Chapter 124: The Zhix

Chapter 124: The Zhix

Tens of warriors poured out from nowhere and mindlessly charged at him making some loud clacking noises and Zac immediately took out a weapon. However, since his goal was to see if an alliance was possible he didnt bring out [Veruns Bite]. Instead, he took out a black wooden club made from the extremely dense trees hed found on the island long ago.

After a roughly a minute of thwacking twenty-seven antmen lay down on the ground unconscious, and Zac was finally able to take a good look at them. He realized it was a misnomer to call these things ant-men, as they were even more human-like than Ishiate.

Their faces were mostly human, apart from their noses that were mostly two holes and a slight protuberance. The same could be said about their ears, almost looking like the cauliflower ears of professional wrestlers. Their eyes were almost human, though a bit larger and their irises were purple.

All in all their faces could have passed as ugly humans if it wasnt for the two antennae on their heads and the fact that their skin was tinged a bit purple. Their skin was quite hard as well, but not to the point of being a chitinous exoskeleton of the Ayr Ants back on his own island.

They also had four normal appendages and even wore clothes. When people spoke about the Zhix earlier he had almost imagined them to look a bit like the Mantis-ants, having swords for arms. But they held actual weapons in their pretty human-looking hands.

Zac picked up one of the Zhix at random and walked some distance away from the others before pouring water from a canteen over it. It quickly woke up sputtering and clacking, desperately waving its arms.

I know you understand me. I need to speak to your leader. Dont make me knock you unconscious again., he said as he held the warrior down with his foot.

The Zhix warrior gave no response apart from struggling and screeching, and Zac could only sigh and knock him out again. At least the intel was good, and these people were not very strong.

Actually, as Zac walked through the forest he was starting to guess why. There was not a single living thing on the island. Perhaps they had already hunted everything to extinction. An island like this might not have too much wildlife from the start, and they might have found themselves without anything to kill to gain levels.

Zac kept meeting groups of warriors, but he kept knocking them out. He was surprised by the sheer number of them, wondering exactly how they could survive on this island. Could ant-men eat leaves and bark? Were they excellent fishermen? He had seen no boats though, and it felt a bit unlikely for a species that lived underground to be used to the sea.

After walking for almost an hour Zac reached the central mountain, and by this point hed clobbered well over a hundred of the warriors. Finally, he saw something that seemed man-made, a pretty even mountain path that led along the wall.

The path was only a meter wide, and after walking for ten minutes the drop was high enough that Zac wasnt sure hed survive the fall. Luckily he didnt need to walk much longer until he reached a great plateau. It was even larger than a big town square, and roughly a third of the way up the mountainside.

More impressively it was clear to Zac that the whole plateau was actually carved into the mountain itself, rather than a natural formation. Enormous statues lined both the sides of the squarish plaza, with the inner side looking almost like the entrance to some ancient tomb.

He didnt have time to admire the beautiful craftsmanship though, as there was a whole army standing at the ready between him and the entrance. A quick estimate put them at roughly a thousand warriors, most of them hefting daggers or short swords.

Zac remembered it was the same with those hed encountered so far on the island, and he guessed that their choice of weapons was a result of mainly fighting underground where ranged weapons and large unwieldy things like spears werent as effective.

The army stood without moving, balefully glaring at Zac who walked up from the small path and entered the plaza proper. He looked back at them for some time and decided to make one last attempt at communicating. He empowered his voice with Cosmic Energy to make sure that everyone on the plaza, and any hidden leader, could hear his message.

Honestly, he would have rather just captured the large Zhix and forced a contract of binding on it, but it wouldnt work for multiple reasons. First of all, a contract couldnt be enacted under coercion. The contracting system was created by the Apostate of Order, and something like using it under threat of violence was the opposite of what he envisioned.

Besides, it appeared there were special restrictions in place on New Earth. It appeared it wasnt possible to enter contracts with the other races at the moment. Zac had been curious about how the girls had known about the contract back at Greenworth and was told that it was common knowledge in the new world.

People had also found out that entering a contract with the Ishiate simply wasnt possible, the system blocked it. The general theory was that the System still considered the three races on Earth in contention, and blocked certain systems cross-races. Perhaps a leader of the planet had to emerge before all systems were completely unlocked.

I dont know anything about your kind, but from your words it sounds like there were some people on your old world who could use Cosmic Energy, and who used it for evil. That has nothing to do with us humans, or the Ishiate. We come from our own separate worlds, and are busy struggling with our own problems to have time to plot against your people, he finished.

I sense no falsehood from this being, and what it says has some merit. We have called the strange events of late a Dominator plot so long that we have almost convinced ourselves of it. But our hive is dying and we need to open our eyes, even if what we see is not what we hoped for, the large one slowly said.

No! Impurity must be cleansed! one of the well-equipped guards suddenly roared as it ran toward Zac, who immediately readied himself with furrowed brows.

However, the huge Zhix moved with amazing speed and suddenly held the royal guard by its neck.

Order is not lost just because some things change. You dare defy the hive? the leader said as it held the warrior by its throat.

It is heresy, the guard squeezed out, looking unwilling to back down.

The leader only snorted and with a sickening crunch crushed the neck of the warrior, and threw its body away like a piece of garbage. Zac was amazed at the power of the thing, as the corpse was thrown over twenty meters away, without it seeming the leader used much force.

He had a feeling that the high power was something it was born with, rather than something it had gained from the System.

He already knew that many species were far superior to humans, or even demons, when it came to innate power. Some species were born at E-Ranked Race or even higher, and many had naturally higher stats.

Others were extremely adept at grasping Dao seeds, making it seem as though the universe itself handed them out as gifts. The universe simply wasnt equal, and some were just better than others.

You call yourself a human, is it? You have told a fantastical tale. But how will we know you are not lying? the leader said as it turned back to Zac. You told us that the reason we lost a part of the hive was the so-called Tutorial, but why was no one returned after a month?

If no one was returned they either all died, or were dropped off somewhere else. Im still searching for friends and family as well, as they might have been thrown anywhere in the world. As for proof Well, what kind of proof do you want? Zac asked, to which the large Zhix only turned toward the huge gate.

After a few minutes another Zhix came running through the gate, and it was dressed quite differently from the others.