Chapter 280 - Ruins (Patreon)

Zeke pushed away from the drained golem with an exhausted exhale, and the once-living statue fell to the ground with an enormous clatter that echoed throughout the cavern. Zeke dropped to one knee, his shoulders drooping in exhaustion. As he hung his head, his sweat soaked hair formed a curtain around his face, preventing him from looking around.

But he didn’t need to. He knew the toll the fight had taken on their surroundings. Even as he’d latched onto the golem, draining the spirit within, it had fought back, slamming into him with fury and inexhaustible strength. When that didn’t work, it had slammed him against the cavern’s walls, each impact bearing enough force to shatter rocks and turn his bones to dust. But with so much earthen energy pouring into his skill, those injuries were healed almost the instant they took hold, creating a cycle of utter destruction and complete reformation that had pushed Zeke’s mind to the very brink of what he could handle.

The pain wasn’t the problem, diluted as it was by his racial ability. Nor was mundane fatigue a problem, held at bay as it was by the deluge of earthen energy that had been coursing through his body. Instead, the mental toll of maintaining his focus was the real price he’d had to pay, and it had very nearly broken his mind in two.

But it hadn’t.

Looking up, Zeke realized that the cavern couldn’t say the same. The walls bore deep cracks, and the ground was pitted as if it had endured a barrage of meteors. Even the corpses of the kobolds had been trampled into unidentifiable paste.

Still, Zeke had won, which was cause for celebration.

After all, he felt that he was already halfway to another level, which was an insane amount of experience. If he could keep that up, it wouldn’t be long before he felt prepared to face the Eternal Realm.

It wasn’t the most elegant way of fighting. Latching on and draining the earth spirit dry made him feel like a parasite. But he wasn’t some purist who cared about how he killed monsters. Whether it was his hammer, his bare hands, or via a loophole in his skills, he would do whatever it took.

For a long while, Zeke knelt on the ground as he let his mind recover from the furious cycle of destruction and healing he’d experienced. Others might have found some sort of hidden meaning in the struggle, but he wasn’t built for that kind of thing. His path was about force and its many applications. Nothing more, and certainly nothing less. Pondering the nature of life and death would only pollute the well and send him off course.

So, he simply waited, trying to relax as his mind worked to come to terms with what he’d just experienced. Meanwhile, he maintained [Metallurgical Repair]; not only was it soothing, but after clutching it so tightly and for so long, he found it difficult to let go. In any case, it didn’t take much mana to maintain – especially when he was motionless – so he saw no issue with keeping it active.

After a couple of hours, he felt more or less whole. The memories were still there, but they felt far away and powerless. Perhaps that was his skill at work. Or maybe his mind was simply durable enough that recovering from the ordeal was trivial. That wasn’t normal, he knew. People spent years trying to overcome such trauma. But then again, Zeke wasn’t normal. Even in a world of magic and monsters, he was atypical. Going back to his first few days in the troll dungeon, that had always been the case. Most would have died. And of those who were left, very few would have maintained their sanity as they trekked through a troll-infested series of caverns where death waited around each corner. And since then, Zeke had endured even more hardship. Somehow, he’d maintained his sanity. The mere fact that he hadn’t degenerated into gibbering lunacy was a testament to his abnormality.

Not that it mattered. Whether it was his skill or the unique nature of his mind’s durability, the fact was that, after only a little rest, he was back to normal. He pushed himself to his feet and ran his hand through his hair. It felt greasy, and it had grown far too long for his tastes. It made him wish Abby was still around.

At times, Zeke was able to completely ignore the hole in his life that she’d once occupied. So long as he kept busy, it was easy to forget just how much she’d meant. He wasn’t so naïve as to think that their relationship would ever have worked, long-term. No – after what she’d done, any hope they’d had of maintaining a relationship had disappeared. It had also opened his eyes to just how toxic she could be. Often, she’d disagreed just for the sake of disagreement, probably in an attempt to feel like she was in control. And while she had her reasons for her psychological issues – as they all did – that didn’t excuse her actions. Nor did it make the prospect of living with her any more attractive.

No. That relationship was done, and Zeke felt that everyone was better off for it. However, that didn’t mean he couldn’t miss certain aspects of their time together. The closeness they’d shared. The little things they had done for one another. The small moments when they could forget that they were almost always dancing on the edge of death. With only a look, she could brighten his day.

But now, there was nothing of that left, and Zeke felt that he was on the verge of slipping back into the old habits he’d cultivated in the troll caves. If that happened, there was every chance that he’d lose himself. He’d get stronger. There was little doubt about that, considering how indiscriminate a killer he would probably become. But he’d almost assuredly lose whatever was left of his humanity.

Of course, he was already worried about whether or not his evolution into a cambion had affected his capacity for empathy. Before, he never would’ve even considered abandoning an entire sub-continent during a zombie apocalypse. He’d have fought tooth and nail until the very end. But then, when that very situation had presented itself, Zeke had chosen to leave. His logic was sound. With the escalating nature of the zombie disease, the Radiant Isles were already doomed. If it could have been contained to humans, they would have stood a much better chance, but the fact that it had spread to monsters and animals meant that the islands would fall. Sooner or later, everyone would be turned.

In fact, the only hope for the rest of the Mortal Realm – hundreds of islands – lay in the isolated nature of each landmass. Perhaps that would be enough.

Regardless, Zeke was only one man, and he’d never had the ability to save everyone.

But the fact that he hadn’t even tried chewed at the back of his mind. Had that choice been purely practical? Or was it because he was too far removed from his own humanity? Was that lack of empathy one of the hidden costs of his racial transformation? He had no idea. For all Zeke knew, it was the simple consequence of living a life of battle where he’d seen countless monsters and people killed. That would harden anyone’s heart, wouldn’t it?

However, it remained a simple truth that he was not the same man he’d been in the troll caves. If he saw a larder filled with human corpses, he might still feel a need to deal with the threat, but it wouldn’t be the all-consuming rage he’d felt back in the beginning.

Reasons didn’t really matter, though. The fact of the matter was that he’d changed, and it didn’t seem like there was any going back. Nor was Zeke even sure that his old mindset was conducive to survival in the Eternal Realm. Empathy was a valuable thing, but he couldn’t afford to let it cloud his judgment. That was how someone ended up dead – perhaps in heroic fashion, but dead all the same.

Zeke once again ran his hand through his hair, then spent a couple of minutes stretching. Curiously, [Metallurgical Repair] did nothing to stave off the stiffness that came with hours spent in idle rest. Once he felt limber, he turned his attention to the bronze statue that had fallen into a heap nearby. Without the animating force of the earth spirit, it was nothing more than a husk.

He already had one of the golems in his storage, but he hadn’t had a chance to truly study it. So, embracing his path of runecrafting, Zeke focused on the statue. And he was surprised to find that, to his runic sight, the thing shone with the blinding illumination of hundreds of layers of runes. It wasn’t just heavily enchanted. Rather, the coverage of symbols and glyphs was so thorough that it reminded him of the valley where he’d gotten the racial evolution quest from the tree goddess Aja.

These runes lacked the sense of ancient divinity, but they were just as complex. Indeed, it only took a few seconds for Zeke to recognize that they were far beyond his level of comprehension, and even looking at them for that short time had given him the beginnings of a headache. However, he found himself drawn to it, like understanding those runes would result in some sort of breakthrough.

So, like was the case with the other golem he’d killed, Zeke stowed the newcomer in his spatial storage. If nothing else, it would provide plenty of study material to advance his understanding of runes. And once he’d plumbed the depths of that knowledge, he’d repurpose that ridiculously durable metal.

When he’d encountered the first golem, Zeke had thought them comprised of two separate entities. And in a way, they were. The statue was its own thing, just like the earth spirit that drove it was a unique creature. However, the statue functioned more like an item than a monster, most notably in that when he’d tried to loot it, the power that had come with his tower just took the whole thing. Of the spirit, there had been nothing left at all.

That suggested that the relationship between the two was far more complicated than he’d initially suspected, even if he didn’t understand the precise nature of that bond. In any case, he wasn’t satisfied with a single kill. He’d snuck into the mine with the expectation of gaining a few levels, after all.

So, after making sure that he hadn’t left anything behind – save for the kobolds’ broken weapons and their pulverized bodies – he crossed the cavern to the tunnel that looked like it would lead him deeper underground.

Like that, he trekked for a couple of miles until he reached another crossroads. One tunnel led up at a slight incline, while the other led down. It didn’t take him long to choose the one that would take him deeper into the bowels of the mountain. If he’d had to guess, the other would take him to wherever the kobolds had originated. If he took that route, he’d definitely get a fight, but probably one he couldn’t win. A battle with a single legionnaire had pushed him close to his limits, so finding a settlement filled with those things didn’t seem like a good prospect for survival.

Besides, the golems were much more powerful, and they gave far more experience. The only reason he was even able to kill them was because of the unique nature of his skill. If he’d had to fight them on even terms, there was no way he would win. Sure, it felt like cheating, but Zeke wasn’t above using whatever means he had at his disposal, so long as it gave him the opportunity to grow stronger.

For at least three more miles, Zeke followed the descending tunnel. He crossed paths with a couple more side tunnels, but each one led in the wrong direction. So, he ignored them, often resorting to using [Metallurgical Repair] to give him a hint as to which direction held the right flavor of energy. The earth spirits were comprised of similar mana to what he used for healing, and as a result, he could feel them from miles away. It was subtle, but he’d progressively grown more attuned to it as he’d traversed the tunnels.

A few times, Zeke stopped to rest and eat, and during those brief minutes of respite, he summoned one of the golems for study. He could only manage it for a short time before his head felt like it was going to split open, but he pushed through the pain. He didn’t gain any understanding, but that was as expected. It was going to be the work of months, at the very least, and Zeke was just getting started. Hopefully, it would end up being worth it.

Like that, Zeke delved deep into the heart of the mountain until, after almost a week of steady travel, he finally found what he was looking for.

He at the head of a tunnel overlooking an enormous cavern. Shaped like a basin, with sloped sides that led to a fairly flat surface, the cavern itself was at least as big as the one containing the Rainbow Forest. Probably bigger, if Zeke’s intuition was any indication. Through its center cut a ribbon of inky water that flowed around an island that was at least a few miles wide.

But unlike the Rainbow Forest, this cavern wasn’t home to thick vegetation. Instead, there were the ancient ruins of a city. The most densely packed buildings were upon the island, but the ruins followed the edge of the river, spreading out over most of the huge cavern. The further they were from the island at the center, the more decrepit they became.

What Zeke could see of the style reminded him of the style favored by the dwarves. Long, clean lines, sharp angles, and a distinct lack of curved surfaces were the most prevalent traits, but there was a flourish to the architecture that suggested something that he hadn’t even known was missing from the stone dwarves’ style. He couldn’t quite put his finger on precisely what it was, but after a few minutes of study, he decided that the difference lay in the presence of some ineffable trait he’d always associated with humanity.

The dwarven city far above was a grand accomplishment, and in a lot of ways, the architecture was perfect. But it felt like it’d been created by some artificial intelligence. There was no soul to it. With the ruins, it was the exact opposite. Even though they bore many of the same defining characteristics, there was something else present that made it all feel more meaningful. More alive. Like the city had a soul of its own.

Which made Zeke wonder precisely why it had obviously been abandoned.

But when he thought about the taciturn and mostly emotionless stone dwarves occupying such a city, a sense of incongruence gripped his mind. They wouldn’t have belonged in such a city, and unless Zeke missed his guess, they wouldn’t be comfortable in its presence.

Zeke stood there, studying the ruins for a long time until he saw movement. It was more than a quarter of a mile away, so he couldn’t make out a lot of detail, but the moment he saw it, he recognized the implacable gait of a bronze golem. It seemed that he’d found his first prey.

He was just starting to move forward when stuttered to a stop. His jaw fell open as another golem joined the first. Then another after that. They kept appearing, one after another, until the number stretched into the dozens. And they were walking along through the ruins almost as if they were on patrol.

Zeke backed away, knowing he couldn’t fight so many. One was already pushing the limits of what his skill could handle. Two would almost certainly overwhelm him. And three? Attacking that many was suicide.

And there were dozens of them down there.

That meant he couldn’t just wantonly attack.  He needed a plan.

Shaking his head, Zeke muttered, “Nothing’s ever simple, is it.”