Defiance of the Fall

o Zac.

Zac only nodded and indicated for Billy to stay with him.

“We are not going with Alien-man?” Billy asked with some confusion.

“There are some bad guys up there, but Thea is not on this mountain.
We will rest for now.
We are the special weapon, so we can’t let the bad guys know about us,” Zac explained as he looked at the forces streaming up the mountain.

It didn’t take long for the whole mountain to erupt in furious fighting.
It was clear, however, that the defending forces couldn’t match the Berum onslaught.
The battles were steadily moving toward the summit, and soon they took place on the top of the mountain, obscuring Zac’s vision.

A few thundering echoes erupted on the summit, and not long after the sounds of battle subsided.
Zac saw that a few hundred men started streaming down toward their position.
From the energy contained in those echoes up at the top of the mountain, it seemed like the ancillary mountains were only manned by regular soldiers and a few stronger people to maintain order.

There was no rest when the warriors had descended the mountain, and they cut straight toward the main peak.
A few people had died and even more were wounded, but they simply popped a healing pill and restored their energy with a Nexus Crystal as they moved.

Soon they arrived at the foot of the mountain that Nenothep Medhin occupied, and two squads veered off to impede any enemy forces coming for backup.
But the main army consisting of roughly 200 cultivators pushed toward the summit as one.

Their force was lead by Ylvas and his three generals.
One was a young man with a slightly feminine face who held a staff in both his hands.
The second was a huge woman that Zac almost thought was a smaller female version of Billy.
She sported an enormous two-handed sword on her back, and her arms bulged with huge muscles.
The final general looked positively ancient, but he had no problems keeping up with the others as it almost looked like he floated.

’

They started ascending the mountain but there surprisingly were no signs of any resistance, with not even a single stationed to impede their approach.
In fact, it looked like all the structures and obscuring features of the mountain had been demolished, giving everyone a clear line of sight toward the summit.

Zac couldn’t help but get a bad feeling as he slowly walked up the mountain paths with the others, and he wasn ’t alone.
Their progression had slowed to a crawl as the scouts in the front kept swiveling their heads back and forth in search of any traps waiting for them.

But it was instead a rumble that shook the whole mountain that warned them that the Medhin counterattack was incoming.
Torrential amounts of flames were suddenly pouring down from the summit, making the mountain look like an erupting volcano.

However, Zac immediately sensed that the fire was conjured rather than a natural occurrence.
Likely it was some sort of slaughter array or combination attack from the Medhin soldiers.
Still, the intensity of the incoming fire wasn’t anything to scoff at, and Zac hesitantly glanced at Ylvas.

While Zac would be able to protect himself, and Billy if needed, from the onslaught he wasn’t so sure about the rest of the soldiers.
But while Ylvas had a grim face he didn’t seem overly worried.

“Defend!” he shouted, and all soldiers took out identical spheres and started to pump them full of Cosmic Energy, as the ancient man took out a far larger copy of the same item.

The huge sphere floated up in the air above the old general, and the smaller orbs were clearly imbuing it with energy, making it quickly grow to cover their whole army.
Only seconds later the roiling flames slammed into the shield, but it held steady.

However, the force of the flames was clearly having an impact, and blood was streaming down the nose of the old man.

“We need to speed up.
Lord Rhuvim can ’t keep the shield going for long!” Ylvas shouted and started to push forward.

The huge woman carefully lifted the old man and placed him on her shoulder as she ran, letting him fully focusing on maintaining the barrier.
But even though the army ran at a breakneck pace the shield was quickly showing signs of collapse from the intense flames.

’

Worse yet, after a minute of ascending they weren ’t only accosted by flames any longer.
Huge boulders were tumbling down the mountain, each of them slamming into the mountain with enough force to make the ground shake.

Some of them luckily had veered off course, but every time one of them hit the shield it looked like the old man was physically punched.
The onslaught was also having an effect on the army, and many faces were starting to pale from the energy consumption of maintaining the shield.

”I leave the rest to you, little Vas, ” Rhuvim suddenly said with a wet cough that made blood stream down his robe.

The next moment he flashed forward, ignoring Ylvas ’ order to wait.
His aura was completely unleashed and a hurricane formed around him that soon was over fifty meters wide.
Power roiled in the air around the old man, and he pushed straight into the flames.

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Zac sighed because he understood what fueled that tremendous burst of power.
That old general was burning his remaining life-force in order to create an opening that would let the army ascend.
The intense powers in the hurricane threw the incoming boulders far up into the air, harmlessly passing the speeding army by, and even the cascading flames were forced to retreat from his advance.

The general ’s sacrifice had been enough to allow the Berum resistance force to reach the summit unscathed.
The moment they saw the crest the old man simply looked back and smiled before he fell over.
Ylvas immediately flashed over and caught the old man, cradling the body with red-rimmed eyes.

Zac mutely stared at the corpse of Rhuvim with a heavy heart.
The old man might have not possessed even a fraction of the power compared to the old man in his Dao vision, but he clearly shared the same type of conviction.
Zac slightly bowed toward the man as Ylvas put him into his Cosmos Sack before he drew his rapier with a grim expression.

Waiting for them at a top was hundreds of elite soldiers emitting monstrous killing intent.
In the front of the soldiers stood a man in a golden robe, holding a three-meter long spear in his right hand.
A towering aura was emanating from him, even making his hair flutter in the air.

”So you have come, rebel scum.
It is just as well.
You will join Repubat for his final journey. ”