Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 86: Ladders

Zac opened up his eyes after an hour of meditation. Alea sat next to him like an ever-present shadow, but even she lacked the energy to banter lately. Even Zac felt exhausted after the last three weeks of wholesale slaughter, and the demons were even in worse shape. He had killed thousands upon thousands of wolves in all shapes and sizes, as the waves unceasingly kept coming once every hour from the start of the quest. In the beginning the wolves were just free money for the defenders, and each wave took between fifteen minutes to half an hour to complete.

But their strength incrementally increased with every wave, and after hundreds of waves they barely managed to finish the last one before the next one arrived. Zac and Ogras had been forced to create rotating groups of the stronger demons, as there was a wave that actually caused a crack in the wall since almost everyone was resting.

There were some good signs though. If he and Ogras were correct, they only needed to hold out for another 3 days before the first part of the quest was completed. A new wave arrived at the hour unceasingly, and they needed to defeat 720 waves in a month. They had already cleared 641 waves in 3 weeks due to quickly finishing the early waves, and hoped that would mean that they got the rest of the month off until the next part of the quest started.

Another good news was that Zac hadn’t been forced to use any of his aces so far, with the walls and demons having been enough for now. Perhaps they would be able to finish the whole first part without any tools, which would save a lot of Nexus Coins for the next parts of the quest. Since it was getting incrementally harder he assumed that things would only get worse with the second and third horde.

It was his turn to man the walls in just 10 minutes, so he started to get ready. He opened his status screen to check his progress before heading out.

Name

Zachary Atwood

Level

48

Class

Hatchetman (F)

Race

Human (E)

Alignment

Human (Earth)

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

Dao

Seed of Heaviness - Early, Seed of Trees - Early

Strength

248

Dexterity

125

Endurance

165

Vitality

108

Intelligence

62

Wisdom

57

Luck

77

Free Points

0

Nexus Coins

21 281 353

He had gained a whole twelve levels from the last weeks of desperate struggle, which averaged to roughly a level every other day. He put all free points into dexterity until he reached a 2:1 ratio of Strength to Dexterity, and after that started putting points in Vitality. By now his build was far more balanced compared to before, and he wasn’t a lopsided one-trick pony anymore. That didn’t only go for attributes. He had battled every imaginable kind of wolf as of late and gained tremendous battle experience in a very short time.

Zac gained most of his levels in the first week of the monster horde, and it started to slow down considerably after that. The last four days had gone by without a single level. When he complained about it to Ogras, the demon got so agitated he started to spit after him. Apparently his leveling speed was out of this world. It had taken Ogras 5 whole years to reach the same level as Zac. Of course, Ogras wasn’t pushing toward getting levels, but rather focused on the Dao and his body-grade. Otherwise it would have been a lot quicker.

But if a cultivator didn’t level through battle like he did, and instead only relied on their cultivation techniques, it would take years and years to get to this point. A few days ago he gained a new title which was quite telling about his life on the island so far.

[Butcher: Kill 100 000 beings in solo battle. Reward: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence +3.]

The absolute majority of those kills were the wolves from the last weeks, but he had been steeped in blood and gore constantly since the world changed.

Next he opened the ladder to see if any changes happened in the last few days.

Ladder - Level

Rank

Name

Level

1

Super Brother-Man

48

2

Salvation

39

3

Thea Marshall

38

4

Joker

35

5

Enigma

34

6

Dahlia

34

7

Dillinger

33

8

Thwonkinʼ Billy

33

9

Abbot Everlasting Peace

33

10

The Gravemaker

32

...

100

Santiago

30

Ladder - Wealth

Rank

Name

1

Super Brother-Man

2

Smaug

3

Joker

4

Enigma

5

Thwonkinʼ Billy

6

Salvation

7

Greed

8

Little Treasure

9

Thea Marshall

10

The Eternal Eye

Ladder - Dao

Rank

Name

1

Abbot Everlasting Peace

2

Guru Anaad Phakiwar

3

Thea Marshall

4

The Eternal Eye

5

Silverfox

6

Abbot Boundless Truth

7

Super Brother-Man

8

Father Thomas

9

John Doe

10

Daoist Chosui

He had mostly memorized the ladders by now, and the top ten spots didn’t really change in the last few days. The ranking boards only showed the top hundred, and it was clear that a few frontrunners ware solidifying their position as future progenitors as Ogras called them. Beneath the true powerhouses were the elites, and it seemed the elites in the world should have gotten their class a few weeks ago, and now were around level 30.

When the Ladder was introduced the 100th spot on the leveling ranking had been level 27, which meant it took them roughly a week per level up until now. Beneath the top 20 the list was a lot more volatile, with people changing positions every day. He had also seen over a dozen names just suddenly disappear, which he assumed meant that they died.

When he first checked the ladder he found himself only two levels ahead of Salvation, which shocked him quite a bit. Certainly, he hadn’t improved his level for over 40 days while in the mines, but he started out at level 16 with extremely boosted stats due to the lottery he was forced into. Furthermore, he had almost only killed incursion monsters who awarded an increased experience. Yet this Salvation, and to a lesser degree Thea Marshall, were right behind him in progress.

That changed over the last few weeks though, as his level kept steadily increasing while they could only helplessly fall behind. Still, their speed was respectable, and Zac assumed they found great grinding spots as well, likely incursions with their improved experience rewards.

The wealth ranking thankfully didn’t broadcast the exact wealth people possessed, but it did show he was number one in that ranking as well. Surprisingly, the second spot belonged to someone who wasn’t in either the Level or the Dao-rankings. He had named himself after the dragon in Lord of the Rings, so Zac assumed he alluded to the fact that he was sitting on a pile of treasure.

Otherwise, there was some correlation between the level-ranking and the wealth ranking, as everyone on the list must’ve killed an enormous amount of beasts and farmed Nexus Coins. But the level rankers only accounted for roughly half the names on the wealth rankings.

Ogras believed that it was due to dumb luck. Some individuals had found some great treasures and sold them in the System Shops that should have cropped up at various places by now. Some might have scored millions of Nexus Coins just from one herb or rare metal. Neither Zac nor Ogras was sure how the System calculated wealth. Nexus Coins were a given, but what about his other treasures, such as his remaining Fruit of Ascension? What about the Creator’s Shipyard? Either of those were worth a fortune, far more than every coin he had gained so far. Calrin might know, but they hadn’t visited lately due to constantly being in battle.

But even without those two treasures he wasn’t too surprised about his number one spot. He gained over ten million nexus coins from the crystal mine, and another twenty million from the last three weeks of carnage. He had a hard time imagining anyone gaining coins at his speed.

Last was the Dao-ranking. He was only ranked seventh on that ladder, even though he already acquired two Dao-seeds. He wasn’t sure whether the ones above him somehow gained even more seeds, or if they managed to upgrade the ones they had. More interestingly, a large part of the rankers seemed to be spiritual people from the old world. There were priests, gurus, monks, and even a shaman represented on the list.

He learned from Alyn that a combination of meditation and study of fractals were the best combination to improve the Dao, so it seemed that these individuals hit the ground running when it came to pondering the Dao. They were already quite used to meditation, and maybe even entered the System with certain useful insights.

The Dao-list was also the only list that wasn’t filled, with only 68 spots occupied so far. There was a few that got added every day though, so Zac expected this list to be filled within the month. This list was also the one who moved the least. He had only seen one movement, where Thea Marshall instantly went from the 23rd spot all the way to the third. Ogras said she must have had an epiphany or a fortuitous encounter that gave her Dao a level up.

Actually, the Dao ranking was the one that shocked Ogras the most. There only were 3 demons currently on earth who actually possessed a Dao according to him. And two of them only gained their seeds after arduously meditating for years. Ogras believed that it was the Tutorial giving a huge hand in some way, otherwise only those who got Dao-seeds from quests like Zac should have touched the Dao this early.

Zac was surprised to see that many of the top 10 individuals of the level ranking actually hadn’t gained a Dao seed so far, not even the second-place individual named Salvation. Zac didn’t know whether that made him more or less scary, having reached that level without any Dao to assist and empower his or her skills. Actually, only he and Thea were the two people represented on all 3 lists, with his rankings slightly better.

Finally Zac closed down the windows and got ready for work. Alea roused herself as well, and mutely followed behind him as he proceeded up to the wall walk. Ogras approached not long after Zac arrived at the top of the wall, the usual lackadaisical attitude missing. He had a grim visage as he nodded toward Zac before once more looking out toward the battlefield. His hand didn’t stop moving, and the large bristled wolves beneath died one by one.

“Third casualty this wave,” he curtly said, worry evident in his eyes. The demon forces were limited, and every death hurt them in the long run. Over the course the whole monster horde quest it meant thousands of additional monsters the others would have to kill. Three deaths in three weeks might sound good, but only roughly 200 of the demons were combat classes. Three deaths were noticeable, besides the quest wasn’t even one third completed, and Zac could only assume it would keep getting worse.

It wasn’t that the wolves were extremely strong. The large wolves beneath the wall could roughly be considered as strong as the monkeys in the mountains by now. But their numbers were endless, and the demons were tired. And tired people made mistakes.

The wolves of this wave apparently were able to shoot out the bristles on their backs in a wide range attack that targeted both friends and foe. One demon had been unlucky and actually got skewered up on the wall from an errant flying bristle. Normally he should have been able to erect a defense or dodge in time, but he spaced out due to extreme fatigue.

Zac only grunted in affirmation as he looked out over the battlefield. Most of the wolves were dead, with just a few large packs remaining. He could already see the next wave’s approach from the distance, so he didn’t hesitate as he jumped down right among the bristled beasts. The impact killed 8 of them, not giving them any chance to shoot out their projectiles.

With a large [Chop] he immediately created a circle of death, and then he methodically started killing the beasts with a blank look on his face. A few bristles flew in his direction, but they were no threat to him. The ones hitting his body he simply ignored since his clothes nullified the impact, and those flying for his head he blocked with his axe head.

Just as he killed last of the Bristleback Wolves, as they apparently were called, the next wave was only a hundred meters away. These wolves were of average size and build, and had a greyish black color. What made them stand out was that they actually looked a bit translucent as he saw them approach.

Hesitant, he brought out a rock from a pouch and launched it like a rocket at one of the frontrunners. It was his standard move lately whenever a new wave of wolves approached. He started using it after wave 372, which had consisted of ‘Wolves of Kar’Ka’Venum’.

He still had no idea what Kar’Ka’Venum was, but when he charged into the group of wolves and swung his axe in a large [Chop], every single monster exploded in a huge shockwave upon death. The blast from his swing almost killed him then and there, and after that he swore to be more careful.

To his surprise the stone whizzed straight through the monster like it was a ghost. Zac got a sinking feeling as he saw the approaching horde, and without hesitation turned around and roared.

“ACTIVATE THE ARRAY!”