Defiance of the Fall

The situation was so messy , and there were no guarantees things would work out how they’d hoped . It almost felt like a breakup , a goodbye . Zac shook himself out of his state . Their problems wouldn’t be solved by him moping around . The sooner he broke through , the more time he would have to work toward their goals on the outside .

It was an odd feeling , traversing the Calamity again . In the seven years that had passed , he hadn’t gotten much stronger , really . His only real gain was his evolved constitution , whereas his attributes were almost the same . Even then , it was completely different being back .

It was so easy .

Part of it was certainly his tenth-echelon Mana domain . The unstable deposits of Life and Death were bent to his will within ten meters , essentially removing the danger from deadly explosions biting into his flesh . The other part was experience . Having visited so many dangerous regions had given him an instinctual understanding of Dao-filled environments’ shifting and unpredictable nature .

The first step was understanding they weren’t unpredictable at all . The seemingly random storm followed the laws of Dao , just like everything else . The better you understood the Dao , the better you would be prepared for whatever the universe threw at you . When paired with his danger sense and connection to the Daos around him , Zac didn’t even get close to encountering anything considered dangerous over the next two days .

Admittedly , luck was on his side . The lower layer of the Calamity was somewhat calm , without any squalls that forced him to take cover . He kept a steady pace climbing higher and higher , reaching an island just below a dense cloud curtain crackling with unstable energy .

It was the great divider separating the lower and upper regions . You could consider it the test you needed to pass to access the richer environments above . All beasts living on the lower islands dreamed of making it through the barrier , but most Early Beast Kings would have to put their lives on the line to do so .

Zac didn’t believe he’d be quite that pressed , but he still made ample preparations while waiting for an opportunity . Hours passed before Zac sensed the eruption of energy below he’d been waiting for . There was no island inside the storm curtain you could use to advance . You had to catch a ride .

Small vibrations shook the island , indicating it was time to go . A golden laurel appeared on Zac’s head while the pillars of Empyrean Aegis] rose behind him . With his defenses in place , Zac disappeared from the shore , using Earthstrider] to appear over a hundred meters into the air . The jump allowed him to get a better look at the situation below , and he took two rapid steps to get into position .

Normally , he’d already be falling toward the depths , but Zac activated a wind talisman to temporarily render him weightless . Then , a specialized glider resembling a huge frisbee appeared beneath his feet , just in time for a powerful pillar of wind to slam into it from underneath . The combination of his weightlessness and the glider’s large surface area resulted in a tremendous amount of lift , and Zac shot upward like a cannon .

The glider broke apart from the energy-dense updraft , but it had already served its purpose . Zac deactivated the wind talisman just as he was about to enter the clouds , returning his weight . Even then , he found himself tossed around like a ragdoll by the raging storm within . Not even his Mana domain was enough to quell the unbridled energy , pushing him into the same situation as when he first entered the Calamity all those years ago .

He was like a leaf in the middle of a hurricane , and a constant barrage of chaotic explosions tried to break through the golden barrier enclosing him . The first and second pillars crumbled down below , and bleeding gashes started accumulating .

The calming effect of his blood worked wonders , and the storm weakened a bit . Zac helped the process by opening a series of wounds across his body , which helped spread the effect . Still , the onslaught was relentless . The third pillar soon crumbled , and the fourth teetered on collapse .

Luckily , the curtain wasn’t all that thick , and the accumulated momentum gave him more than enough speed . Zac shot out of the clouds just as the fourth pillar collapsed .

He was in luck . He took out a second glider and used the remaining updraft to steer the vessel toward a nearby island .

Sometimes , you found yourself in the middle of a no man’s land after passing through . At that point , you could only fall back into the curtain and make a second attempt later , unless you had a special means of flight . With the curtain overcome and an island just ten minutes away , Zac had passed the first hurdle of his mission .