[Special Dynamic Quest activated. Emerge victorious and seize the Fruit of Ascension. Struggle for supremacy.]
It was the familiar emotionless voice of the System entering his ears, but Zac barely had time to reflect on its words before his vision changed.
He suddenly was up amongst the clouds and stared down toward the familiar sight of his island. He could clearly see the whole topography, but the sea around it was blurred somehow. The vision moved, and he closed in on the island with terrifying speed, hurtling toward the mountains.
Soon he arrived at the valley where he’d fought the monkey king earlier, but it looked different from how it did when he visited. The zone of death around the red and white tree had expanded to stretch across almost half the valley, and even the azure pond was shrunken down to half its size.
After having almost exploded from the energy contained in just a few mouthfuls, he was shocked at the amount the tree had absorbed.
The vision kept moving, and in seconds, he was next to the tree. Zac would have thought it would be even lusher after absorbing the surroundings and the lake, but it actually looked a bit dried out. A couple of leaves had even fallen to the ground.
Neither the herald nor any other monkeys were anywhere to be seen, but Zac didn’t ponder it overly much, as his eyes were glued to a pair of fruits that had grown on the tree. They were similar to a cantaloupe apart from their color. Instead, they were a glistening red mixed with white lines that almost looked like fractals.
The fruits were beautiful, but more importantly, they had some magical effect on him, even though it was just an illusion. It felt like every cell in his body was screaming in desire, wanting nothing more than to consume the fruits. He hated the fact that he was just there in a vision and not in reality.
As quickly as the vision appeared, it suddenly ended, leaving Zac in the cave with a mixture of greed and hesitation.
59
Now or Never
“That fucking monkey!” Ogras roared, this time enraged for real. No wonder it sent its underlings to keep his search parties out of the peaks. He thought it was just posturing that he’d allow for some time before setting the monkeys straight. But Cindermane had likely found the Tree of Ascension long ago and just waited for its fruits to ripen. Somehow the monkey must have broken free of the clan’s mental restrictions; otherwise, it would have been compelled to report such a find.
“But if you think that breaking free from my grasp is that easy, you’re in for a rude awakening…” he muttered and then turned to his aide. “Assemble the regiments. We’re heading toward the mountain.”
“Yes, sir. What about the search parties in the mines?” the aide asked.
“Leave them. Hopefully, they will keep that human busy while we deal with this.”
He had been shocked to learn that the group of natives he’d discounted earlier actually was only one human. At least he hoped there was only one of them, as his power seemed high enough to give even him a headache. Of course, the human wouldn’t be a threat to him if all the limitations on him were removed.
Worse yet, the human had killed Qugo and stolen the poison that was supposed to be one of his aces in case everything went south. Ogras had actually decided to hide the news of the third herald’s demise, afraid that his clan members would chain him up “for his own protection” while gleefully stealing all the loot Ogras had rightfully pilfered.
As if summoned by his thoughts, Rydel walked in through the door, as always unheeding or dismissive of proper protocol. He wore resplendent silver battle armor that matched his long white hair well. Strapped to his back were two swords with intricately carved hilts.
“Cousin, I assume you have seen the proclamation by the Ruthless Heavens?” he said with a smile.
“I’m not blind, Rydel. Of course I’ve seen it. The army is setting out immediately. And here on the baby planet, I’m General, not cousin,” Ogras spat out in annoyance.
“It is ironic, wouldn’t you say, cousin? It was you who championed sending the beast hordes through the gate first. But it seems they have only turned into lucrative target practice for the humans instead of paving our way, and now one of the hordes is even revolting. I wonder how the elders will react when they hear of this.” Rydel smilingly continued, seemingly unperturbed by the troubling developments.
“That’s not for you to worry about, Rydel. Know your place. I’m leading the armies myself to fix the monkey problem, and that human hiding in the tunnels will soon be caught.” Ogras couldn’t stand being in the same room as this thorn in his side any longer and prepared to set out.
Ogras didn’t actually want to lead the army, but faced with the emergence of a D-ranked treasure such as a Fruit of Ascension, he couldn’t sit still. He needed to secure it by himself, and if that failed, destroy it so that Cindermane or some crony of Rydel didn’t get it.
If someone from the main branch managed to get the Fruit of Ascension, he might as well lie down and kill himself, as the family assassins would find him as soon as the incursion stabilized anyway. His plan was to turn the wealth of the crystal mine into acquiring a treasure like the Fruit of Ascension and use that as a springboard to become the future hope of the clan. But if suddenly Rydel had the fruit as well, then he knew who the clan would favor.
“I’m sorry, cousin, but I need to correct you on a few accounts,” Rydel said while holding up a hand to stop Ogras’ exit, his smile slightly widening. “The human has escaped the ambush, leaving at least thirty corpses behind by now. He also seems to have figured out the tracking stones, and now we can’t locate him. Furthermore, the one who will lead the army to fix your mistakes is me, not you.”
“Are you revolting against the clan precepts, Rydel? You know the elders appointed me at least until the incursion stabilized. Are you sure you want to face the wrath of my grandfather?” Ogras spat out, a dangerous glint entering his eyes.
“Your grandfather is well aware. As you were untested when appointed general, the elders came to an accord with your ancestor,” Rydel retorted as he retrieved a parchment from his bag. “In certain events that are deemed to be critical to clan Azh’Rezak’s future developments, the military command is temporarily transferred to me. Just to make sure nothing goes wrong due to inexperience.”
The bright smile looked like a death sentence to Ogras as he snatched the parchment with a snarl. After reading through it, he saw it was true. He immediately sensed his grandfather’s magic sigil on the decree, telling him that this was real. The parchment detailed certain events that would result in a transfer of leadership to Rydel, and the emergence of a D-class treasure or higher was one of them. It looked like his grandfather had been forced to make some concessions in order to snatch the leadership position for him.
“But not to worry, cousin. As soon as this matter is dealt with, I will return the command to you as per the instructions. I suggest you stay in your beautiful castle for now, as your safety is paramount to the clan. I have allocated a few of my guards to protect you. We have to make sure that the humans don’t assault you while we’re up at the mountain.” A cold ray flashed through Rydel’s eyes as he retrieved the parchment from the now mute Ogras. “Well then, I have a fruit to retrieve. I will be seeing you later, cousin,” he said as he exited Ogras’ study, the last sentence rife with hidden implications.
Ogras briefly considered having it out with Rydel then and there, but soon gave up the thought. Rydel likely was ready for him, and he could also see multiple main branch members standing outside, sneering at him.
Should he call upon those four? No, that would just expose their true identities prematurely. The real issue was that Rydel had the precepts on his side this time. If Ogras wanted to do something, he needed to be smarter about it.
Ogras glared after Rydel, looking like a volcano ready to erupt. The aide sensed the atmosphere and made a quick excuse and fled the room, closing the door behind him.
Soon the energy left Ogras’ bod
y, and he slumped down in his chair.
“Shit.”
Zac’s heart was still beating quickly after having seen the vision. He wanted to immediately rush toward the valley but first checked his quest tab.
As he suspected, a new quest had arrived.
Dynamic Quests:
Ascension (Limited – Open): Seize the Fruit of Ascension upon ripening. Reward: Fruit of Ascension. [Time until ripening: 11:58:23]
The classification of the quest was new, Limited – Open. His other two dynamic quests were classified as Unique. If he guessed correctly, limited meant it was a short-duration quest. And he hoped he was wrong, but he believed open meant that everyone within a certain area got it.
The System said to emerge victorious and to struggle for supremacy. Then it conveniently showed the location of the treasure a full twelve hours before it ripened. It wanted a bloodbath.
Zac slowly sat down again and took a small sip of the azure water. He wasn’t in the mood to wait any longer and needed to heal quickly. The burning sensation spread through his body again, but this time, the amount was manageable. Once again, he felt his wounds slightly improve and the throbbing pain he had felt come back once again was gone.
As the heat spread through his body, he pondered on what to do. He was hesitating if he should actually compete for the fruit, as going against both the monkey horde and maybe even the demons sounded like a suicide mission. He also felt he had no choice.
He didn’t know what a Fruit of Ascension did, but from how it managed to create a quest, it couldn’t be a small matter. If his enemies got it and received a huge power-up, he might be screwed. The most likely recipient would be the monkey herald, as he was the owner of the tree. It was a pretty even fight before; what would happen if it evolved once more?
Besides, it also presented an opportunity for him. The fruit would help someone ascend, judging by its name. It sounded awfully similar to evolve, and he guessed it might help him get a better class or evolve his race.
He also almost knew for certain he would find the herald by the fruit in twelve hours, hopefully still hurt from his slash. Zac knew the monkey possessed high values in Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance from their fight, and could only hope that it also didn’t have a strong Vitality. It also felt reasonable that the general would be there to commandeer one of the fruits. That would mean that both his targets would be gathered at one place in roughly twelve hours.
In a sense, the quest represented an all-or-nothing gambit. If he succeeded, all his problems might be solved, including his incursion quest. But the danger would likely be off the charts. If he failed, his mission would turn harder, no matter who got the fruit. If he even survived.
But he felt it was do or die. Time was running out, and he needed to take some risks. With steely determination, he decided to participate in the fight.
Of course, there was no reason to rush there. He only needed to travel for less than two hours to get to the crimson tree. And getting there early would make him a sitting duck. He was only one man in what might be a huge free-for-all battle, and he needed to avoid attention as much as possible.
His goal should be to sneak in at the last minute, kill the monkey king, and steal the fruit. If possible, he should kill the general as well, or at least identify him. Then run for his life and see what the fallout was.
He sat down again on the ground and, while keeping a lookout for more demon parties, only focused on getting back to prime condition. He waited a full six hours before he felt well enough rested to be able to give it his all.
The wounds from the ambush were somewhat healed by now, but a few wounds would likely reopen if he exerted too much force. But there was still a couple of hours before he should see any action, and hopefully, he would be in even better condition by then.
He set out again and, after some trial and error, found a way out of the mountain. It wasn’t the same path as the one he had entered through. He didn’t want to dig through meters of fallen rocks, and besides, it might be marked by the monkeys.
Instead, he found a tunnel that should end somewhere on the inner side of the peak, close to the entrance of the valley. It didn’t actually have a cave entrance, but a few holes in the rock let sunlight through. The wall was quite thin here, and with a few minutes of effort, he would be out.
The outside was completely quiet, so Zac decided to wait some more before emerging. As he waited, he started chipping at the wall with a dagger, not completely breaking through but making a quick exit easier. Finally done, he sat down and continued to recuperate. When the timer showed roughly two hours until the fruits ripened, a cacophony of roars broke the silence.
Zac’s heartbeat fretfully hammered in his chest as he opened his eyes and stood up. It was now or never.
60
Entering the Fray
Zac immediately got ready, even though his wounds hadn’t completely healed. But between his high Vitality and the numbing effects of the azure water, he was in an almost perfect fighting condition. With no more time to lose, he finally pushed down the rock wall that blocked the entrance while hefting an axe in his hand. It made quite a crash, but it was nothing compared to the roars of thousands of monkeys, with demon screams peppered in.
As soon as he got out, he was stunned by the mayhem.
Zac had emerged from a secluded spot on top of an outcropping, giving him decent vantage over the peak and down toward the valley. Everywhere he looked, he saw throngs of monkeys duking it out with legions of demons.
The air sparked with energy as fireballs and lightning bolts filled the sky. The ground rippled from a multitude of spears and other projectiles shooting out. Even nature itself had entered the fray as trees slowly reached down to grab unsuspecting monkeys before ripping them apart.
The other beast types were here as well, as a thick wall of barghest stopped the monkeys from getting into melee range of the demons. They mindlessly charged toward the monkey groupings, completely heedless of their survival.
Groups of gwyllgi roamed the battlefield with far more finesse compared to the hulking demonlings. They roved in packs and struck weak spots or lone stragglers almost with surgical precision and then quickly got out of harm’s way.
There also was a smattering of imps placed together with the mage demons, but to Zac, it seemed that most of them still were in their underground dwellings, as their numbers were quite sparse. Perhaps Zac recently killing their boss had caused some sort of chaos in their ranks, making it hard for the demons to control them.
The monkeys wouldn’t be outdone, though, and the air was filled with flying debris, from the stalactites from the monkey captains to anything that the normal monkeys could get their hands on. Zac even saw corpses being used as projectiles, flung at the magical barriers erected by the demon mages. The barghest that came close to the monkeys were largely helpless after their first impact and were pelted and bitten to death by the angry monkeys.
The magical shields held for the most part, but every now and then, they got overtaxed and shattered. The monkey captains were quick on the uptake and focused their energies on those areas. The focused fire turned the unlucky few behind the broken shield into crushed meat paste beneath a mountain of boulders.
However, most of the projectiles didn’t reach the demons but rather slammed into the demon beasts, who fulfilled their purpose of being meat shields.
Overall, the demons clearly held the advantage, and they steadily pushed forward. For every demon the monkey horde killed, at least five monkeys died. It still was early in the battle, though, and from experience, Zac felt that the demons would run out of juice sooner or later. Those spells cost Cosmic Energy, while the monkeys likely could keep hurling debris for a good while. As long as the monkeys could withstand their furious onslaught long enough, they might have a chance to turn the situation around.
Besides, the terrain was not ideal for the organized warfare that the demons were trying for. He saw that the order
ly lines were starting to splinter, and the legions were forced to split up as they advanced.
Zac didn’t know why it had come to a full-scale war, but he didn’t complain. This kind of chaos was the best news for him. He wondered if the monkeys’ disadvantage was because of him. He had thinned out their horde quite a bit, after all.
Some movement in the distance grabbed his attention. It was a solitary group that emanated a pressure a notch above the other demons. They were steadily pushing forward and were entering the valley at a furious pace. None of the magic shields were breaking, and the monkeys could offer no resistance to their advance.
In the front, a few demons in resplendent gear were personally reaping the lives of monkeys like they were harvesting wheat. Especially attention-grabbing was one male demon with shining white hair that was dancing in the wind. He held a sword in his hand and had another strapped to his back, and as he moved forward, it almost looked like dancing rather than being engaged in battle. The sword moved in graceful curves and moved around him in a mesmerizing pattern. But Zac knew it was no performance art, as that demon’s speed of reaping monkeys seemed to eclipse even his own.
It looked like he had located the general.
Satisfied with what he had found, he started to make his way down from the cliff. He had wrapped his head in rags to hide his features and covered as much skin as possible. Zac hoped that the demons would be too preoccupied with the monkeys to realize he lacked horns and wore shoes instead of having taloned paws.
He skirted around the main army and aimed to enter the valley from a slightly different direction. There were a few clumps of demons along the path, but none, thankfully, reacted to him. It was lucky that the demon armies all used individual clothing and gear, making their composition look very chaotic.
Defiance of the Fall: A LitRPG Adventure Page 32
