Page 4 of Defiance of the Fall 14: A LitRPG Adventure

4

RESENTMENT

Zac’s eyes roved back and forth for threats as he crept toward the tower. There were no direct streets leading him in the right direction, which suited Zac just fine since he preferred using walls and buildings as cover. Powerful bursts of deadly energy and the rumbling sky were a constant reminder of the disaster that could strike without notice.

A piercing scream of danger made Zac’s head whip around, putting him face-to-face with a ghastly sight. An army made from turbulent energy and ancient killing intent poured through the streets like a vengeful tsunami, slashing at doors and anything else that stood out. It looked like the sword scar’s intent had mixed with a pool of energy to birth this disaster.

The tidal wave’s projections were constantly shifting and distorting, each temporary figure holding enough energy to contend with a Middle Hegemon. Occasionally, enough energy and intent coalesced into constructs, even surpassing the deathsworn captains in aura. Zac didn’t even try to fight it, instead relying on his token to escape into the closest building.

The door slid shut, allowing Zac to release a pent-up breath. He hadn’t even lasted three minutes after dropping off his companion before mortal danger came knocking. Thank the Heavens for his cheat. Anyone else would have been forced to gamble their lives by fleeing into random paths in hopes the murderous tide would choose another direction. Who knew if something more dangerous waited in the streets they picked?

The interiors differed greatly from what little Zac saw of Ra’Klid’s hideout. His had been a spacious room with two consoles and an ornate set of stairs leading to the upper levels. Meanwhile, Zac found himself in a narrow service corridor that was all function over form. There didn’t appear to be any traps or weapons. The real danger was outside, and Zac’s eyes narrowed upon hearing a scraping sound from the other side of the door.

The killing intent was growing so dense, Zac sensed it despite the wall’s powerful isolation, as if it would permeate the walls. Zac hurried farther inside. The building was the size of a large factory, yet the space meant for humans was limited to a web of cramped corridors. The only exception was a spacious room right in the middle, which Zac suspected doubled as a break room and bunker.

The whole building was shaking by that point except for the saferoom with its additional layers of protection. Zac opted to wait the storm out, taking the time to make some final preparations. His face shifted into a variation of the disguise he used in Void Gate, that of Gaun Sorom. Of course, Gaun’s features were altered just in case someone knew of his previous escapades.

Zac felt it said something less-than-flattering that he kept returning to orcish disguises. They were simply the most similar race to humans that matched his build and aura. Certain golemoid and beastkin races would also do, but they were much too difficult to copy. Actually, even half-blood orcs were getting rough to mimic since he had yet to evolve [Million Faces] into something better suited to his pathways.

Following his face-swap, Zac used an Aura Modulator to appear as a seasoned Middle Hegemon. It didn’t take much energy since it wasn’t far from the truth. Next, a thick bone carapace covered his body. The sudden ambush had prevented him from equipping [Ossuary Bulwark] in time, and he didn’t want to be caught unprepared again.

Finally, Zac opened a stopper and poured a silver mixture on himself. It almost appeared alive as it spread to cover every inch of his armor, giving it a metallic sheen while partly hiding its Life-attuned aura. It was a small trick to temporarily change the appearance of his armor in case someone was keeping track of his equipment.

The shakes had stopped by the time Zac finished his disguise, and he located an exit closer to the tower. Zac stowed the token before approaching, taking the opportunity to test the building’s reaction. The door didn’t automatically slide open. Neither did it attack or summon any energy guardians.

There were no consoles or buttons on the thing, so Zac had to take out the token again. The door slid open without complaint. A pang of danger made Zac step back, narrowly avoiding a bundle of killing intent shaped like a skull lunging at him. Zac furiously swung his axe as he retreated farther into the corridor even though there was nothing to kill.

The skull was dispersed into a reddish cloud then reformed into a sword. It held a vast resentment against anything living, and it followed Zac through the building like a vengeful ghost. Zac gave up on running, letting the sword run him through. Thankfully, the sword lacked the immense energies of the ghastly army. It was just condensed killing intent, with no ability to cause him physical harm.

The threat was to his heart and, to a lesser degree, his soul. The ancient grudge tried to subvert his will and fill his mind with destructive impulses. If you lost, your goals and rationality would be replaced with the desires left behind by that ancient Autarch. Most likely, you’d become a raving lunatic attacking anything in sight.

Ultimately, it wasn’t much of a threat to Zac. He could whittle it down with his own killing intent, and [Purity of the Void] worked even faster. The intent dispersed, exposing a sliver of reddish force Zac hadn’t sensed before. He couldn’t tell whether it was energy, killing intent, or Dao. Only that it was very powerful since simply having it in his body made his vision go red.

A hungry thump answered the question; the red sliver was an unfamiliar form of energy hidden within the intent. [Void Heart] gobbled it up after some struggle, yet it took Zac over a minute to calm down from his agitated state. The sliver piqued his interest since he still lacked any method to refine or utilize his immense killing intent. Perhaps it was an alternative route to the arrays he’d seen the Reavers use.

That was a matter for later. Zac returned to the exit, relieved that the ambient intent had decreased to a level where it couldn’t take form. Zac still didn’t want to be exposed more than necessary and exploring the building left him much more confident in taking a shortcut.

It also solved the issue of being targeted by the tower, whose constant watch grew increasingly difficult to elude. More than once, Zac felt something lock onto his position, forcing him to take cover. He trusted his danger sense even if he was unable to discern any weapon systems installed on the rotating tower. Too long in the sun would certainly spell death.

The next ten minutes confirmed most buildings were more of the same, lacking any safeguards after the initial check. Perhaps it was different if he tried to meddle with the massive arrays hidden within the walls, but Zac wouldn’t do anything so foolhardy.

Oddly enough, he couldn’t find a single route leading beneath the surface level, whether it was on the streets or inside the oversized buildings. The enormous scar had cracked the fortress wide open, exposing that these buildings were only the tip of the iceberg. Problem was, entering the enormous underbelly through the scar was impossible. The intent alone would drive him insane, even if he somehow survived the immense energies. There was no point going there.

Zac was making incredible time despite being delayed twice by other cultivators. One encounter was a complete accident, where Zac emerged from a building to find two cultists right around the corner. A furious blitz provided a modest influx of Kill Energy, though one of the two managed to flee.

Zac didn’t bother hunting him down. Running like that was liable to get you killed when every other block was a death trap. The second encounter was with a Peak E-grade cultivator who had lost their mind to the pervasive intent. The fact they were still alive likely meant they’d just entered, only to have their mind immediately overwhelmed.

Then, disaster struck. Zac looked at the token in his hand with horror as he opened the door leading out of the sixth building. Why did its aura suddenly grow weaker? Zac tried to tell himself he was misjudging things because of the energy-dense environment, even if he knew that wasn’t the case. He’d used the token for months, and there was no way he’d mistake it. He had lost the equivalent energy of one sealbearer in one go.

Zac’s heart clenched with worry and regret. He’d never considered the possibility that using the token would exhaust the sealbearer energy. After all, it had never shown any such inclination during his cultivation sessions. Its truth-imparting aura was constant and ever-flowing.

What if it was permanent? Had he just wasted a seal on a shortcut? Perhaps it was just a temporary effect, but Zac couldn’t use it on random buildings until confirming the details. He would have to save the token’s energy for the tower if he wanted the slightest chance of taking control of the thing.

Luckily, Zac was already quite close to his destination. He was only a couple of blocks away from the tower now, and he could already feel the winds kicked up by its gentle rotation.

To his left was another impassable region. Rampant energies from a broken Array Tower had consumed dozens of buildings, forming a deadly blockade. It was uncomfortably close to the sword scar, meaning it could turn into another tidal wave at any time.

Zac decisively went in the opposite direction, toward an intersection in the distance. Using it would briefly expose him to the tower; a better option than daring the sentry array by jumping over the buildings. Suddenly, Zac spotted something amiss.

It was almost seamlessly integrated with a pile of rubble, but its minute spiritual ripple couldn’t escape Zac’s senses. One of the pieces of debris was actually an array disk. Zac inwardly sighed as he destroyed the item with a swing of his axe. It was a sentry array, which meant he’d already been exposed. Following his instincts, Zac decisively turned around.

He’d seen the environment everyone else had to deal with while he relied on the token to advance. Weak targets like those he’d faced had to be the minority. If the sentry array was part of a trap, then the attacker had to be confident in their strength. So was Zac, but any battle at this juncture was a waste of energy that risked exposure.

A massive explosion within the mist made Zac swear with alarm. The eruption was like someone poking a hornet’s nest, and a brutal wave of energy poured toward him. It fully consumed the building he came from without losing any momentum.

Entering the mist was out of the question, and none of the other buildings were intact. Hiding in them meant waiting for death, so Zac chose the best of many bad options. He rushed into the intersection, knowing he was being corralled like a wild beast.

Zac found himself facing the spinning tower in all its glory, and the encroaching danger from behind was overwhelmed by a profound sense of danger from ahead. One building after another was coming alive around him. Zac was out of time, so he heedlessly flashed into a side street a few hundred meters ahead, where the arrays were still dim.

A dense wall rose behind him, seamlessly closing off his exit. Not that Zac could dare head back in that direction anytime soon. Continuing forward wasn’t an option either, as Zac found himself face-to-face with twelve Hegemons armed and ready. He could also tell he was standing atop an array, which would undoubtedly activate in case he made the wrong move.

The lineup was even stronger than he’d expected, yet their appearance relaxed Zac slightly. Half of the warriors wore the liveries of the Dravorak Imperial Guard, while the rest were a mix of elites from different established factions.

Five were Middle Hegemons, two of which had very condensed auras. Either would be more than a match to the Saber Master Remoulded from before. Zac was still confident in victory if it came to blows—a pyrrhic victory, no doubt, where he’d be forced to go all out.

“Alliance, you dog-eyed bastards,” Zac growled as he threw an Allbright nobility token at the Dravorak leader. “Are you trying to get me killed?”

The Dravorak captain briefly inspected the token before throwing over an item of his own. “Activate this talisman.”

Zac glanced at it, confirming it was a simple purification talisman that had become very popular because of an unintended side effect. Its energy signature was very good at agitating Heart Curses. Even the elites from the seven chapters would have a hard time fully suppressing any evidence of their infestation.

This particular talisman seemed of higher quality than those circulating on the open market. Zac was quite happy to see it and activated the talisman without complaint. A cleansing wave spread through his body, finding nothing to purify.

“Apologies. Your strength didn’t let us take any risks,” the Dravorak captain said. “A moment of leniency could undo our undertaking.”

“If you’re sorry, why not let me spar with you boys for a bit?” Zac muttered as his helmet retreated into his armor, exposing his orcish appearance.

“If time permits,” the Dravorak captain said with a slight smile. “But please, restrain your anger, or you’ll attract the ancient intent.”

“Fine, let’s go then,” Zac grunted, brusquely inviting himself into the group.

Since using the [Court Cycle Token] came at a cost, Zac figured he might as well see what this group was up to. They had to be one of the groups working toward the main mission. Helping him get into the tower out was the least they could do after almost getting him killed.

The aura he exuded was only matched by the Dravorak captain, and the two exchanged small talk as they made their way through a dizzying number of streets. Each side was investigating each other, neither gaining much. Zac gave a plausible excuse for his identity that couldn’t be verified inside the tower, that of late reinforcements from another Field Army.

Their journey took almost an hour, partly because they stopped to take out no less than six groups of Kan’Tanu while picking up four stray Alliance cultivators. Zac occasionally looked back at the direction he came from, yet there were no signs of Ra’Klid breaking through.

Or anyone else, for that matter. Making a few inquiries lessened his worries. It turned out the fortress was installed with arrays that hid breakthroughs. Such was common in high-grade settlements. After all, people would go mad if Tolls of Hegemony disrupted their meditation every other day.

Finally, they reached their destination, a mostly hollowed-out building at the very center of the fortress. Just twenty meters beyond was a five-hundred-meter chasm separating the rotating tower from the rest of the fortress. Zac was curious to peer into the depths, if not for a stormy curtain blocking everything below.

“You can’t just fly across the gap and enter the tower?”

“Impossible,” the captain said. “The chasm is a separate spatial zone, and you can see how it’s constantly swallowing more energy.”

“So we’re stuck outside?” Zac frowned.

Finding an entrance below would be impossible if the chasm was an absolute divide, and [Apex Jungle] wouldn’t work either.

“No, we believe there are two ways to enter,” the captain said. “One, find a teleporter. I refuse to believe none of these buildings are equipped with one. We are constantly on the lookout for the spatial fluctuations of teleportation arrays. We’ve forced open a few already, no luck so far.”

That was a good option, one worth using his token for if it meant getting sent right into the tower. However, Zac couldn’t just mindlessly open one building after another. His token would be reduced to an ornament before he’d explored a single district. “The other?”

“The same way we entered this realm. The chasm is hiding a dimensional storm created by the tower’s rotation. It’s essentially twisting space into a spiral, creating a protective divider,” the captain said, waving his hand.

A simple blade empowered with the Dao of the Sword shot forth, and Zac looked on with interest as it disappeared upon entering the chasm. The scenery shattered like a mirror the next moment, where a frenzied hurricane of unbridled energy replaced the gentle wind and pockets of mist.

“As you can see, it’s not nearly as stable as the barrier to this domain. The tower is damaged, and it hasn’t finished setting up its shield. We believe it’s possible to turn those weaknesses into temporary paths with enough preparation. The problem is that space inside is—HEY!”

Zac barely heard the captain’s words as he burst forth with unstoppable momentum. He was briefly overwhelmed by an immense sense of acute danger from fully exposing his position. It was quickly drowned and swept away by the hurricane’s raging roar. Replacing it was blood and pain, yet there was no regret in Zac’s heart as he wildly looked around.

How could he sit idly by after sensing Emily’s rescue beacon within the storm?