Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 104-105: The War Council

“It looks like they are expanding their nest underground, moving downward. We believe they are digging toward the Nexus Vein,” one of the earth mages reported to the group who was sitting around a table.

Twelve hours had passed since the hive appeared, and they had made some discoveries. The ants were called [Ayn Hivebeasts] and the three types they encountered so far were called Ayn Worker, Ayn Guard, and the green acid shooters were actually called Ayn Vomitors.

After the initial clash they quickly learned that there was an enormous number of beasts inside the large structure, as they kept pouring out as they fought. But the moment they retreated, so did the Ants. But just a few minutes after Zac and the demons stopped their assault the digging was resumed according to the earth mages.

They were currently holding a war council while two regiments led by Ogras’ four generals were keeping the ants busy. They needed to figure out a strategy for this new horde, as their old one wouldn’t work. Most of their preparations were in vain as the new monsters didn’t seem interested in attacking the town. The wall stood unassaulted and the arrays couldn’t reach the hive due to the distance.

Zac almost felt that the System specifically chose this type of challenge since the last wave almost felt like a gift of experience and money rather than a challenge. Certainly, the last waves were tough, but never to the point of true desperation.

“That’s it then? We’ll head in and destroy it today,” Zac said with a frown.

The Nexus Vein was the lifeblood of his island. It created the crystals in the mine and the high concentration of Cosmic Energy in the atmosphere. Anything from cultivation to crafting to even farming would be far more efficient in this area. If he bought an island-wide gathering array in the future it would truly become a paradise. He couldn’t risk his city’s foundations just for the opportunity to farm some insects.

“Wait a bit,” Ogras hastily interjected. “We also have concluded that during our attacks they are stopping their excavation-work to meet our attacks. We can simply farm them without risking the vein as long as we keep the attacks going, letting you keep your lead against the other humans,” he added.

It was a fair point, but Zac had a feeling that it was more about the contribution points for the Fruit of Ascension than letting him gain levels. Besides, he held a commanding lead over the others as it was, and didn’t really need to gain levels at the moment. He was fast approaching the first bottleneck at level 75.

Zac mainly needed to improve his Dao-insights at the moment. He already possessed a rare class, and his goal was to upgrade it into an E-Rank Epic class. His only options at the moment were Rare or Epic, as the rarity couldn’t downgrade when reaching the next tiers. He already knew that his situation was pretty bad since the multi-verse was full of examples of geniuses whose cultivation journey got cut short since they couldn’t upgrade their special classes.

Still, he didn’t want to give up his advantages. Upgrading to a rare class wasn’t the best option. He tread the path of the elite, spearheading the powerhouses of Earth. Since he was already locked into this path he would go all the way, and keep upgrading the rarity of the class. He knew that Early Stage Seeds were not enough for an Epic class, so it was time to upgrade his Daos. If that was at the expense of his lead in levels, so be it. He wouldn’t limit his future achievements just to become the first person to reach E-Rank Class.

“Constantly attacking out in the open is different from defending on top of a wall. We will not be able to last as we did during the wolf-hordes. Besides, we do not know whether the insects will grow stronger over time like the wolves did, and it is safe to nip the problem in the bud,” Zac said.

To be honest, safety concerns weren’t the only reason he wanted to end this horde quickly. He just had a taste of freedom and adventure as he explored in search of his hometown. He was loath to spend the next four weeks slaughtering insects. He knew that the gain of nexus coins would be huge, but he would still net good income if he sent people down into the mines instead.

He was also even more anxious to get home after seeing the life of civilians in Fort Roger. Emily would have met a miserable fate unless he was there, and worry over his friends and family was starting to keep him up at night. He even had trouble focusing during meditation, as the intrusive ‘what-ifs’ kept popping up in his head.

“Three weeks. Let us fight and farm for three weeks, and after that we will invade the hive,” Ogras entreated.

“It’s too long. You can have ten days. After that I’m heading in,” Zac flatly refused. That would leave him three weeks to travel the world before the final wave, twice what he had last time.

“Bah, you’re throwing away a great opportunity,” Ogras muttered in discontent.

Zac only rolled his eyes at the demon. What they gained from the quest was already great, and they shouldn’t get greedy. The longer they waited the more weird things could crop up.

“Did Calrin find any information about the beasts?” Zac asked as he changed the subject.

“He did manage to buy a short missive about the [Ayr Hivebeasts]. They are an extremely prolific species led by hive-queens. As long as they have enough cosmic energy the queens can almost indefinitely spawn soldiers. The stronger the queen the mightier warriors it can birth, and more types as well,” Adran answered. Since he wasn’t part of the fighting force he tried to help the war efforts by gathering information.

“There are examples of the beastsʼ insatiable expansion, completely infesting a planet if left alone. We believe that the threat will be over when we manage to kill the queen. After that no more beasts will spawn, and we can simply slowly exterminate the survivors. Killing the queen will likely mark this horde as completed as well,” he continued.

“How strong is the queen?” Zac asked.

“It should be E-Grade Class equivalent. It might also have a few bodyguards close to that in power for protection,” Adran answered.

“Okay, what does it look like, what are its powers?” Zac probed further.

“Actually, the large construct we see is not a structure, but the queen herself. The Ayr Hivebeasts live inside their queenʼs body for the most part, and the queen slowly grows to accommodate a larger population. The digging we hear is the insects making room for her body expanding down into the ground,” Adran answered with a grimace.

Everyone’s eyebrows rose in surprise at this.

“How the hell do we kill something that large?” Ogras asked with a frown.

“Apparently it has a core somewhere inside. You need to get inside to its core-room and destroy it, and it will die. The exact details were unclear in the missive we obtained though,” Adran said with a sigh.

“Good job. See if you can find out anything else, as long as the information doesn’t become too expensive,” Zac said.

That the huge construct was an actual being didn’t change much in Zac’s opinion. They’d still farm for ten days, after which Zac would enter, and drag Ogras with him no matter if he was willing or not. Inside they would find the boss and kill or destroy it.

With that everything was settled, and Ogras immediately set out with a company of soldiers, loath to miss even a single Contribution Point. Zac stayed put since he would be needed to relieve Ogras when he ran out of steam so that they could put continuous pressure on the insects. He really didn’t want that huge queen-beast to get her hands on his Nexus Vein, so no expansion could be allowed. And who knew if the hive queen would have some strange mutation from getting too close to the vein.

As the days passed an advance-wall was erected. It was nowhere the size of the regular wall, but it would allow some protection while retreating. The craftsmen also refitted a few of the siege machines so that they would be able to attack the hive queen. However, the large boulders and bolts only bounced off the black structure without as much as leaving a mark.

Zac tried as well, and ran up to the structure with his movement skill and slammed into it with a Dao-Empowered [Chop]. It was effective, creating a large scar, but the response was horrifying. It was like the ants turned crazy and surged against the demons in a frenzy.

The mantis-things actually started throwing the Vomitors in retaliation, and as they sailed through the air they overcharged themselves much in the same way as the suicide attack the demons possessed. Zac was forced to expend most of his cosmic energy in a short time, furiously throwing out projectiles in order to clear the rabid waves. But he still got a few acid burns on his face and hands that would take time to heal, as most of the Vomitors were hurled in his direction.

Seeing that Zac’s swing only made a small crack on the gigantic structure they knew that a siege wasn’t really possible against this thing, and they’d have to enter the tunnels if they wanted to kill the queen.

On the seventh day Zac’s fears were realized, as a new foe started emerging out of the hive along with its three siblings. It was called Ayn Titan and was a hulking insect at over three meters tall. Its shell was at least twice as thick as on the others, and it was impossible to penetrate for most of the demons.

They were forced to slowly whittle it down by first disabling its legs by attacking the joints, all while avoiding its terrifying smashes with its claw-like front arms. Since the thing was so heavy its mobility was quite bad and if they fell down with broken legs they stayed down. After it was downed it seemed the simplest method to kill it was to just boil its head in a fireball.

If Zac or Ogras were present they could penetrate or crush their skulls instead. However, the time it took to kill the titans increased the pressure as the ants unceasingly kept pouring out of the hive. There were no breaks, no lulls, just constant unrelenting battle. The only reason they weren’t overrun in just a day or two was the fact that the monsters were quite weak, and even the siege machines they brought had no trouble killing the footsoldiers.

The only thing strong about them was their carapaces’ sturdiness, but that wouldn’t impede the skilled warriors overly much. In the few cases that they were starting to get overrun Zac or Ogras would unleash their most powerful area attacks. Zac simply threw out his huge edges that created large swathes of death and destruction.

As for Ogras, he created a sea of shadows that moved across the battlefield, where dozens of spears unceasingly sprung up to kill everything around. It wasn’t an attack that Zac had seen before, and he suspected that the demon made a breakthrough with either a skill or his Dao some time recently.

With his new skill the demon’s killing speed was terrifying, and almost eclipsed Zac’s own speed, which was doubly impressive since he no longer suffered from an energy shortage. Zac was shocked by the display of power, as he knew that the power of the demons was still limited by the System.

There were a few more who excelled at area battle such as Alea and Rivea, the pyromancer who learned the Seed of Tinder during the wolf waves. Her fire kept spreading among the ants and was particularly deadly to them. It simply stuck to their carapaces and slowly cooked the beasts, and from there spread to their brethren.

The windfall was so great that Zac relented and actually prolonged the farm-fest another day much to the delight of the demons. Ogras was like a storm, grinding his contribution points at a furious pace.

Zac had thought that this kind of situation was something unique, but he was surprised to find out that most large forces in the multiverse kept zones and forests that were a bit like this, teeming with monsters. It provided their young and their soldiers with ample training and outlet for growth, and the clan didn’t need to provide any salary as access to the farming zones were benefits enough to join the army. The elders of the clan took care of the evolved monsters, and immediately rooted out any beast that got too strong.

But all good things must end. The eleventh day approached, and the core warriors started to rest up and prepare their aces. Tomorrow they would assault the hive.

Chapter 105 - Into the Hive

“Is everyone ready?” Zac asked as he glanced back at the group. It was time to find the queen, and a strike force was assembled. It would be led by Ogras, with Zac second in command. Zac didn’t mind not being the leader, as he didn’t have any experience leading an operation like this. He didn’t want to risk his teammates getting killed due to his inexperience. Besides, he could always overrule him if he felt it warranted.

The group consisted of only 6 people. Apart from Zac and Ogras, Janos and Alea also joined the group. Ilvere and Namys were left behind, leaving them in charge of the main army whose job was to keep the fight going outside while they entered the hive. Janos was a support mage who hopefully could turn the odds in their favor, while Alea’s attack had proven itself effective even against the Fiend Wolf.

The last two were Rivea and Herod. Rivea was the Pyromancer with the Seed of Tinder. Herod was the earth mage who first spoke up about the digging on top of the wall. It turned out he possessed the Seed of Tremor, making him extremely perceptible to even small tremors in the ground. His job was to act as a scout in the tunnels, whereas Rivea was just additional firepower.

They didn’t bring any more people, as quantity didn’t really work against E-Grade evolved beings. Most of the soldiers would only be a hindrance rather than an asset inside the hive. Even Rivea was mostly brought so that she could defend their backs while the rest fought the Queen and the bodyguards.

“Human, why not just wait a few more days?”

“You’re pretty close to affording the Fruit, huh? Remember if I die the mission is failed, and the contribution crystal is gone.” Zac answered with a small smile.

It was true. Since Ogras started using the wide-scale shadow-attack his contribution points skyrocketed. In only 10 days he almost got as many as he did during the three weeks of the first wolf horde, and he possessed over 40 million points by now.

Ogras muttered something under his breath but didn’t seem overly worried. There was a whole third wave after all, and there still were a lot of Contribution Points to be gained inside the hive. Zac got over five million points for killing the fiend wolf, and he heard afterward that both Ogras and Alea got quite a few points as well for helping out. Killing E-Ranked beings at this stage seemed truly profitable.

They were currently at the back of the fight against the insects and started to move forward. As they did both Ogras and Janos cast a skill, shrouding them both in shadows and illusions, making them almost invisible. They easily slipped past the ant-army and headed into one of the large tunnels.

The inside looked just like outside, with black walls and green crystals. The crystals thankfully emanated some light, though it was a lot darker compared to the tunnels in the mines. They could light up their path with the help of Rivea, but held off on that for the moment wanting to maintain their cover. They didn’t expect to be able to sneak all the way to the core room, but the faster they proceeded without being bogged down in fights, the less pressure on the fighters outside.

Groups of ants kept coming through the tunnel to join the battle outside, and most simply ran right by. With Herod’s timely warnings they usually had time to press themselves against the wall while their skills hid them. However, they were still discovered every now and then, and were forced into a furious battle. It was mainly Zac and ogras who slaughtered the ants without using up too much cosmic energy, and then threw the bodies into Cosmos Sacks.

They quickly realized something was wrong as they walked. The inside of the hive actually seemed larger compared to the outside. The hive was shaped almost like a pyramid, reaching about a hundred meters in height and was a few hundred wide meters at the base. But they had walked over 10 minutes in an almost straight tunnel without reaching an end. They were frequently forced to stop as they walked due to the incoming packs, but they should long have crossed the whole structure.

“The hive is likely a spatial being, containing something like a hidden realm,” Ogras said with a low volume when no ants were nearby.

“Not illusion. Unless extremely strong,” Janos added with a nod.

“Does this change anything?” Zac asked.

“Not really, the mission is still the same. But it will be much harder to find the queen, we don’t know just how large the inside of the hive is anymore,” Ogras answered with a sigh.

As they proceeded further into the hive they ran into fewer and fewer packs of ants. Soon the group found themselves at a crossroads. The path split into three, and it looked like the left descended while right ascended. The middle path stayed the course.

“The core room should be in the depths since that place would be safest from external attacks,” Ogras said, and the group veered off to the left paths. There was no talk about splitting up since perhaps only Zac and Ogras would be able to survive if they ventured out alone.

As they moved further down the rocky walls started to transform, looking more and more like flesh. It reminded them that they weren’t actually inside a mountain, but rather inside a huge being.

“Trap!” the earth mage suddenly exclaimed, and soon after the ground opened up beneath them. They barely had time to jump forward, and as they turned back they looked at a pool of acid seething where the floor once was.

“Does it know we’re here?” Zac asked.

“Who knows? The information missive never explained how aware the hive queen is. It might just have been an automatic reflex from us stepping on this path. The ants might know which spots to avoid,” Ogras answered with a frown.

It did not take long for the group to find the answer to the question, as a group of huge ant-warriors streamed toward them. They were almost as large as the titans but far more nimble. Their name was [Ayn Elite Guard], and their front legs looked very specialized. One of the arms had the same sort of long blade like the mantis-like captains, whereas the other was extremely thick almost like a crab’s arm. It almost looked like a shield Zac thought as he watched them approach.

As usual, Janos erected a mirage around them, making it seem they were part of the wall as they pushed against it. The guards looked a bit confused as they slowed down as they looked around. As if in response the green gems in the wall behind Zac and the others started shining more brightly. The guards immediately perked up and resumed their charge.

Seeing that the illusion wasn’t effective any more Zac threw a rock toward one of them. The stone hurtled toward the front elite guard who lifted its thick arm in response. A deep clang resounded as the ant was slightly pushed back, but not a mark could be seen on its arm. Clearly, the thicker arm was extremely reinforced.

The ants approached and Zac moved to the front, and with a grunt swung his axe against the shield to test its might. A massive shockwave pushed both his target and a few of the other guards back, but the thick shell even held against his new weapon. There was a small crack though, and a few more swings would probably do the trick.

Zac was surprised at the sturdiness of these things, as there weren’t many things below E-grade that could survive a swing of his anymore. If they could take the shells of these things they would likely be able to create some pretty damn durable armor. With some treatment and inscriptions engraved onto them, they might even become E-graded gear.

“Don’t ruin their shields,” Zac said with some greed in his eyes. Of course, perhaps only he was actually able to damage them in any case.

In the end it fell to Zac, Ogras, and Rivea to kill the group of guards. Zac was actually forced to use the Seed of Sharpness to kill the ants while Ogras used his black spear to penetrate into the joints of the guards. As soon as the tip of the spear breached their armor spikes made from shadows poured out of the tip and wreaked havoc on their insides. Rivea lobbed a few fireballs that stuck to their heads and quickly boiled their brains.

Herod tried to help with a few earth spears as well, but his power wasn’t enough against these warriors. He could only help out by erecting earth walls to protect the non-combatants. It was a strain on him as they weren’t in an actual cave, but a living being. The earth mages drew power from the ground, which enabled them to do more with less expenditure, but it wasn’t possible in here. Alea was simply staying put. Her poison spikes would be able to kill these things, but they consumed a huge amount of cosmic energy, so it was better for her to wait for more formidable targets.

They threw the most well-preserved carapaces in Cosmos Sacks and pushed further down, not bothering as much about stealth anymore. They were clearly spotted somehow, and it would be better to just rush through.

Soon they came to a large circular room, and after brief hesitation they ran toward the door that seemed to be leading downward. But just as they approached it the pathway simply closed up by the walls moving together.

“If it’s only the entrance that’s closed I can break it down in less than a minute, but if the whole tunnel is collapsed we need to find another way,” Zac muttered as he touched the closed doorway.

“No, let’s retreat befo-“ Ogras quickly interjected but was interrupted by the pathway they came from opening as well. “Shit, break the door we came from!” the demon shouted.

Zac didn’t hesitate and used [Loamwalker] to appear next to the door and Furiously slammed into it with a Sharpness-imbued [Chop]. A large crack appeared in the door but before Zac had time to swing again the floor beneath them opened up.

It was as though the ground was a huge maw that opened up, and the group helplessly fell down into the large hole.

“Grab on to each other!” Ogras shouted, and luckily the demons were quite close to each other.

However, Zac who used his movement skill earlier was over twenty meters away from the others and he had no way to broach the distance while falling. A rope was flung toward him, but the winds in the hole pushed it out of his reach.

Suddenly the seemingly endless hole split up, separating the groups, and Zac was suddenly utterly alone while falling into the abyss.