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Chapter 292: Entombed
🕑 Added 2023-10-21 17:27:56 +0000 UTCToday marks two things. One is my birthday! I'm having a party and stuff, very fun.
The second thing, however, is the one-year anniversary of moving into my present home. And that is an important occassion not only because it coincides with my birthday, but also because renting this apartment was the very first thing I did with my writing income. It marked my passage from hobbyist into a professional, and it cemented my confidence and resolve in becoming a successful author.
On days like this, I can get emotional. This is all because of you; that I can live a life I once considered a dream. I am nowhere near the top of the hill or the end of my road to mastery, but it is important to remember where we came from and all the things that led us here.
So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. For everything. For being here. And I hope that next year will see things keep turning brighter, ever better, ever stronger, like a fist shooting through the sky.
I'm off to celebrate now, but my mind will be in this chapter with all of you. Enjoy it. If you happen to go out tonight, drink a shot for me.
Enjoy your weekend, and as always, see you on Monday!
---
Maximus Lonihor floated over a desert, crossing it alone. Even he, the faction’s Head Disciple, could not avoid search duty. At least he was considered a powerhouse, so he didn’t need to tolerate any power-chasing weaklings alongside him. He was company enough.
Suddenly, space split apart before him, and a human walked out. Maximus paused. “What are you doing here?” he asked carefully.
“Am I not welcome?” the other man replied with a faint smile.
“Of course you aren’t. You Exploding Sun dogs have already caused us enough trouble. This planet is not a place for you, Li Qian.”
Li Qian, the top disciple of Elder Monsoon, laughed lightly. A sharp, slightly curved sword hung at his hip, while his aura was calm like a still lake and sharp like the edge of diamond.
“I am not here to gloat, Maximus Lonihor,” he said. “The Exploding Sun had no part in this disaster. Jack Rust and Shol Pesna are rogue cultivators now.”
“As if I’ll believe you.” Maximus snorted. However, he couldn’t help wondering: why was Li Qian here? People of that caliber did not move around aimlessly.
“You should believe me,” Li Qian insisted. “In fact, I can prove it. What do you think this is?” He reached into a pouch he was carrying and removed a vial filled with crimson liquid. Arcane runes glowed all over the vial, faintly pulsing in one direction as if blown by an invisible wind.
Maximus creased his brows. A hundred calculations ran through his mind. Soon, his eyes widened. “It can’t be,” he said.
“I’m telling you it is,” Li Qian responded, jingling the vial and laughing. “The lifeblood of Shol Pesna.”
“Why would you bring this here?! Why would you condemn your own agents?” Maximus demanded to know.
“They are no agents of mine, Maximus. Since there is nobody listening, let me be frank. My master and Elder Huali are currently contending for the position of Grand Elder. Jack Rust and Shol Pesna belong to Huali’s camp. The service they have rendered to the Sun by thinning your forces is already admirable, but any more and they might actually start weighing the scales back Huali’s way. We can’t have that.”
“You would assist the enemy to advance your master’s personal interests?”
“Wouldn’t you?”
Maximus smiled—a crooked, wide grin. “Yes.”
Li Qian laughed. Suddenly, these two enemies seemed like the best of friends. “In the name of my faction,” Li declared, “I am here to assist in capturing the two troublemakers who have soiled the Exploding Sun’s name. I have brought the lifeblood of Shol Pesna so we can locate him, and I will personally assist in taking them down. The Warden has already been notified. Do you accept my help, Maximus?”
“Of course. Clearing your faction’s name is a noble pursuit—how could I decline brother Li’s honest assistance?” He laughed again. The world seemed bright again. This really was a pie that fell from the sky.
Reaching for his temple, Maximus used his faction telepathy privileges to contact the other high-ranking deacons. “We found them, everyone,” he said. “Follow my instructions. Let’s end this.”
***
Meanwhile, Jack and the others had no idea of the disaster about to befall them.
“Two weeks,” Jack said to the others. “We have two weeks to escape this place and reach Earth. Can our previous plan still work? Infiltrating one of the heavily-guarded outbound teleporters?”
“It can,” Shol replied. “It will be difficult, but with the Sage’s assistance, we can manage.”
“It may take some time until a good opportunity arises,” the Sage replied.
Jack nodded sharply. “Good. Then, let’s not delay. Sage, can you be on the lookout for such an opportunity? If it appears, we should grab it and escape Hell, as we may not find another like it in time. Of course, if there is an opportunity to attack another search party instead, that’s even better.”
“Got it,” the Sage said. “I’ll be on the lookout for both.”
“The problem is, I’m still too weak…” Jack said with a dark face. “The end of the grace period is only two weeks away, and I’m not even at the peak of the D-Grade. I will never break through to the C-Grade like this.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Jack. You never could,” Shol advised him. “The moat between the D- and C-Grades is not the widest in existence, but it remains unbridgeable in the short term. You are already progressing faster than anyone I’ve ever known.”
“But I cannot defeat the Planetary Overseer like this. She’s at the mid C-Grade.”
“Only barely. She isn’t particularly talented for a C-Grade, either. Didn’t you defeat the Final Guardian while at the E-Grade? If you could do that then, perhaps you can overcome the Grade barrier once again.”
“The Final Guardian was weaker than most early D-Grades,” Jack replied with a sigh. “The overseer is at the mid C-Grade. It’s not the same thing.”
“For any other D-Grade in this galaxy, defeating the overseer would be completely impossible,” the Sage spoke up. “However, you possess something they don’t: the Life Drop. It can bridge the difference in Grade up to a point. If you can reach the absolute peak of power in the D-Grade and use the Life Drop, you may stand a slim chance. Especially with the assistance of Shol and any other extraordinary peak D-Grades you manage to enlist.”
Jack turned around in surprise. “Really?”
“The D- and C-Grades are not as far apart as you may think,” the Sage replied cryptically.
Jack felt hope resurge in his chest. “Good. Then, are you saying we should stick around until I reach Level 249 to maximize my chances?”
“Accessing an outbound teleporter will undoubtedly involve killing many people. It should get you pretty close. I think unnecessary risks are not worth it at this point.”
“I agree with the Sage,” Shol said. “Right now, one or two levels won’t make a difference, but dying in desperation will.”
Jack considered it for a moment. “Very well,” he agreed. “In that case, the plan remains as is: we either assault a teleporter or attack another search party, whichever comes first. And if we start running out of time… We’ll see. I’ll see. I won’t drag you guys to death with me.”
“What are you saying, idiot disciple?” Shol laughed. “As if we have a choice. We’re never getting to a teleporter without you. We’re all leaving or dying together.”
“And here I was growing fond of this place,” Dordok said, looking around sentimentally. “It sucked as a prisoner but wasn't that bad after I became the hunter.”
“I think the Kingdom would think the exact opposite,” Shol replied with a laugh.
“It’s already been six months,” Jack said slowly. “I’ve been here for more than half of the time since my Integration. Leaving is almost…weird.”
Shol laughed. “Oh yeah. Not spending your free time hunting D-Grades? Sheesh. How boring.”
“I quite liked this place as well,” said the Sage. “It was peaceful.”
“Peaceful?”
“In a certain manner. I had no concerns besides our immediate life and death. It was a nice break from real life.”
The other three looked at each other and shrugged. “He’s not wrong,” Shol admitted, while Jack’s eyes shone as he remembered something.
“Since we may depart this place at anytime,” he said, “I think I cannot delay contacting Earth anymore. I need to communicate with them and organize things. I hope you won’t begrudge me a few millions credits anymore, brothers.”
“Of course not,” Shol replied, reaching for his credit card. “How much do you need?”
“Twenty million should be enough.”
“Here, have fifty.”
“Thanks.”
They touched their credit cards together, and Jack’s number of credits went up. It reached the nine digits—130,440,011, to be precise—and for the first time in a while, he opened his faction screen.
Faction: Bare Fist Brotherhood (D-Grade)
Leader: Jack Rust (D-Grade), Cosmic Fist
Supervisor: Margaret Rust (E-Grade), Continental Commander
Members: 7439
Capital: Milky Way galaxy, Animal Kingdom constellation, Earth-387 planet, Forest of the Strong dungeon area.
…
7439 members… Wow.
And yet, all those people combined were nothing before a single one of the deacons he’d killed. It really put things into perspective.
There was a long row of management options in that screen, but he skipped them. That was professor territory, not handsome leader territory. He eventually made it to the end of the list, where a prompt asked him if he would like to buy anything. There were plenty of interesting options, but the most useful one right now was absolutely the telepathy function.
He spent a hundred million credits and bought it instantly.
Then, with a trembling breath, he activated it. The System stepped in with another screen.
Please assign telepathy holders.
Current holders: Jack Rust
Remaining holders: 4
Margaret Rust and Edgar Allano, he commanded.
Current holders: Jack Rust, Margaret Rust, Edgar Allano
Remaining holders: 2
Jack grinned. Good. Now, how do we—
“Jack!?” a voice rang in his mind—the professor’s. “Is that really you? Are you okay?”
There were no words to describe the relief that washed over him. It was like all his burdens and troubles hit him at once, then melted off his body like warm soap after a shower. His mother was alive. She was okay. And her voice was right there, in his head.
“Jack?” the voice came again. “Damn, how does this work?”
“I’m here, I’m here,” he replied hurriedly. “Professor! Mom! Are you okay?”
“Jack!” she exclaimed again. “I’m okay, I’m great! Are you?”
“Well, sort of.”
“Sort of!? You haven’t spoken to me in months, and this is the first thing you say? Just how much do you want me to worry?”
Jack felt crushing guilt. “Sorry,” he replied honestly. “I didn’t mean to worry you… I just didn’t want to be influenced by emotions before now. I was walking on the edge.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m sorry, I— I’m just glad you’re okay.” Her joy was infectious. Jack found himself smiling.
“Same to you,” he replied. “How have you been?”
A moment of silence went by. “Busy,” she finally said. “Coordinating a global organization can take its toll…but I’m managing. I’m the best person for the job. We’re handling ourselves. The war is balanced, but the grace period is running out soon, and I worry that everything will end when that happens.”
As she spoke, Jack cracked a smile. She was the same. Only a few seconds into talking, she was already going into business. He didn’t mind.
“Do you have any plans for the end of the grace period?” she asked.
“Yes. I will come and punch the overseer in the face.”
Another short bout of silence. He waited.
“What?” she finally replied.
“I will punch the overseer in the face. I am already Level 230 and can punch above my weight class; if I can reach the peak D-Grade and stabilize my strength within two weeks, then secure the assistance of a few more peak D-Grades, I will have a chance.”
“You do realize she is a mid C-Grade.”
“Barely. I have it on good authority that it’s possible, if very difficult.”
“Jack…”
“Trust me, professor. It isn’t a good plan, but it’s the only one we have. I have looked everywhere and spoken with a lot of people, and this is the best I came up with. Unless you have something else to suggest…”
“I don’t,” she admitted heavily. “Fine. Let’s— Oh, the others are here. They say hi.”
“The others?”
“Edgar, Vivi, Sparman.”
Jack’s heart was filled with memories. “Tell them I say hi back. I hope they’re okay.”
“They are. We’ve kept our highest bracket safe. Edgar had some troubles, but he got over them.”
Suddenly, Jack felt pressured. His emotions were heavy, and he did not want to suppress them with his Dao.
“What is the situation like over there?” he asked. “How is everyone taking the end of the grace period?”
“Well, we’re preparing for an all-out battle to exterminate the Ice Peak before then. Unless you really can beat the overseer, it’s our only chance at survival. If we destroy them, we will be the only force capable of commanding the planet on behalf of the Animal Kingdom. They may find us more useful alive than dead…though, with everything that’s been happening recently, that possibility is beginning to seem hopeless as well.”
She was referring to Jack’s actions in Hell. He had completely enraged the Animal Kingdom. They wouldn’t let his faction and planet get away easily.
“As for the enemy,” the professor continued, “they are preparing to celebrate. The Animal Kingdom has organized a huge concert for the final day of the grace period. Remember Vanderdecken? The metal guy? He’ll be the main event. Everyone will be there to watch—and it’s also where we plan to assault the Ice Peak. If we’re going to die, we might as well die on stage.” She chuckled darkly. “Two weeks to live… What a feeling it is, Jack. How heroic and relieving. If you told me this a year ago, I would have laughed at you, but now I see the world under a different light. I hate the System with all my soul, but some things are simply incomparable to everything else.”
Jack nodded grimly, though she couldn’t see him. “I will be there,” he promised. “Prepare for war. On that day, I will come and join you. We will defeat the Kingdom together.”
“Don’t try too hard, Jack. We are goners already. If you can survive by yourself, please don’t die for a lost cause...”
“I would never abandon you all. You are the only reason I have been pushing myself nonstop for the last year. I will die on your hill.”
“Jack…”
“I don’t want to hear anything. I love you, mom, and I will protect everyone else as well. Prepare for war. Try your hardest. And on the day, we will all live or die together. Okay?”
Her voice came in fragments, as if she was struggling to speak. “I’m sorry, Jack…” she said. “I’m sorry we are not strong enough.”
Jack forced himself to smile—though, again, she couldn’t see it. “Give me the det—”
“Jack!” another voice interrupted him. It was the Sage. His eyes were wide and full of shock. “They found us. We need to leave now.”
His eyes widened. “They what?”
“Jack?” the professor’s voice came worried. “Is everything okay?”
“I have to go,” he replied, already following the others out of the cave. “I’ll contact you again soon.”
“Ja—”
He cut off the communication. His Dao pressed down, and he was again a warrior, completely in control of himself. “What is happening?” he asked.
“I had a bad feeling,” the Sage explained quickly. “I checked the patrols. All the D-Grades are converging to our location. They found us, somehow, and the black sphere hasn’t recharged yet. We need to run. There is no way we can—”
The entire sea around them shook. It was an earthquake so massive it made the fish dizzy. Jack and the others accelerated to the surface, bursting out to find the horizon covered in approaching immortals. There were dozens of them. Hundreds. They were rushing in from every direction like a flock of death.
Jack’s heart caught on his throat. “Run!”
Comments
IndyBart
Wasn’t Vanderdecken rescued by Jack at some point? Maybe this is the point where the levels stack on before they can escape. I just hope the entire crew makes it out alive, even if just barley.
Michael Marcin
Happy birthday!
