Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 169: Natureʼs Barrier

Zac frowned as his danger sense flared to life. He quickly rotated his cosmic energy as a few large emerald leaves started to flutter around him as though he was sitting in the middle of a hurricane. The next second the door exploded into wood chippings as some unknown assailers were firing automatic rifles from the other side.

Zac didn’t get flustered and instead only slowly got to his feet. Not a single bullet actually hit him as each and every one was miraculously intercepted by the leaves that were seemingly haphazardly fluttering around him.

It was Zac’s second new skill, [Nature’s barrier]. It was a High F-Graded skill that created a barrier of leaves that automatically intercepted incoming projectiles. Their movements weren’t haphazard at all, but rather followed some intricate pattern that Zac still couldn’t make heads or tails of.

The leaves were extremely durable, but a few tears started to appear from on them the incessant firing. Almost all bullets hit true, making Zac believe that the attackers had some sort of class that aided in with aim. However, the leaves quickly restored themselves, only at the cost of some Cosmic Energy.

Nature’s Barrier wasn’t one of the 9 high graded skills in the repository for nothing. It provided an extremely durable extra layer of protection. It also had a few other strong points that suited Zac quite well. The durability on the leaves was based on his Endurance, which was quite unique for barrier spells.

This alone made it worthy of the High-grade rank. The stopping-power of most spell shields was based on Intelligence, meaning the shields a physical warrior would summon could barely provide any safety.

The leaves could also be empowered with his Dao of Trees, making it was a perfect fit. However, there was no need to do that for some random rifles. However, after testing the skill out on the island he found that the rounds that the sniper rifles fired would easily penetrate the leaves. So he would need to imbue the skill with his Dao to protect himself from that type of attack.

It was the very same sniper rifles that had prompted Zac to get this skill even though he believed he might get something similar from his class in the future. Zac felt that apart from his high stats he had no proper way to protect himself from attacks. Even some weaklings managed to burn through all his defensive charges and almost kill him with the help of three rifles.

The high priest could create a field of fire that incinerated any attack, whereas the Corpse Lord had turned his very body into a treasure, providing far higher protection than average skills. Even Ogras would have no problem surviving an attack from sniper rifles, as he only needed to meld with the shadows.

Zac waited a second for the shooting to die down before he blasted out from the broken door like a raging bull. Outside stood two men, who seemed extremely shocked to see an unscathed Zac emerge. The interruption caused the pain in Zacʼs side to flare up again, causing a constant annoyance.

A swift slash from a small tomahawk ripped open the throat of one of the attackers, who helplessly slumped down on the floor with a wet gurgling sound. At the same time, Zac grabbed the throat of the other man and dragged him back into the room.

“Who sent you?” Zac asked.

“P-please don’t kill me. I was ordered,” the man said with horror in his eyes.

“Who?” Zac only repeated while he tightened his grip.

“Lord Perseverance,” the man quickly said, obviously having no problem betraying the town leader. “You flashed a lot of wealth at the clinic, and you hurt both the Purifier and a lieutenant.”

Zac shook his head, not too surprised with how things had turned out. He had only hoped that someone who could stay alive this far and even lead a town would have better sense. Zac tightened his grip once more, and this time the crunch of broken bones could be heard in the room. Zac dropped down the corpse on the ground and started to prepare for his next move.

He swapped out his normal boots to the pair that had no sole, which would allow him to use his movement skill. He had a feeling he would need it since the tavern was completely silent. The two had emptied a clip each, yet there was no commotion, clearly indicating something was up.

Finally he was ready to break out, but before Zac left he looked down at the two bodies on the floor, some loss in his eyes. It wasn’t really sadness over what he did, but rather at what he was becoming. Perhaps he didn’t need to kill those two, but he wouldn’t leave any hidden risks. It was based on what Ogras said during the third wave.

He truly didn’t just represent himself anymore. Leaving his enemies alive would be like releasing the wolves back into the mountains. Zac couldn’t always be around to protect those close to him, and if he kept being merciful his friends and family would be in constant danger.

He still didnʼt take out [Verun’s Bite] when he exited the room, feeling there was no one in this town that could force him to get serious. A quick glance around showed a completely empty hallway, confirming his doubt that people had been silently evacuated while he meditated.

With a few quick jumps, he quickly descended the stairs, but a sense of danger made him immediately move away with [Loamwalker]. This allowed him to narrowly escape the explosion of a claymore that destroyed the whole stairs where he stood just now.

Zac frowned as he saw the destruction caused. These Zombie hunters were extraordinarily well-equipped it seemed. Zac could only guess they had raided some army base in the vicinity since those types of explosives shouldn’t just be lying around.

Zac had no doubt that when he exited the little tavern there would be a firing squad waiting for him. He wasn’t really worried about the outcome, but rather about the rumors that would spread if he went out like a tank and decimated the attackers.

There still weren’t too many people who were able to do things like that, and he didn’t want to alert either the government or any invaders monitoring his activities.

To get around the problem Zac simply decided to create his own exit, and with a few slashes and a kick, he walked out of the building from the side and quickly ran away. He heard a shout from behind, but now that he was out in the open he wasn’t worried they’d catch him.

Zac activated [Loamwalker] and sped through a side passage heading for the edge of town. However, he was interrupted after only ten seconds by acute pain in his side, forcing him to slow down to normal speed again.

Zac groaned and touched his side, feeling the deathly chill of miasma pulsating. He already sensed it a bit when he used [Nature’s Barrier], but it truly looked like his wound reacted to him using cosmic energy at the moment.

The wound wasn’t like this before back on the island, making the preparations and research heʼd done with the help of Ogras and Alea essentially useless. It was as though a beast had woken up in his wound and started causing all kinds of problems, which no one could have expected. Still, Zac knew it wasn’t time to think about it now and instead kept running toward the outer wall of the town.

Zac was ripping through the streets with breakneck speed even without using his movement skill or cosmic energy, empowered only by his overpowered attributes. However, the hunt was on, and two warriors were closing in on motorcycles. Zac wasn’t sure how they could find him so easy, and could only guess they either had a drone or some skill that could track him within a certain area.

Zac was in no mood to get entangled with whatever the riders had planned, and took out two pieces of rocks he still kept in his bags. He quickly turned around and threw them in quick succession, and the two stones shot like cannonballs into the tires of the motorcycles.

The two pursuers couldn’t keep their vehicles under control even with their improved attributes, and they quickly jumped off the motorcycles who went out of control crashing into a storefront. A quick glance back showed that they were scuffed but largely unscathed, and one even readied a gun while rolling. However, Zac rounded a corner and the shots fired harmlessly hit a wall.

Luckily the town wasn’t too large, and Zac soon found himself at the outer wall. A soldier on guard up on the wall walk heard the commotion of the pursuit, and quickly levied his rifle at Zac and fired. Zac quickly dodged the first shots as he took out a Tomahawk. With a quick throw, it embedded itself deep into the chest of the guard, who fell over the side with a groan.

Not wanting to stay one more second in this town, Zac climbed up the wall quick like a monkey, turning back to remember the faces of those who tried to kill him. But a sense of danger made him heedlessly throw himself over the edge before he could make out anyoneʼs appearance.

An enormous fireball blasted into the section that Zac stood on a second earlier, completely erasing the section of the wall. Zac frowned as he looked back up on the wall he just fell down from. It appeared there were some competent people in the town, after all.

With a grunt, he quickly ripped out the tomahawk from the chest of the fallen guard, and from there ran straight toward the Dead Zone. He ignored the pain in his wound, and once again activated [Loamwalker] for a whole minute this time in order to create some distance.

As soon as he found a road leading south-east he took out his car and quickly sped off. As he drove he once again was able to mainly focus on the Dao of Trees, and he was relieved to feel that the wound was quickly calming down again. It appeared that while using Cosmic Energy triggered the wound somewhat, it wasn’t anywhere close to what happened did when it was attacked by the healing energy of the Purifier.

It was completely quiet as Zac sped along through the dead of night, with neither humans nor zombies in sight. Zac knew that this would be the case, as the zombie hunters had essentially cleaned everything out along the rim of the dead zone. To find targets they needed to head further and further in.

It felt a bit shameful to escape in a mad dash instead of just walking out tall and proud. It wasn’t like he’d done anything wrong. But it felt too stupid to eradicate a main opposition to the zombies just because one of the lieutenants being an asshole, creating an unfortunate chain reaction.

Besides, one man fleeing this so-called Lord Perseverance was a far less attention-grabbing gossip than one man killing the lord and his whole army.

Zac kept driving for almost an hour without any lights out, guided only by his keen reflexes and eyesight. However, his mouth curved downward in annoyance as he suddenly saw an array of lights blocking the road ahead.

With a somber expression, he stopped the car and walked out, almost blinded by the light. It felt like there was no point to try and sneak around, as they clearly knew his location. He needed to clear this situation up unless he wanted to be hounded for days.

Between the floodlights Zac saw roughly thirty men lined up, armed with both military weapons and things like swords and spears. The vehicles themselves were clearly of army-make, reinforcing Zac’s belief that this town had ransacked an army base, or perhaps even was founded by deserted soldiers.

“A lot of trouble for just one person,” Zac said with a steady voice as he looked at the captors.

“Oh, Lord Perseverance doesn’t get his name without reason,” a teasing voice answered.

“So what do you want?” Zac asked, trying his hardest to keep his increasingly short fuse in check.

“What do all men want? Beauty, youth, wealth. You, unfortunately, don’t have the first two, but I do believe you have the last one,” the voice responded, eliciting guffaws from the other bandits.

“We know you have a Cosmos Sack large enough to fit a car. Throw it over, along with everything you wear, and I’ll let you leave,” the man said, prompting another round of laughs.

Something snapped in Zac, and he wordlessly took out his weapon. This time it wasn’t a tomahawk or the twohanded axe he wore on his back, but [Verun’s Bite]. He didn’t expect any of the men in front of him to tell any tales of his distinctive weapon and fighting style.

Because enough was enough.