Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 132: New Friends

The roar put a damper on the conversation in the whole area, and the guests curiously looked at the source of the commotion. Mr. Trang glanced worriedly at Zac, who could only move up next to the two. Mr. Trangʼs power had improved quite a bit recently, however Zac sensed that Sap would barely manage to handle one of these people, let alone the whole group. He had to take over from here.

There were also multiple guards who moved closer with their guns at the ready. However, they didn’t seem interested in breaking up the fight, and Zac could understand why. Most of the people in this room were likely powerhouses, and butting in was a good way to get yourself killed. The army was likely there to protect the venue and government officials from attacks rather than mediating disputes between cultivators.

“Let me take it from here Ibtep,” Zac said as he turned toward the group. “Ibtep is not from any hive you have encountered, as their hive hasn’t harmed any humans. Our goal is to stop the fighting between our species, so please go away.”

“Fuck you, insect-lover,” another in the group spat as they all rushed forward.

Zac briefly considered pushing out his aura but decided against it. The Marshals were in the room, and they should have no problem comparing Thea’s power against his, and from there figure out his identity.

Instead he decided to rely on the same wooden club that he used to subdue the Zhix warriors as he walked forward. The air screamed as the club danced through the air with almost impossible speed. There was a quick succession of deep thuds followed by flying bodies, and in just below 5 seconds the whole group was lying unconscious spread out on the floor.

Zac grimaced when he saw that most of the eyes in the room suddenly were upon him. Some looked intrigued, others afraid, and some calculating. He even saw the people from the Marshall clan intently stare at him from a group of sofas in the distance, where they were surrounded by a group of sycophants. It almost felt like the intensive stare of Thea Marshall was going to burn a hole in his head, so he quickly turned away.

“HA HA! GOOD THWONKING!” a booming voice was heard across the whole room as the largest man Zac had ever seen walked toward him, holding a whole tray of canapés.

The man was so huge that Zac wondered if humans could mutate like beasts, growing out of proportions. He was well over two meters tall, and not the thin and wiry type of tall. Thick bulging muscles covered every inch of him, giving him the impression of a walking behemoth.

He also carried the nastiest weapon Zac had ever seen on his back, a huge club as large as a tree trunk, where the head of the club was actually the cranium of some unknown beast. The skull was extremely uneven with many bulges and bumps, and looked quite gnarly.

Its make was actually a bit reminiscent of his own weapon, [Verun’s Bite], as it carried the same type of primal aura. Zac instinctively felt it might actually be a Spiritual Tool just like his own. All in all the man gave out a dense aura of power, and Zac knew this man was far stronger than the rabble he just clobbered. His size and muscle clearly weren’t just for show, and he gave off a quite imposing feeling.

The Zhix by his side obviously had a similar impression of the giant.

“Greetings your Holiness,” Ibtep immediately said it walked up to the large human and gave a deep bow. “I am Ibtep, ambassador of Nonet, Anointed of the hive of Kundevi. Strength to your hive.”

The huge man blankly stared at the Zhix for a few seconds, and even Zac blanked out for a bit before he understood what was going on.

“Uh Ibtep, the humans don’t have any Anointed, he is just very large.”

“Impossible, with this frame he must be anointed by the God of War,” the Zhix staunchly rebutted.

To Zac’s surprise, a well-dressed middle-aged man next to the giant stepped forward and gave a proper bow in response.

“Greetings Ibtep of hive Kundevi. This is Mayor Thwonkin’ Billy of Billyville. We are pleased to make your acquaintance,” he said with a proper British accent.

Zac’s eyebrows rose when he heard the introduction, and he shot another glance at the giant. Thwonkin’ Billy had been on the top ten of the ladder since day one, and he currently held the 7th spot with level 38. Zac had to admit that the true appearance of the ranker even trumped what he imagined the first time he read the pseudonym.

“Hello, I’m Monk.” Zac said to the giant.

“What’s an Anointed?” the huge man said looking extremely confused.

“The Zhix are theocratic, their leaders are called the Anointed,” Zac explained, but the giant once again started blankly at the two.

“They are the insect big bosses,” the man next to Billy explained to his companion without missing a beat.

“Ha ha, you are stupid Insect man. I am a leader of humans, not insects,” the giant guffawed. “Hey, you look smart and good at thwonking, do you want to come and beat ratmen? They give a lot of money and make you stronger. We’re looking for people to help with the ratlight,”

“I’m sorry, what’s a ratlight?” Zac asked confused.

“An incursion. Billy is the leader of our town that is situated next to an incursion claimed by Ratmen. We keep killing them, but they seem to propagate at extreme speeds, making it hard to make any headway in closing it. We’re here looking for allies,” the butleresque man next to Billy explained.

Billy clearly wasn’t lying about killing Ratmen giving a lot of benefits, since he obviously received huge gains from the incursion. He wasn’t only on the top ten of the power list, but also on the wealth list. Zac didn’t think it would be too hard to get some eager volunteers as soon as they announced Billy’s name.

“Billy has been thwonkin’ rats for months, I’m tired. I wanna do something else, but they keep coming,” the giant sighed.

“Oh, unfortunately we are a bit preoccupied for the moment with some problems with our own town, but we’ll help out if we can,” Sap Trang answered after seeing a small shake from Zac.

“Give them the time Nigel,” the giant said to his companion as he stuffed the last canapés into his mouth.

“That’s… A bit early Billy,” the man hesitated.

“Give them the time Nigel,” the giant simply repeated.

“Sigh… Seventeen days from now. At ten AM in New Washington time. We will make the Billyville teleportation array public for 15 minutes. We hope to make some allies here that will join us in fighting the Ratmen Incursion at that time,” Nigel said.

“Oh?” Zac said intrigued.

It was a novel idea to set predestined times to make teleporters public. Of course it was a bit impractical, but there were not many other options before people started to become Lords and gain access to more sophisticated methods to control their domains and teleporters.

“We’ll try to make it. If not us then perhaps others from Port Atwood. We have many people there who like, uh, thwonking,” Zac said to Billy.

“Good!” Billy loudly exclaimed as he turned to leave. “I’m hungry. These people are stupid, why make food so small? See you in two weeks!”

“If you are serious, who do I speak with regarding details?” Nigel said as he stayed on after throwing the huge man an exasperated glance.

“I represent the humans on Port Atwood, but I can’t speak for what the demons will do,” Sap Trang answered.

“I see an old friend, I’ll go talk to him while you figure things out. Ibtep, please stay with Mr. Trang for now. Your kind has made a lot of enemies the past months, and if we want to make a pact against the Dominators we can’t create trouble at this stage,”

“I understand, human. I will stay here,” Ibtep said as it looked down on the incapacitated people. “Should we take these one’s possessions while we wait? They are spoils of battle.”

“Leave them, let the government figure it out,” Zac said as he looked toward the soldiers.

As if summoned by his word a few of the soldiers rushed forward and carried the unconscious men away. Zac waited for a bit longer to see if anyone from the government would want to come over to talk, but it looked like they considered the matter over as he was left alone.

Satisfied he put away his club and moved toward the Ishiate. Altogether there were about 40 of the beastmen, spread quite evenly between the two camps, and none barred his path as he moved forward. He wasn’t very surprised after his display of power, and soon he was in front of Selas who stood next to an old man.

“Long time no see, Selas,” Zac said with a slight smile.

He wasn’t angry at the beastman for closing the teleporter a few weeks ago. Keeping it open would have put the whole village in constant danger, as anyone could just enter as they wished. Still, the beastman looked a bit awkward as it slightly bowed with an embarrassed smile.

“Hello Zac, it is good to see you again. I am sorry about the discourtesy the other time. Keeping the array open would have been a risk to the villagers,” the Ishiate said.

“No problem, I understand. We all keep our teleporters private for a reason.”

“You two know each other?” an elderly and kind-looking Ishiate asked with some interest.

“Yes, Mr. Zac here passed through our village and helped us kill an extremely strong beast that was threatening the villagers,” Selas explained.

“Oh, such a thing happened? You’re a friend of the Ishiate then. I am Willow, Druid of the Mountain” the old man said with a bow.

“Nice to meet you. I didn’t expect Ishiate to be here, to be honest,” Zac said as he looked at the pretty large group.

The comment about being a Druid was something he’d ask around about later, as it might be considered rude to do it right away.

“We are mainly here for information. You humans have proven to be far more adept than us at exploring our new world. There are many of us who are searching for their ancestral homes and families, and New Washington is our best bet to find news,” Willow explained.

Zac nodded as it made sense. The Ishiate were not very technologically advanced. Even those of the other group looked more like steampunk cosplayers than high-tech people. Both groups would clearly benefit from the programs that the government provided. Perhaps in the future there would be arrays or evolved scouts who could provide information even more efficiently, but Earth was far from that point.

“What about you?”

“We’re mainly here for the excitement. And who knows, we might pick up something nice as well,” Zac answered with a smile.

“Your group is quite interesting. There has already been some speculation about companions amongst the groups in this room,” another elderly man dressed very much as Willow said. “You’re only missing Ishiate in your party.”

“Our village is extremely remote, we had to team up with whoever is available. As for the blue gnome, he’s actually from a store we purchased through the Town Shop,” Zac answered with a smile. “And we actually found two ishiate settlements just the other day but still haven’t made contact. Perhaps next time our party will be even more diverse.”

The comment caused some interest amongst most of the beastmen, who curiously looked over at him.

“Do you have any information about those who live there?” an Ishiate hurriedly asked, and Zac realized that many were hoping it was one of their home villages, even if it was a long shot.

He took out a full report from his pouch detailing the expedition. He had all types of reports typed up, but honestly, he almost never read them. But sometimes it was quite convenient, such as now.

“The two towns both hold an estimated 1000 to 2000 citizens. They seem to be from the group of your friends over there though,” he said and pointed to the other group of ishiate who stood some distance away. “They had erected proper walls and seemed to be in decent shape, not in need of saving at the moment.”

Many of the beastkin sighed in disappointment, but a few still held on hope.

“We know that sometimes our groups have joined hands to survive, perhaps some of our people are there as well. Were there any markers on the towns?”

“Uh, yeah, there were some kind of flags on both walls. One held a picture of a sun with a branch underneath, the other was a cogwheel with a lightning bolt running through it on a white background,” Zac answered as he read through the report.

The Ishiate looked at each other and after a few moments shook their heads in disappointment. However, two beastkin from the other group quickly walked over. Even though they belonged to different camps the Ishiate stood a bit clumped together, and the ishiate probably overheard the conversation with their keen hearing.

“Is what you said just now true?” one of them asked and they had hope in their eyes.