Defiance of the Fall: A LitRPG Adventure

by TheFirstDefier

  The assault was slowing him down, and finally, the enemies were upon him, punching and kicking with wild abandon. Every time a punch or kick hit where the lava spears had pierced him earlier, it hurt enough for him to almost pass out.

  Zac couldn’t care about his Cosmic Energy expenditure anymore and, with a roar, pushed as much Cosmic Energy as he could into the fractal on his hand. An enormous blade over five meters tall blazed into existence, and Zac swung the axe in a mighty horizontal arc.

  The edge managed to stay active for less than a second, but the brief window carved out a large pocket in the swarm of monkeys. The swing killed at least twenty monkeys, and he even gained a level. He couldn’t bother about that at the moment, as the short respite in attacks allowed him to rush out of the field and into the foliage.

  Blood was running freely from Zac’s mouth as he was shakily running through the forest, away from the magical tree and herald. The monkeys wouldn’t relent and swarmed all around him, jumping between the trees or running on all fours on the ground. Had it not been for his wounded leg, he might have been able to maintain some distance after a mad dash. But now he was stuck in a quick jog, and even that was taxing.

  He constantly was pelted with kicks and punches and the occasional mouth trying to bite into him with its sharp canines. A rock whizzed by his head and instead hit a monkey square in its chest. It appeared the monkey captains had problems with keeping the pace and throwing the projectiles simultaneously, at least.

  More good news was that the herald was either dead or too wounded to join the pursuit, as there were no molten spears attacking him anymore. But that was about all the positives that Zac could list while he was mindlessly running.

  He was already lost and could only run in a straight direction. Since he was in a valley between the peaks, no matter what direction he ran, he would sooner or later arrive at the mountains.

  He desperately swung his axe back and forth to maim and kill his attackers. He didn’t dare to use [Chop] anymore, as he was already running low on Cosmic Energy, and there were still at least a hundred monkeys following him.

  He instead infused the attacks with his understanding of the Dao of Heaviness to add some impact to his strikes. It was the first time he was using it so freely and for a prolonged time, and he was starting to feel a headache coming on.

  Soon he couldn’t even use his Dao in order to empower his strikes, as he was afraid of increasing the pounding in his head.

  He kept going, and with every few steps, he killed a monkey, but they seemed endless. Zac’s whole body was hurting, but he couldn’t stop. Another boulder came hurtling toward him, this one with proper aim. He was already mid-swing against a monkey and couldn’t reposition in time, so he could only lift his left arm to block it.

  The small boulder slammed into Zac, and a sickening pop could be heard. Zac was pushed back, and his arm hung limply by his side. Something was protruding oddly at his shoulder, and a blazing pain radiated through the arm. After a quick glance, he realized that his shoulder was dislocated.

  Zac gritted his teeth and ran straight into the first monkey he saw, slamming his dislocated shoulder straight into the chest of the monkey. A blinding pain almost made him pass out, but it also temporarily dispelled the pulsing headache from overusing his Dao.

  While it still hurt, Zac could move his arm again. He had used the monkey as a wall to slam the ball of his arm back into its socket. As a thanks, Zac gave it a quick chop, which decapitated it, and then kicked its headless body into two oncoming stone monkeys.

  This couldn’t continue for long, as Zac had less than 10% of his Cosmic Energy reserves remaining, while the monkeys showed no desire to relent. Thankfully, the lush forest soon gave way to rocky outcroppings and cliffs, showing that he was approaching one of the peaks.

  Due to the haphazard escape, he wasn’t sure which one of the peaks it was, but a quick glance outward showed the familiar forest of the island. That meant he wasn’t running north, at least, as he’d only be seeing ocean then. He was thankful, as he was afraid he would have been forced to jump down the steep cliff, praying to survive the hundred-meter drop into the ocean.

  Zac kept running, and he planned to escape into the forest down on the ground. The first time he fought the monkeys, they had stopped at the foot of the mountain, and he could only hope they’d do the same again.

  But almost immediately as he ran, he knew that plan wouldn’t work. As he passed a small crest, a larger view of the island came into view, and he could see the incursion and the demon town. The position immediately made him realize he was on the easternmost peak. If he ran right down this peak, he’d be in prime demon territory. Straight out of the frying pan and into the fire.

  He stopped for a second, confused as what to do, which allowed a few monkey captains to drag new projectiles out of the ground and hurl them at Zac.

  He slammed one of them away, but the other hit him with a deep thud, eliciting a bloody cough. Even with his 90 plus Endurance, it felt like he couldn’t take many more of those throws. He couldn’t remember how many he’d tanked by now, and it felt like his body was on the brink of collapse.

  He sluggishly swung his axe and killed a monkey who was foolish enough to get close, and looked around for options.

  In his vision, he saw a cave entrance slightly hidden behind some shrubbery and boulders. After a brief hesitation, he changed course for the cavity. If he continued on along the mountain path, he’d arrive at where he had spotted the demon party earlier, and the risk of running into the monkey packs was great. He couldn’t return either, as he wouldn’t last running to another peak.

  He didn’t really want to enter the cave, but he knew that it was his only hope. Right now, he couldn’t see any other method to shake off the monkey horde. They seemed truly consumed by rage, which made sense, as he had killed well over a hundred of the assailants by now.

  Either the cave was a small dwelling for an animal, or a part of a larger network of tunnels. If it was the former, he’d make a last stand, and at least the enemies would only be able to come from one direction. If it was the latter, he might actually survive by fleeing into the tunnels.

  There were roughly ten monkeys in the way, and Zac grimly summoned [Chop] for one last charge. His arms and legs felt like they were coated in lead, but he determinedly swung his axe while he advanced.

  The monkeys could offer no resistance against Zac’s reignited spirit, and he soon was at the mouth of the cave. A rock slammed into his back just as he entered, making him realize he couldn’t just stand at the entrance and fight it out. He would be sniped to death. After a quick glance inside, it seemed that the cave actually was just the entrance of a bigger cave system.

  The monkeys seemed to have no problem following him into the tunnels, and they charged toward the entrance without hesitation. Zac suddenly was afraid that he would be in even worse straits if he let them enter. They were stone monkeys; who knew what advantages they’d have inside a cave.

  Out of options, he could only do something stupid and desperate. He put away his axe and brought out his great sword. With a furious slam, he hit the roof of the cave entrance, causing huge cracks in the roof and making rock-chippings fly in all directions. He didn’t stop and slammed twice more with all the strength he could muster, and finally, an ominous rumbling could be heard.

  The roof of the cave started to collapse, and Zac desperately ran further into the cave. Falling rock and debris pelted him, and he was forced to leave his sword behind in the chaos. After a minute, the rumblings stopped, and the cave was completely blocked for at least twenty meters with debris. It would take even the strong monkeys a good while to excavate the entrance, if they even wanted to.

  His hope was that the monkeys would give up and go back to the valley, but he wouldn’t dare put his life on the line for it to be true. So he hesitantly ventured further into the cave to create some distance. His body was hurting all over, but he wouldn’t let hims
elf sit down, afraid that he wouldn’t be able to get back up in a short while if he did.

  The caverns seemed to be a confusing maze of interconnected tunnels and chambers, and Zac saw no change after thirty minutes of slow walking. The caves weren’t completely pitch black at least, as there actually was growing moss on many of the walls, which gave off some luminescence. He didn’t understand why they would create light, but he assumed that the moss was mutated by Cosmic Energy.

  The tunnels were actually full of Cosmic Energy, almost at the level of the valley. The high concentration on the mountain peaks seemed to only be a result of some of the interior energy leaking out. It would be strange if something didn’t change with the subterranean flora if they were consistently bathed in Cosmic Energy of this magnitude.

  Finally satisfied with the distance from the entrance he had created, he stopped in a quiet chamber, which at least wasn’t completely dark due to the glowing moss. He sighed and thumped down on the ground with a grimace. It was pitch black apart from the blue scattered lights from the moss, but he didn’t care. He did have a flashlight he had brought from the camper if he needed proper light, but he didn’t know how much charge the batteries still had. He instead brought out a Nexus Crystal from the pouch and started absorbing.

  It didn’t help in healing his battered body, but it did help in recovering his depleted energy. Together with his amulet, he was absorbing energy at a great rate, and after only four hours, he once again was full of Cosmic Energy.

  That didn’t mean that he was in prime condition, though. His head still hurt from overusing his Dao, and his body screamed in protest as soon as he moved slightly. He could only stay put for a bit longer in order for his Vitality to do its thing. He had nothing in his bag that could help his wounds, which were mainly blunt-force trauma as far as he knew. He did put some ointment on the burns from the herald, even if he wasn’t sure whether aloe was effective against burns from magic monkey fire.

  Finally done with everything, he rested his back against the wall and sighed despondently. Today did not go according to plan.

  49

  Spelunking

  Since Zac felt somewhat refreshed from absorbing the Nexus Crystal, he held off on sleeping, and instead decided to take a quick glance at his status screen.

  Name: Zachary Atwood

  Level: 32

  Class: [F-Rare] Hatchetman

  Race: [F] Human

  Alignment: [Earth] Human

  Titles: Born for Carnage, Ultimate Reaper, Luck of the Draw, Giantsbane, Disciple of David, Overpowered, Slayer of Leviathans, Adventurer, Demon Slayer, Full of Class, Rarified Being, Trailblazer, Child of Dao, The Big 500

  Dao: Seed of Heaviness – Early

  Strength: 164

  Dexterity: 59

  Endurance: 92

  Vitality: 69

  Intelligence: 49

  Wisdom: 49

  Luck: 67

  Free Points: 3

  Nexus Coins: 485,286

  The last few days had actually brought in almost all the coins he needed for the movement skill. Getting his skills and Dao boosts had increased his daily earnings tremendously. Of course, he knew that this was the limit for now. The only targets more lucrative compared to the monkeys on the island were the demons and imps. But he held no illusion that he would be able to charge into fifty of them at a time and start a massacre as he had with the monkeys. He would be blasted to smithereens in no time.

  Next, he opened up his quest menu to see the progress of his quest.

  Off With Their Heads (Unique): Kill the four heralds and the general of an incursion within 3 months. Reward: 10 E-Grade Nexus Crystals, E-Grade equipment, unique building depending on performance. (2/5)

  He was quite disappointed to see that the monkey king apparently survived the slash. Of course, there was the possibility that it wasn’t a herald, but he felt the chance of that to be quite slim.

  He had gained a level right at the start of the pursuit, and he sensed he wasn’t far away from reaching level 33 either. It was a shame that the System didn’t provide the same type of service as many games, restoring both health and mana at the level-up. Then he might have actually have had a chance of turning things around and finishing off the monkey king.

  The whole experience was quite a letdown and the first real setback except constantly getting hurt. He constantly went over things he could have done differently in order to actually kill the monkey. But soon he threw those depressing thoughts out of his mind, as he knew he had to work with what he had and try to continuously improve.

  As he waited for his body to get better, he planned to meditate some on the Dao. He wished to both improve his current Seed of Heaviness, and get another seed, the Seed of Sharpness. These two forces were those he sensed to be strongest in the axe in his vision, and he felt that getting both of them was the first step on the path of true Axe Mastery.

  Besides, the Dao of Sharpness might also be of some use for his throwing knives. Since [Axe Mastery] came with no manual on how to progress the Dao or his other skills, he could only fumble around in the dark. This time literally.

  Unfortunately, he could only focus on the large axe fractal in his mind for a short while before his head started hurting again. It seemed that using Dao was still impossible after his overexertion. Zac wondered if there was something like mental energy or soul power that was used when pondering Dao or using it in battle, but he hadn’t been able to sense anything of the sort thus far. He only knew his head hurt and felt swollen like a bad migraine.

  Helplessly, he could only go to sleep. He would have preferred to take a look around the area, but his body didn’t really listen to his commands anymore. Besides, any sound carried through the tunnels and amplified, and it was completely quiet apart from his breathing. There should be no monsters or creepy-crawlies around at least this part of the subterranean system.

  Zac woke up some time later, not being able to tell exactly how long he was out. His watch had broken long ago, and his cell phone had run out of charge. He had learned to tell the time somewhat accurately with the help of the suns, but down in the caverns, this was useless.

  Judging from the state of his body, he felt that he had been out somewhere between three and five hours. He was still bruised all over, but at least he could get by. He got up on his feet but stopped before setting out.

  He was a bit unsure how to proceed from here on out. After some hesitation, he decided to look around the caves for a while and then find an exit. Nothing had really changed apart from the monkey king being hurt. The general and other herald were still unknowns.

  The caverns were the last place apart from the city that remained uncharted on the island. There was a real possibility that the last herald was hiding somewhere in here, as he hadn’t even seen the shadow of it before. If he could find something out while he was stuck here anyway, it would be of great assistance to his quest. One of his fears was that he would fail his mission and get punished by the System, not due to a lack of trying, but because he simply couldn’t find his targets.

  Since the System wanted him to kill these targets, he felt that he should have been provided with some navigation and a targeting method. But if mentally complaining about the System had any effect, he’d long have solved all his problems.

  But he also put a time limit on himself. He hadn’t given up on killing the monkey king, and would certainly try again. The reason for his failure was the horde of monkeys interrupting. He was quite certain that he would be able to kill him if he got him alone.

  That was why he didn’t try to rush back. For one, he wasn’t sure how to get out, and besides, he believed that the monkey army would be on high alert for his return in the short run. It was a shame, as the monkey king was currently an easy target with its wounds. But he still had half a month until his two-month deadline. He didn’t need to risk it all just yet.

  Zac took a glance at his axe, confirming that it was almost completely rep
aired, and continued further into the caves. He still used only the glowing moss as a light source, as he didn’t want to alert any enemies. Besides, his eyes were getting accustomed to it by now, and he could somewhat make out his surroundings.

  Just before he ventured down, he carved a small Z beneath the glowing moss to mark his passage. He could still track his progress in his mind, but better safe than sorry.

  The tunnels he progressed through led steadily downward, and it felt like he was walking toward the foot of the mountain. That also meant that he was closing in on the cave system the demons explored, so he was careful not to make any excessive sounds. He even ripped down some moss from the wall and tied it to the bottoms of his feet to mask his footsteps. It was the nonluminescent kind of moss, of course, as he didn’t want his feet to become beacons for the enemy.

  As he descended, he sensed that the ambient Cosmic Energy was steadily growing stronger. Not only that, the tunnels started to change as well.

  From being dark and dour, apart from the occasional weak blue luminescence from the moss, the caverns were turning into a vibrant fantasy world. Thick vines with purple flowers started to grow out of the ground, large glowing mushrooms lined the tunnels, and the lights from the moss grew stronger and polychromatic.

  Zac had never taken any hallucinogenic drugs, but it almost felt like he was high as he walked in these psychedelic tunnels. After walking along dazed for a few seconds, he suddenly started and then started to collect samples of all the various herbs and mushrooms. He was careful not to let anything touch his skin, just in case it was poisonous.

  He still had no method to discern if they were of value, but he felt that at least some of the magical plants should be of some use. It seemed quite clear that they had grown due to the high density of the Cosmic Energy, so they might have some magical properties.