Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 33: Infection

Zac awoke at the dawn of light, 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 mountain.

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 10 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 completely have 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 amount 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 that they had.

The incursion was in a valley which stretched toward the mountain, and Zac gingerly moved toward the edge to see what was happening inside.

As he almost was 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 10 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 again, before hiding again. He had already scrubbed his face with some dirt, giving him a greyish 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 20 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 grey.

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 his Nexus Node at his base. However, this crystal was red, and at least 3 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 the last month. The glow was so strong that he couldn’t see anything 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 3 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 arrived as soon as the world was integrated. The second wave was the humanoids who arrived after a month had passed. At the same time some limitations 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 30 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 really happened 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 mountain.

The incursion and valley was located between the middle and the north of the island, while the mountain 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 its 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 watch towers and a large amount of guards patrolling. Zac couldn’t fathom how they 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.