Chapter 22: Scouts

Chapter 22: Scouts

Azzun walked through the forest with his two companions, irritably swatting branches and flies away. It was his first time off-world, and the change in climate was jarring. He missed the soothing monochromatic environment of his clan. Now the only reminder of the familiar red was the incursion in the distance.

Of course they knew that being able to invade a newly integrated world was a great opportunity. The House of ArhRezak had celebrated for 10 days and sacrificed 10 000 slaves for luck when they had found out that they had actually managed to get a slot. They were only a medium sized clan in their sector, but this opportunity meant a chance to grow to a large clan. Maybe they could even gain enough resources to overthrow the regional Lord.

Everyone knew that that The Ruthless Heavens mainly opened up the passageways to introduce a challenge to the indigenous inhabitants of the planets. The Ruthless Heavens wanted to test if the original inhabitants were worthy to stay alive, and whether any powerhouses would emerge among them. That was why it let invaders through, but imposed limits on how strong they could be. The challenge needed to be hard, but possible to overcome.

Of course, most powers in the multi-verse was more than happy to be treated as a test by the System. The potential gain of both rare treasures and new domains to own far outweighed the potential sacrifice of some of their young and their untalented. It worked as a great training ground for their young elite, providing both an opportunity to lead, battle and gain precious resources.

The elders of the clan were even more ecstatic then they learned that the world had been given a D-rank classification. It was no secret that when the system integrated new worlds the huge influx of energy could create all sorts of rare and invaluable treasures all over the fresh worlds. The higher grade the new world was, the more treasures would appear. A fresh D-class planet wasnt top tier, but at least it was above average.

It usually wouldnt be the turn of some middling clan to get access to this type of smorgasbord. Normally some arch-daemon would have nudged the heavens and snatched it from them, but luckily the Great War was reaching a white-hot intensity. All the real powerhouses had their hands full, and couldnt focus on this matter even though the potential gain was great.

Azzun had grown up hearing stories of how even lowly imps and thralls had managed to turn into arch daemons after entering a fresh world. They had found some treasure or natural oddity that had helped them shed their lowly heritage and emerge as a powerhouse in their galaxy.

Of course, Azzun knew that even if some treasure was discovered, it wasnt his turn to enjoy it. They would all enter the greedy hands of their general. Even though the general couldnt be considered a top talent of their clan, he had managed to snag this great opportunity. He guessed it helped to have a Great Daemon as a great grandfather, who spoiled him rotten.

The old daemon had forcefully elected his only great grandson, Ogras ArhRezak to lead the incursion. Azzun and the rest had discovered his incompetence even before entering the new world.

Afraid that there would be a strong resistance on this world, and that losses of their forces would reflect badly on him, he had simply unleashed beast hordes to kill everything around the incursion for the first month. He had chosen four evolved beasts to lead their packs, and simply let them run loose without any supervision from a Beast Master or Tamer.

He didnt have time to analyze the situation further, as the man attacked with a swing of his odd weapon. Azzun quickly lifted his war-axe to intercept the swing, but quickly regretted it when their weapons clashed.

Horrified he realized the monstrous power that was contained in the swing, and he quickly circulated his cosmic energy and activated his defensive skill. An earthen layer quickly covered his arms and torso, and stabilized him. Thanks to his quick reactions he didnt break his arms, but the force still threw him down on the ground, and his defensive skill shattered.

Disoriented and hurting he threw a wide swing towards his enemy, but only hit air. He tried to get back on his feet and meet his attacker. He didnt get far however, before he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, and then everything turned black.

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Zac stood panting over the unconscious demon, a sheen of perspiration covering his face. The sweat came from pain rather than exertion, as his charge had opened up some of his wounds. He finally dared to use his skill on the demon, which showed [Azzun, Level 33].

Luckily these demons didnt seem very strong even if they were higher leveled. He started to go through their bodies, and looted anything that seemed useful. He ended up carrying two sets of gear, and had two backpacks slung over his back.

He ignored the protests of his ribs, and then dragged the two looted corpses into the bushes and hid them there. He was too tired to bury them, and he didnt want to linger here too long. Hopefully some beast would sniff them out and eat them before their compatriots found them.

Zac was somewhat surprised with how calm he was with his actions. These three were clearly sentient beings, to the point that Zac had mistaken them for humans for a second. Still he had butchered them without any mercy or hesitation. He had been slaughtering nonstop for a month, but those had generally been beasts with the exception of the imps.

He had thought that he still would have some trepidation when dealing with humanoid beings but it seemed that something deep and primal had changed in him during the last month. He was harder and colder compared to before, and he felt that he likely wouldnt be able to go back to what he was.

Just as the world had changed, so had he.