It wasn’t ideal, but the dress had the same inscription as his armor, and it could be the difference between life and death. The dress he’d put on was a neutral beige and reached down to his knees. The design was luckily armless and somewhat nondescript, making it almost look like an overly long tank top. He put his belt over the dress, then turned his eyes to the pouches.
A creepy grin was slowly surfacing once again as he grabbed the closest one of the three he’d looted and took a peek inside.
If this had been an old-school cartoon, then Zac’s eyes would have turned into dollar signs by now. The bag was almost filled to the brim with sack after sack of raw Nexus Crystals. If he had to guess, he’d have to say there was at least an equivalent of ten thousand crystals in the pouch. The shapes and sizes were completely random as well, ranging from the size of a finger to almost a whole hand. Most of the crystals were encased in some stone and needed one last processing before being pure.
The second bag was unfortunately empty except for a few solitary sacks, likely a spare in case the first one was filled up. The third one was the personal pouch belonging to the noble lady herself. It held various personal effects such as daily necessities, clothes, and jewelry. It also had a nasty-looking claw weapon with fractal inscriptions. Zac brought it out and tried to put it on his hand, but it seemed to have been custom made for the demoness, or at least made for ladies, as his hand didn’t fit.
Most noticeably in the pouch there was a sizable mound of raw crystals. There even were a few sacks as well. It looked like the lady foreman was skimming off the top after all, as crystals worth a couple of hundred standard-sized ones could be found in the pouch.
Satisfied with his haul, he took out some food and water from his pouch to have his dinner. As he did, he started to plan his next step. He had planned on stalking the tunnels for a while longer, but unfortunately, he had already been exposed. He didn’t doubt that the fleeing demon soon would warn all his superiors about Zac. The demon had seen the whole fight, where Zac showed many of his cards as well.
After half a month of living with the demons, he had finally been exposed. It was better than he expected, to be honest, as he wasn’t really the stealthy type. It seemed he could only begrudgingly give up on finding any more mining foremen, and instead refocus on the monkey king. It was time to head back the way he came from and search for an alternative exit.
But suddenly, Zac felt an acute sense of danger and instinctively dove to the side. A soundless black arrow flew past where his head had just been, and a throng of earth spikes followed right after. Zac scrambled to his feet and found himself face-to-face with over twenty demons swarming into his cave from all exits.
This clearly was an ambush that they had prepared for some time, as they’d entered from both exits simultaneously. Feeling like a caged animal, Zac growled and immediately ran toward one of the groups, trying to avoid a pincer attack.
As if practiced beforehand, the group started to back away from him, with all the mages erecting barriers to keep him at bay. There were translucent magical barriers accompanied by earth walls and earthen spikes. There was even a tree mage who manipulated the subterranean vines to ensnare his feet.
Meanwhile, Zac got pelted by the other group of demons with an array of ranged attacks. He could only give up his charge in order to avoid most of it. As he dodged, he turned around toward the attackers who harassed him from behind and swung his axe in a mighty horizontal arc.
A translucent blade grew to four meters long in an instant and then shot toward the surprised group. Only a few in the back managed to dodge in time, and the others could only hastily erect defenses.
With Zac’s power, the defenses of the average demon were simply insufficient, and it tore through them one by one. The blade wasn’t perfectly stable, though, and after slicing through six demons, it flickered out of existence.
Two daggers came whooshing straight behind the huge blade, one slamming into an eye and the other into the gut of another demon. Satisfied, Zac turned back and started pressing forward through the defenses of the group.
He summoned his large edge but kept it at maximum stable capacity for now. As the attacks from behind had paused from his strike, he could once again focus fully on the group he had initially charged at.
He slammed the axe down on one of the translucent barriers, and it cracked like fragile glass. Two spears stabbed into him as he advanced, one lodging itself in his side, and the other got stuck on the bone of his pelvis.
It was two warriors who used their long weapons, trying to keep him at a distance. Zac ripped one of the spears out of the hands of the demon, making him stumble forward, and slammed the butt of the spear at the other warrior. The spear broke in two and made the demon fly into the wall with a thud.
Immediately after, he actually threw his axe straight in the chest of one of the mages. He didn’t know which kind he was, but he died instantly from the strike. He brought out his identical axe from his pouch and continued to press forward.
A few arrows slammed into his back, but only elicited a grunt in response as he pressed forward. He once again got the prickling sensation of danger and sidestepped without hesitation. An arrow flew straight past him and once again missed his head. Unfortunately, the archer who shot the superpowered black arrows was still alive.
He kept pushing forward, and with a great leap, he was within the group of demons. He ate a spear strike and two stalactite attacks by the earth mages due to his reckless charge, but now he was within striking distance of the demons. Zac started madly swinging his axe, with [Chop] charged to its limit.
He kept taking various hits, but for every strike he received, he returned one in kind. And with Zac’s far superior stats, he whittled down the group to only three combatants from nine in under ten seconds. The survivors from the other group joined their brethren in the fight, and Zac found himself encircled by the last six surviving demons.
Zac was completely drenched in blood by now, both his own and the demons’, and filled with small wounds from head to toe. Almost ten arrows were sticking out of his body at various spots, making him look like a demonic porcupine. He was panting, and it looked like it was a chore to keep his axe raised, but he was still standing. Fighting twenty demons at once was a bit more than he could confidently handle, even in an enclosed space like this.
None of the demons were keen on being the first to attack, as over fifteen demons already had made the ultimate sacrifice, and they didn’t want to be next in line. They seemed to be content to simply watch as Zac slowly bled out.
They all kept a healthy distance from him, making him unable to reach them even with [Chop], and he currently didn’t dare use his ranged attack due to the huge consumption of energy.
Zac knew he couldn’t keep stalling and threw a dagger at one of the mages, who quickly summoned a barrier. The translucent wall shook when the dagger hit it, but it held true, and the dagger dropped to the ground. Zac didn’t want to throw his axe, as his other one still was lodged in the mage some distance away.
Needing to break the status quo, he moved his hand down to his belt and, with an underhand throw, hurled a large crystal sack at another demon. The demon slightly froze from seeing a small mountain of wealth flying in his direction, and even instinctually reached out his hand to catch it.
But how could a heavy sack thrown by Zac be so easy to catch? It hit the demon, who crashed into the wall behind with a wet thud. He slumped down on the ground and didn’t move. The other five demons all charged at him as if by command, throwing desperate attacks at him.
With only five demons left, Zac finally threw his axe at a mage keeping his distance. He hastily erected an earth wall, but the axe had the momentum of a meteor and passed the rising wall and blasted a hole through the mage before he could also activate his stone skin.
He took one of his large swords out of his pouch and with a sweep slapped away two incoming spears. He then charged straight at the cl
osest warrior. The warrior tried to keep Zac at bay with his spear, but Zac simply swung his sword at it with enough force that it broke the fingers of the warrior, and continued into melee range.
With a growl, he stabbed the great sword into the demon’s gut and, with a ferocious upwards tug, ripped him in two, drenching the surroundings in a storm of blood. A second spear stabbed into his side, but it only added yet another shallow wound to the tally. The three remaining demons seemed to understand that they didn’t have the power to contend with him, and simultaneously started absorbing inordinate amounts of Cosmic Energy.
Zac didn’t want to see what a triple suicide explosion looked like, and desperately ran toward the closest target and decapitated him. He continued toward the next immediately, but as he approached, a resounding explosion threw him ten meters away and straight into a wall.
Zac puked out a mouthful of blood, and his wounds only got worse. Just as he shakily got up to his knees, his vision filled with a bloated demon falling down in front of him. It was the last living demoness, chock-full of Cosmic Energy. The demoness stared into Zac’s eyes as she shed one solitary tear before she blew up with a tremendous explosion.
58
Quest
The world was shaking nauseatingly, and an incessant ringing filled Zac’s ears. He shakily got to his feet but immediately fell down again. His state was already pretty bad, but the last blast completely messed him up. His new dress had used the golden protection just a few hours ago, making it unusable for another day.
Luckily, he’d managed to drag a corpse over at the last second to use as a shield from the blast; otherwise, he might have bit the bullet, 103 Endurance or not. And now he was covered in blood mush from the demon shield to boot. However, the last minute protection was far from enough, and it felt like everything in his body was broken.
But he knew he couldn’t stay where he was. The demons somehow knew his position, and he had no other recourse but to flee. He shakily got to his feet and collected his two axes, and only swiped up a few knives if convenient. Zac didn’t dare to properly loot the bodies, as he needed to put distance from the cave.
His movements were extremely slow, even if he mentally screamed at his legs to move faster. He desperately wished he had some health and stamina potions right now like in a game, but the only thing he had was a cauldron full of poison.
After hesitating for a few seconds, he took out his canteen with the azure water from the pond. The water was crammed full of Cosmic Energy and might help him recover enough for him to properly flee from the area. The problem was that he had no idea whether it also contained something else, like poison or deadly super bacteria.
Zac knew he couldn’t be picky at a moment like this and had to risk it. With a few chugs, he downed a couple of mouthfuls of the azure water. It tasted sweet and cooling in his mouth and hands down was the best-tasting beverage he’d ever had. But as soon as the water entered his throat, it started burning worse than the strongest spirits he knew, making him feel like he’d swallowed a sun rather than some water.
The burning feeling didn’t abate in his stomach, but rather kept intensifying. He felt his body was turning into a pressure cooker that was ready to burst. Veins popped out all over his body, and he was forced to stop walking from the intense pain. Sweat was pouring down his face like a waterfall, and even his eardrums popped from the pressure.
Zac was starting to worry for real that he might explode like the demons any time now. But soon the intense pressure abated, and the scorching heat in his belly turned into comforting rays of warmth that spread all through his body.
Zac felt his Cosmic Energy reserves rapidly filling up, but his wounds were barely reacting to the water. He thought he might be seeing some improvement but couldn’t be sure. It rather felt like he had taken a dozen shots of adrenaline and simply couldn’t feel the pain any longer.
It was better than nothing, Zac thought as he continued onward at a brisker pace. As he walked, he dumped everything from the lady foreman’s pouch onto the ground, leaving only the Nexus Crystals. He still didn’t feel secure, however, and started to meticulously scan through the bag containing most of the crystals.
He went through them one by one to see if anything was amiss, trying to find out how the demons were able to track him. Perhaps there were bugs planted in one of the sacks he had stolen from the lady foreman, as that was when the trouble started. Soon his scanning stopped at an inconspicuous rock that was placed in one of the sacks. Most of the sacks had some rock-chippings mixed in with the crystals, but this was the first time he’d seen a rock of that size. He brought out the sack and groped around inside until he found the stone.
As he glanced at it, it did not seem overly suspicious, but he could see some slightly odd veins on the stone. He brought out his flashlight for the first time and shone it on the rock. In brighter lighting, he could see that the veins actually were fractals. Zac grimly stared at it for a second before he crushed it under his foot.
He immediately backtracked a bit and changed direction. As he walked, he kept checking each and every bag, and eventually found two more similar stones. Finally sure that was the last of them, he sped off, ignoring any protesting wounds.
As he walked, he multitasked by checking his status page. The fight with the demons had pushed him over the limit and gotten him to level 35. He had already been somewhat close to leveling again after killing the herald, and the melee was all that was needed.
His fears were unfortunately realized, and he saw his Strength was still stuck at 175 instead of increasing from the class bonus. It looked like he really had to try to evolve somehow. He helplessly allocated his three free points into Vitality, as he didn’t dare put any more in Endurance for now either.
Hoping for a class advancement quest activating from reaching a “big” level, Zac opened up his quest window next. Things weren’t that convenient, as no advancement quests popped up.
He did, however, receive a new class quest.
Loamwalker (Class): Walk a thousand kilometers touching the earth. Reward: Loamwalker Skill (0/1,000)
He suddenly was pretty happy that he didn’t spend a few days to grind in order to buy [Steps of Gaia] from the shop. He only lacked five thousand coins for the skill by now and could now use them to improve other things instead. [Loamwalker] was clearly some type of movement skill, just like [Steps of Gaia].
Honestly, his class skill sounded quite a bit blander compared to the one in the shop, but he had learned not to underestimate the dull-sounding skills he received from his class. It was also very convenient to complete, as he only needed to walk around.
A slight scuffling interrupted his thoughts, and he could only bring out his axe again with a grimace. He placed himself at a corner in wait, and soon a demon came into view. This one was highly alert and immediately noticed Zac’s presence.
But Zac was ready, and the axe was falling down on the demon’s head just as he appeared, instantly killing him. He immediately entered the tunnel and unleashed a maximized [Chop] edge that flew outward before he could even register what was in the tunnel.
A few screams and groans were heard, and the demons were almost all dead before they knew what hit them. There were two that were badly hurt but alive, but Zac made short work of them as well.
There was one final demon who for some reason had been doubled over when the edge passed through the party and was completely unharmed. Horrified, he started running, but Zac wouldn’t let yet another straggler escape. With a grunt, he threw his axe at the demon and then started his pursuit.
Luckily, this time, he hit, and the party was no more. He stopped by the fallen body and ripped out the embedded axe while glancing at the bloodied tunnel. He didn’t know who had made the sound while walking, but that mistake had cost the whole group their lives.
It looked like the demons hadn’t given up the chase. They had finally identified him and seemed determined to remove the problem. He quickly
threw all the bodies and gear into his empty pouch and continued on until he found a secluded cave, where he dumped them all, including their things. He actually wanted to bring them with him to hide his pathing, but who knew what else the demons could detect.
His speed slowed down somewhat due to taking even greater care to be completely silent and thoroughly checking side tunnels. But as he moved, he was steadily moving upward. Zac figured the demons might be impeded by the monkeys if he managed to exit into the mountains again. It was easier for him to hide as a solitary person, compared to their large groups.
He saw a party again as he checked a tunnel, but this time, they were moving away. Zac kept completely still until they moved far away before skulking forward. At least it was clear that they couldn’t locate him anymore. It had just been a guess, but it truly seemed that those stones were some sort of tracking device.
He kept skulking forward and avoided any demons that he came across. He was lucky that the tunnels amplified sounds, and it was almost impossible for a group of ten people to be completely silent at all times.
He was forced into one more fight but ended it quickly before moving further up. After another hour, he hadn’t seen any demons for thirty minutes and finally sat down and brought out a crystal. He should be some ways up the mountain by now and could happen upon an exit at any time. Even if he didn’t want to stop, he needed to recuperate before reentering the mountains.
The tunnels were endless, and even if the demons sent hundreds into them, it was still somewhat unlikely for them to happen upon him, as there was so much ground to cover. Meanwhile, he was afraid that the herald had prepared an ambush for him the moment he reemerged.
So he finally allowed himself a break, eating some dried meat, and then quietly waited for his wounds to get better. After two hours of quiet rest, a loud ding entered his ears and forced him to his feet, warily looking around. But the area around him was completely deserted, with not a demon in sight.
Defiance of the Fall: A LitRPG Adventure Page 31