Chapter 109: The final push

Chapter 109: The final push

Alea was in dire straits, dodging and movement werent her strong suits, and she was further impeded by carrying Janos around. The mage was weakly trying to confuse the last royal guard with illusions after having absorbed enough energy from a Nexus Crystal, but it was as though the huge armored ant was locked onto them.

Zac saw with some surprise that the cracks that appeared when both he and Ogras assaulted the crystal were already closed up, making the chitinous armor look as good as new.

He has regenerated the damage already, Zac said, and Ogras only nodded in response.

Zac sighed and readied his axe, but Ogras held up his hand.

What? Zac asked, anxious to help Alea and Janos out.

When we kill this big guy all the Royal Guards will be dead and well be able to attack the Queens Core. But we dont know if the Hive Queen will be able to unleash some sort last desperate attack when the guards are down and the shield is removed. The queen is a true E-Ranked being, while the guards only seem to be elite F-Grade beings on the cusp of evolving, Ogras said while looking over his wound.

We should instantly destroy the crystal the second the last guard dies to avoid any unexpected things. If I kill this big fucker, do you have a finisher to use against the crystal? the demon continued.

Zac thought it sounded like a good idea, and after some hesitation nodded.

I need ten seconds of time to charge the attack, Zac said. Actually, he barely needed half that, but the attack he was about to unleash was his current ace in the hole and he didnt want to give out its details. It put Alea and Janos in danger for an additional five seconds, but he could only make it up to them later.

Ogras nodded and readjusted the grip of his spear.

Start charging, the demon said as shadows were starting to gather around him and his eyes turned completely black. Shadows were soon covering every inch of his body, turning him into a being of darkness. Ogras started emanating a sinister pressure that gave even Zac a hair-raising feeling. Whatever the demon was doing was something Zac had never seen before, and it was likely his strongest attack.

Zac didnt hesitate and started pouring huge amounts of cosmic energy into his right forearm. It was time to unleash [Natures Punishment]. The eleven days of mindless killing was more than enough to finish his quest to decapitate 10 000 enemies. Luckily the System considered his kills solo battle even though he was part of the demon army, as long as he was fully responsible for the kills of the insects.

The fractal on his arm was like a bottomless hole, and after seven seconds he already had poured 80% of his remaining cosmic energy into it.

Get ready, Ogras hissed in a raspy voice, currently looking like a true denizen of darkness. Two ephemeral black wings had sprouted on his back, softly waving back and forth, each reaching over three meters in length. The spear in his hand was throbbing like it possessed a heart, and as the last seconds passed the heartbeat quickened to a frenzied thumping.

Just before ten seconds passed Ogras punched off from the ground, a wave of darkness flooding out from him. He turned into a large black beam that shot straight toward the chest of the last Royal Guard.

He hastily got to his feet with a grunt and stumbled to Janos and Alea, and flung them over his shoulders. He was only running on fumes at the moment, but with his attributes it was no real difficulty carrying two people.

What's going on? Zac croaked at Ogras who finally had got to his feet.

It feels like the hidden space is cracking, we need to get out of here NOW. We dont know what parts will remain and what parts will be sucked into oblivion, Ogras answered while he popped a healing pill into his mouth.

Luckily the tunnels they entered through once again were opened with the hive queens death, and they scurried out through one of them. The shaking started to get worse, and there were even cracks in space itself appearing, making the air look like a broken mirror. The two didnt dare go near any of those widening rifts, afraid to be thrown into the void.

They encountered some ants during the mad dash out, but they were completely immobile, blankly standing still unaware of the surroundings. The two simply ignored them and kept going, the greedy demon not even contemplating stopping to kill the free targets. Ogras usually was in charge of deciding the path, but when he found no clues what to do they simply trusted Zacs Luck stat, letting him choose at random.

As they ran the cracks in space only got wider and wider until they were starting to get afraid they might not make it out in time. Luckily they finally felt the wind and fresh air in the distance, and reinvigorated they increased their speed. As they turned a corner they were met with the light of the outside, and heedlessly ran out.

The duo stumbled out of the tunnels next to each other, overlooking a vast field of dead ants and panting demons. To Zac surprise, he also saw Sap Trang among the fighters, bloodied but alive. Ilvere and Namys came running up to them and took care of the two unconscious generals, with Namys throwing Zac a baleful glare after seeing Ogras state.

Finally safe Zac opened up his quest screen.

Incursion Master (Unique): Close or conquer incursion and protect town from denizens of other alignments for 3 months. Reward: 5 E-Grade Nexus Crystals, Town upgraded to City, status upgraded to Lord. (2/3) [20:02:32:25]

The second part was completed, though the huge carcass of the hive queen remained. The system never teleported away the corpses of the wolves, so Zac guessed that they would have to deal with the huge hive somehow. That would have to wait until a bit until later though, as Zac was completely spent. Besides, entering that thing right now was to toy with death.

Zac was in no mood to help out with the cleanup and slowly started making his way back to his camp. He had already eaten a healing pill, but his arm was still hurting quite badly.

Good work, young man, a voice said from his side, and Zac looked up to see Mr. Trang standing some distance.

He was currently using a spear to make sure that the insects on the ground were actually dead. Zac guessed that the experience would be a pretty decent boost if the old fisherman found some live ones still around. Zac didnt have the energy to chat with the old man and only nodded at him as he continued on.

Zac made his way past the wall and the small town and soon found himself in the comfortable stillness of his camp. There were very few who dared to approach this area without invitation, giving it a stillness. But lately, this stillness was starting to get interrupted more and more.

Youre the Super Brother-Man, arent you? a voice came from the movie-viewing canopy. It was Emily who was watching a comedy series with a blank face.

Zac sighed and sat down next to her.