(General Zacharia Lawson)
As soon as the proverbial knife was removed I gave the order. Thirty cultivators, all between the levels of 15 and 20 descended on him like locusts. Despite the overwhelming firepower I couldn't help but feel anxious. I release my killing intent to keep the panic crowd moving. The first cultivators arrived at the command tent in less than a second.
Joshua and Taylor were former marines and were trained killers. Yet this son of a bitch treated them like playthings. He wasn't even fighting back. He ducked, dodged, and avoided each of their attacks like this was some damn martial arts movie. I gave the order and the rest moved in. Swords, spears, and axes flew through the air our best fighters engaged.
A force that would have been enough to wipe out a country and it meant nothing. Amari barely moved from the tent and still hadn't seen fit to strike back. It was more like he was playing with children. I gritted my teeth as the panic crowd stopped running. They stood like idiots gawking at the display.
"No one man should have this kind of power," I growled and drew my sword. I activated Slash and a thin edge of spiritual energy surrounded my blade. I pushed the skill to its maximum and then unleashed my swing. I gritted my teeth as the slash shot toward the battle like the executioner's axe.
The attack moved in slow motion as he dodged around. I caught his gaze seconds before the attack hit. I waited to see what crazy skill he got from the tutorial or what weapon or anything would hint at the source of his strength. Instead, he held his bare hand up. I practically begged God to let his hand be split in two. That he would be split in two. When he saw him grin those hopes died.
My attack met his hand and it was like he was made of solid steel. The spiritual energy I infused dissipated harmlessly. "As much fun as I am having, I think it's about time I fought back."
The way he said that sent a chill down my spine. Before I could order a retreat he blurred and Joshua was hit square in the chest. The impact made it seem like he had been hit with a baseball bat. Joshua crumbled bonelessly to the ground. "Re-retreat" My words came out choked as the monster continued. The rest of the battle was a nightmare.
The elites of the Commonwealth were dispatched like playthings until he once again sat on the top of the tent. He looked like a fat cat as he stared at me. I wanted nothing more than to kill him, to remove that stupid grin. "As I said before you won't get any more chances." He leaped off of the tent and strutted toward me like a god of war.
"I hope we can get along with one another in the future." I glared at him until he left the city. No one moved for another ten minutes, not until everyone was sure that he was gone.
"Gather up everyone," I said and stepped into the tent. I grabbed a bottle of water and downed it. It was another ten minutes before people started to appear. The cultivators who didn't join the fight were first.
"Is there a reason that you all saw fit to sit back while your brethren were fighting that lunatic?" I barked.
"Hey, hey we agreed to fight for the Commonwealth not die for it. Besides if we started unleashing skills then he likely would have as well. Then where would we be?" Augustus replied looking nonplussed about the situation.
"Of course if that little weapon wasn't enough to kill him then what could we do exactly?" Emily asked. "I don't think the System will give us another quest reward like that. We should have saved it for a dangerous monster."
The rest meandered in over the next hour. Everyone tried to pretend like nothing had changed, that everything was fine but that wasn't true. The "World's Strongest Man" hung over us like a shadow. It wasn't me who decided to approach the topic.
"So now that we've seen it. Seen him and with his current level what are we going to do?" August asked. The rotund man with a bastard sword big enough to split a man in two asked.
"Nothing. From what I've heard he and the United World Government aren't on the best of terms. We should continue with the Archangel plan" Emily responded.
I listened as they went back and forth. Each one had their opinion but they all could be boiled down to one truth. We weren't at the top of the food chain and we had to do something to deal with that. "We will continue researching just what the System did. If our research bares fruit we will deploy. I want the rest of you to travel to that continent. We need to focus on growing our power."
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(Romulus)
My spear shot through the bicep of one gorilla just as Solar Ball destroyed a massive snake. Despite the twin kills it was clear this wasn't going in our favor. I dodged to the side as a gorilla launched a tree trunk at me. "Alexander, you need to leave. Use your skill and get back to the temple. Ask Amari to help us."
The words tasted like ashes but there was nothing to do. Even together we couldn't beat this group. I glanced over at Amahle. She danced through the wave like a specter but she was slowing. Her movements were more desperate than before and she traded injuries more often than not. I dodged a fist the size of a dinner plate and pushed spiritual energy into my newest skill.
"I won't-" Alexander began.
"Go!" I shouted as Glorious Crusade activated. The berserk skill made it feel like lightning was injected into my veins. My spear traced the arc in the air as Alexander disappeared. I smiled at the closest monster. "This should be a lot of fun."
I rushed forward to meet the closest monkey. My spear punched a hole through its shoulder before it could properly mount a defense. My fist slammed into the next monkey with enough to crush bone. Kill energy surged into my Dantian. Another sun was born a second later. I launched at the closest beast. A massive lizard with scales harder than steel.
I retreated a second after the sun made contact. Its heat was barely enough to burn the beast's scales. White-hot anger surged inside me as I was forced to retreat. Another pair of fists shot for me. I blocked one with the spear while taking the second in my shoulder. Glorious Crusade stole more of my energy to heal the now broken bones. My spear glowed as I activated Pierce. A translucent blade of energy formed around the tip of my spear before splitting into five identical blades.
I narrowly avoided a sharpened tree branch before I released my attack. A storm of spear points brought me enough space to disengage. I moved into position behind Amahle just as a roar filled the air from deeper into the forest. "Would it be unreasonable for me to ask if you have an item that could get us both out of here?"
"If I had something like that I wouldn't still be here with you now would I?" Amahle replied as the wind coalesced around her. "Do you think he would be enough to make a difference in this situation?"
I straightened my helm and raised my spear as the additional strength from Glorious Crusade faded. "No idea but he's been in this forest alone right?"
The wind surrounding her began to pick up speed to the point that it was difficult to look at her. "I am going to kill them all before he gets here." She raised her rapier and the condensed until it was wrapped around the blade. She then thrust forward, it was like the wind became a cannon as it tore through the monkeys and lizards in front of us.
I grabbed her and activated Vanguard Dash. The movement skill was just barely enough to break the encirclement. As soon as it ended I conjured another golden sun this one imbued with the Strand of Radiance. The light was so bright it felt like dawn had come early. Before I could launch it two of the larger monkeys stepped forward. Their hands reach up to the sky as if to tear it out of the sky.
I roared and brought my hand down and the sun fell. The monkeys screamed as pillars of earth shot up to join their allies. Earth and Heaven met and for a moment the world stood still. The pause lasted for less than a second but it felt like an eternity. The monkey's let out another howl and the largest of the group leaped into the air. Fist raised to the sky. My hope that the thing would burn before it reached my attack died a second later.
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It slammed its fist straight through my sun. I felt my connection to the skill end. I turned to Amahle, the truth of the situation bearing down on the both of us. I pushed as much energy into my legs as I could and sprinted. Amahle somehow commanded the wind to swirl up around her to propel her forward.
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(Amari)
I opened my eyes just as the last of the energy dissipated. If I couldn't see my dantian slowly fill I would think that I had been given a Sisyphean task. According to Desbera, my problem was that the Earth sucked. Since we were on the frontier of space we were in a poor area which meant cultivation alone wouldn't cut it. Not unless I wanted to become and meditate for a hundred years.
I got to my feet and stretched. The Ethereal Codex made the situation better but there was only so much it could do. Thankfully my world lead wasn't in any danger. If anything the top Standings had shaken up considerably. The top five held the same names but my lead had only grown.
Rankings Name Level 1st Amari Jackson 36 2nd The System's Herald 29 3rd Romulus 25 4th Amahle Umzawi 22 5th Masquerade 21 6th Ebony Rose 21 7th Liyah 20 8th Hammer 19 9th The Monkey King 17 10th Christopher 16 ...100th James Jones 14
I still wasn't sure how "The System's Herald" kept up especially since no one knew where he was. Amara had multiple people in the top one hundred now which was rather impressive. Especially since I hadn't given Aaliyah that many resources. The Tao Standing was a bit more stable but even it had changed.
Rankings Name 1st Amari Jackson 2nd The System's Herald 3rd Romulus 4th Amahle Umzawi 5th Taoist Lin 6th Father Gabriel 7th Mwalimu Tatiani 8th Buddhist Chin 9th The Monkey King 10th Wei Fang ...100th James Jones
From the rumors I had heard people who were naturally more meditative and spiritual had a clear advantage in the Tao. Which was interesting, it turned out that meditating was worth it. I closed the status menu just as a low hum passed through the room. "Guess it had gotten a bit too quiet." I left my chamber and Saanite floated less than a foot away.
"Young Master, one of the humans has just arrived. He requests an audience with you."
"Alright, which one is it? Keshaun? Christopher?"
"He said his name was Alexander. Based on his exhaustion and overall demeanor he appears to have run here. The words from the guards stationed at the temple further support this point."
"Where is he?" I shook my head. "I will meet him at the entrance." I sprinted out of the room and into the elevator. I briefly considered using **Apportation** but it would be best to save it. Just in case we needed to move faster.
When the elevator opened I tore through the halls until I found an exhausted Alexander standing in front of two guards.
"I don't have time to wait. Let me through!" Alexander bellowed while his muscles grew. He had a physique that would make Arnold jealous. I activated **Psychic Aegis** and forced the group apart. Not wanting to ruin the fragile alliance before it began.
"What's going on?" I stepped in front of him and for a moment it looked like he would attack me.
"Romulus and Amahle need help. We were fighting in the forest when we came across a monster den. A large monkey was there and-"
I held up a to stop him. "Got it. Lead the way." Alexander ran over the rest of the details just before we teleported onto the continent. The situation was a bit worse than I thought. The monkey they encountered was an Orangutan instead of an ape and it behaved weirdly. According to him, it could have killed them earlier but didn't.
I activated **Apportation** and we skipped five miles in an instant. We had to make another jump before we found the early battlefields. The forest was torn apart with several trees burned husks. "How much further?"
"Short run, uh maybe ten minutes?" Alexander replied.
I nodded lifted the man onto my shoulders and pushed energy into my legs. I couldn't help but laugh when he screamed. The forest turned into a blur as I reached speeds that most cars would struggle to deal with. The run filled me with equal parts excitement and fear. Excitement at the idea of fighting something worth it but fear about Romulus and Amahle's survival.
We broke through the underbrush and I got my answer. Amahle and Romulus stood encircled, back to back. A small sun slammed into a reptile creature while Amahle launched a condensed blade of air at a small monkey. Both of them looked haggard as if they had been fighting for hours. Romulus struggled to stay on his feet, his spear more of a walking stick than a proper weapon.
My gaze was pulled to the monster that sat beneath a massive oak tree. It was an Orangutan, one the size of a car. Its fur was dark brown and its arms were elongated. They were almost as long as the rest of its body. The beast had dark brown eyes, eyes that had a certain awareness to them. It surveyed the battlefield like a king on its thrown. I wasn't sure how it controlled the other monsters to this degree. They toyed with two of the strongest people on Earth.
"Alexander, get both of them out of here." I placed the man on the ground and before he could protest I started walking. With each step, I unleashed more of my aura. The hoots and howls ceased immediately. Everyone here was strong enough to tolerate my full power so I held nothing back. Several beasts bowed their head and tucked their tails between their legs. I could practically feel their fear and it felt wonderful.
All too soon I stood in front of the pair who looked like they received pardon from heaven. "You are a freak of nature," Amahle stated.
"I guess you could say that." I flashed her grin as Alexander hugged Romulus. The pair held each other for a long moment. "All three of you need to go. My spells aren't very good at distinguishing friend from foe."
"Just give me a healing pill or two and I can fight," Romulus said.
"I placed two pills in each of their hands—" Before I could continue a monkey howled and launched a tree branch like a javelin. I activated Psychic Aegis, by the time the spear shattered against the wall a mental blade had already slammed into the attacker's skull. It was dead before the others had time to process the attack.
"I don't like when people interrupt me when I am talking." I turned my attention to the others. "I recommend you focus on getting back but I won't stop you." I pushed energy and the Strand of Compression into Psionic Rain. Compared to the indigo sun, Romulus' was a pale imitation.
"What the fuck is that?" Alexander asked his form bulging as he activated whatever skill he used earlier.
"One of my favorite abilities." I smiled as Psionic Rain reached its maximum and exploded. An uncountable number of thin psychic blades rained onto the battlefield. Where the blades landed monsters died. The lack of sound made it seem like the Grim Reaper had passed through their number. I lost count of the sheer number of deaths immediately. I felt three sets of eyes land on me and wondered what they thought. Outside of my citizens, they were the closest thing to allies that I had. It was good to remind them just how much of a gap there was between us.
"Damn," I wasn't sure which one of them spoke up and I didn't care. A trio of psychic blades formed above me. Each one is imbued with a different Tao. Each sought out a different target. Each one claimed a life.
Before I could follow up my danger sense went off. It wasn't a scream but it was impossible to ignore. I turned just in time to see another tree javelin shoot straight for me. This one was an actual tree trunk and was launched by the head monkey. I ducked to the side which caused one of the lizards to get impaled. The makeshift javelin practically crushed the beast just before it was slammed through another tree.
"You guys deal with the small fry. I got the big guy." I grinned, pushed spiritual energy into my legs, and jumped forward. It was time to have some fun.