Ahead of us emerged two lizards from a passage to block our way forward. They didn’t look good. The purple one was missing its tail and the yellow one was missing an eye and a good portion of its face. Also both of their scales were ripped up and heavily damaged. It was honestly impressive that they were still alive and had moved into a position to intercept us.
“The hunt continues,” the purple lizard said while flicking its tongue.
“Leave Supreme Wizard. Our quarrel is not with you,” the yellow lizard added in. Eternus gave me a look, shrugged and then took off past the two lizards. Shameless bastard, leaving when it was convenient. A small vibration went through the entire outer citadel once more.
I began to propel myself backwards. That was the nice thing about using my energy to move and no gravity, I didn’t need to face the direction I was traveling. “One Swing To Separate Heaven And Earth!” I let the force of the attack push me faster. A shame that I was being forced to backtrack once more.
The lizards used their claws to propel themselves along the walls of the passage rapidly. They dodged my sword slash. I was going quite fast. I had to dodge debris and make rapid course corrections while sending out flying slashes to slow the lizards’ pursuit. I might have been able to win one on one, but two on one would not be easy or simple.
Getting bogged down in a fight like that would see me dragged to my death. Even if I won, I would probably be injured and exhausted. It was better to run. Unfortunately, the lizards had other priorities and were determined to kill me. They clearly had strong opinions about going after anyone associated with killing one of their companions.
That was when a wave of drones arrived in the passage I was moving through. I put on more speed and slashed out, transitioning through space. The lizards were too far behind and caught up in the drones who were targeting everything.
“RAAAAWR!” the lizards roared in frustration, but I had broken through the wave of drones, leaving the lizards mired behind me. Now I just needed to put as much distance between them and myself. They could track and intercept me, which meant that I was even more limited in the paths I could take.
A two on one fight would be horrible for me. I had no doubt the lizards would try to drag me to my death. They were relentless. I retraced my path for a while, which was surprisingly clear and then made an adjustment to my course. I was hoping the lizards would not be able to easily intercept me in this three dimensional hell.
That was the problem with not building to set standards or having any kind of safety regulations. There were no escape vehicles. Ix, you might be incredibly powerful, have a load of resources, but you should have created an emergency escape plan just in case. Having to get out of the ruins of your Gu Container on my own power was becoming more and more frustrating.
That was when I ran into more drones. I rushed past them, blocking attacks and knocking them out of my path. I didn’t have time to waste on their nonsense anymore. I was getting out of here one way or another. “Just let me through!” I roared at the drones. Unfortunately, they didn’t react to my shouting and kept firing at me.
I cleared enough of them to use a spatial slash. I cleared the bulk of the drones, heavily singed. My martial robes were getting into a very disheveled state. At least I hadn’t gotten bogged down fighting them. With Eternus and working togeather, we could clear a patrol without too much issue. By myself they were too much, and it was faster to run from them. Thankfully the drones didn’t pursue me.
Clearly the war machine was setting up patrols to try and claim an area. Or it might be disabled, and the drones were operating on its previous order. It was hard to say. Unlike the outside of the citadel or the space between the inner and outer citadel, my viewing distance was impacted by all the metal.
I kept flying as fast as I safely could through the passages trying to get to the outer edge of the citadel. That was when I ran into a group of entrenched soldiers. “Let me leave!” I shouted.
“Turn back or be shot!” one of the soldiers shouted. They didn’t have much energy and their equipment looked weak, but if they were here they clearly weren’t weak. I counted over a hundred that had entrenched themselves. They probably had heavier weapons. I came to a stop.
“I just want to leave this place. Stright out of this citadel. If there are enemies in the other direction I would run into them for you,” I replied.
“I am sorry, but that is not allowed. You will have to find another path. If you stay, we will open fire,” one of the soldiers called out. I mentally cursed at how stubborn they were being or their commander. I considered cutting my way past them, but their strength was unknown. I began to backtrack and to find another path.
I couldn’t see or sense them, but I had no doubt that the lizards were right behind me. I needed to break past groups like the soldiers to delay the lizards more, but they clearly had prepared a defense in depth and were determined to hold that position.
While it would be nice to ask for passage out of here, I didn’t have anything that could be easily traded in the battlefield. Also, there was the issue of trust and power disparity. I was far too weak compared to an entire super organization. Scavengers wouldn’t be showing up here. They were the type to pick over the bones after the meat had been ripped clean.
Right now, all the super organizations and then some were clearly fighting over the meat. It was aggravating that I got no credit for defeating Ix, but that was life. You do all the work and then get none of the credit. But that was the life of a cultivator, always having to bow my head to those more powerful than me even after becoming an immortal.
While I might think that Ix was crazy and didn’t want anything to do with him, he was also heroic by going against everyone and everything. It takes a certain kind of courage or madness to do something like that. It would have been great if he the Temporal Hunter hadn’t shown up and Ix didn’t want to kill me, so he could crush everyone attacking right now, but I had to deal with all this nonsense instead.
As I made my way through a passage that should take me to the edge, I came to a block. Everything was smashed in. There was no more passage, just lots of metal smushed togeather.
“AHHHH!” I let out a shout of rage, but there was less than zero percent chance of me getting through this block. I turned around and began racing back to try another passage. The citadel shook again. I rolled my eyes at all the attacking forces. I hoped they choked to death and their super organizations were all destroyed while trying to take over this place for themselves.
That was when I saw the two lizards in front of me. “One Swing To Separate Heaven And Earth!” I roared as I swung, putting all my rage and frustration into the swing, along with a lot of energy. I also followed right behind the slash.
Both the lizards moved out of the way of my slash and tried to intercept me as I zipped past them, but I deflected their claw strikes. They were clearly exhausted and heavily injured, but that was their problem, not mine. Mine was finding a way out of this place.
The lizards stayed right behind me as I took another route in the hopes that this section of the outer citadel wasn’t crushed, blocking the passage I was taking. I kept traveling as quickly as I could, moving debris behind me to annoy the lizards.
Occasionally I would spin around and throw out a sword slash at them, forcing them to slow down and dodge. That allowed me to keep my distance from their relentless pursuit. I did this several times to lull them in a false sense of security. I also moved floating debris in and out of my spatial storage to adjust how it was thrown out to block their path.
These actions served to slow the lizards down but also to lull them into a false sense of security. The next time I had to turn back or something occurred, I would have a surprise for them. I still had the guns I had picked up.
While they might have seemed useful to use against Ix, that would be incorrect. The energy put into the bullets was already determined. As an immortal, I could exhaust myself and put more power in an attack. For something like targeting the Gu, using a sword slash was the superior choice.
With the lizards it was a massive headache, since they were experienced and fast enough to dodge my attacks or block them at close range. That was why I was going to use one of the guns I had collected to deliver a blow to one of these lizards, hopefully slowing down their pursuit. I hadn’t done it before, since retreating from them was the better option.
Even if I shot at them there was no guarantee of success. Once they were aware I had powerful guns, they would be much more careful and annoying. As long as they thought my only weapon was my sword, they would be less careful and would hopefully present an opening I could take advantage of.
That was why I was using my spatial storages and sending out attacks towards them. They were hunters. The more desperate their prey seemed, the more their instincts would take over. I had seen this in Hissk. The lizards were great combatants, but they got very strong tunnel vision. Good for finishing off a target, not so good when their prey realized that such instincts could be taken advantage of.
The lizards would work best in a much larger group. I was surprised this place wasn’t already crawling with them, but I had no idea what super organization they came from and the larger considerations the super organizations had when fighting over the remnants of the Gu Container.
I finally came to one of the cross passages that ran along the outer edge of the citadel. There was no actual exit, but that was fine. I spun around once more and pulled out a gun and also released some chunks of debris I had collected. The lizards had a spatial sense, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be confused or was perfect when they were tired and chasing me.
Reversing course, I flew directly at the yellow lizard that was missing an eye. The force on my body was immense as I felt my organs protesting against the sudden change in direction. I slashed out with my sword and waited a moment before firing my gun. I had gotten quite used to how the lizards dodged. Just as they learned from me during this chase, I was learning from them.
The yellow lizard dodged like I had expected and the bullet struck them in the upper right shoulder. There was a small explosion as scales, flesh, and blood erupted outwards. The purple lizard was leaping at me, but I was already switching out my guns. I had three already loaded and ready to go.
I blocked the slash of their claws with my sword and fired my gun, hitting them in the chest. I didn’t want to try aiming for their head, which I was more likely to miss. I swapped out for my third gun as the yellow lizard rushed back at me. I blocked their attack and made it look like I was going to fire at their chest but didn’t. A feint instead of an actual attack.
The yellow lizard had strafed to the side, which would have made me miss if I had fired. The quick movement was probably some kind of spatial manipulation the yellow lizard had prepped. Unfortunately, for the lizard I was ready for something like this.
I fired my third gun, hitting the yellow lizard in the upper chest near its neck. It lost control of whatever stabilization or movement technique it was using and slammed into the wall of the passage. I swung my sword to deliver a critical blow, but the purple lizard had come back and blocked it. The chest wound wasn’t bleeding any more, but it looked quite nasty. Their recovery abilities had clearly been stressed to the limit after everything they had been through.
The purple lizard retreated with his companion who was struggling to breathe and I let them go. I began quickly reloading my guns. I had 12 bullets left. I didn’t want to let them go and recover, but I needed time to reload, which required both hands and couldn’t be done in the middle of combat. At least they had been driven back and had taken more injuries. I hit with all three shots, which was a win in my book.
Ix had already swore revenge. The lizards were dangerous, but compared to Ix they were like stuffed animals that needed hugs. I was concerned about them, but they weren’t the type of opponents that would make me instantly despair. They were annoying, but I had bought myself enough time to get out of this cursed citadel.
I flew back towards the wall that connected to the outside. I brought up my sword and jabbed, creating a long narrow hole. That was barely big enough to fit me. I flew through the hole and outside of the Citadel, which had turned into a disaster zone. In fact, calling it a disaster zone was a compliment.
What little light there had been inside the citadel was now mostly gone. There were huge swathes of metal, req liquid, and dark gas all floating about from what I could tell. And there were massive chunks, huge gravitational forces sweeping the area, and countless other environmental effects. The Gu Container might have been hell, but at least it was orderly.
That was just the start, there were bursts of energy and other explosions happening all over the place. It was clear that the super organizations were pouring everything they could into this place and then some. It was hard to make anything out, since there was just so much stuff, debris from the Gu Container, debris from the super organizations, and very little light.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
I moved to the side of the hole I had created and waited behind a piece of debris. To block them from looking at me if they poked their head outside of the hole. I didn’t know when the lizards would come out, but I knew they would come out eventually. Or perhaps they would try and circle around, which was fine in my opinion. I was going to take my time looking around before I made my next move.
The primary goal was escape, but even with my ability to fly I wouldn’t get far. I needed a vessel of some kind. That meant stealing one or using some applied teamwork. Just flying off in a random direction seemed like a bad idea. I could be drifting through the Firmament for a long time. I began pulling out the devices I had with me, but everything was getting crazy readings.
When this many different super organizations were fighting, they brought out all the possible countermeasures. No way to communicate or track anything down. It almost reminded me of my time in the Forever City, just a lot more dangerous and a lot less organized. Also, less yellow gas, more dark gas.
I noted that there was more light in one direction along the sphere. Probably some forward operating base. That was probably the best place to check out first. Checking the hole, no sign of the lizards. I swung my sword and cut an angled piece of metal. I then shoved that metal into the hole. That wasn’t going to do much, but it would hopefully make them hesitate.
Another reason to wait around for a while. The lizards might think I was still waiting outside, since the metal of the citadel would make it hard to sense my energy.
I flew upwards and towards the lights in the distance. There were hundreds of thousands of soldiers and machines that were all set up in one massive base on the surface of the citadel. If I had fought through that group of soldiers, I would have run into another group.
There were giant crystalline spiders attacking them by shooting poison and webbing while circling the base on massive chunks of debris. The spiders were the size of houses. Why was it always spiders?
A vessel got hit with some webbing as it tried to come in for a landing, messing things up and it crashed in a massive explosion. At least ten thousand of the soldiers had been wiped out in an instant, not counting the people in the vessel, but these soldiers didn’t care and kept firing and more vessels kept trying to fly in.
I noticed another base in the distance with hordes of drones. An outer base from the war machine. It was clear they had been hit heavily, most likely by the soldiers and possibly other forces, but it was too hard to make anything out at a distance. There were tiny explosions in the distance. Unlike the molten layer, where I was on the interior of a sphere, I was on the outer part of the citadel, which meant there was a horizon to my vision.
That was when a massive beam shot up through the citadel in the distance. There was a much larger explosion in the distance. Yep, I am getting out of here. Even if I was floating through the Firmament for countless ages, it was better than whatever was happening here.
Flying away from the citadel was slow. While I could add more and more speed, I had to watch out for debris and energy disturbances. The only way to travel the Firmament was spatial manipulation on a large scale. I didn’t have that ability. I could cross short distances and fly, but those were nothing compared to the distances in the Firmament.
Looking outwards, I could see huge floating chunks of metal that were occasionally lit up by explosions. I wanted to scream in frustration. Just as the Gu Container had layers, the conflict had layers as well. Everyone was trying to get to the inner citadel, which meant fighting past everything else and establishing a beachhead on the surface.
It was too solid to easily destroy. Even that massive explosion in the direction of the inner citadel hadn’t cracked the entire thing like an egg. If Ix wasn’t an insane evil cultivator, he really had a talent in mega structures, or knew some very good contractors.
The remnants of the barrier sphere was where there were larger conflicts had various super organizations used much more destructive weapons and techniques. As I felt another massive wave of energy and saw three separate explosions in the distance, I hesitated. I needed a way out of here, not running into more danger and conflict.
Getting trapped in the citadel was a nightmare. Trying to get through a thick plate of the broken barrier sphere would be a nightmare. I checked my devices again and I was getting some readings. That was bad. I would be easily detected in such a conflict. Each super organization controlled enough territory that they didn’t have to worry about other groups interfering with them.
I saw more vessels flying towards the soldier’s base on the inner citadel. The super organizations were crazy. They were throwing everything they had into this conflict. I knew the metal was valuable, but at a certain point the losses would have to be mounting up. Maybe it was to stop the war machine which was a replicator, but they were all fighting each other. It was complete and utter madness.
While I had a lot of options of where to go, I didn’t have any obvious or good options to pick from. It was out of the citadel’s warzone, into the bigger surrounding war zone. While it might seem like waiting for an opening was a good idea, it wasn’t.
Once one group took control they would purge everyone and everything else. They would easily track me down using whatever powerful equipment and devices their super organization possessed. That meant I needed to get out of here and as far away as possible. But just leaving would see me travel at a snail’s pace even if I made it away safely. I needed a vessel.
Gravity and physics got wonky at larger scales in the Firmament. That was why the large pieces of the barrier sphere were floating around the citadel, like a shattered wall. With the massive formations being destroyed inside the citadel, this entire place was no longer being directly manipulated.
As for why the super organizations did not control things directly, it was because that would draw attention and not serve much of a purpose. Also, anything really powerful would require time to set up and risked being messed up. The Gu Container was something that had been worked on a lot beforehand, most like in a stable environment. But nothing right now was stable.
A beam attack from a gun hit me and I ignored. The soldiers were going crazy fighting the giant spiders. Why were there giant spiders here? It could be a tactic another super organization used to disrupt their advance, but the spiders seemed quite intelligent and coordinated despite not having any vessels. At least with the Gu Container everyone had a common enemy.
Ix, the great uniter. Pissing everyone off enough that they united against him. Unfortunately I got rid of him and deactivated the barriers around the Gu Container which got rid of the unifying factors that kept everyone togeather.
Time for a plan. A very bad plan, but a plan. I wasn’t getting a ride with anyone out of this area. All the super organizations were sending resources in to claim more resources. Unless the Heavenly Alliance showed up or the Xyon Front, I had zero confidence of hitching a ride with anyone. This was an active warzone. It would be far safer to kill me and sort things out later.
If I was important enough to not be killed, then I should be more powerful or someone more powerful should have come to rescue me. So just being stuck in this situation was proof that I was no one important. Pulling out the name of the Xyon Front would be risky as well. The low ranked people would probably have never heard of them, and the high ranking people might just kill me first to avoid trouble or headaches.
With traveling on my own power looking like a bad idea and hitching a ride a death sentence, I needed another method to escape this place. I flew back towards the surface of the citadel. I landed a far enough distance away from the soldier’s base to keep an eye on it, but not be a threat. I would also see any attacks coming before hand, at least that was my hope.
Bringing up my sword, I carefully cut out a sheet of metal from the citadel. I repeated the process over and over, collecting sheets of metal. If I couldn’t get any help, then I would make a craft and fly out of here under my own power. It would be more like a missile, but I didn’t care.
I was regretting not putting more effort into saving Wan Ting the grandmaster of arrays and formations right now. She would have been incredibly useful for escaping this place. I had been too shortsighted in letting her die. I blamed that on everything I had been through. I was tired, cranky, my energy constantly felt a bit off and had to endure countless hardships.
Nothing was ever easy. “Anyone want to rescue me?” I asked out loud, but there was no response, not like I was expecting one. Once I had the metal plates I began to carve out a small metal craft, one sword slash at a time. It was exhausting work. It would be a large cylinder. Not an inspired design, but simple. Simple was the best I could do and even that was questionable.
The two lizards showed up in the distance and they weren’t looking good. “Really, now? Go away. I don’t have time for this nonsense. If you want to die, there are others you can go bother,” I told them. They didn’t respond but just got into a fighting stance and spread their wings.
Looking at them they were clearly on the last bits of their energy. Unfortunately, a wounded biological weapon was still a biological weapon up until the moment it died. “Really?” I muttered while bringing up my sword to face these lizards.
They split apart, both moving to flank me from an opposite direction. I held a sword in my right hand and a gun in my left, while glancing back and forth. They had fallen for a trap once before and the fact they were here again meant they hadn’t learned the right lessons.
The most important thing in a fight was landing an attack that was effective. Surprise and power were all factors contributing to this. The lizards were to limited in what they could do and not knowledgeable enough about me. If Hissk were here he might have been more concerned seeing all the array plates I had been working on.
But these lizards clearly didn’t think through the situation completely. If I was an array master or grandmaster I would have used such techniques in the past. But they hadn’t seen me use my arrays in a limited fashion. I also knew everything about this lizards. There were no more surprises. They were just very hard to kill, relentless, and good combatants.
These were great traits for a biological weapon, but not a great trait when having to think through a situation. A cultivator would have seen me and attacked at range or not have bothered in the first place, since it wouldn’t be worth the hassle. But that was why they were lizards and not cultivators. Our thought processes couldn’t be more different from each other.
That was a big reason why super organizations couldn’t work togeather unless it was the most dire of circumstances. And the lizards clearly didn’t have any concept of strategy or tactics. They weren’t idiots, but they didn’t use tools, focused more on their personal abilities. Another way for their creator to keep them under control. If they started using tools, then they might get ideas beyond their place, whatever that place was. I suspected attack dogs, well trained attack dogs.
I activated the two plates floating nearby. They didn’t trigger an attack or anything that creative. They just emitted a powerful burst of light and energy in three rapid pulses. I grabbed another plate and flew towards the purple lizard. I activated it at nearly point blank range. Bone snapped and flesh was compressed. But the purple lizard didn’t die right away and resisted. I pushed the plate away and saw a partially compressed lizard.
Bringing up my sword, I swung, decapitating the creature. The yellow lizard was rushing at me. That was the problem with flanking attacks. You would be a bit behind if your companion couldn’t hold out long enough. Bringing up my blade I blocked the lizard’s claws.
I was stronger and faster than the creature. They were clearly designed in such a way that they were right below an immortal’s strength. Durable but not a true threat if someone was familiar with them and had enough power.
We continued to duel across the top of the citadel. The yellow lizard was clearly struggling despite its impressive endurance and regeneration. It seemed fully committed to killing me. Every time it looked like it would commit a suicide attack, I brought my gun up, forcing it to disengage from such an attack.
The lizards weren’t stupid in combat. They had really good fighting instincts, but they weren’t great at planning out a fight beyond rushing in and attacking. While it was tempting to try and press things, I could tell the yellow lizard was on its last legs. All the attacks it had suffered had damaged it greatly and worn it down.
I just needed to keep up the pressure and not give it any openings. Even when I landed a small cut on one of its arms, I didn’t press forward at was a clear opening. I knew it was a trap. That was when I could tell despair took over the yellow lizard.
It let out a roar and rushed me. I stabbed forward and it juked to impale a different part of its body on my sword. I then pulled the trigger on my gun as I let go of the hilt on my blade. The energy I had put in the blade ripped the lizard’s body apart while the bullet struck it in the dead, killing it. Even in death it tried to swipe at me with its claws but missed since I had let go of the hilt and retreated backwards.
Cultivation three, biological lizard warriors zero.
I pulled my blade out of its chest and moved the lizard with its companion. I wouldn’t throw them away, in case another lizard got their scent or something. They were very annoying to deal with. There was no need to create a trail to lead more lizards to my location.
I checked my surroundings but no one was coming over to bother me. I thought things over for a moment before putting the lizards into my spatial storage. I could sell them later possibly. There had to be some super organization that was interested in biological research. The lizards were the epitome of such research. They were created for a reason but weren’t balanced.
I got back to work on my flying brick. It was just going to be an upsized version of Chicken. Basic spatial compression and propulsion. Very basic, compared to something that a super organization might make. Once I got away from here, then I could navigate my way to a free port and trade the stuff I had collected for another vessel.
With how the super organizations were fighting over the Gu Container, I had gotten the best metal. A shame that I had left so much behind. But my spatial storage was limited and I had packed as much as possible. That was the problem with being weak, I couldn’t capitalize on such a major success.
It was a shame that Ix didn’t leave behind a spatial storage with all his most valuable materials. But life wasn’t so convenient as to give me such an amazing drop. I got a weird hilt from that pitch black throne and lots of very high-grade metal. Also, my life, which was the most valuable thing.
A cultivator only trades in death. The level of death to get such benefits was immense. But I wasn’t about to complain more than I already had. I was moving forward, even if it was annoying to leave so much wealth behind. I needed everything I could get my hands on to get back on my feet once I left this place.
Another powerful beam of energy shot out of the citadel, hitting a distant target and creating a massive explosion that lit up everything for a brief moment. The war machine sure wasn’t messing about, but that didn’t seem to be stopping anyone.
The soldiers were still engaged in their lightshow with the spiders, nothing had changed there. The spiders appeared to be consuming physical matter and energy to rapidly grow and reproduce. A lesser replicator, a biological version instead of technological. Could have been sucked by the Gu Container or a surprise left behind by Ix.
If I were him, I would have stashed troublesome things to be released once the barrier sphere broke apart. Make the final time period of the Gu even more chaotic. And if things were disrupted, these beings would create problems for all the approaching forces.
While Ix had been taken out due his greed, he was smarter than the lizards. He was capable of planning and looking at the bigger picture. You don’t build a Gu Container this massive without being highly capable, even if he was very dangerous and his mental state questionable.
I swung my blade again, cutting more metal. Time to get back to work and make my escape craft. It was like building a rowboat in the middle of a massive naval battle over the island that I was trying to escape. Except it was in three dimensions and way too many sides and competing interests.
Also, the scale was massive. While I had broadened my horizons, they were getting a bit too broad. Eventually someone would do something crazy. My bet was on that Chaos creature breaking free and causing trouble. The energy waves being released were smashing into each other, creating massive spikes of energy, this in turn created environmental effects and also increased the risk of Chaos showing up.