Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 470: Friends and Foes

People who had already spoken up of their support suddenly looked troubled, and a few others were even walking away without hesitation. Just what was going on? He quickly looked over at Ogras, but he shook his head in confusion as well.

Zac could only guess they were another peak force, and he looked over at Galau for confirmation.

“Ah… This…” Galau stammered, clearly unwilling to broach the subject in front of such a large audience. “I think you should speak with Heliophos Clan before doing anything else.”

Zac slowly nodded as he looked at the troubled faces of the people around him.

“Is there anyone here who belongs to the Heliophos Clan?” Zac asked.

“The Heliophos Clan isn’t a combat-oriented family, so they don’t climb the Tower of Eternity,” the youth from earlier said after the silence had stretched on for a while. “They are a solitary clan focusing on divination and fate augmentation.”

Zac inwardly groaned in annoyance when he put two and two together. These people didn’t want to risk causing a rift with a clan full of Karmic Cultivators. They might find that their clan was on the brink of ruination a few hundred years later without knowing what had happened. No one wanted to be the one to take out The Great Redeemer if it meant making such a troublesome enemy.

He was about to ask the merchant to clarify just how powerful the Heliophos Clan was, but he suddenly noticed that the crowd was giving way for someone to reach the front. Was there actually someone who could speak for this odd clan here?

“Now that was something else,” a slightly amused voice said, and young cultivators hurriedly scurried out of the way to give room to a young woman.

Zac looked over and almost took a step back in shock, as the woman looked almost identical to someone he had seen before. The newcomer was almost a picture-perfect copy of the mysterious Draugr-lady who had given him the miasmic fractals in his mind, and whose presumed husband he had just met in another vision.

Behind her two Revenants walked in pace, one of which radiated an aura that was at least comparable to the man he had just taken out. If such an elite was just an attendant, then the Draugr might be frightfully powerful, even if Zac couldn’t gauge anything from her appearance alone. Add to that the vast resources of the Undead Empire, and this small group might be an even bigger threat compared to those he had just fought.

However, they didn’t emit any killing intent, but rather the opposite. It was like the Draugr was looking at him like he was some long-lost brother or something. Was this a huge coincidence? Or was this the System messing with his fate somehow? He warily stared at her, trying to figure out what her aim was.

“You don’t need to worry about me. I’m not even from this star sector, I wouldn’t care even if you killed everyone in this place,” she smiled. “In fact, I’m a friend and I come bearing gifts.”

Almost forty bloody heads appeared in front of her the next second.

“I… encouraged a few forces to stay away from this matter as I wanted to meet with you,” she said as she looked down at the heads like they were a pile of garbage. “I also dealt with the Tsarun clan for you, so that we would be able to talk uninterrupted.”

“What do you want?” Zac asked suspiciously before he looked down at the heads with a grimace.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that things had deteriorated into an irreconcilable feud with the Tsarun Clan after this.

It made no sense that this Draugr wanted to make friends with him. The Undead Empire wasn’t strictly xenophobic, but they seldom mingled with the living. Or did she simply need a strong F-Grade ally for some task? Or more likely, was she able to sense his connection to Be’Zi somehow?

“I think it’s a discussion best held in private,” the Draugr said, not offering any clues.

“A- My friend,” a familiar voice said as Boje Zethaya scurried forward. “I feel terribly apologetic about the mess caused by my inattentiveness the other day. Why don’t you use my family’s abode to conduct any meetings you might have?”

“Well, shall we?” the Draugr said as she sauntered toward the Pill House with the powerful-looking revenant silently walking behind her.

Zac only hesitated for a second before he decided to check things out. This girl wasn’t even from this Sector, which meant she had a pretty strong backing. Traveling between sectors was something that only the extremely powerful or the exorbitantly wealthy could do.

It was a possibility that she came from some big shot family of the Undead Empire, and she might even be able to solve the problem on Earth with a few words. One newly integrated planet couldn’t be very important in the wider scope of things. It was absolutely worth exploring further.

He first turned to Ogras and Galau who had walked over as well, but still stood some distance apart from the gathered mob.

“Will you two be fine?” Zac asked.

“I- I need to talk with my cousins,” Galau said with a slightly hollow voice.

“Tell me if you need help with anything,” Zac nodded.

“I’ll come with you after dealing with the battlefield. You talk with the Draugr, I’ll stay outside and see if I can find out some more about that clan. I don’t believe there isn’t a single force that’s brave enough to stick their neck out and help deal with that old goat coming for us,” the demon said.

Zac nodded as he looked around at the square full of corpses. His eyes moved to a corpse lying just a few meters away, a stocky humanoid holding a beautiful blue sword which hummed with spirituality. Ogras looked over as well, and a shadow tendril brought over the sword.

“Water attuned,” the demon muttered. “Might be suited for old man Trang.”

Zac nodded before his eyes turned toward the merchant who was scurrying toward one of the roads leading toward the outer sector of Base Town. However, he didn’t get far before one scion after another approached him. Finally, two stunning beauties dispersed the crowds before they led Galau to a palace facing the square.

“They seem to know him. The Peak girl?” Ogras muttered as he shot a glance at the merchant just as they walked into the grand building.

“Perhaps,” Zac nodded. “We haven’t done anything evil in his presence though, and the Peak family might prove our best shot at dealing with this mess. Let them sound Galau out while I talk with the Draugr.”

Zac left the demon to deal with the clean-up, and he only personally took the Spatial tools of the three elites who had assisted Yeorav before he walked toward the Pill House. He couldn’t stop his curiosity though, and he took a look at his status screen he walked.

Zac wryly smiled as he looked at his status screen. He had been worried about being able to reach 1000 Strength at all, but he had suddenly shot way past his goal. However, he quickly realized that all of it didn’t come from his upgraded Dao Fragment, but there were actually two new titles as well.

As expected, there was another Title for reaching a monstrous number like 5000 attribute points while still at F-Grade. However, he wasn’t as sure about just how rare it was any longer after witnessing the Battle of Fates and his Mid-Grade Dao Fragment.

One Dao Fragment awarded 550 attribute points, which together with the effect of titles closed in on a thousand points. If someone had a couple of them, or perhaps even a Late-Stage Dao Seed, then reaching 5000 attribute points wouldn’t be all too difficult. However, that wasn’t all he gained, as he had actually gained another title, though this one was limited.

He was honestly a bit surprised about being only the fourteenth position. It was still an extremely good result, but he had only heard of the Eveningtide Asura. But then again, the sector was probably extremely old, and outliers were bound to appear now and then over millions of years.

However, he noticed that his recently gained title related to the Terminus was missing in his status screen, though he could still find it if he opened the actual title screen. It was a bit odd, but he honestly felt it was for the best. What if some old monster had the ability to spy on his status screen? Having seen the Terminus might only cause a bunch of problems for him.

Normally he would have looked through his status screen a bit longer, but he had things to do and time was limited. He soon walked through the passageway into the Pill House, and there was no array impeding him this time. Zac almost felt as though he had dreamed that the place had been turned into a pile of rubble just one day ago, as the place looked almost like a carbon-copy of its predecessor.

Boje was already waiting in the lobby, and Zac was personally led by the man to the second floor.

“Let us know if there’s anything else you need,” he said as he stopped outside a room.

“Do you have any more of those cherries?” Zac asked before walking inside.

“A- No? I thought you…” Boje stammered a bit, looking a bit confused.

“I had to use it on myself in the tower, so I need another soul-healing treasure for the intended recipient,” Zac explained.

“Oh, I see,” Boje said with a troubled face. “I am afraid I don’t have anything on me. If you give me a week I’ll be able to send for something from my family, and I’ll be happy to directly gift it to you.”

“I’m leaving today,” Zac said with a shake of his head. “See if you can find out if anyone has something that would work.”

“We’d be happy to,” Boje said before he handed Zac two tokens after some thought. “This teleportation token leads to one of our main stores, and the insignia gives you the status of an esteemed guest. You will be able to order a medicine tailored for your friend there, and our resident alchemist will immediately concoct it. Such a pill would not have any secondary effects like the Cherry might have produced, but its healing efficacy will be at least of the same level, probably higher.”

Zac’s eyes lit up and he immediately accepted the two tokens. He wouldn’t personally go there until he could be certain about his safety, but he might be able to send someone else there if he couldn’t find any solution for Alea in the short run.

“Thank you. You can speak with Ogras if there is anything else,” Zac nodded.

He couldn’t help but feel some sort of vindication as he stepped inside the room. Last time he had come here as a nobody, a supplicant begging for resources. Now he was a bigshot who got things done with a wave of his hand, and he’d be lying if he said that it didn’t feel pretty nice.

“I didn’t have a chance to introduce myself earlier,” the Draugr smiled as Zac closed the door behind him. “I am Catheya Sharva’Zi. I am from what you would call the Empire Heartlands.”

“Why have you come to this remote corner of the universe then?” Zac asked with some confusion. “Shouldn’t be anything of interest here.”

“My master is looking for a certain opportunity to break through,” Catheya said. “He received some clues that made us pass by this frontier region. But he suddenly had a bout of inspiration and had to enter seclusion for a few years. I got bored and chose to visit the Tower.”

Zac only wryly smiled as he sat down. Having a big tree like a great master to depend on seemed to allow for a pretty leisurely lifestyle.

“Did you know? It has been over a million years since someone breached the 8^th floor in this sector,” the Draugr said as she glanced at the Revenant standing by the side.

He nodded and produced an exquisite teapot out of nowhere and expertly poured Zac a cup before he lit a stick of mild incense.

“The Eveningtide Asura,” Zac nodded, ignoring the drink for now.

“Yes,” Catheya said. “You two are more similar than you might think. He was a Progenitor as well.”

Zac frowned as she looked at the Draugr. Had she found out about Earth, and was planning to use it against him?

“I mean nothing by my words,” Catheya smiled as she handed over a crystal. “Take a look by yourself.”

Zac gave Catheya another glance as he quickly scanned the contents.

“Ez’Mahal,” Zac snorted, some fury erupting in his chest again.

Those scumbags weren’t content with treating the Earthlings like cattle, but they even dared to place a bounty on his head? He wondered what their reaction would be after hearing about his deeds inside the Tower of Eternity.

“It seems you have looked into me while I climbed. Why? I have no connection to your Undead Empire,” Zac said as he stashed away the information crystal.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Catheya said with a smile. “I was somewhat convinced when I saw you when you entered the tower, but now I am certain. You and I are connected, I know it. You even smell like one of us.”

Zac didn’t say anything, but he was pretty surprised about her last comment. Did he actually smell like a Draugr?