Defiance of the Fall: A LitRPG Adventure

by TheFirstDefier

  Zac soon spotted a solitary demon, who walked toward a house right next to the wall. There were no other demons close to him, and the small building would provide perfect cover, making him a perfect target.

  Zac crept along the wall and, with one swift motion, jumped down right in front of him. Quick as lightning, he grabbed the startled demon by his tunic and dragged him behind the house. Without any pause, Zac slammed him against the building’s wall with one hand and brought out his axe with the other.

  “Scream and you die. Do you understand what I’m saying?” Zac asked with a steely glint as he held the axe at his throat, ready to decapitate the demon at a moment’s notice.

  The demon looked truly horrified after he saw Zac’s face. Tears started falling like rain, and even a snot bubble started to grow. He incoherently started whispering something in the demonic language, regularly interrupting himself with large sobs.

  Zac was stumped, not expecting such an exaggerated response. Perhaps his deeds on the mountain had spread, and the demon was afraid he’d poison the town to death. But then again, this demon differed from the ones he had encountered so far. He didn’t look at all like a hardened warrior. Rather, he looked like a civilian. He didn’t wear any weapon, and while his arms looked sturdy, he also had a pretty large gut. Furthermore, he was middle-aged, whereas most of the warriors he had encountered seemed quite young.

  Just as he was considering whether he should kill the demon and find a new interrogation target, a shaky voice behind him interrupted his thoughts.

  “Um… P-Please let my dad go. He can’t understand your words.”

  Zac instantly whirled around, holding the stocky demon as a barrier against this new voice. He found himself face-to-face with a small bespectacled demoness. She was the shortest one he had seen, just about reaching up to his chest, and had her silver hair in a neat bun. She didn’t carry any weapons and shook with fright as she faced Zac’s murderous glare.

  “Move over to behind the house. If you scream, you both die,” Zac instructed the scared demon with a low but harsh voice. Seeing her pallid face and remembering his words, he was starting to feel like a villain, even though the demons were his enemies. “I just want some answers. Help me out, and I’ll leave,” he added in a softer tone.

  The demon didn’t seem very comforted by his words and still shook like a leaf. Still, she complied with his words, much to the dismay of the middle-aged demon. He started wheezing something out and soon even tried to scream. He likely wanted his daughter to run away from them and get to safety. While Zac could appreciate the sentiment, he couldn’t let her go, as he finally had someone he could question. With a quick thud, he hit the pudgy demon in the back of his head, instantly knocking him out and shutting him up.

  “Sorry about that, but he is alive. I can’t have him scream and warn the whole town.” Zac sighed as he placed the unconscious demon next to the demoness.

  “Why is it that I can speak with some of you, but most only speak gibberish?” Zac questioned, eager to finally get some answers.

  “Gibberish?” The small demon seemed a bit offended but quickly readjusted to a timid face. “You… You need a skill to speak with other races. But it is expensive, so most people don’t have it. I am a merchant, so the clan provided it for me.” She seemed somewhat proud of the fact, as it was quite a glorious job to have.

  “Your class is Merchant?” Zac asked with a renewed relief that he hadn’t gambled for the Epic class when choosing a class.

  “No, I’m a Scribe, a Common-rarity class. But I am following, I mean I was following, the upgrade path towards a real mercantile class in the future,” the demon answered, looking somewhat deflated.

  What she said about upgrade path was something he was interested in finding out more about, but he had more pressing matters.

  “Why are you people still on my island? Your invasion should have failed when the incursion ended. Why haven’t you gone back to wherever you came from?” This was the most crucial question on Zac’s mind right now.

  “Going back… Some of us can’t,” she answered with a melancholic smile. “We embarrassed the clan and cost it a lot of money when the invasion failed. If we went back, bad things would happen. Some chose to stay on this planet instead.”

  Zac felt a headache coming on when he realized he suddenly had a bunch of demon refugees on the island.

  “How many of you are still left?”

  “I don’t know…” she answered with a low voice and hastily explained when she saw Zac’s eyes narrow dangerously. “I truly don’t know. I usually just file documents. Ogras should know. He is, was, the leader of the expedition. But most of the warriors left. Their status is better in the clan.”

  “That’s impossible. I saw your leader die right in front of me,” Zac growled, taking a step toward the demoness.

  The Scribe seemed to have been reminded that the person was a dangerous enemy warrior and once again started shaking.

  “I swear he is alive. I saw Ogras exit his palace before. He didn’t go to the mountains, I think?” she managed to stutter out through clattering teeth.

  It didn’t seem like she was lying, which confused Zac greatly. His mission was completed, and he had seen the general die from the huge black spear. Besides, she’d called the leader Ogras, which was the last thing the leader roared before he perished.

  “Does this Ogras have white hair, silver armor, and fights with two swords. Oh, and he can make the sword fly?” he tentatively asked, a guess forming in his mind.

  “No… That is Rydel. He was second-in-command maybe? His grandfather is the clan chief, after all,” she answered, happy that Zac’s murderous air receded somewhat.

  The answer only made Zac more confused. If the one who died wasn’t the general, why had he led the forces? If this Ogras was the real general instead, why had his quest been completed if he was still alive and kicking? Because he briefly killed himself? Why would he do that? He was certain that the mysterious demon was Ogras, but he didn’t understand why he would kill his own ally and even suggest poisoning the whole army. This girl said Ogras hadn’t participated in the battle, so it sounded like he had snuck out of the town behind his own army without their knowledge.

  “Where is Ogras now?” he asked. It seemed this demoness held a low rank in the clan, and her knowledge was limited. It would be better to simply ask the source. Besides, he had a bone to pick with this Ogras, as he almost got him killed with his poison idea. Of course, Ogras saved his life by killing this Rydel character, but he still had a sour feeling when thinking about the torment he’d been forced to endure when he jumped into the pond.

  “Dad said he heard Ogras question many demons; then he left the town toward the south,” she answered, seemingly excited at the prospect of sending Zac on his way to become someone else’s problem.

  Zac mulled things over for a few seconds before determining his next action. There were many more things he wanted to know, but he had a sneaking suspicion Ogras was heading toward his outpost. It was the only thing of interest to the south; the rest was just forest. And nothing good could come from the insidious demon fiddling around with his stuff, so he decided to briskly head back home.

  As Zac had come to his decision, he asked one final question. “Oh, by the way, what is your name?”

  “I’m Zakarith. My dad calls me Zak,” she quickly introduced herself.

  Zac’s mouth tugged a bit, trying to avoid smiling. “Well, Zakarith, welcome to Earth,” he said and immediately slammed the butt of his axe in between her horns, instantly knocking her out. He felt a bit bad about it, as she reminded him a bit of his little sister, but he couldn’t have her running around right now. He felt no need to kill both of them, as it seemed the demon threat was largely gone. And even if they came to blows again, he didn’t feel a little Scribe and her pudgy father would be able to turn the tide.

  He quickly tied up both the unconscious demons and left them hidden between the ho
use and the outer wall before quickly leaving the town the same way he had gotten in. Same as with Ogras, his course was south. He was going home.

  Interlude – My Dinner with Zac

  Ogras swatted some flies out of his face as he walked through the alien landscape. His decisions were born out of desperation, but it was just now the fact that he was stranded on this foreign planet truly hit home.

  The two suns in the sky were even more glaring now that the soothing canopy of the incursion disappeared, and the bombardment of colors was unsettling. Everywhere he could only see forests, and no civilization was in sight. He missed the bars, the pruned hunting grounds, and the whores. Gods, the whores! Why hadn’t he insisted on bringing along a brothel instead of a few of the farmers?

  Even though he had cultivated a horrible reputation in his clan, he wasn’t the type of man who would force himself upon an unwilling woman. Unfortunately, the very same reputation was what now kept the town’s women at arm’s length. Well, there was Namys, who was more than willing, but she had the face of a netherbeast. He spat in annoyance and decided to stop daydreaming and refocus on the task at hand.

  Still, though he lost many things, he had gained perhaps something even greater. Freedom. He brought up his heavenly screen and took a look.

  Name: Ogras Azh’Rezak

  Level: 53 (73)

  Class: [F-Rare] Shadowblade

  Race: [E] Demon

  Alignment–

  Titles: Demon Slayer, Adventurer, Giantsbane, Disciple of David, Overpowered, Tower of Eternity – 3rd floor, Astral Pond – 20m, Full of Class, Rarified Being, Betrayer

  Dao: Seed of Shadows – Early

  Strength: 112 (Weakened)

  Dexterity: 134 (Weakened)

  Endurance: 63 (Weakened)

  Vitality: 63 (Weakened)

  Intelligence: 38 (Weakened)

  Wisdom: 35 (Weakened)

  Luck: 23 (Weakened)

  Free Points: 0

  Nexus Coins: 300

  Gone was the alignment to his old clan, leaving the space a liberating blank. Gone was also the constant need for machinations and pretension. Gone was constantly looking over his shoulder, afraid that he would be the eighth and last sibling to be killed by jealous clan members.

  The surviving demons would soon understand the true Ogras. There already were some murmurs of discontent from the search parties who were stuck in the tunnels when the countdown began.

  It was on his orders that they’d entered the mines, and now they couldn’t leave this baby world. Many of the warriors didn’t wish to stay here, as their status would have kept them somewhat safe, even in the case of a return in defeat.

  But soon they would understand that even without his ancestor, his title as leader was unshakable.

  Ogras inwardly groaned at the fact that the Ruthless Heavens actually confiscated the Nexus Coins of everyone when they stayed behind. He’d never read about this and swore at the information missive he’d bought at the Pavilion of Myriad Eyes. It had been exorbitantly expensive and should have covered everything one needed to know about venturing into a baby world.

  He was approaching the level limits as well, bringing him one step closer to evolving. He had been furiously leveling up from his unimpressive level since he arrived at the island. With the limitations in place, he could quickly gain levels without anyone finding out. He had done so in secrecy by absorbing the high-quality Leveling Pills his grandfather had helped him bring along, allowing him to shoot up a few levels per day.

  He ran out at level 73, falling just short of his goal of hitting the limit, but it had still felt amazing to move away from his self-imposed image as a wastrel. He had kept himself at a low level on purpose earlier in order to not let anyone realize his high stat growth.

  He was one of the few in the clan with a Rare class. Combined with his, admittedly bought, achievements in the Tower of Eternity, his progress would outpace almost everyone in the clan. Normally, it would have been a cause for celebration, but for his branch, it was a death sentence. But now, he could finally grow into the limit and focus on his constitution. He grimaced at the fact that the human who snatched both the fruits was now gone.

  Ogras could only hope that he could find the body and the Cosmos Sack as soon as the poison cleared out in the mountains. If the fruits were lost, he would have to slowly cultivate his body until it evolved, and that would waste a lot of time while others around him were becoming more powerful. And that would be the smallest of the losses from not getting the fruit.

  He cursed himself for not simply snatching the bags when he had the chance up on the mountain. He had already been stressed out from killing Rydel and subsequently killing himself, and he might have made an error in judgment. Ogras felt something dangerous in the human’s eyes and instead had opted to cajole the human into using the poison. Besides, if any straggler lived to tell the tale, it would be clear that it wasn’t Ogras who did the deed, but the wretched human.

  Soon he arrived at the area where the scouts had found the human’s small camp. He activated [Omniscient Eyes], and after walking around for a few hours, he finally found the bubble of the illusion array. After testing it out, he found it was a simple one-layer array, with no defensive or offensive options.

  He entered, and his eyes fell upon the base of operations of Clan Azh’Rezak’s nemesis. Even though things had turned out somewhat okay for him, Ogras couldn’t help but become pissed off at the sight. This human lived like some kind of animal in a dirty metal hovel and still had managed to bring about the downfall of their invasion?

  There were scraps of items and rags strewn about the campsite, and the domicile the native lived in was actually a large can. The can was dented and in disrepair, and there were even splotches of blood on it. As he walked inside it, Ogras immediately was too depressed to continue the search and quickly left the cage. To live like this and not go crazy must have required certain mental fortitude, as Ogras was getting stressed out just thinking about spending the night in there.

  There was another metal contraption in the camp, and after going over it for some time, Ogras realized that it was not another odd domicile, but rather a transportation device. It seemed like it was an extremely rudimentary version of the contraptions the Technocrats use to traverse the Multiverse.

  He knew that some baby planets had gone to impressive depths into what the Technocrats called the Dao of Technology. But of course, the Ruthless Heavens didn’t acknowledge that Dao, so most newly integrated worlds soon discarded it for the pursuit of the true Dao and to wield Cosmic Energy.

  But this wasn’t why he was here. He quickly walked up to the large crystal, which looked just like the ones back home. Of course, this was a proper one meant for City Lords, whereas the ones he had used were basic subordinate Nodes with just the basic features.

  The missive stated that when the mission failed, he and the other demons would be barred from attaining System-sanctioned properties and towns for roughly a decade, but he needed to make sure. If he could gain ownership of the crystal, he would gain the tools to not only survive, but to thrive in this new world.

  While they were on a desolate island, he knew he wasn’t safe. The Ruthless Heavens wouldn’t allow the peace to continue forever, and would force some events into being. It thrived and existed for conflict, after all.

  He touched the Nexus Node, infusing it with his Cosmic Energy. But it was as though it hit a wall and couldn’t enter the crystal. He bit his finger and dropped some blood on it, but it wasn’t absorbed and only ran along its smooth surface. Ogras even brought up a small vial of blood and poured it on the crystal, but it didn’t have any effect either. The vial contained blood from the human that scouts had collected in the mines, and Ogras thought it might be the key to gaining access to the Town Shop system.

  Ogras sighed in disappointment. It seemed that he couldn’t integrate his town after all. They would have to do everything themselves. At least there were quite a
few demons who stayed behind who would be useful in building up a sphere of influence, sanctioned or not by the Ruthless Heavens.

  A movement in the distance immediately grabbed Ogras’ attention, and he whirled around. His eyes widened as he saw the very same human he’d met in the mountain valley. How the hell had he survived? Was he a walking behemoth who just couldn’t be killed?

  Ogras watched this grimy-looking man look at the footsteps of the search parties and lumber around, trying to act sneaky, and he couldn’t stop himself from grimacing. This was the man who caused the downfall of Clan Azh’Rezak? He looked like a thoroughbred lunatic, without any hair at all on his face, and was dressed in rags and a ripped-up lady’s gown.

  Sometime since the mountains, he appeared to have lost his ratty shoes as well, walking along with his impractically soft bare feet. Was he intentionally looking like an idiot in order to lower his enemies’ guard? Genius. He also looked like he had been living as a battle slave for a decade, with scars covering all parts of his exposed skin.

  But the scars were far less pronounced compared to when he’d seen the human up in the mountains. Before, they were grisly jagged lines along his body and face, making him look mutilated, and now they were simply thin white lines.

  The human had eaten a Fruit of Ascension. Ogras’ teeth immediately started to itch when he saw that this human had gobbled up a supreme treasure, probably without knowing its value. His eyes soon moved to the pouches on the human’s belt, and his eyes lit up with greed. His Fruit of Ascension had delivered itself to him. At least he hoped the stupid brute hadn’t eaten both of them.