Defiance of the Fall

He couldn’t and wouldn’t give up on his goal of finding his family , and he knew that he had to become powerful to accomplish that . He had to become a true Defier as Abby called it , someone defying fate and breaking through his limits . Just his small island was fraught with danger , and this was only a small corner in this world . He had no idea how the rest of the world looked since the system merged it with multiple others , but he held no illusions that it had become some sort of paradise .

If he had to sacrifice these demons to reach his goals , then so be it .

Besides , Abby had warned him of not completing quests given by the System . It could have unexpected and horrific consequences it seemed . It meant that people like Zac were almost like slaves to the System , forced to play its games . Unfortunately , he was incapable of doing anything about it , and could only play along .

Zac started heading back to his own camp after his second night at close proximity to the incursion . He had seen what he needed to see and now needed to get back . Being away from his camp from prolonged times filled him with anxiety , especially with the new larger war parties roving through the island for some reason . If a party found his camp while he was gone he would be forced to hide in the tree crowns and caves until he finished the quest , and he had no desire to do that .

Still , he made himself stop at the demonized part of the forest and farm out barghest and gwyllgi for a good 10 hours before continuing on . He could never stop fighting and killing in order to progress his skills . Besides , the density of beasts in the central area was so high that he was gaining coins and cosmic energy at a furious rate .

The only difficulty was that they were in such close proximity with each other’s that often one or a few demons would hear the sounds of battle and join the fray . He got a few gashes and cuts from the onslaught , but nothing that would impact him .

Eventually , he left the area and started heading towards the south . Finally late at night he started to arrive at more familiar parts of the island . He had seen signs of the demon parties on the way and had made a hasty retreat in order not to get entangled with them .

After a while he finally arriving back at his camp he kicked off his shoes and sat down on his comfortable newly acquired throne . In the beginning he had felt isolated and afraid as he was stuck in his little camp , fretful when hearing roars in the distance . Now it felt like a safe haven , a home .

Even with the dried viscera from the exploding demon , the still somewhat visible aftermath from the first fight with the demonling , and the bloodied indoors of the camper , he felt his heartbeat and breath calm down just from entering through the illusion array . In this little bubble , he didn’t need to be a walking slaughterhouse wreaking havoc on the demon population , he could just be .

He just sat on his new chair and closed his eyes . He felt the luxurious rug between his toes , and the wind caressing his hair . For a second he could forget the hellish existence he had led lately .

A bestial roar in the distance woke him up from his revelry . Zac sighed and got up on his feet . He still didn’t have the luxury to relax , there were things to do .

His scouting excursion had given him most of his answers , but he was struggling with coming up with a plan that might work . From his guesswork , he believed one of the heralds was somewhere up on the mountains , while the other was still unaccounted for .

Finally he had to kill a general , and Zac guessed he would be the big boss . It likely was one of the fancier-looking demons in their city , but he had no idea as of yet how to actually get to him , or how strong he was .

He held no illusions that he would be able to take the straight-forward approach and kick in the gate down and charge his way through . He’d be punched full of holes before he knew what happened .

There was the possibility of sneaking in during the dead of night and assassinating the general . But Zac felt that this was unlikely to succeed as well . For one he didn’t know who the general was , but more importantly , he didn’t have the skill-set to pull off such a caper . He wouldn’t have any problem scaling the wall or climbing into a window in the palace .

But doing so soundlessly and without any of the numerous guards noticing was the real challenge . While the scouts at the edge of the valley had been very lackadaisical about their task , the military command seemed far stricter in the actual town .

There were guards in the towers and in the walls around the clock , with changes at intervals Zac couldn’t figure out . It seemed almost randomized . He saw no chance to sneak in during a guard change . Furthermore , most of the vegetation had been cut down in the vicinity of the town , making a stealthy approach nigh impossible .