Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 165: A Thousand Faces

Zac rushed toward southeast along a derelict road. The town Bernard managed, Aubrey Hills, was north of the Dead Zone, and he needed to get to the eastern part. Zac knew there were border towns closer to the incursion from his conversation with Bernard during the Auction.

They were right at the edge of what was considered the undead influence. Those kinds of towns weren’t under government control but were rather chaotic places under the control of the one with the largest fists.

Its population generally consisted of anyone who wanted to use the incursion as a spot for gaining levels and wealth. Zombies were quite stupid and not overly strong, which made for perfect target practice. Besides, due to the huge populations of China and India, there was almost an endless source of Zombies to hunt.

However, Zac knew that the good times of these border towns were limited. The concentration of miasma at the edge of the incursion should be limited, so it was normal that there weren’t too strong zombies there.

But as the zombie hunters depopulated any closeby towns from zombies they would need to venture further and further into the incursion, where the miasma was denser. The risk of meeting evolved Zombies and other strong beasts was going to get higher and higher.

Zombies weren’t the only thing to worry about in the huge Zone the Undead Empire controlled. The wildlife that had lived inside for almost half a year would have evolved like over the rest of the world. With the additional effect of the miasma the beasts should be completely insane due to the corruption.

But for now, the towns were havens for those who lived in the area and didn’t mind the risk. It was like a macabre gold rush were every walking corpse was a small gold nugget. Zac didn’t’ bother to learn the town’s names since they were peppered along the incursion, and most of them were essentially the same.

There were also rumors of there being settlements even further inside the incursion, though Zac didn’t have the coordinates for any place like that. But Zac had no desire to go there in any case, as his goal was clear.

He’d find a border town and get himself oriented. The fact that the government seemed to have made him a target wasn’t a surprise, but he needed to find out the extent the enmity reached.

Besides, his information about the undead was from the information crystals back at Port Atwood, rather than more detailed information from the locals. They might have figured out various things that could be beneficial to know.

As he moved forward his wound unceasingly kept pounding, but by now it barely registered in Zac’s mind. His increased Vitality and evolved seed were a great improvement compared to before, as he didn’t need to keep his Dao active at all times to keep the spread of corruption at bay.

However, the wound was barely healing even when he kept using his Dao, and at this speed it would likely take years before he was completely cured. That was another reason he wanted to stop in the frontier town. Perhaps some people there had attained classes that gave skills targeted at combating miasma.

Zac kept going until the suns were starting to show, and quickly stopped at a what once seemed to have been a rest stop along the highway. The area was completely overgrown by now, and Zac didn’t expect to find anything useful. He walked up to a parked trailer and took out a large mirror, placing it against the vehicle.

Next, he placed a thick cloak rimmed with wolf pelt over his shoulders, and his arm got thick leather vambraces. He even put on two pairs of sturdy shoes. He actually also had a pair of shoes that only had a few straps instead of soles, allowing him to freely use his [Loamwalker] skill while wearing shoes, but he didn’t dare to use those after remembering the state of Fort Roger.

Zac gave a quick spin, happy with the transformation he’d undergone. He felt he almost looked like a barbarian, with wolf pelts covering much of his back. He also put a large high-quality two-handed battleaxe on his back. It was a nasty piece of equipment, and something he’d found up on the monkey mountain amongst the corpses.

He needed a weapon to use that wasn’t the same as the one-handed axe he’d shown off at a few occasions. But even if he was going undercover he didn’t want to use a sword or something else, afraid it would hamper his future skill choices.

Next, he focused his Cosmic Energy in his scalp and was amazed to see his hair grow out with speed visible to his eyes. Soon it was long enough that he put it in a bun with a leather string.

Not only that, but he also grew out a beard, covering the somewhat distinct scar on his mouth that still wasn’t gone.

He looked like an almost completely different person, and that was the point. Still, he wasn’t done there as he activated a fractal that was placed on his throat. His body suddenly was wracked in pain, but he grit his teeth and pushed through. In just a few seconds he’d completely changed. He was now a few inches shorter, while his face had undergone a large transformation.

It was the skill [Thousand Faces], one of the 81 skills in the repository. It was a shapeshifting skill, and something he decided to pick up after having seen how effective the priest infiltrators were. He was a high profile person and his appearance might cause unwanted trouble, and this was his solution.

It was only one of the mid-grade skills, and it didn’t really fit his pathways very well. That’s why it hurt like his bones were ground to dust and then reshaped when he used it. But it still felt like one of the most useful skills in the repository for his current needs.

Looking back from the mirror now was a middle-aged man with a more angular facial structure and a hooked nose. Not even Kenzie should recognize him as he currently looked. As the skill actually changed the bone structure of someone it didn’t take any energy to maintain, but a weakness was that it couldn’t change his aura.

An aura was almost like a fingerprint these days, and some scouts could use the fluctuations a person gave out to identify people in disguises. However, for that to work the scout would have to have met him earlier, so the risk for that was not too big unless the people of new Washington were actively hunting him.

Satisfied with the transformation he packed away his mirror and got ready to leave. He still wore his E-graded robes underneath the furs, not wanting to give up the defensive charges they contained.

Back on his island this many layers would have been decidedly hot, but here on the mainland it was starting to get quite chilly. It was already November, though Zac didn’t know if the months or seasons had changed somehow.

He kept going through the desolate wasteland, but this time he had taken out one of his cars. It wasn’t one of the modified ones that were running on Nexus Crystals, but rather one of the normal ones. However, there were a few inscriptions placed in a few unseen spots that would make it sturdier.

He’d missed driving, and enjoyed feeling even though the scenery was a bit dour. But soon he actually saw some activity. Much like in the area around New Washington there was almost never traffic, but he actually saw a jeep speed across a field in the distance. It looked quite rickety, the car jumping and looked about to keel over at any moment.

Zac understood why whoever was inside was driving that recklessly though. Right behind the car a huge tiger was in hot pursuit. It was even larger than the car, but that wasn’t the odd thing about it. Even from the distance, Zac could see that it was greyish, not having the usual yellow and black stripes. Its eyes were also shining in a similar turquoise as the undead beacons did.

It clearly was in the process of mutating from living inside miasma for a long time, though Zac didn’t understand what it was doing here. There was no discernable miasma in the atmosphere where they were, so it must have wandered out from the dead zone. Perhaps it had an appetite for humans and was out on a hunt.

A bump in the terrain suddenly sent the vehicle out of control, but as it was about to overturn three people nimbly jumped out of the car and landed on the ground as the Jeep kept going. From how practiced their movements were Zac almost thought that wasn’t the first time they had been forced to jump out of a runaway vehicle.

Zac finally got a good look at the party and saw it was one Caucasian male and two Asians, one woman and one man. All of them looked to be around their thirties and judging from their gear they weren’t people who had stayed put within the safety of a wall since the integration.

The Zombified Tiger gave off a ghastly roar that Zac could clearly hear even from the distance and pounced at the trio. The commotion actually made Zac stop his car and get out. For a second he wondered if he should rush over there to save them, but the three put up a valiant defense against the beast.

While they weren’t some supreme powerhouses they were stronger than the Valkyries back in Port Atwood, and they had complementary skills. Still, the tiger seemed extremely durable, and it was unclear whether they would be able to whittle it down before they ran out of cosmic energy.

“You there! Please assist us, and half the value of the beast core is yours!” the Asian man in the back shouted over at Zac in passable English.

Zac’s brows rose when he heard the offer, and he ran over to the battle. Beast cores were crystals that contained a good chunk of the total Cosmic Energy of a beast. Zac didn’t expect to hear it mentioned here, as generally that wasn’t something that should exist in an animal until they reached D-rank.

At that point, both humans and beasts would develop a Core in their body that could compress and contain vasts amounts of Cosmic Energy. This was a sharp difference from how it was now, where cosmic energy was generally stored in every cell of the body. A core was far more efficient, and successfully forming one was akin to getting a high powered battery in your body.

Zac used [Inquisitive Eyes] on the beast.

[Miasmic Bengal Tiger – Undead. Level 43 – Endurance]

Zac getting the skill had caused his reputation to take somewhat of a hit, and rumors of him being a peeping tom started to spread. But he had finished his quest in just a few days by using [Eye of Discernment] on almost everyone in the town, much to the citizenʼs annoyance.

The new and improved version was still F-ranked, but much more useful. It now also displayed what was the highest attribute of the one he spied on, which would give a hint of their battle style. It also could discern the grades of many resources, which was a good way to learn if something he found was useful or not.

With a fluid motion Zac took the large two-handed axe from his back and joined the fray. Naturally, he would have been able to kill the beast in a simple swing, but he only used a bit of his power in order to not stand out.

The intense battle kept going for a few minutes, and Zac was a large contributor to the victory, as every swing of his contained quite a punch that maimed the animal. He purposely made himself seem slighlty stronger than the trio, so that they wouldnʼt get any ideas after the fight finished.

Finally, they felled the beast, and with a groan, it thumped down on the ground.

“Thank you, friend. That’s some swing you have there. I don’t recognize you, are you new to the area?” the blonde man said between pants.

“I came here to get stronger. I’m heading to a frontier town now,” Zac said with a hoarse voice. “What’s that beast core you mentioned?”

“Oh so you’re not from around here,” the man nodded. “The animals that live deep in the dead zone have started to get these crystals in their heads. We call them Beast Cores. They are filled with tons of miasma. They are useful for various things. You can even use them for cultivation, but I wouldn’t recommend that. Fries your brain after a while.”

The other two, who seemed to be siblings at closer scrutiny, nodded at that.

“General Stores buys them for a pretty penny, so they are like gold here. Some Zombies have them as well, especially the stronger ones. The stores pay by the gram, and finding these have become more profitable than just grinding low level Zombies,” the Asian man who spotted him earlier added.

It seemed they weren’t real beast cores after all, but rather something created by the miasma. Still, Zac curiously looked on as the Asian girl took out a large knife and started cutting into the head of the tiger.

“I’m John, by the way. I was an expat in Hong Kong before all this,” John said with an expansive gesture “This is Ling and Hung.”

“I’m David,” Zac said, using the first name that came to his mind. “How did this thing get all the way out here? From what I gathered before coming these types of beasts stay further in the Dead Zone?”

“Ah, well, that’s sort of our mistake. We accidentally enraged it and it followed us for more than a day. We got off-track while trying to shake it off,” John said.

“Got it,” Ling said with a melodious voice as she took out a greyish crystal from the head of the tiger. She quickly wiped it off with a rag and displayed it in front of them.

“Wow, it’s a big one. Should be worth over thirty thousand,” John said with a whistle.

“So, uh... Do you think we can catch a ride? Our poor Betty seems to have given her last breath,” John said as he looked at the overturned jeep that had smoke coming out of it.

“… It’s fine, you just need to eat this root first,” Zac said as he took out the minty root from a backpack.