Savage Awakening 197. Monster Knight (IV) (Patreon)

It was a lucky thing that they'd evacuated so thoroughly. Hundreds of miles. One target. 

You could see the eruption from space. It looked like a flower blooming stark blue-white. Colors you'd only see in the fiercest, most violent of thunderstorms. Spreading slowly over the face of the Earth. 

Only half a flower. Blooming in a crescent. The other end hit a hard wall. Some tremendous soul was guiding its path, curving it away—shielding everyone on the other side...

If Zane was honest, he did not have much left in him at that moment.

But Reina was right behind him. So he found it within him. And that power kept blooming, to a kind of power that would reduce cities to fine-grained dust, then countries—he roared straining. Giving himself. And restraining himself. 

He just kept finding the will to do it. He was stubborn like that. 

Where the explosion was allowed to flow free, it flowed unchecked. Exploding in a vast chain, over and over, shining lines scarring the face of the planet. With such force it flattened mountain ranges, caved in entire plateaus. 

Thousands of years on when villages would make their lives here on their lakeside stilt-houses, fishing in these vast blue expanses they called the Heavenly Lakes—once, to another, lost civilization, the Himalayas—they would never know those vast reservoirs were craters. 

And those craters were the work of one man.

When it was all done, when it all settled—when the vast gaping gulfs in the world closed up, those trenches in reality sewing together—there was a silence.

The silence of absolute nothing. Not even drifting smoke.

Everything that moved was ash. Even the wind had been charred out of existence. No clouds dared show their faces. Blue sky. Black Earth. On and on and on...

It looked like something out of a surrealist painting. Nothing that ought to exist in real life.

It was peaceful—the peacefulness of the aftermath, of destruction, of death in its purest form.

Zane frowned.

Warning!

You have done considerable damage to E-Grade Planet: Earth. Planetary destruction is strictly against universal code.

Zane blinked. Hmm.

He was trying hard not to black out again. But it was the one battle he was okay with losing. Partly because he wasn’t sure he could do anything about it.

He was just about to face-plant—halfway through dropping—when Reina caught him, hugging him, pulling him up, pouring in her healing, and instantly a warm light wave flowed over him. Soaked through him, like her soul had caught his too, and was helping bear his up. And he stayed there, upright, if swaying.

"Zane," she gasped. "That was incredible!"

Zane grunted. He was having trouble forming a complete thought right now. He wobbled. It felt like his head was stuffed with wet cotton balls.

The fight was over. That much was quite clear. He blinked at her flushed face. He couldn’t focus on anything except what was in front of him, which was Reina’s face right now. He was about to tell her he thought she had a very good face when she started talking again.

"Do you realize what you've done?"

He blinked at her. "You just saved mankind—you ended its greatest threat!"

Right—the fight.

Zane was happy with how it all turned out. 

It was a good fight.

Just then—

Level up!

Essence Level 201 -> 202

Level up!

Essence Level 202 -> 203

Level up!

Essence Level 203 -> 204

Level up!

Essence Level 204 -> 205

Huh.

…That Minotaur did have a lot of essence. So it made sense. He couldn’t remember the last time he got four Levels in a row. 

He could stay upright a whole lot better now. His body was totally rejuvenated. It was his soul that was the problem.

It took a little before he regained his senses.

***

“He did it,” whispered Cristina Dos Santos.

“Woah…” gasped the Sky Painter.

“Mad bastard,” said the Spitfire Monk. He shook his head in disbelief and took a swig of wine. Wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. 

Eze was silent. Just staring at the distant flower. He nodded. Closed his eyes, deep in thought. “What power,” he said softly. That was all.

Vanessa Volkova had woken up too. The moment she did, she’d tried to fight—anyone and everyone, including her own soldiers—until she realized the fight had left her behind. Zane was finishing it up on the far plains. The whole time she’d watched the projection, her face a cold blank mask, as Zane went to war.

She started cracking a little as Zane showed more and more of his power—as he started crushing that awful Monster Knight. Her face started flickering with a kind of joy, then hate, all at once. A tension went out of her—she almost cried.

Once the dust settled, though, she sat there silent. Watching the projection. Thinking. She was still staring long after Zane left.

There was a hint of yearning in her eyes. It wasn’t a silly crush, the way she’d once looked at him. It was something different.

She wasn’t thinking of him anymore as the handsome stranger she’d met all those months ago in the Abyssal Crater dungeon. She wasn’t that girl anymore either. That all felt like a lifetime ago to her. 

She saw what had happened to her mother. She saw what Zane had shown her… 

“Miss Volkova?” asked Alexey. The Deputy Faction Head.

She stood. “Take me back to Headquarters,” she commanded crisply. Her eyes flashed with a cold bright determination. “I’ve got training to do.”

***

Every one of those top World Rankers looked at first in awe. And then—slowly—their feelings began to change.

Some took a little longer. It happened after they returned home. But they all came to the same emotion.

A sense of inspiration. 

Zane had just shown just what mankind could accomplish. 

These men and women were the peaks of human talent. The uncommon among the uncommon. They all had an ironclad determination. An incredible ambition. Each and every one.  If they saw a bar raised, they would try to clear it as best as they possibly could. It was simply in their nature. That was what set the great ones apart. 

In this way, all of humanity was pulled forward. Zane hadn’t even meant to do it.

Later, when historians tried to make sense of what made this wave of humanity so special—what made them the cream of the crop even among Ur-Planets—they would cite Zane Walker. He was the star that lit the way. The one man the best of humanity looked up to—and chased. 

And as these folk went back to their continents, burning with new drive, that drive would spread to those under them too…and new training systems, ideas, standards would bloom from there—it was that ripple effect that made Earth special. 

It all started from the top. 

*** 

Zane’s fight with Asterion broke records all across the globe. It was the most viewed event of all time. Billions gathered, watching breathless, listening from hundreds of records across dozens of different languages, all covering the same single event. The fate of humanity itself was on the line. There were multiple reporter teams covering it just in America—though the most-watched had been with Zane since the beginning, the duo of the enthusiastic showman Tyler Saunders and the analytical if excitable color commentator Becca Dwyer. They were unusually tense in their coverage. They were both pulling for their guy. In that fight, everyone was rooting for him. 

As a consequence, Zane’s Last Wish was burned into the minds of everyone watching. Where it would last the rest of their lives. You could almost hear the relief washing over the world. The cheers, the cries. For some, the bursting out in tears. Rippling across the Americas, Europe, Africa, all of Asia, Oceania, the Pacific Islands, even those in little colonies on the poles, warming themselves in their sealskin cloaks, chewing on Spirit Salmon flesh, watching by the light of campfires jumped up and hugged each other. 

It was a time for celebration. A shared feeling spread across all mankind… 

*** 

Zane was oblivious to all of this of course. After he got out of his slobbering woozy state—during which he asked Reina multiple times if she knew she was really very pretty, which was, to be fair, his true feeling on the matter—his attention turned to the things the Minotaur had dropped.

Soul Weapon Core [Uncommon (E)]

The Soul Weapon Core of the Dread Executioner Axe. 

Age: 12 millennia 

Souls claimed: 739,441

He took hold of it. Weighed it in his hands. It occurred to him this core had been around reaping souls since before the recorded invention of agriculture. Which was kind of strange to think about. He felt within it the residue of countless souls. Humans. Drakes. Goblins, catkin, alligator-men, birds of prey…

He pocketed it. He would figure out what to do with it later.

The most important thing by far was the system notification that came with his victory.

Monster Knight slain! Final Gate Boss Slain!

This Final Gate Boss was slain prior to entering the Superdungeon.

Challenge Difficulty: Hell

Calibrating compensation…

Huh. 

Rewards:

3 Drops of Titan Rhino Bloodline [Rare (E)]

3 Drops of Nymph of the World Tree Bloodline + Grand Tome of the Nymph of the World Tree [Rare (E)]

3 Drops of Raijuu Bloodline + Grand Tome of the Raijuu  [Rare (E)]

3 Drops of White Fox Bloodline + Grand Tome of the White Fox   [Rare (E)] 

This was quite something. A few vials hovered before him, all glowing their own auras—the Titan Rhino’s Bloodline thick and turgid, the nymph’s cool and light, the Raijuu’s crackling, pinging off the walls of the vial, the White Fox’s so wispy it seemed a light mist.

All of them were Godbeast Bloodlines, by the aura they gave off.

This seemed tailored to him , Reina said. Obviously there was the Titan Rhino. But once he looked at the individual vials he saw they were meant for his friends. 

The Nymph of the World Tree, for instance, was a Wood-Essence Godbeast that greatly boosted Wood Law powers. And that got special buffs when it was near greenery. Greenery bloomed at its feet with every step. It was the caretaker beast of the World Tree—the very same one Reina’s Bloodline came from.

The Raijuu seemed to be meant for Evan, and the White Fox for Avery. The System was being unusually considerate. Then again—it seemed appropriate given what it just threw at him.

After he finished gathering, another box popped up. Reina got it too.

*** 

Attention Earthlings

The First Gate has been opened. A party must enter within 60 days. 

Shortly thereafter, eight other Gates will open across the continents of Earth, making nine Gates in total. Each Gate will admit one party into the Superdungeon. Send your best to represent you. The fate of your world is at stake.

The official name of the Superdungeon is 'The Graveyard of Lost Realms:' A prison of the Universe designed to hold those realms lost to Monster hordes. 

These realms are myriad, making up thousands of floors in total. They have accumulated since the dawn of the System. This is the first prison of the Universe. And its greatest. 

At the shallowest floors they include locations such as the Nightmare Realm or the Mirage Kingdom. Deeper in, realms are dominated by the lairs of Ranked Monsters such as the Shattered Skyrealms or the Dragonlands. Some of the deepest floors are occupied solely by the corpses of Monster Gods.

You need not worry about the deeper floors. The challenge has been set so that you will not come close to encountering them. Even Galactic powerhouses would struggle to survive in the very deepest floors. 

Each floor is rife with dangers. The deeper the floor, the more dangerous they become. Yet with great risks come great opportunities. Superdungeon tests have been where the truly talented make their names. They are not only rife with lost treasure—they are also closely watched by local galactic Factions, to judge the worthiness of potential recruits. 

To prove your planet’s worth you must enter through your world’s Gate and exit through a Final Gate three floors lower. You will be dropped at a floor befitting your party.

May Fate favor you.

Aiwë Creator of the System

*** 

Zane blinked at it. 

He didn’t know what to make of all of it so he looked at Reina, who was already chewing on it. He was sure she’d figure something out. A lot of it was already what she suspected anyway. 

What trouble her most, though—

“That Minotaur said it’d been sent to execute you,” she murmured, brow creased. “It seems like the Monsters have some kind of influence over their own prison? When you go through that Gate what’ll be waiting for you on the other side?” 

She shook her head. “Zane… I have a feeling they won’t just drop us on any floor. They’ll throw everything they can at you.” 

Zane was silent for a moment. 

Then he shrugged. 

“Let them come,” he said simply. “I will be ready.”