Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 198: Competition

Zac was quickly running through the countryside, idly gazing at the alien landscape as he passed it by. It was a weird feeling seeing both normal things like leafy trees, followed by sights that he couldnʼt even explain. An example was an enormous flying beast that slowly drifted overhead that reminded Zac more of a zeppelin than a bird.

At first, Zac had thought it was the monster he was supposed to kill, but after using [Inquisitive Eyes] on it he realized it was only level 18. More interestingly he even spotted a small cottage on top of the animal with his binoculars as it flew away. He didnʼt think this was what the astronauts at NASA were imagining when they talked about space exploration.

He was surprised to note that the planet seemed to be in a state of perpetual gloom with barely any light to brighten the scenery. There was a sun in the sky, but it was so small and ineffectual that it almost might as well have been another star in distant space.

However, the weak light didn’t seem to have had an overly severe impact on the flora of the world, as he passed both farms full of crops and healthy forests as he sped through the country. Zac was guessing that while the energy in the atmosphere was sparse, it was enough to nurture normal unranked growth across the planet.

It made him wonder what would happen if the energy got any worse. Would the planet and its citizens simply die out? Was he walking on the dying carcass of a planet, or simply one that had always worked differently from how he was used to?

Still, all this wasn’t any of his business. He couldn’t get invested in some world that was placed god-knows-where. He simply kept his head down and kept running, every now and again stopping to ask for directions. Of course, every time he did so he caused widespread panic, as the general population was not aware of their army summoning some strange giant.

It was quite clear that this wasn’t a planet that often saw visitors from outer space, even though it was integrated into the multiverse. Then again, that was usually the case, as there simply were too many planets for the large forces to bother with all the small and worthless ones.

A planet of this level generally didn’t have the means for intergalactic teleportation, which meant the hassle of actually traveling here outweighed any value that could be squeezed out of the planet.

It turned out he had overestimated the distance to his target, as it only took him around ten hours to reach his goal. At least he was pretty sure he’d reached his goal. In front of him, a large medieval city stood surrounded by an army far larger than the one he was summoned to. A rough estimation put them at over 10 000 men, though it could be even more of them on the opposite side of the city.

The city itself was fortified by a wall that was mostly unscathed, except for a large breach that was around ten meters wide. Initially it looked like a siege was taking place, but Zac knew that wasn’t the case.

A large crash could be heard from inside the town, followed by an angry bellow that reverberated out into the countryside. The beast was inside, causing chaos and widespread damage. The army wasn’t besieging the town, but rather guarding it to keep the beast trapped, not wanting to release it out into the wild.

More surprisingly it seemed that the army was utilizing either an Array or a War-Array to cast a huge shield that sealed the whole town. Zac hadn’t expected to see techniques like that from this energy-starved world, where the armies seemed to exclusively consist of physical classes.

He knew just how expensive running arrays were, and he couldn’t imagine that there were Nexus Crystals aplenty on the planet. The country of Orrin was expending a huge amount of resources to seal the town and the beast.

Still, this wasn’t a long term solution. The beast was running rampant inside, causing widespread destruction. Structures kept getting smashed, but Zac was unable to get a good look at its shape due to the walls. However, he knew the beast at least as large as the Fiend Wolf, as he still caught glimpses of something black above the wall.

Zac wondered just what the plan was as he approached the army from behind. He could clearly hear the beast rampage inside, but the soldiers just stood outside waiting. He didn’t know what they were waiting for, but it worked out fine for him.

The appearance of a human cause quite a bit commotion among the ranks of the Solvim warriors, and they scrambled to set up a defensive front. Zac stopped for a bit, pondering what to do next. Technically he was on the side of these people, so he didn’t want to risk ruining his quest by forcing himself through.

“Greetings traveler, I am Perav. What has brought you to the kingdom of Orrin?” a strong voice sounded as an elderly-looking male quickly approached, followed by a few younger warriors.

“I was summoned to your world by Dresdo. I have come to kill that thing you’ve trapped inside,” Zac said, pointing toward the town.

The faces of the warriors who heard the conversations underwent a flurry of emotions, ranging from disbelief to elation. However, the leader who spoke with him and a few of the warriors who accompanied him were more measured in their response.

“You are a champion summoned through the ancient ritual?” the old man said, looking a bit perplexed.

“I guess,” Zac answered with a shrug “Can I enter now?”

“Please go ahead, Champion. We are grateful for you heeding the call. Be careful, the beast is a formidable foe,” the old man said.

Zac only nodded and proceeded through the ranks who quickly opened a path for him that lead to the breach in the wall. Before entering he stopped next to the array, and as he touched the shield Zac noticed it felt similar to the one he possessed in Port Atwood.

It was one-directional, meaning he would be able to pass through it from one side, but as soon as he entered he would be trapped inside. He would either have to kill the beast or break through the shield to get out if he found himself outmatched by the beast.

The old man was both respectful and didn’t seem to contain any hidden killing intent toward him, but Zac still didn’t like the feeling of being trapped like he was entering the Thunderdome. Still, even though the shield was maintained by thousands of warriors, he felt confident that he could cause a breach if he truly needed to escape.

If he combined both his new skill and [Nature’s Punishment] he would be able to exact an enormous amount of force, and nothing these Solvim threw at him should be able to impede that amount of power. So Zac simply took a deep breath as he steadily walked through the barrier.

------------------

The King of the Kingdom of Orrin silently gazed at the back of the alien warrior, until he turned a corner and disappeared from sight.

“Father, what’s going on?” one of the richly-equipped warriors next to the old man asked. “I thought that the summoning circle didn’t work? Haven’t we tried it on multiple occasions in history?”

“I am not sure,” Perav said with a sigh. “But he is the first off-worlder to come to our dying planet in eons. If he wants to fight that beast, let him. Our plan would sacrifice so many lives to ensure success. If he can solve our problems we are in his debt.”

“And then what?” the man probed. ”The alchemists say the horn of the beast might be the key for one of us to ascend.”

Perav sighed and shook his head. He knew how important it was to create an ascender. It was the first, and hardest, step in being accepted into the fold of the immortals. If their ascender then managed to come into the good graces of some Venerable their whole planet might be revitalized.

“We cannot afford to offend an off-worlder. For one he dares fight an ascended beast alone, and secondly, we do not know what kind of force that he belongs to. You cannot imagine the power of some of the warriors of the great beyond. They could level our whole kingdom with a wave of their hands,” the old man answered. ”Who knows, he might be just the person who can save our planet.”

The younger warrior didn’t say anything, but only wistfully looked up at the stars.

-----------------

It wasn’t very hard for Zac to localize the beast. It was going berserk in the town, pummeling through one building after another. Initially, he had been a bit disgusted by the army, as it had seemed that they had locked their citizens inside along with the beasts.

But as he walked toward the beast the streets were completely desolate, telling of an earlier evacuation. He tried to walk as quietly as possible as he got close, as he still hadn’t seen the full form of the monster.

While the energy contained in the bellow earlier made it seem that the monster couldn’t have evolved too long ago, he wouldn’t take any unnecessary risks. If there was one thing that Alyn had made sure he understood was to never take anything for granted. There were myriad beasts in the multiverse, many who possessed weird and unpredictable attacks.

Finally, he got close enough to see it around a corner, as it had briefly stopped after destroying a large mansion. This close there was no question about it. The beast was truly E-Ranked, but recently evolved. As for the type of beast it was, Zac had no idea as he didn’t dare to use his identifying skill on it just yet.

At first Zac had thought it was a huge rhinoceros, but he soon realized that he was slightly off on that point. At further scrutiny, it felt like the beast was the result of a mutant bison ox mating with a unicorn. It’s back reached roughly four meters in the air and it had a stocky build covered with a thick black fur.

Just looking at its body Zac felt that its method of fighting should be somewhat similar to that of the barghest. The thing looked like it was built for devastating head-on charges. However, the huge muscles weren’t what gave Zac pause as he scouted the beast.

It was the huge horn that shot out of its forehead, reaching over three meters. It almost looked like the horn was made out of opal, as it was white and shimmered in a rainbow of colors. However, the colors weren’t refractions, but rather wild energies that were somehow trapped inside.

Just looking at the sharp horn from the distance was enough to fill Zac with some trepidation, and he had a feeling it wasn’t so simple that it was only used for stabbing. However, since the beast looked a bit unwieldy Zac felt confident he would be able to whittle the beast down while avoiding frontal attacks with the help of [Loamwalker].

But before he could put thoughts into action a blaring sense of danger entered his mind, and he unhesitatingly activated a defensive charge from his robes. Not only that but he also immediately used his defensive skill and had multiple layers of leaves superimpose from the direction he sensed the deadly danger.

The next instant a gloved fist came crashing at him, causing a sonic boom right before it slammed into the shield. The fist contained some sort of intractable force, and Zac immediately realized it was some sort of Dao. He didn’t want to risk facing the same situation as with the Corpse Lord, being afflicted with an unknown Dao, so he quickly rotated the Dao of Trees in his body as well in order to create a third layer of defense.

Zac’s eyes widened in alarm as the shield cracked like brittle glass, and the emerald leaves were ripped to shreds soon after. The only thing he could do was to use his arm as a shield, tightening his muscles while using his Dao for all he was worth.

The ground was ripped to shreds when the fist landed, and Zac was shot away like a cannon-ball, completely destroying a building from the impact. Stars swam in his eyes but he quickly refocused, ripping away the debris of the building on top of him and scrambled up to his feet.

His arm hurt like hell, but after a quick check he was relieved to feel that it wasn’t broken. He immediately summoned his axe and faced his new assailant with a grim face. When he saw who had punched him he completely blanked out for a second, as it wasn’t some hidden powerhouse of the small aliens as he’d expected.

It was a young human, likely around Emilyʼs age. At least Zac assumed that he was human, though he’d never seen anyone with purple hair before. The youth was seemingly unarmed, apart from the gloves and large bracers he wore.

The two angrily stared at each other for a few seconds until they both spoke up at the same time.

“Who the hell are you?”

“Why the fuck did you attack me?”