Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 177: Ravenous

“I’m not limited by the Ruthless Heavens here. This time I have my legion with me!” the Corpse Lord roared as three huge streams of corruption rose out from the kettles and flew to intercept the emerging hand above Zac.

Zac wasn’t surprised the undead leader had something up his sleeve, but he didn’t change his mind. He pushed the gigantic hand forward, making it slam straight into the torrents of corruption as it moved to snatch the Corpse Lord.

A sizzling could be heard from his arm as smoke started to rise, making Zac grunt in pain. But he kept going, and soon the whole arm was submerged in the putrid liquid from the kettles. It was a far stronger version of the corruption that spewed out of the Corpse Lord’s own body during the last fight, and Zac felt as though he was submerged in a vat of acid.

“True Rot!” the undead leader roared as he pushed the miasma in the air to join the liquid from the kettles, pushing the decaying powers to another level.

The hand was completely submerged in a blob of turbid liquid as it stopped some distance from the undead lord, who looked at a panting Zac with a sneer. The effect of the ball of corruption was extended to Zac as well, and the effect was strong enough to singe him all over. The hair and beard he’d grown out fell out in thick clumps, and the cloak he used above his real gear was rotting away at a speed visible to the naked eye.

However, the Corpse Lord’s eyes suddenly opened wide in alarm as an emerald shockwave of energy scattered the blob of corruption. The putrid liquid flew in all directions, actually killing dozens of the undead soldiers, as a hand blazing in green luster emerged out of it.

The arm wrought out of nature didn’t look decayed at all. On the contrary, it seemed even more vibrant compared to before, as small saplings and leaves grew from its rugged exterior.

“You!” Mhal roared, as he tried to perform a body swap, but it was to no avail.

The hand had somehow locked down space around it, turning the area into its domain. Zac sensed it was something like a Dao Field in a sense, but at the same time it was far sturdier. Aghast, the Corpse Lord tried to flee, but he didn’t get far as the hand quickly closed around him.

“I’ll take you with me! [Seed Detonation]!” was the last thing the undead screamed in fury as the hand clenched, causing a sickening crunch.

Zac froze for a second, bracing for whatever his foe had planned in revenge. But nothing happened, making Zac look around in confusion. The Corpse Lord had said seed detonation, likely trying to explode whatever he embedded in Zac’s gut. But perhaps the odd changes it had undergone had broken the connection Mhal possessed.

Zac sighed in relief as he saw his gambit was successful. He was betting that the two upgrades to his Dao of Trees would supersede whatever the Corpse Lord had planned. A Dao Seed gaining two upgrades was a huge boost, and even with the support of the Dead Zone Mhal shouldn’t be ready for the power-up.

He was correct. Though the three large kettles made the power of rot far stronger, it was no match for the concept of growth through decay. The hand even emerged stronger from the attack. A huge surge of Cosmic Energy entered him, effortlessly pushing him to level 59.

While there was utter chaos in the undead ranks from the sudden fall of their leader Zac quickly ran forward and stored the mangled remains and weapon of the Corpse Lord in his sack. The undead himself possessed a sack, which Zac quickly bound to himself and put inside his robe.

Zac had achieved his goal and was pondering what to do next. He even contemplating going on a rampage to push himself toward level 60. However, a sudden blaze of pain erupted in his body as the core beneath his navel sprung to life as it started to absorb miasma once again.

The last words of the Corpse Lord once again echoed in Zac’s, making him wonder whether Mhal had some sort of contingency after all.

At least Zac noted with some relief that the miasma it absorbed wasn’t too bad, not at all at the same level as before. Of course, continuously absorbing corrupted energy wasn’t great, so Zac quickly started up a Dao-swirl above the bead to stem the influx, even though his mental energy was quite tapped out.

However, his eyes widened in horror when he felt the mental energy forming the Dao swirl getting sucked into the bead alongside the miasma. Zac quickly stopped the Dao-field, afraid he would damage his mind if it kept going. He was already almost wrung dry from yesterday, and along with this fight he was already close to his limits.

Right now was not the time to ponder on a response to the new issue because the undead army was quickly turning berserk after seeing their leader get killed. Huge lumbering corpse golems were rushing toward him as a dizzying array of attacks soared through the air.

Zac judged the army to be even stronger than his demon force, with real foreign invaders making up the bulk. Even at top condition this wasn’t a fight he’d take on heedlessly. He quickly oriented himself as he dodged as many of the attacks as he could before he started to run around the army. It was time to flee.

A few of the golems moved to intercept, and Zac once again hefted his axe as he carved a path of carnage to make an escape. However, the undead here were not like the mindless zombies from before and they mounted a terrifying retaliation. He was constantly struck by fists almost as large as himself, and each one hit with the force of a truck.

He was also continuously pelted by ranged attacks, both mental and physical. His skill [Mental Fortress] was running on overdrive, and he was forced to unsummon the glistening leaves from [Nature’s defense] as he was unable to keep up the consumption of Cosmic Energy from reforming them.

In just a few minutes he was completely bloodied with innumerable wounds. However, the undead army wasn’t unscathed either. With each step of Zacʼs an elite of the undead army was destroyed as he pushed forward like a meat grinder on legs.

It didn’t matter whether it was Corpse Golems, aberrations or elite zombies. Everything fell in front of Zac’s relentless swings. The experience he was gaining was enormous, but he knew he couldn’t keep it up for long. With every kill he gained Cosmic Energy, but more miasma also entered him.

If that was it, then it wouldn’t be such a problem, but the core clearly was looking for some sort of equilibrium as it kept absorbing opposing energy as well. Since Zac couldn’t keep the Dao Field going anymore it actually absorbed something else from him. His lifeforce.

It felt like he was slowly being sucked dry, and every time he killed an undead a little bit of his life was ripped away to keep the balance going. However, it wasn’t like he could just stop, so the carnage continued until he finally broke away from the army, fleeing into the woods.

This time he wouldn’t get controlled by any ghosts as he pushed straight east. A quick look around showed that the army at least wasn’t following him. He’d caused massive losses to the army, and perhaps they didn’t want to throw their lives away, instead opting to wait for orders from superiors.

A few of the scouts tried to keep track of him, but Zac finally managed to shake them off with the help of [Loamwalker] and his superior physique. However, he was completely spent by this point. The fight had cost him almost all his Cosmic Energy, and his mind was overtaxed after the last two days’ efforts.

Even his body felt completely drained from the bead sucking the life out of him. At least it had calmed down by a bit since he’d stopped his killing spree, but things still looked dire. Even though he just wanted to lay down and sleep for a few days he kept running.

He just killed one of the generals of the undead army, and he didn’t for one second think that there wouldn’t be some reaction from this. He needed to create much more distance before he was satisfied. He really wanted to find a road by this point, but the forests and uneven plains felt endless as he ran for hours.

Zac’s mind was starting to become a blur, all his effort focused on taking one step after another. He’d long lost any pursuers trying to keep up with him, but the problem of him getting continuously drained was persisting. No matter what he tried, from using his Dao to trying to feed the bead the energy from Nexus Crystals, it didn’t work.

The only thing he found to somewhat help out was to eat meat from strong creatures, so he kept continuously eating dried meat as he ran. In just a few hours he’d consumed a couple of week’s worth of food, but he kept ravenously putting one piece after another into his mouth as he ran.

The only permanent solution Zac could come up with at the moment was to keep running further away from the core of the Dead Zone. The drain on his body was based on how much miasma his body absorbed from the atmosphere. Zac figured that if he got to the edge of Dead Zone the sparse miasma in the air would result in his body wouldn’t get drained to such a degree.

Still, even with his speed he knew it might take days to get far enough out as he felt he was getting closer and closer to his limits, meat or no meat. Those were the thoughts churning in Zac’s muddled head as a bright light suddenly flashed from the left of him and he looked over with confused eyes. What entered his eyes was a large truck speeding right toward him, and in the next moment everything went black.

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Zac was swimming in a sea of darkness, not knowing what was going on. He couldn’t remember how he got here, or even who he was. Time and space had no meaning as he quietly floated in the endless black until a glowing warmth spread through the universe, rekindling his memories.

Zac stirred with a groan, and immediately heard a conversation above him.

“Why are you wasting our resources on that man? He is teeming with miasma, he’s probably lived inside the Dead Zone for months. I don’t know how he has survived, he doesn’t seem to have an ounce of Cosmic Energy in his body, and he seems like he’s on the verge of death anyway,” a disgruntled voice said as Zac felt something pushing him in his side. “Just let him quietly pass.”

“It was us who hit him with our truck, it’s only right that we help him out. And how I use my healing powers is none of your business,” an irritated female voice from somewhere right next to Zac responded. “Besides, do you want to answer to the Battle Monks when they find out we left one of their kind in the wilderness?”

”Shit, weʼve already lost most of our army, but you pick up strays. Well, whatever,” the man muttered, followed by steps walking away.

The warmth kept flooding into his body, reinvigorating his drained cells. At the same time he felt that some miasma kept entering his body, though now the golden warmth was what got absorbed into his Core to balance it out. It gave his body a much-needed respite, as he was just too exhausted from the past two days.

He wanted to get up and see what was going on, but he was surprised that his body wasn’t listening to him, not even allowing him to open his eyes. Instead, he was forced to lie there mulling over what the two said. The way the man described him was troubling, so he tried to properly sense the state of his body.

He was shocked by what he found out. He had no problem using his inner vision, but he almost thought he’d was looking at someone else when he saw what was going on.

There was not a smidgeon of energy in his body, to the point that it almost felt like he’d gone back to be a normal mortal. At the same time his frame had undergone a transformation, and not a good one. Most of his muscles were gone, and he looked sickly or starving. Zac could only guess that his bulk was swallowed along with his energy into the gluttonous bead.

Finally there vas the mention of battle monks. Zac didn’t understand what they had to do with him, until he went over the battle from before. The fight had once again singed his hair clean he realized with an inward groan.

I guess I’m back to being Monk, was the last helpless thought in Zac’s mind as he once again drifted into unconsciousness.