn’t hesitate and instantly killed it with a dagger. He walked up to the corpse and put it in one of his pouches before walking over to where it had dug around earlier. Initially, he had wanted to follow it back to wherever it came from, but he had been too careless and immediately got spotted. He’d have to get better at sneaking in these tunnels unless he wanted to get mobbed down.

  After removing the moss, he actually found a small stash of Nexus Crystals. They weren’t polished and uniform like the ones he had taken from the demon leader, but rather looking like uncut raw gems. Some were as small as a fingernail while the largest was slightly larger than his own crystals.

  It seemed like the imp actually was hiding away its wealth in this uninhabited part of the cave system like a cultivating squirrel. So it looked like it wasn’t heading to any other imps or demons, but rather away from them. Perhaps daylight robbery was a real problem amongst the imps, so hiding their cultivation resources was imperative.

  The imp’s actions raised a few questions. First of all, could imps cultivate? They seemed to have some inherent proclivity for magic, as all of them thus far had been able to shoot those nefarious fireballs. But it felt like all of them more or less were of the same Strength, making him believe they couldn’t get stronger.

  There seemed to be some fundamental differences between the imps and the demons or himself. They didn’t have levels when he inspected them with [Eye of Discernment], and it didn’t look like they had classes either, as everyone used the same attack. That was why Zac placed them in the same group as the other beasts in his mind.

  So what was the use of the crystals? The most likely explanation he could find was evolution. He had seen all kinds of mutations and evolutions in the flora on the island caused by the Cosmic Energy. Who was to say it didn’t work with the fauna as well. Perhaps the crystals could help a normal imp evolve into something greater, like the heralds.

  It was a bit worrying, as normal imps were deadly enough. If suddenly a throng of them evolved into super-imps, wouldn’t they burn down the whole island? He could only hope that evolving wasn’t that simple a matter for now.

  The second thing on Zac’s mind was the crystals themselves. Where had it found them? If there were a bunch of them, it would explain many things, such as why the density of Cosmic Energy was so high in the mountains. It could be due to the proximity of a large number of Nexus Crystals, whose energy bled through into the surroundings.

  It would also explain the unceasing flow of demons coming into the mountains. A mountain full of Nexus Crystals should be the equivalent of a Multiverse gold mine.

  That, unfortunately, meant that the demons were continuously pilfering the resources that Zac would need to continue to improve and build up a town.

  Zac was sorely lacking in Nexus Coins right now. He could barely improve himself, let alone build up a whole town. His gains lately from killing monkeys had been tremendous, but it was nothing compared to the costs of creating and running a town.

  For example, there was an array called [E-Grade Medium-Scale Town Defense Array] that was a combination of a defensive shield and some attacking functions. It looked like a good all-around addition for a newly established settlement. But that array alone cost five million Nexus Coins, and furthermore, it wasn’t free to operate.

  There were defensive turrets and anti-siege weapons as well, each costing over a million coins. There was just no way for him to grind that kind of amount of coins. Even if he got twice as strong and murdered monkeys without rest or sleep, it would take years before he got all the basic structures of the town.

  But if he had a large number of Nexus Crystals, he might be able to pay all this, and maybe even more. He didn’t have any means of selling the Crystals for Nexus Coins at the moment, but there were things such as shops and auction houses in the outpost store. If he purchased one of those, he was sure they’d accept his crystals for some coin.

  Of course, it all hinged on him actually getting the crystals. Driven by a renewed sense of purpose, Zac headed back toward where he came from. Since the imp went out of its way to hide the crystals out here, there shouldn’t be much activity in the surroundings as well.

  Zac made a mental note of the area since he might need a base of operations down here. As he carefully proceeded through the paths, the ambient Cosmic Energy kept increasing, now starting to reach the density that he had felt in the valley with the monkey king.

  After continuing on for roughly ten minutes, he heard some shuffling further down the path. Zac immediately stopped, a glint of greed and anticipation on his face. Every demon he found down here would probably make him wealthier. He imagined looting magic pouches packed to the rafters with crystals, a creepy grin slowly starting to emerge on his face.

  Unfortunately, it wasn’t a walking nest egg he encountered, but a white crocodile.

  At a second glance, he realized it wasn’t actually a crocodile, but a supersized salamander. It had a thick build and was roughly four meters long. It was mostly white with some purple markings. Zac thought that subterranean species normally possessed no eyes, but this didn’t seem to apply to this specimen. It lazily ambled through an underground tunnel, swiping up various mushrooms and herbs with its mouth along the way.

  Zac didn’t know if it was a guard animal for the demons or just something that lived down here. He shrank into a side corridor to hide, as he didn’t want to bother with this huge beast at the moment. The beast seemed oblivious to his existence until it
suddenly exploded into motion just as it was next to the side tunnel Zac hid in.

  Its maw opened, showing a line of large translucent teeth looking like huge salt crystals. The beast tilted its head and charged straight at Zac’s torso, but he was accustomed to this manner of attack from the countless barghest he had fought.

  Channeling his Cosmic Energy, he grunted and punched the lizard in its head, slamming it into the wall of the tunnel, creating large cracks on the stone surface. That type of attack was usually enough to kill barghest by now, but it only seemed to enrage the salamander. He didn’t want a prolonged fight, though, and swung vertically with a maxed-out [Chop], cleanly decapitating it.

  A surge of energy entered his body, and he saw that he’d gained roughly eight hundred Nexus Coins. That was even more compared to some of the weaker demons, surprising Zac somewhat. It had been pretty quick for its large size, but it felt like less of a challenge compared to a demon.

  As he was mulling it over, a sizzling sound interrupted his train of thought, and he turned his head toward the sound.

  Smoke rose from the ground next to the chopped-off head, and it almost sounded like something was being fried. He went closer to take a look and was appalled to see that its saliva was highly corrosive. The sounds came from its tongue touching the ground, and it had already corroded a small hole where its saliva dripped down. Zac realized even a flesh wound from a bite might cost him a limb when fighting these salamanders.

  It was a shame he couldn’t use his eye skill on it, as it was already dead, but it didn’t matter much what the System called the animal. He went over to the headless carcass and observed the body. At least the blood wasn’t corrosive; otherwise, the huge pool of blood forming beneath the body would have carved out a new path among the tunnels.

  Zac barely managed to cram the beast inside his smaller pouch after chopping off the tail, and then moved on. He didn’t want to leave a carcass out in the open that was clearly killed with something sharp. He still didn’t know what the relation between the demons and this animal was, and he’d just have to lug it along until he did. Or found somewhere to dump it where it wouldn’t be found.

  Zac continued on, diligently marking crossroads with a Z. By now, he was starting to fully acclimatize to the cold light of the moss and various other plants and had no problem discerning his surroundings.

  After a while, the tunnels started to change once again, and he saw spots glimmering between the pieces of moss on the walls and ground. He walked over to the closest spot that shone and saw that it was a crystal.

  His heartbeat quickened, and he quickly pried it out with a knife. The stone was far harder than he expected, and the extraction taxed even him with his huge Strength. But he only increased his pace with a widening smile adorning his face, and soon he held his prize in his hand. The crystal he pried out truly was a Nexus Crystal, roughly half the size of the ones in his bag.

  As he looked around the walls, he saw glimmering crystals embedded all over the walls.

  He was rich!

  51

  Stench

  After a bout of excitement, Zac suppressed his giddiness and refocused. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t start a mining operation at the moment. He had things to do.

  Besides, it likely was more effective to let the demons mine the crystals, and then commandeer it when it was all extracted and gathered. They shouldn’t have sent their most powerful warriors to mine, so an assault wouldn’t prove to be too difficult. He longingly took another look at the glistening walls and then kept going.

  This obsession with wealth was something new he had started to develop. He hadn’t really cared too much when the world was still normal and he was just a white-collar worker. He was happy as long as he had enough to live a comfortable life.

  But lately, he was running toward corpses like it was Christmas morning and the bodies contained presents. It was a weird type of callousness that translated corpses into loot. He had always enjoyed the grind in video games, waiting for that rush of seeing some glimmering unique or valuable item drop. He was starting to get the same feeling in real life as well. Just the thought of finding a magic pouch full of crystals made him want to forget about the heralds and go on a treasure hunt instead.

  But he knew he couldn’t, at least not for now. As he walked, he started to gradually hear rhythmic sounds of metal hitting rock. It was still far in the distance, but Zac presumed he was hearing mining operations.

  He hesitated for a bit, but then reluctantly decided to go in another direction. There was no real need to see the miners at the moment, and he wouldn’t risk getting exposed this early just to steal a peek. What he currently wanted to explore was whether the thrifty imp was a loner who had snuck into the caves, or whether it was part of a larger group.

  As he crept along the paths, the sounds of pickaxes hitting rock didn’t diminish; rather, it was a constant drone in this part of the cave system. This made Zac realize that the mining operations were on a larger scale than he had expected. After walking for thirty minutes, the sounds finally started to diminish, letting him know he was moving away from the mining operations.

  Suddenly, he heard another sound, and he stopped in his tracks. It was the familiar sound of light scuffling on the ground that the imp had made, but this time, it sounded like it came from multiple sources. It was accompanied by some clanking and subdued inane chatter that didn’t quite sound like a language.

  He gingerly crept forward, careful not to make a sound. He wasn’t sure how sharp their senses were, and he didn’t want to find out. Zac took a quick peek around a corner and saw that the tunnel led into a cavern that was roughly ten by ten meters. The roof was also higher compared to the usual two to three meters of the tunnels.

  The first thing he noticed was that he didn’t have to be careful of the imps smelling him out, as a wall of overbearing stench hit him as soon as he looked around the corner. It seemed that sanitation and hygiene were alien concepts to the small humanoids, as that level of smell could only come from a buildup of waste and excrement.

  What entered Zac’s vision could tenuously be called a camp. Moss had been ripped from the walls and placed on the ground to make simple bedding, and in the middle of the room was a handful of lumber together with vines making a fire, whose black smoke polluted the cave. Luckily for the imps, there seemed to be some cracks in the roof, which kept the cave ventilated; otherwise, they might have killed themselves accidentally by inhaling all that smoke. Piles of food waste and other unmentionables were strewn randomly about the camp, and in a corner, there was a large rotting carcass of a smaller version of the salamander Zac had fought earlier.

  There were roughly twenty imps that inhabited the disgusting campsite, and it looked like they were turning in for the night. Zac was a little fuzzy about the exact time but felt that it should be somewhere around 4 to 6 a.m. He had assaulted the herald in the evening, and after his escape spent a few hours on absorbing energy, then a few hours of sleep.

  From what he’d seen from his travels across the island, the imps weren’t nocturnal, and he guessed that their sleep schedule had gotten messed up from living in this subterranean cave.

  Most of the imps were already lying on the ground, snoring away, while a few lazily milled about. Two had a small scuffle over a moss bed, and after a short while, the victor lay down while the loser skulked away. It seemed the beddings closest to the fire in the middle were the most desirable, and the losers had to pick some spot further out.

  Zac waited, and only fifteen minutes later, the whole group was fast asleep, and they didn’t bother with sentries or the like. Perhaps that was what the bedding arrangement was for. If they were attacked, the weaklings in the outer rim would be attacked first, and their death wails would be the warning alarm for the others.

  Zac deliberated whether to attack or to go around the camp. He felt that such a large group of imps indicated that the caves might very well be the main area of the i
mps. The imps he’d encountered in the forests had been mostly solitary, but here, he immediately saw two dozen of them.

  That meant the likelihood of the herald being down here had gone up by quite a few points. He didn’t want a repeat of the battle of the monkey herald, where it summoned a throng of subordinates to wear him down. And being attacked by hundreds of imps seemed far more deadly compared to the monkeys. He’d be blasted to smithereens in no time.

  But he also was still quite unclear about things down in the tunnels. He only possessed a shaky grasp of the layout down here so far. But soon he came to a decision and brought out some rags from his pouch. They had once been a shirt of his but had been ripped up for bandages long ago. He wrapped the rag around his mouth and nose and then brought out a large dagger he had taken from the last fight with the demons.

  The rags were a small defense against the smell. He was already getting nauseated just smelling it from a distance, and he did not look forward to experiencing the stench point-blank. He crept forward, with his dagger at the ready.

  He soon arrived at the mouth of the cave, and the overwhelming stench almost made his eyes tear. He forced himself to ignore it and moved over to the closest imp. He bent over and with quick movements, put his padded hand over its mouth, and simultaneously cut a huge gash in its throat, almost completely decapitating it.

  The imp had no time to scream or struggle, and after a few shudders, it was dead. Zac stopped for a second to survey the surroundings, but they were all still fast asleep. He kept going and moved to the second one, repeating his actions.

  In short order, he’d killed eight of the imps without alerting anyone, and he moved to the ninth. He was approaching the innermost circle of beddings now and was quite close to the fire. As he did, he reflected that the only thing that smelled worse than imp excrement was hot imp excrement.