Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 559: Void

Hiring, or perhaps it was more accurate to say capturing, Smaug had proven extremely beneficial since Calrin was still unable to procure these types of offensive treasures, let alone more powerful ones like [Void Balls]. Void’s Disciple frowned and seemed to prepare something to deal with the twisting air around him, but he suddenly got a blank look on his face as Janos fell down on his knees.

The illusionist had actually managed to trap the Dominator in an illusion or something similar, but the power gap between the two was just too great. The effect broke in less than a breath’s time, and blood flowed out of Janos’ ears and nose from the backlash. Zac frowned when he saw it as he quickly could make some guesses from the way things played out.

Void's Disciple didn’t completely block the strike, which meant that he didn’t have a top-tier mental protection treasure or skill. For example, Janos was able to break through [Mental Fortress] on his human side, but not [Indomitable] when Zac was a Draugr. But the fact that the Dominator was able to almost instantly break out of the mental trap meant that he likely had both a lot of Wisdom and an extremely strong mentality.

Then again, the latter was expected considering his identity. Void’s Disciple’s very existence had been taboo most of his life, yet he had not only taken two disciples, but he had even made a name for himself in Zhix society. He had walked among his enemies for decades, not rousing any suspicion even though everyone was on the look-out for the slightest hint of corruption.

Such a feat shouldn't be possible without an extremely sturdy psyche.

However, Janos’ attempt did slow Void’s Disciple down long enough for the spatial chaos to envelop him completely before blending into the air and disappearing, which hopefully meant that the Dominator had been a bit restricted. But Zac also didn’t dare to put all his hopes on these offensive treasures. They were essentially array breakers that targeted Teleportation Arrays, and there was no telling just how effective they were against a spatial warrior.

Of course, Zac and the Anointed weren’t just sitting around either, and a probing fractal blade was already flying toward the Dominator as [Love’s Bond] had moved to his back. Two chains soundlessly slithered down his back and into the underbrush as they stealthily made their way toward the Zhix as well, while the seven Anointed were directly rushing toward Void’s Disciple without any regard for their safety.

The Dominator didn’t seem phased by the situation at all though. Their assault mostly seemed to infuriate Void’s Disciple, and his visage once more turned into that of a frenzied murderer before it smoothed out again. However, Zac could still see the murder in his eyes as the Dominator stared back at him. A terrifying aura spread out, but he didn’t lash out like some sort of berserker. He instead blocked Zac’s Axe-infused fractal blade with just the palm of his left hand, and the edge actually shattered without even managing to draw blood.

Zac’s eyes widened at the sight, unable to comprehend how he could avoid getting injured at all. The basic skill [Chop] couldn’t really keep up with the latest improvements of [Verun’s Bite], but it still had a terrifying cutting power between the Fragment of the Axe and the skill itself. Even Zac would receive a deep cut if he hit himself with such a swing.

Just how sturdy was this guy?

The movements of Void’s Disciple were short and concise, and he gave Zac the impression of a Martial Arts-master who wasted no movement when delivering his strikes. Almost at the same time as he blocked Zac’s attack, a parchment scroll appeared in his other hand, and he unfurled it toward the two closest Anointed. Zac first thought it was a huge talisman, but it was oddly enough just painted black from top to bottom without any inscriptions or fractals at all.

However, a mysterious energy radiated from within the darkness. It was completely different from the darkness Zac conjured with [Rapturous Divide] though, and Zac felt he was looking up at the night sky for some reason. His danger sense woke up by the scene too even if he wasn’t the target, and he immediately got a bad feeling.

“Watch out!” Zac shouted, but it was too late.

The two had Anointed seemed to sense the threat as well, but they showed no indication of backing down as the darkness of the scroll rippled forward until a star-studded barrier appeared right in front of them. It was like Void’s Disciple had summoned a piece of the cosmos itself, and Zac could see both stars and nebulae in the depths of that wall.

A shockingly explosive power streamed into the ceremonial knives they each held, and they actually exploded into metallic shards that shot everywhere. However, a set of new golden energy blades had taken their place, and Zac shuddered when he felt the extremely condensed belief gathered within. It was just like the rune that the cultists had nurtured, only with a different flavor.

Each of them struck at the wall as the runes of their arms lit up, meaning the two were holding nothing back in their desire to break the first line of defenses and opening a path for their allies. But Zac still hadn’t expected what happened next as the two actually fell into darkness and disappeared. The night-sky receded back into the scroll in an instant and the next moment both the two Anointed and the darkness was gone.

Zac’s eyes were wide in shock. He had seen over a hundred types of defensive barriers during his battles, everything from his emerald leaves to celestial deities appearing to block his strikes. They all worked essentially the same way though, but this was something else entirely. Had Void's Disciple actually created a portal to space? However, that should be impossible, at least from what they had gathered.

Information on the Dao of Space was limited in the Zecia sector, but they had managed to make some deductions from what they managed to find out. First of all, there was no Fragment of Space, meaning that Void’s Disciple should be controlling some related subordinate fragment rather than the real thing. Just like Zac was currently in control of the Fragment of the Coffin rather than the Fragment of Death.

Secondly, there should be limits on distance. Zac could only move 100 meters with [Loamwalker], and Ogras a few times that distance if he pushed himself with his shadow warp skill. Void’s Disciple was able to move a lot further through his portal skill, but it shouldn’t be strong to the point that he could open a gate to outer space. An E-Grade warrior simply didn’t have the Cosmic Energy needed to create such a long-distance portal.

You would need at least a D-Grade Hegemon’s Cultivator Core to sustain that kind of massive drain.

"It's not teleportation. That scroll is some sort of trapping treasure," Ogras muttered with a frown from the side. "We might be able to get them back out again if we snatch it."

Zac’s eyes immediately turned to the scroll in the man’s hand, also feeling that it was the most logical conclusion. The Dominator thankfully didn’t activate the scroll again, but rather just punched out toward his next target. It was another one of the Anointed, and it roared in defiance as its whole body lit up, conjuring an enormous lance of fire that shot straight toward the much smaller Zhix.

The first looked like a simple training punch, but the air twisted and contracted as some invisible force pushed outward, shattering the beam of flames in instant before slamming into the gargantuan Zhix. Crushing sounds echoed out as the Anointed was shot backward, and Zac didn’t know whether the warrior was alive or dead as it flew into the distance.

Rhubat roared in anger when it saw the exchange, and Zac almost fell off his feet when the giant stomped down on the ground with terrifying force. Trees were uprooted and thrown aside for over a hundred meters in each direction as the ground heaved. But Zac quickly realized that the stomp wasn’t just an outburst of fury as he saw dense brownish energies appear in the oddly symmetrical cracks around Rhubat’s foot.

It was clearly some sort of Earth-attuned Dao, and a Fragment at that. It looked like height wasn’t the only way that Rhubat excelled if it had managed to reach such an accomplishment without either visiting the Tower of Eternity or partaking in opening the Dao Funnel.

Something shot out of the ground where the attuned energies were the densest the next moment, and it had such speed that even Zac only could see a blur as it hurtled toward the Dominator. Void's Disciple seemed ready though, and what looked like a fisherman’s net made from black silk appeared in his hands as he stretched it in front of him. A multicolored shimmer enveloped him the next moment, making Zac realize it was some sort of defensive treasure.

The projectile hit the net, and Zac subconsciously held his breath in anticipation to see if the greatest Anointed was enough to harm the most powerful Dominator. Zac could immediately sense that Rhubat’s attack held a force many times greater than what Ilvere could produce with his Dao of Momentum, even when using [Cyclic Strike] to push his force even further. Not only that, but Zac could also sense that the attack contained a terrifying amount of belief, far greater than what the two energy knives earlier contained.

The air itself seemed to cry before it exploded the instant the net and the projectile collided, but the black threads of the net actually held against the attack. The force in Rhubat’s attack had been strong enough to rip apart the air as it shot out of the ground, but it looked like Void’s Disciple managed to trap the projectile in one go, forcing it to a stop just a few centimeters away from his chest.

Only then did Zac see what the projectile actually was. It was a perfectly spherical stone that was absolutely covered in extremely dense fractals. It actually reminded Zac of his own Duplicity core, though this stone was brownish grey. It had a diameter of around 30 centimeters but the impression Zac got from it was that it was as heavy as a mountain. As for whether it was a skill or some sort of treasure, Zac actually had no idea.

It was instilled with a terrifying amount of energy, yet Void’s Disciple had somehow managed to block it with the net. But it was not without effort as he had been forced to take two steps back. Zac also noticed a minute tremor in his left hand, proving that he wasn’t some invincible monster. The strike might not have been enough to harm him, but it had given a hint to the limits of his strength.

However, Rhubat was actually not done as the energies inside the ball increased exponentially for an instant before it exploded in a terrifying eruption of stone splinters. Almost all of them shot toward Void’s Disciple as though they were guided by the huge amount of faith within, but a few flew in Zac’s direction as well. His arm turned to a blur as he blocked the three incoming shards with his axe, each of them looking like a 10-centimeter stone nail, and he was shocked at how much force they contained.

Even Zac felt some pain in his wrist after forcibly blocking the three strikes, which was all he needed to know about the power of the seemingly unassuming needles. Massive craters exploded all over the area, and a few sturdy tree trunks were turned to dust in an instant as the nails shot straight through them with the force of a rocket before continuing to wreak even more havoc upon the forest.

Zac was finally hopeful that something had worked against the immensely powerful Dominator. Even he had felt some pressure from three needles, but Void’s Disciple had been drowned in over 50 of them at point-blank range while he was clearly the target of the zealous faith-based energy within. The situation was completely obfuscated by the chaotic energies in the air and the massive dust clouds, but Zac’s brows furrowed when a wave of danger once more perked up in his mind.

A storm of emerald leaves infused with the Fragment of the Bodhi covered their whole side as Zac also activated [Hatchetman's Spirit]. Rhubat reacted almost as quickly as he knelt down and pushed both his hands against the ground, erecting ten sturdy walls that were covered in motifs of warriors holding different types of shields.

Zac only felt a shudder in the air as his mind screamed, and space split apart the next second. The consecutive walls fell apart like butter, and a terrifying slash almost bisected Rhubat while another councilor lost his legs. The dust and chaotic energies that had blocked Zac's sight was blown away as well, exposing a still-standing Void’s Disciple within.

Over a dozen spikes were embedded in his small frame, and his face was covered in blood as he stood panting over twenty meters from his original position. Judging by the deep gouges in the ground he had been unable to contain the strike and had been pushed backward. However, Zac frowned when he sensed that his aura was just as strong and stable as before. As for that invisible cut, it seemed to have been launched by a small, unassuming dagger in his hand. The attack had contained shocking power, but Zac knew it wouldn't impact the Dominator much.

Only a few seconds had passed since Ogras threw the spatial disruption spheres, but over half of the Anointed were already taken out of commission. They had already agreed that the group of Anointed launch the first strike if it really was the Dominators they were up against, but it didn’t have the desired effect. They had hoped to at least wound him and make him expose some of his hidden cards.

Or at least anger him to the point that he was less likely to escape in case things turned dire.

But it didn't really feel like Void’s Disciple was going all out at all, but rather toying with the far larger targets. The chaos in space seemed to have barely affected him either, as both his offensive and defensive means seemed to carry a hint of space inside. He needed to do something before the Anointed were all killed, but he was still waiting for the right opportunity to burst out one massive strike aimed to kill.

And that opportunity presented itself the next moment as the two chains had finally made their way to their target.