Chapter 312: Blood for Blood
Zac couldnt bother with the cleanup of the battlefield as his mind was too preoccupied with other things. He had finally reached level 75, and he was anxious to see the gains it would bring. He knew he had beco extrely powerful for a planet this early into an integration, but this battle proved that he was by no ans invulnerable.
The most common way of closing Incursions for newly integrated worlds was with massive armies to drown the invaders through sheer numbers. Such a tactic required the whole world to co together and sacrifice millions of lives, and it was because of this that so few newly integrated planets made it through the early phase.
Planets who passed the initial stage through the effort of solitary powerhouses were far less common since normal powerhouses like Thea or even Salvation wasn't enough to singlehandedly close all the incursions of a world. He knew that the Marshall Clan had taken huge losses from the subjugation of their Incursion, even with Thea's help. It took sothing out of the norm, a monster in human form like Zac, close them as they did now.
But even Zac felt he was barely able to hold on. The cultivators of the incursions ca from a wide array of forces, and many of them possessed all kinds of hidden cards that Zac had never encountered before. The bell was such an example. It had knocked him right out without him even having ti to react.
So the power-ups of reaching the peak of F-Grade were just what he needed to have greater confidence to tackle the stronger Incursions as well. He only hoped that the quests for the final skills would be possible to complete quickly, and he eagerly opened up his status screen to see what had changed.
Na
Zachary Atwood
Level
75
Class
[F-Rare] Hatchetman
Race
[E] Human
Alignnt
[Earth] Port Atwood - Lord
Titles
Born for Carnage, Ultimate Reaper, Luck of the Draw, Giantsbane, Disciple of David, Overpowered, Slayer of Leviathans, Adventurer, Demon Slayer I, Full of Class, Rarified Being, Trailblazer, Child of Dao, The Big 500, Planetary Aegis, One Against Many, Butcher, Progenitor Noblesse, Duplicity Core, Apex Hunter, Heaven's Chosen, Scion of Dao, Omnidextrous, Eastern Trigram Hunt - 1st, Tyrannic Force, Achievent Hunter, The First Step
Limited Titles
-
Dao
Seed of Heaviness - High, Seed of Trees - Peak, Seed of Sharpness - Middle, Seed of Hardness - Middle, Seed of Sanctuary - Middle, Seed of Rot - High
Core
[F] Duplicity
Strength
605 [Increase: 60%. Efficiency: 134%]
Dexterity
297 [Increase: 45%. Efficiency: 134%]
Endurance
752 [Increase: 71%. Efficiency: 134%]
Vitality
441 [Increase: 61%. Efficiency: 134%]
Intelligence
167 [Increase: 45%. Efficiency: 134%]
Wisdom
226 [Increase: 45%. Efficiency: 134%]
Luck
140 [Increase: 65%. Efficiency: 134%]
Free Points
21
Nexus Coins
[F] 364 950 610
He had made quite a bit of money closing the last Incursions, and he felt he needed to do sothing with his fortune soon. Perhaps he could invest it through Calrin, or at least use it to deploy more projects like the large scale agriculture program. As it was now he had no personal need for the coins, and they were no good creating dust in his status screen.
His attributes hadnt noticeably changed though, with one surprising difference. It looked like the final level awarded ten levels worth of free attribute points, aning he was awarded twenty points plus one from his class. Twenty points werent a lot for Zac by now, but they would get heavily boosted through his titles. He also noticed a change in his title screen, and first opened that window.
[The First Step: Reach Peak of F-Grade Reward: All Stats
5.]
It was a bit disappointing that he didnt get another 'first in world'-title, but either there was no such thing or one of the Anointed snatched it. But from his experience, he felt the forr to be more likely since he had a lot of other titles that the Zhix should have stolen if they shared the sa title pool.
When he opened his quest screen two new quests awaited him, though he was slightly disappointed there was no new quest on his hegemony chain. But when he looked at the requirents to complete the two Class quests he started to grimace.
Class Quests
Deforestation (Class): Cut down a Tree reaching 500 ters in one swing. Reward: Deforestation Skill (0/1)
Hatchetman's Spirit (Class): Form a nature- or axe-Attuned Dao Fragnt. Reward: Hatchetman's Spirit (0/1)
Zac didn't get any descriptions of the skills, but going by their nas he felt that [Deforestation] should be the ultimate offensive skill of his class, perhaps sothing akin to Nenothep's Spear World. [Hatchetman's Spirit] might either be a defensive skill or so sort of Support skill, sothing to complent [Hatchetman's Rage].
[Hatchetmans Spirit] was both simple and hard to complete. Forming a Dao Fragnt was sothing he would definitely do before evolving, but it was not sothing he was able to complete in the short run. It looked like he wouldnt have the skill to help him during the Incursions, and perhaps not even in the Tower of Eternity.
The [Deforestation] quest reminded him of his first Class Quest. That ti he was supposed to chop wood, and now he needed to chop an enormous tree. He didn't think it would be too hard to chop one down, he simply needed to supersize a [Chop] and imbue it with the Dao of sharpness.
The problem was that he hadnt heard of any trees of that size on earth. Did they even exist? Things did grow bigger from the Cosmic Energy, but there were no such trees at Port Atwood at least. He would perhaps need to visit Westfort quickly after claiming this incursion to have their intelligence departnt see if they could find anything.
The next question was what to do with the 21 free points. Finally he chose to go all out on his main attribute, Strength. He was starting to veer away from the standard 2:1 balance with Dexterity, but with all his titles he already had more points in Dexterity than many agility-based classes would have at his level.
He did briefly consider putting the points in Wisdom to improve his ntal defense. The attack from the bell was a poignant reminder that his mind wasnt as sturdy as his body. But he would have to put a huge amount of points into Wisdom to make a difference, and he felt it was more efficient to buy more ntal defensive treasures to shore up that weakness.
Since he was done with his status screen he got up to his feet and walked toward the others. The Valkyries seed quite excited when he approached, and he looked at them with so confusion.
Congratulations on reaching level 75. Next stop E-Grade! Joanna said with a smile as she held Nenotheps spear in her hand.
The two had been inseparable since she got it, and she alone had likely killed as many enemies as the other Valkyries combined with its help. It was truly a testant that attribute was not the only important thing for a cultivator, the right equipnt was almost equally important.
Thank you, Zac smiled as his eyes glanced across the forest to see how the cleanup of all gear and Cosmos Sacks went. It appeared they were pretty much done.
Dont forget about our appointnt. In fact, stay away from the Nexus Node so you dont get any ideas, Ogras voice suddenly echoed from the shadows.
I know, dont worry, Zac said with a snort.
But Zac knew it wasnt inconceivable that he would simply skip going if it ca to that. Things were heating up on Earth, and he wouldnt hesitate to evolve if things got desperate. He would lose a top tier title and the opportunity to make strong allies, but one needed to be alive to enjoy those benefits.
Are there any movents from the Incursion? Zac asked.
None that we can see, Ogras said with a shrug. The ambush contained most of their elites it seems. The others have likely evacuated by now unless they are fools.
Zac agreed. He had already got the notification that this area was under his control as well.
"That begs the question on how they knew we were coming," Ogras muttered.
This was sothing that crossed Zac's mind as well. Just how had these people know to lie in wait?
"They may have so sort of diviner," Ogras added. "But there is a simpler solution. I think the Marshall Clan might have realized we are even stronger than they expected. Perhaps they thought we would lose elites from every battle, leaving us considerably weakened after we had finished closing the incursions. But when they saw that wasn't the case they tried to make it happen by leaking intelligence."
Zac was about to disagree with Ogras' words without even considering it, but he stopped himself. He truly didn't believe Thea would do sothing like that, and Henry's main focus was on ridding Earth of all invaders. But the Marshall Clan consisted of thousands of people, most of whom had no relation to him or Port Atwood. So people might have betrayed their cooperation for a misguided attempt to help their clan.
"We will report it to the main branch of the Marshalls, and we'll just have to be more careful. I have so things I need to look into with the Marshall people as well," Zac eventually said, as he started to walk toward their cars. "Let's go secure the core town."
Joanna has reached the ladder! another of the Valkyries suddenly blurted out when it was apparent that Zac was preparing to leave.
Zacs eyes widened, and he quickly stopped in his tracks to open the ladder. It was true; Joanna was currently on the 98th position at level 47, aning she had gained three levels since the assaults started. He wasnt too surprised considering how high the levels of their prey were, but his brows instead rose when he saw the na she had chosen.
98th
Atwood Valkyrie Joanna
47
Congratulations. But why not use your own na? Zac asked.
We need the world to know that Port Atwood is not just you and the demons, no offense Ogras, Joanna explained. "Hopefully, well get a few more of the Valkyries on the ladder soon. We had already decided on this naming sche long ago in case we ever got on the ladder. It was quicker than we expected.
"Great job, keep it up," Zac said with a smile. "And it's a good idea. I'll put out so good rewards for anyone of Port Atwood who reaches the ladder, no matter which one. Try to figure out what you want and I'll try to make it happen."
The group made their way toward the core city of the incursion, but they didnt hurry in case they had left more ambushes on the way. Luckily no attack arrived, and they drove straight through the wide-open gates of the alien town four hours later.
But Zac was enraged the mont they entered the walled city, as the invaders had left a gift for him. A mountain of human corpses was thrown into a pile reaching over fifteen ters on the main square. The whole area dyed red from thousands of liters of blood, and a hastily written ssage were scribbled on the walls in red.
Blood for Blood it says, Ogras said with a frown. Foolish.
Zac ground his teeth as he looked at the scene that could be straight out of a nightmare. The blood still hadnt dried on their bodies, aning they were probably executed the mont these people noticed their leader had fallen. Killing innocents who were no threat just as so sort of petty revenge could only be considered as extre cowardice. They could just have left through the Nexus Hub, but they stayed behind to butcher all these people out of spite.
Blood for blood, Zac repeated with anger smoldering in his eyes. They better pray I wont find them in the multiverse later. Search the area. If any invaders remain, kill them.
Zac himself walked over to the pile and personally put them all in a spare Cosmos Sack before he bought a new teleporter. These people had been enslaved in life and killed for no reason. Giving them a proper burial was the least he could do.
While the forces of Port Atwood secured the area he headed over to Westfort. Ogras insisted on coming along, saying that Zac might back down too quickly in their interrogation. Zac could only acquiesce, and he thought it was fine since Thea was away at the frontlines in any case.
Roland Marshall rushed over ten minutes after they arrived, and when he heard they needed intelligence he drove them to one of the large mansions within the inner wall. It was the headquarters for the intelligence arm of the Marshall Clan, and if anyone knew of any such trees it would be them. Zac explained what he was looking for, though he didn't ntion it was due to his quest.
So, have you found any trees like that on earth? Zac asked.
Well, there is a species of trees from the Ishiate world that grew almost as large as the Redwoods of earth. A few of them might have grown larger than 500 ters by now, the intelligence officer who had been assigned to help them out thoughtfully said. But I would avoid those trees unless you truly need them.
Why? Zac asked with a frown.
From what we have gathered the trees are called Treefathers, and they are holy places to the ishiate. Even the technologically inclined camp of the beastn considers the trees holy. If you cut down one of them you might inadvertently declare war with the whole Ishiate population, the man explained.
Is there no other place? Zac sighed, wanting to avoid that kind of trouble if possible.
Well, there are the actual redwoods, the man said. Many of them were over a hundred ters before the integration, so one having mutated and grown to five hundred ters is within the realm of possibilities. We have many other examples of plant life growing to that degree compared to their forr sizes, the man said, but his face was still troubled.
So, spit it out. Whats the problem? Ogras snorted.
The forr Redwood forests are within the Cradle of God.
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