Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 584: Storm Surge

The offensive skill of his Spirit Tool was extremely powerful, and it even had the unique feature of becoming stronger by being damaged. The moon would only assist him by forcing the chains to break and split apart like a hydra, and kills by his bound weapon obviously counted as his own. It was an attack of massive proportions as well, to the point that it might even destabilize the moon in the sky, killing two birds with one stone.

It was clear that the two leaders didn’t conjure the enormous moon by themselves. It was continuously bolstered by hundreds of streams of energy coming from the whole pack. The moon had already grown a bit dimmer from the mounting death tally, and Zac hoped there would be a critical point where the skill failed.

The two fractal lines on the lid lit up as the four chains of [Love's Bond] shot forward, and an eerie rattling sound echoed across the area as the fractals turned into two new chains wrought by pure darkness. A discordant sizzling sound immediately entered Zac's ears as the moonlight started to break them apart, but Zac breathed out in relief when he saw that two chains turned into four as a result. Waves of silver light erupted from the wolves as well, and they slammed into the incoming chains to dispel the attack. But the result was simply even more chains.

The last time Zac used this skill he had focused it all on a small clump of targets, but this time he spread the net wide. Most of the chains flew in the direction of the leaders to clear out all the beasts that were in the way, while the remainder turned in a parabolic ark in the opposite direction to assist his beleaguered squad. Billy was fighting valiantly, but his chest rose and fell like two bellows as sweat streamed down his face.

He was maintaining a speed that even Zac would have trouble matching, and Zac guessed it was the skill he had learned in the Inheritance. There was no way that such a powerful technique didn’t have a downside though, and Zac guessed that its energy consumption was immense. Billy was still not even peak F-Grade, and he wouldn’t be able to keep going indefinitely.

One wolf after another was gored by the chains, and the two leaders finally lost their patience as they roared in anger, each of them swiping at the chains from their position. A series of lunar blades shot out from their claws, and the air itself was ripped apart as they flew forward.

The chains of [Fate’s Obduracy] was no match from the combined attacks of what no doubt were two middle E-Grade beasts with powerful bloodlines. But that was just what Zac hoped to see as the chains rapidly multiplied, instantly turning into a sea of links that caused havoc across the battlefield.

A terrifying surge of Cosmic Energy soared into his body, almost immediately eclipsing what Zac could bear. But the [Void Heart] had turned into a black hole, unceasingly swallowing more and more pure Cosmic Energy. It was the exact opposite of how it usually worked which was a bit concerning, but Zac figured that it was better than releasing it out into the atmosphere.

Over two hundred E-Grade wolves had died from one single attack, and it was still going strong. This was no doubt Zac’s largest harvest ever, and it had significantly lessened the pressure of the moon above. One of the leaders seemed to have entered a state of madness after witnessing the sea of corpses, and it could no longer hold back as it jumped forward, releasing a frenzied barrage of attacks on the chains of [Love’s Bond].

Its whole body shone with lunar light, and the extremely durable links were like dried wood in front of its all-out offensive. The chains kept splitting and rejoining the fight, but they were steadily pushed back. Zac tried to cause as much damage to the wolf as possible, but he only managed to cause some minor wounds.

However, that was fine with Zac as he intentionally retreated the chains further and further back, and he had soon created a distance of hundreds of meters between the two alpha wolves. The second leader seemed a lot more coolheaded, and it roared a warning to its companion. Only then did the leader seem to cool down a bit, but Zac had already achieved his purpose.

The wolves in the way were dead, and the leader was alone. It was just in time as well as the see chains had reached a breaking-point after taking on the whole wolf pack for half a minute, and all but four chains shattered and dissipated in an instant. It left a slightly wounded and disoriented wolf among a sea of corpses.

However, the Chains didn’t even have time to completely dispel before another form appeared right above the alpha wolf. It was Thea, and both her palms were pointed straight at the back of the wolf’s head as terrifying energies surged around her body. The wolf was in a frenzied state, but its reactions were on point.

It immediately lit up with lunar light as it tried to jump away, but four chains had unknowingly snaked around its legs, rooting it in place. It was the true chains of [Love's Bond], and Zac had snuck them next to the wolf among the skill he launched. The chains cracked in an instant from the pressure that the wolf emitted, but a fraction of a second was all that was needed.

A beam of pure energy that made Zac’s hair stand on end slammed into the back of the alpha wolf's head before it had a chance to dodge, and Zac almost lost his footing as the beam passed straight through the skull and slammed into the ground with barely any loss of power. It was the very same skill that Thea had tried using against Inevitability during the hunt, but this time it was not only far more powerful, but it was also performed point-blank.

However, Thea wasn’t unscathed either, and her eyes rolled up in her head as she fell down on the ground after releasing the beam of destruction.

The concentrated power was perhaps only matched by Zac’s final strike of [Blighted Cut], but it took everything of Thea to launch it. The other alpha wolf howled with rage and jumped off from the rock as well, but Zac's reaction was even quicker. He appeared next to the unmoving form of Thea and scooped her up before a barrage of attacks had a chance to kill her.

Such speed would have been impossible a second ago, but the combination of Zac’s widespread killing and Thea assassinating one of the leaders was enough to break the moon lording in the sky. It dissipated into a cloud of chaotic energies that slowly started to dissipate.

The remaining wolves were utterly infuriated by seeing their leader getting killed, but they still maintained their distance. Zac wasn’t clear whether it was because they hadn’t received any orders from the infuriated alpha, or if it was because of the hundreds of corpses that surrounded Zac’s position.

But the air was almost vibrating by the incessant howls that came from every direction. There was a ruthless bloodlust in them, to the point that it was palpable. Their combined fury had essentially become a mental attack that caused even Zac to feel some shudders in his mind. And if he was in that state, then there was no need to explain the state of the others.

Thea woke up after just a second, but her face was pallid and her hands were shaking badly.

“Billy! I need you to help the others! Take them and run back where we came from! I’ll hold the rest off and lead them away from you. Can you do it?” Zac said as he started launching a barrage of fractal blades at the wolves.

Without the moon protecting them [Chop] once more had a decent lethality, but that was just to a certain point. They still had only killed off less than 30 percent of the whole pack, and each fractal blade only managed to kill a few of beasts before they lost their strength. Cutting through powerful E-Grade beasts took a lot of energy, and [Chop] could only contain so much being an F-Grade skill.

These wolves were still a lot sturdier than most things Zac had encountered in the Tower of Eternity, and it probably wasn’t a coincidence.

In fact, they reminded Zac more of Verun than any wolves he had seen thus far. They weren't similar in appearance, but rather the primal aura they emitted. Zac could only guess that it wasn’t a coincidence that these beasts were brought here. They were most likely former subjects for experimentation just like the groups of cultivators stuck in the research base.

“Billy will save them! Then Billy will come back and save you too!” the giant shouted before he gently scooped up an unconscious Emily in his free arm.

The teenager had constantly infused the others, including Zac, with buffs while also providing Cosmic Energy through her dance. But all of them were peak fighters with a lot of titles while Emily was just level 50. She had already overtaxed herself to the point she fell unconscious, with Joanna standing vigil over her.

Joanna herself wasn’t much better of as she was barely keeping upright with the help of her spear. Billy simply picked her up by the lapel of her battlesuit and threw her across one of his shoulders. Billy was about to do the same with Thea as well, but she shook her head as she steadied her steps.

“I can walk by myself,” Thea said before she turned to Zac. “I’m sorry. I keep letting you down.”

“What are you talking about, things would have been a lot worse if you didn’t take out the big guy,” Zac said. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine now that the moon is gone. This might be an opportunity for me. You’ve already got your levels. I’ll join you guys a bit later.”

“That kill pushed me all the way to level 75. Next time I won’t be a burden,” Thea said, and she led Billy away.

A group of wolves suddenly appeared out of nowhere to intercept them, but a blinding blue flash lit up the surroundings before they simply fell apart. Thea stumbled as blood poured down her ears, and she looked like she was teetering on the brink of collapse. However, she somehow managed to steady herself and start running, allowing Zac to finally breathe out in relief.

Unfortunately, the relief was short-lived as over a hundred of the wolves split off from the main pack while the elites kept Zac busy. Thea was barely standing by this point, and Billy was carrying Joanna and Emily. There was no way they’d be able to fend off such a squad.

Zac growled in annoyance as he activated [Hatchetman’s Rage], and sharp pain spread across his body. He initially didn’t want to use this skill while still dealing with some lingering effects of using the [Rageroot Oak Seed]. However, he was out of options and he needed to kill a lot of wolves quickly.

The fractal edge attached to his axe grew over 100 meters and gained a golden sheen. [Rapturous Divide] had finally come off cooldown from his first attempt, and now was as good as time as any to use it. However, he didn’t shoot launch his massive fractal edge at the hundreds of wolves that went for Billy, but rather toward the elites that were blocking his path.

His new skill was powerful, but the hides of these wolves were far too durable, and it wouldn’t be able to take out all of them in one go.

That was not to say that he had abandoned his allies. Massive amounts of Cosmic Energy was already surging into his left forearm as he launched two swings toward the elite wolves with enough speed to turn his arm into a blur. The wolves shot out a barrage of crescent moons to stop the clouds, but [Rapturous Divide] wasn’t possible to stop that way.

The alpha moved to intercept as well, but it was too slow. The hulking wolves were first covered in a layer of gold which was immediately followed by the darkness of the abyss. Zac didn’t bother looking at the result, confident in the fact that most of the wolves should die from that attack. He instead activated [Loamwalker] flashing right past the spatial divide.

He was more worried about the pack of wolves that were rapidly closing in on his allies. They thankfully didn’t get far before a massive hand appeared in the air above them, and most of them were pushed down on their stomachs from the terrifying pressure it emitted thanks to [Hatchetman’s Rage] and the Fragment of the Bodhi.

It was finally Zac's who restrained the wolves, rather than the other side around.

A shocking amount of water spilled out the fractal the next moment, drowning the whole area in water. A lot of wolves were crushed to death by the endless deluge while the survivors were swept up in a tsunami that started leveling this whole sector of the forest.

The water punishment wasn’t as deadly as the wooden one, but it was able to cause more widespread chaos. He had essentially poured half a lake on top of the leader of the Underworld Golem Incursion, and this time there was no lava to immediately turn the endless amount of water into steam.

A mighty howl reverberated through the air, and Zac frowned when he knew that the Alpha Wolf had made his move. This was only further evidenced by the fact that the whole area was drowned in a cold white luster. It was almost like the world had become monochrome, and Zac quickly turned back toward the alpha just in time to see an enormous beam shoot past him, aiming straight for the array in the sky.

Zac wanted to stop it, but there was no time. The speed of the beam was almost instantaneous, and it slammed into the emerald array the next moment. Zac’s grunted and staggered a step backward as the array cracked. Even the hand was pierced by the light, and Zac was forced to immediately discard the skill.

Billy and Thea had already managed to flee by this point, but Zac knew his job was not over as he turned toward the remaining leader and the hundreds of wolves who were still standing.