He’d wait until he had his class skills first until he ventured back into the mountains .
He had also figured out the general composition of the demon forces . He estimated that there were somewhere around 5 000 demons on the island in total . Their current activities could generally be divided into three parts .
The first part was the construction of a giant palace in the middle of the town . It still wasn’t finished , but Zac was amazed by the design even before seeing the finished product . It looked like medieval eastern architecture had been fused with nature . The structure was made both from stone and trees .
And by trees , he didn’t mean chopped down lumber , but actual trees . There were dozens of mages that reminded Zac of the root mage he had killed , who grew large black trees out of the ground . They then somehow forced it to grow in shapes that would constitute rooms and walls . It took less than an hour for a few mages to grow one of the house-trees into its final size . There were also mages who summoned rocks out of the ground . Under their care the rocks seemed like clay , allowing the mages to form them to their will to form a natural feeling to the walls and other stone features .
The palace was only three stories tall at the highest point , but it was expansive , featuring multiple buildings , beautiful gardens , sky wells , and courtyards . The gracefully curved roofs were made with tiles , with their eaves hanging out a few meters from the structures . The most central building in the complex had two layers of eaves , giving it an even grander feeling . Zac supposed that was either the general’s living quarters or some type of throne room . Surrounding it all was a black hedge roughly 2 meters tall . It felt decorative rather than providing any protection , as anyone would easily get through or above it .
The only thing that took away from the grand structure was the dull colors . The palace was mostly in shades of black and grey , giving it a very foreboding feeling . The only flashes of color were splotches of red in some details , the shade reminding him of the shining pillar .
The second group moved back and forth between the town and a cave in the mountain . He wasn’t exactly sure what they were doing there , as they held no equipment or the like when moving . They likely had magic pouches just like him , obscuring any hint of what was going on inside . He didn’t dare sneak in , as there seemed to be activity inside the cave at all times .
His two guesses were they either were mining , or there was some sort of huge area beneath that they explored . He hadn’t seen anyone hurt or wounded when walking back from the cave at least , so it shouldn’t be full of subterranean monsters at least .
The last group , and also the smallest , was small parties heading out of the town and in different directions of the island . They looked like small search parties , but not like the ones he had encountered so far .
It seemed that the demons had learned their lessons from their two missing groups , and had improved the power of the parties . They all held at least five demons , but that wasn’t all . Accompanying them was a varied amount of beasts . They all had a few Gwyllgi running around to the front and the sides for the party , seemingly acting as scouts . There was also a couple of barghest that moved in the front , filling the role of meat shields . A few parties even had an imp or two subserviently following the demons .
Zac felt like he was no match for a party like this , there were too many variables and things that could damage him at the same time . He hadn’t tried fighting those parties , staying far away as possible . Now that he knew what he was up against , he realized he really only had one advantage .
He knew a lot about them , but for them , he was still an enigma .
Chapter 36 - Determination
After observing the demons for two days Zac also was certain that they were real living , breathing beings . He had always had a sneaking suspicion that they might be puppets , or NPC’s if you will , created by the system to give a challenge to Zac and earth .
But the last two days he had watched them go about their day . They had worked , they had joked around and played cards . He had seen a few start a fierce brawl until a leader ran up and broke them apart . In essence , they were alive .
He hadn’t really thought about it properly before , but they were just like him . Did they even want to be here , or were they forced by the system just like him? Could he just keep regarding them as the enemy , and killing them simply a means to an end?
But Zac soon had soon steeled his heart . The world has fallen , and chaos reigned . They were invaders on the island , HIS island . From everything he had seen and hypothesized since the integration in the multiverse he knew he couldn’t go soft and hope for a peaceful solution .
Even if that somehow was possible before , he already had pulled the trigger and killed a bunch of their kind . Any opportunity for negotiation was already out the window . He would sooner or later have to decide how to act if he ever managed to reunite with humans again , but for now , the only diplomacy he’d deliver would be with the swing of his axe .
He couldn’t and wouldn’t give up on his goal of finding his family , and he knew that he had to become powerful to accomplish that . He had to become a true Defier as Abby called it , someone defying fate and breaking through his limits . Just his small island was fraught with danger , and this was only a small corner in this world . He had no idea how the rest of the world looked since the system merged it with multiple others , but he held no illusions that it had become some sort of paradise .
If he had to sacrifice these demons to reach his goals , then so be it .
Besides , Abby had warned him of not completing quests given by the System . It could have unexpected and horrific consequences it seemed . It meant that people like Zac were almost like slaves to the System , forced to play its games . Unfortunately , he was incapable of doing anything about it , and could only play along .
Zac started heading back to his own camp after his second night at close proximity to the incursion . He had seen what he needed to see and now needed to get back . Being away from his camp from prolonged times filled him with anxiety , especially with the new larger war parties roving through the island for some reason . If a party found his camp while he was gone he would be forced to hide in the tree crowns and caves until he finished the quest , and he had no desire to do that .
Still , he made himself stop at the demonized part of the forest and farm out barghest and gwyllgi for a good 10 hours before continuing on . He could never stop fighting and killing in order to progress his skills . Besides , the density of beasts in the central area was so high that he was gaining coins and cosmic energy at a furious rate .
The only difficulty was that they were in such close proximity with each other’s that often one or a few demons would hear the sounds of battle and join the fray . He got a few gashes and cuts from the onslaught , but nothing that would impact him .
Eventually , he left the area and started heading towards the south . Finally late at night he started to arrive at more familiar parts of the island . He had seen signs of the demon parties on the way and had made a hasty retreat in order not to get entangled with them .
After a while he finally arriving back at his camp he kicked off his shoes and sat down on his comfortable newly acquired throne . In the beginning he had felt isolated and afraid as he was stuck in his little camp , fretful when hearing roars in the distance . Now it felt like a safe haven , a home .