Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 346: Heaven's Path

Ogras only grunted in an exasperated agreement before taking out his large spear with one hand while he threw an offensive array at the drones. The crystal sphere ripped through the air, but the machines seemed to understand it was dangerous. They immediately started to spread out, but they didn't have time to move too far before the ball cracked, unleashing a sea of electricity in the sky.

Two of the drones managed to dodge the offensive array, but the other two were swallowed by the dense lightning bolts. Zac briefly saw a red shield enclose the two submerged machines, but they flickered and petered out in just a second. Zac was relieved to see that the technological shields weren't without limits and that they would sooner or later break under pressure. In fact, they seemed only slightly stronger than an ordinary defensive treasure that Zac found dozens of during the hunt.

He took out a clump of steel from his Cosmos Sack that essentially looked like a cannonball, and he hurled it at one of the surviving drones after infusing it with the Seed of Heaviness. Another red shield appeared to protect the drone, but the attack contained enough momentum to push the machine into the ceiling hundreds of meters above. It caused a large explosion when it hit the rock, and scrap pieces started to rain down from the impact zone.

Zac had long ago replaced the small hill of rocks in his Cosmos Sack with something that could better take advantage of his huge attribute pool. Any time he threw rocks or boulders to test out his enemies lately, the stones would break long before his enemies did. However, a steel ball weighing almost a hundred kilos contained terrifying kinetic energy, especially when it was infused with the Dao of Heaviness.

Only one Drone remained, but it was soon taken care of by Ogras who had appeared up in the air. He stabbed straight through the energy field with his spear, and the speartip entered the drone through a joint. A second later the drone expanded until it exploded in a shower of shadows and metal.

Zac nodded, feeling that the Technocrat Incursion might not be too dangerous after all. But when he relaxed he finally realized something odd. He had gained a small surge of energy for destroying the drone just now.

"Why are these things giving cosmic energy?" Zac asked with confusion. "They're not alive."

"No idea," Ogras shrugged with some disinterest. "The Ruthless Heavens provides the energy I suppose."

"Perhaps the other ones were too weak," Zac said hesitantly.

"No, there is a need of a soul to gain energy," Ogras disagreed. "That's why living golems who cultivate give cosmic energy when killed, but destroying a battleship does not."

"Then what is it?" Zac asked with confusion. "Are these machines alive?"

"No, check your quest screen," Ogras said with a smile spreading across his face.

Supremacy of Heaven's Path (Limited, Area): Close Incursion of the Followers of the Boundless Path. Reward: Merit. (0/1) NOTE: All destruction of inanimate combatants will reward energy while quest is active.

"It's an area quest," Ogras explained. "I think that anyone that gets close enough to the heretic's Incursion will be automatically awarded this quest as an incentive to destroy it."

"What's merit though?" Zac asked.

"I would guess it would boost our available class choices when evolving, like eating a Fruit of Ascension," the demon said, not able to hide his excitement.

"Truly a VIP-treatment," Zac said with a wry smile. "I wonder if I should start to worry about my own safety."

"I think we would have noticed it by now if The Ruthless Heavens wanted you to die," Ogras said, though there was some hesitation in his eyes.

"Like how? Dropping me off all alone on an island with a bunch of demons?" Zac snorted.

‘And having me roll for survival instead of just moving me a few meters,’ Zac internally added.

"Uh..." Ogras said. "I'm sure that was just a coincidence."

However, Zac did notice that the demon took two subtle steps away to distance himself from him. Zac only rolled his eyes in response and kept going.

"If we got the quest the incursion shouldn't be too far. Do you know if the other incursions are out in the open or if they are in town caves?" Zac asked.

"Both it seems. The fish people are in a large town cave that's partly submerged, and I think the humans have a large one as well. But the demons are out in the open," Ogras said.

Zac nodded and the two kept going, destroying any machinery that tried to impede their approach. Another set of drones tried to stop them a few minutes later, but they were turned into scrap in short order. Their offensive capabilities were pretty terrifying, but their defensive strength left a lot to desire. Even without the assistance of any offensive arrays the shield only needed an attack or two before they broke.

Soon enough they got their answer as they saw something odd in the distance. Another pack of drones appeared out of thin air, though the background started to wobble when they appeared, as though there was a wall of water.

"Illusion array, or whatever their equivalent is," Ogras muttered. "There's likely a grand reception awaiting us on the other side."

Zac took out another cannonball and used it to destroy one of the drones. Soon enough all four were blown to bits, at which point Zac finally activated his real skills. A shroud of miasma spread out from his body as the large spiked wall appeared in front of him.

"You go ahead," Ogras smiled. "I'll be right behind you."

Zac only snorted in response as he started to run forward, putting his bulwark as close to his body as possible to protects from attacks from any angle. Just as he was about to pass through the illusory wall a sense of danger erupted, but Zac only grit his teeth and imbued his bulwark with the Dao of Hardness.

"Jump," a roar suddenly came from behind, and Zac didn't dare to hesitate as he pushed off as fast as possible, causing him to soar tens of meters into the air.

Zac suddenly felt a weight on his shoulders and glanced behind to see that Ogras was actually standing on his back as though it was a surfboard. But before he had the opportunity to tell the demon off an enormous explosion erupted beneath them, pushing a pillar of fire right in their direction. Zac was about to move his bulwark to cover them, but Ogras quickly interjected.

"I'll handle the fire, keep protecting the front," he shouted to be heard over the ruckus as he threw down a crystal at the flames.

The crystal cracked the moment it came in contact with the inferno, and the next moment the flames were simply gone, replaced by a thick haze. Zac was shocked by the rapid change, but he quickly realized that Ogras had prepared some tools to counter his newfound weakness to fire.

But Zac didn't have time to think about that as his danger sense kept screaming in his mind, just as two thick beams of pure energy ripped toward them. The attacks slammed right into Zac's bulwark, but they were so immense that the beams continued around them, enclosing them in a relentless sea of chaotic energies.

It felt as though he were stuck inside the sun as he held on for dear life against the limitless powers of the two beams. The heat rose to an unbearable degree just from being next to the scorching rays, and he couldn't even keep his eyes open during the onslaught. Only after a few seconds did the beam relent, and Zac sighed in relief since his Miasma had been depleted at a shocking rate to protect them from the brunt of the attack.

The two fell down on the ground after the attack, and Zac finally had a chance to see what was going on. A large line with hundreds of aliens stood with weapons at the ready, many of them appearing quite shocked that Zac and Ogras were still alive. Interestingly enough the Technocrats were comprised of all sorts of races, where the grey little aliens only accounted for a quarter of the full numbers.

Most of the Technocrats held various types of guns, but some were unarmed apart from small drones hovering around them. A few even donned a sleek exoskeleton as they gripped some sort of energy weaponry.

Accompanying the living Technocrats were almost a hundred four-legged drones and various other mechanized weaponry such as the flying machines. There were even two huge robots that stood over twenty meters, smoke coming out of their right arms. Zac almost drooled at the sight of all the awe-inspiring technology, but he soon cooled down when he realized that the things were there to kill him. He tried using [Inquisitive Eye] on the robots, but nothing popped up.

Just a few hundred meters behind the row of warriors the large Nexus Hub hovered, emitting a silver glow that illuminated the whole area. There were rows of simple structures behind the crystal, looking like warehouses and containers of various sizes. It was clearly a temporary encampment, a simple means to an end. It gave a clear indication that the Technocrats truly had no interest in staying on Earth. They simply wanted to complete their mission before returning back home.

It wasn’t very hard for Zac to spot his main targets; the four bodyguards and their ward. They stood together in the center of lineup, two people at each side of a stocky alien that was equipped with one of those exoskeletons.

Excitement filled Zac's heart when he saw that all his targets were clumped together, but he didn’t dare to pull the trigger and activate [Profane Seal] just yet. There were too many robots around, and Zac was afraid that the towers he summoned would get blasted apart in no time.

He needed to reduce their firepower before trapping the others, and taking care of the huge mechas felt like something that should be prioritized. The two attacks they launched while he was airbound stole almost a fifth of his Miasma, so he couldn't take too many such attacks.

"I think we need to destroy the two big guys first,” Zac muttered. “Do you feel confident in taking on one of them?”

“I have no idea,” Ogras said while scratching his chin. “Who knows what other capabilities they have? There's no way I can take them down if they can keep spewing out such beams”

Zac nodded with a grimace, realizing they were lacking information.

“Let's head into the thick of it. They shouldn't be able to release those kinds of beams if we're in the middle of their army. Stay clear of the clouds I’ll release. It will melt your skin right off,” Zac said.

“It will what?” Ogras shouted, but Zac was already running toward the defensive line of enemies.

The ever-careful Ogras didn’t want to lose the protection of staying close to Zac, so he soon reappeared right behind him as he ran forward. Various weapons started firing at them, and the large cave lit up as though it was a laser show.

Beams kept slamming into [Immutable Bulwark], and Zac frowned at the expenditure. He was losing at least a percent of his miasma every second from the concentrated fire, meaning that he would be all out of energy within two minutes if this kept up.

"Can you teleport us inside? I can't keep this up for too long," Zac growled, and Ogras placed a hand on his shoulder with a nod.

The two disappeared, but Zac frowned when he saw that they didn't reappear within the Technocrat ranks, but rather right in front of it.

"I got blocked somehow," Ogras said with a frown.

"I'll open a path," Zac sighed as his arm started swelling, and he rushed forward to cross the last stretch between themselves and the Technocrats.

Explosions and beams filled his whole vision, but Zac didn't care about that nor the energy expenditure as he arrived in front of the Technocrats. A resounding crash reverberated through the area when [Immutable Bulwark] was forcibly stopped by a red translucent shield that appeared right in front of them. The shield shuddered when it was stabbed by the spikes on the shield wall, but it held true.

Of course, Zac wasn't planning on breaking through with his defensive skill and pushed the bulwark to the side as he jumped forward, [Verun's Bite] already slashing in a horizontal arc with enough power to cause the air to scream in protest. Zac imbued the axe with the Dao of Heaviness just before the edge slammed into the shield, and it cracked like a broken window.

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