Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 178: Monks

Zac once again woke up from his deep slumber. This time he was relieved to sense that he was once again able to move, though the feeling of feebleness was still there. He arduously got up to a sitting position and quickly looked around.

He was in the cargo of a small military truck that was obviously still driving as it was bumping and waving around. Inside were another six people resting, four men and two women. All of them were east Asian apart from one of the men who seemed to be Indian.

Two were having a conversation with subdued voices, while the others were reading or maintaining their weapons. When Zac got up to a sitting position a few glanced at him, but soon lost interest and got back to what they were doing.

Zac still wasn’t sure of what was going on so he first checked his situation. He wasn’t bound or anything of the sort, and he still had all his cosmos sacks within his robes. It appeared he wasn’t a prisoner, not that he really thought that after overhearing the earlier conversation.

Still, it was a relief since he wasnʼt sure heʼd be able to mount a prison break in his current condition. A deep rumbling in his stomach reminded him of his wretched and starved state, and it also roused one of the girls who sat close to him.

“You’re awake? How are you feeling?” she asked after she noticed Zac’s sitting posture, and Zac could tell that she was the one who spoke earlier before he passed out again.

She was quite short, barely reaching 150 cm. Along with her petite frame, Zac almost thought for a second that she was a child. However, she appeared to be somewhere in her early twenties from her facial features. She didn’t give off a strong impression from her appearance, but there was still something about her.

At first he couldnʼt put his finger on it, but after a while, Zac realized it was a slight aura of power. However, it was different from those he was used to, like his own or the Demon warriors. Their auras were drenched in bloodlust and something wrought from countless battles.

Hers was a subdued warm glow that gave off a rather comforting feeling. Another rumble came from Zacs belly, and with a slight flush the girl quickly handed over a can of sausages from her backpack

“Yes, thank you for saving me,” Zac answered with a hoarse voice and quickly devoured the small Vienna sausages with relish.

He considered bringing out something more from his pouch but decided against it with some regret. He wasnʼt in a condition to defend himself for the moment, and showing he possessed multiple Cosmos Sacks wasnʼt a good idea.

“Weʼre sorry about hitting you with our truck. I’m Sui. We’re heading out of the Dead Zone now, and you’re free to join us,”

“Oh?” Zac said. “In which direction?”

“We’re-“ Sui said, but didn’t get further before a gruff voice interrupted her.

“Oh? You’re awake? Which monastery do you belong to?”

Zac frowned and looked over at a man who sat opposite him. The voice was the same one that wanted to leave him for dead earlier.

“I am not part of any monastery,” Zac answered, deciding to tell the truth.

He felt it was no point in lying about the situation, as he had no idea what the so-called battle monks were. He’d be exposed in just a follow-up question or two, and he didn’t want to get caught lying while he was in this condition.

Though he could sit up his body was far from restored, and he wasn’t sure he would even be able to walk around at the moment.

“You’ve got some balls impersonating a monk,” the man snorted. “I say we throw him off before we arrive, we can’t afford to anger the Everlasting Monastery. Our villages depend on their protection.”

“Don’t be stupid, the monks are benevolent people. They wouldn’t jeopardize the population over something like that,” Sui said with a glare.

“What’s the Everlasting Monastery?” Zac asked.

“It’s a large monastery led by one of the most powerful people in the world, Abbot Everlasting Peace. The monastery is actually two days inside the Dead Zone, but the monks still reside there. More impressively, they are actually able to purify the miasma,” Sui said with some reverence on her face. “They have turned a large area into a safe zone.”

Zac’s brows rose at the explanation. Abbot Everlasting Peace was actually the one he was most curious about since the Ladder System was launched, even more so than Salvation and Thea Marshall. Abbot Everlasting Peace was the person who held the first spot on the Dao-ladder at the time.

Surprisingly there had been no information about him, or the Indian Guru holding the second spot on the Dao Ladder, in New Washington. So it turned out the monk was staying in the middle of the undead incursion, somehow eking out a living.

Zac felt it was no wonder that the Abbot had such a high level. He was living in the middle of an incursion, so he was bound to either perish or get strong, just like himself. A thought struck Zac and he opened up the ladders for the first time in a while.

Ladder - Level Rank Name Level 1 Super Brother-Man 59 2 Salvation 48 3 Thea Marshall 47 4 Enigma 43 5 Thwonkinʼ Billy 42 6 Joker 42 7 Abbot Everlasting Peace 41 8 Daoist Chosui 41 9 Silverfox 41 10 Guru Anaad Phakiwar 40 ... 100 Ling Tian 40

Ladder - Wealth Rank Name 1 Super Brother-Man 2 Smaug 3 Salvation 4 Joker 5 Enigma 6 Greed 7 Little Treasure 8 Thwonkinʼ Billy 9 The Eternal Eye 10 Henry Marshall

Ladder - Dao Rank Name 1 Abbot Everlasting Peace 2 Guru Anaad Phakiwar 3 Super Brother-Man 4 Thea Marshall 5 Abbot Boundless Truth 6 The Eternal Eye 7 Silverfox 8 Father Thomas 9 Daoist Chosui 10 Little Treasure

Zac was shocked. Not even attaining a high tiered Seed was enough to push him to the top of the Dao ladder. It made him truly wonder just what kind of insights the monk had. He was actually a bit excited about going to the monastery now. Perhaps he would be able to glean some insight as to why the monk was gaining so much enlightenment.

Otherwise not much was changing on the ladders. The only large change since he checked last was that the individual named Dahlia had disappeared from the ladder. Before she was at the 9th spot, so Zac guessed she’d died. It happened every now and then, and it seemed that less than 30 of the original rankers were left on the ladder after roughly 11 weeks.

Some had simply gotten passed by others, while others died. To keep up with the top 100 of the world one needed to be constantly throwing oneself in danger after all. Another trend Zac was noticing was that the ladders were starting to get more harmonized.

In the start Zac was one of the few that existed on all ladders, while Thea was another example. But by now quite a few of those who were on the Dao Ladder also found themselves on the Level ladder. This was nothing odd, as gaining a Dao Seed not only improved attributes, but also empowered skills. It gave a huge boost and would increase leveling speed and survivability by a tier.

Zac himself would be long dead if he didn’t have his Dao Seeds for example. Curiously enough Salvation still wasn’t on the Dao Ladder though, defying expectations. There was a rumor in New Washington that Salvation was doing the same as the Dominators, gaining levels by killing humans, which was why he gained so many levels without gaining any Dao.

“Why are you heading to the monastery?” Zac suddenly asked.

“There was an… incident,” Sui hesitantly answered, throwing a quick glance at Zac.

“Incident? You call most of our people getting slaughtered an incident?” another man in the truck retorted with a glare.

“A god damn lunatic came from nowhere, causing a huge amount of trouble. He was extremely strong, but I think he had gone crazy from miasma like he was on the verge of turning. He killed god knows how many zombies, but then the miasma in the area started to go haywire,” the man continued.

“Then everything turned crazy. Elite undead started to gather in droves, seemingly looking for the madman. We think he might have turned into a zombie lord or something, judging by the amount of miasma that entered him,” the man opposite spat with a frown. “We got caught in the middle of it. We got butchered. If I find that asshole…”

“You’ll what?” a scarred man sitting in a corner of the truck snorted. “Piss your pants? That guy was crazy strong, and now heʼs a Zombie to boot.”

Zac had to force his face to stay neutral as he heard the explanation. He had no idea that he turned out to be a calamity not only for the zombies but the humans as well. He couldn’t let them know he was the one responsible for the chaos. Otherwise, they’d likely rip him apart for revenge.

Suddenly he was quite happy that his whole appearance had undergone a transformation during his flight. Not only was his hair gone, but his face had changed back to its original since he wasn’t able to keep his disguise going. Even his frame had drastically changed in only two days, making it nigh impossible to know he was the responsible party.

He felt extremely bad about the situation and made a mental promise to try to help out the villages affected by his actions in the future. But for now he had to stay silent on the matter, even if it was unethical.

“So you’re heading there to rest up?” Zac asked.

“We need to warn the monastery about the developments in the Dead Zone, and hopefully some of our party are heading there as well. We got split up when we fled,” Sui answered as he looked down, fiddling with her fingers.

Zac simply nodded and reclined back against the wall.

“What about you?” the gruff man asked. “If you ask me, you’re extremely suspicious. What were you doing so far into the Dead Zone?”

“I originally am from Perseverance on the west side of the incursion. I heard a rumor about a town having a lot of Caucasian cultivators on the east side. I was trying to get there to find a good team, but I got turned around,” Zac answered, mixing some truth with lies.

“You crossed the whole Dead Zone... to find a party?” the gruff man asked suspiciously.

“I accidentally got in an argument with the purifier in Perseverance, so my situation got a bit... complicated,” Zac shrugged. “None of the teams would take me in.”

A few of the people in the truck snickered at that, throwing a glance at Sui who frowned.

“It’s disgusting how some of us use our gifts for personal gain when we should strive to help mankind,” she said with a sour face.

“Not everyone is as idealistic as you, girl,” an old man sitting on the other side of Sui spoke up for the first time. “Most are just trying to survive.”

They kept talking for a while, and Zac was happy to find out that the monastery was to the east, roughly halfway between the core and the edge of the Dead Zone, which meant that they drove in the right direction.

They didn’t really know about any town like the one Zac described, though some of the monks might know, as quite a few of the elite Zombie Hunters had passed through there and left some intelligence behind.

After a while Zac was starting to feel drained once again by the bead, but Sui seemed to sense it somehow. She quickly started to heal him again, while the man on the opposite side snorted after throwing Zac a glare.

After driving a few hours the truck stopped, but apparently it was only for a quick bathroom break and switch drivers. The others seemed eager to get out of the cramped truck, and quickly jumped out one by one. In just seconds only Sui and Zac were left behind, as she was in the middle of once again healing him, or rather feeding the greedy Core in his body.

“Don’t mind what the others said earlier…” Sui suddenly said with a low voice as she imbued him with her healing skill.

“About pretending to be a monk? I don’t mind, I kinda look like one,” Zac answered about a shrug.

“No, not that… About you causing the deaths of our teammates. I know you didn’t mean for that to happen. I guess it has to do with the weird thing in your body?”