Chapter 1,377 – Archipelago

“Damnit! Where’s the exit?” Zac swore while frantically dodging countless projectiles coming at him from every direction.

“Just a little longer. I’ve almost untangled the web,” Esmeralda said, her eyes filled with Spatial Power as she derived the mysteries of their surroundings.

Esmeralda’s voice was nearly drowned out by the persistent, agitated calls of countless monkeys, the weakest of which were Elite Middle Beast Kings. Their numbers might seem inflated by their voices bouncing off the stone trees, yet there were still more than enough to strangle any thoughts of fighting back. Just keeping himself in one piece was enough to keep him busy.

A streak entered his periphery just as Zac squeezed through a gauntlet of Space-imbued feces and rock-hard coconuts. It contained enough force and velocity that could only come from one of the alphas, and it would slam right into him if he maintained his course. The skill fractal of [Profane Exponents] already showed hairline fractures after repeated use, and physically blocking was out of the question. Zac chose the lesser of two evils by veering sharply right while swinging his axe.

A smaller coconut was cut in two, triggering an explosion overshadowing the Spatial Chaos of any conventional Spatial Bomb. Zac pushed right through, paying for passage with another layer of skin. The diversion allowed the monkeys to catch up, and Zac swore when the piece of monkey dung he’d avoided disappeared as if it were made of mist.

At least it was only an illusion. Zac had been ready for the noxious attack to teleport right into his altered path. The monkeys hounding him were a perfect representation of the Mercurial Courts, equally skilled with illusions and space. The combination was extremely annoying to deal with, and the constant illusions made it impossible for Zac to trust his eyes.

An undulation of energy allowed Zac to pinpoint the monkey captain, who grinned at him before disappearing among the branches of an enormous, fossilized tree. Zac knew better than to pursue. The infuriated monkeys were as cunning as any dexterity-based Hegemon and full of tricks up their sleeves. They also had a significant home field advantage.

The whole island was covered in Natural Formations. There was an illusory maze formation that had kept Zac from escaping all this time and a secondary formation that amplified abilities based on the Peak of Fantasy. The monkeys who were native to the island were naturally the greatest beneficiaries.

Zac’s breakthrough in his Dao Heart hadn’t made him completely immune to illusions. A skilled illusionist like Janos could still trip him up. None of the Monkey Kings were at that level, but they were boosted by the island and replaced quality with quantity. How was Zac supposed to analyze every attack coming his way while navigating the labyrinthine jungle? What Zac saw with his Soul Sense couldn’t be trusted; even his danger sense was occasionally delayed.

Making matters worse, there were also Space-attuned Natural Formations hidden beneath the illusory glimmer. A hasty step in the wrong direction could send Zac back to the heart of the island—something that had happened twice already. More likely than not, the monkey captain was trying to goad him into taking a third trip back.

Even if Zac could catch up, he had no choice but to suffer in silence. Only a fraction of the island’s thousands of inhabitants were currently pursuing him, and their hostility hadn’t reached levels of an irreconcilable grudge. That might change if Zac started lobbing off monkey heads. Doing so might even alert the Monkey Emperors staying on the secluded mountain.

Of course, there was a chance their playful harassment would turn into a true assault if the monkeys realized what he’d done.

Zac could only eat the loss and keep going despite knowing the monkeys were forcing him to maintain a pace where he risked triggering the island’s illusions and spatial traps. Void coursed through his veins, and he disappeared before the pack could follow up on the opening their leader had managed to create.

It was only thanks to his Void-infused Late-stage Inexorable Stance that he had only some scrapes and bruises after an hourlong pursuit. Three weeks of constant threats in the Peregrine Isles had given him a crash course in combat, allowing him to smoothly catch up with his Life-attuned technique. Unfortunately, the unique unpredictability the Void of Life added to his movements wasn’t enough to break free from the local fauna.

The Void Emperor Bloodline wasn’t powerful enough to let Zac act as he pleased within the D-grade. It was best used at a critical moment to turn a battle around in one go. During a protracted battle, it only added a bit more power than wielding another Dao. The monkeys were already relying on their bestial instincts to intuit his movement patterns, and it was becoming harder and harder to dodge their attacks.

A deafening roar suddenly shook the whole island as four overwhelming perceptions swept through the forest. Zac knew they wouldn’t find what they were looking for—the near-mature [Peregrine Almond] was safely tucked inside [Purity of the Void]—but it wouldn’t be hard to guess who’d stolen it. When Esmeralda helplessly shook her head, Zac saw no choice but to add to his sins.

A pitch-black blade emitting a harrowing light appeared atop [Death’s Duality]. Throwing caution to the wind, Zac cut into the nearest tree. Each stone pillar made up part of the vast Natural Formation. Cutting down one or two wasn’t nearly enough to break the formation, but it would hopefully create a large enough disruption in the energy flows that Esmeralda could find the way out.

The incessant chatter from around him gained a frenzied pitch when huge chunks of fossilized bark began falling like rain. Zac turned into a blur, striking at one tree after another, dodging swarms of attacks with rapid-fire Void-activated uses of [Abyssal Drive]. Soon enough, one of the trees succumbed to [Fatehew]’s combined assault on both spirituality and physical matter.

The mile-high pillar fell with a deafening rumble, ending its eons of enduring vigil. A geyser of Spatial Energy and psychedelic sap erupted from the severed stump, throwing the area into chaos. Zac’s danger sense had already advanced to an incessant scream, with at least one Beast Emperor rushing over. The complex terrain would delay even a C-grade beast for a moment, but Zac didn’t have much time.

Two of the strongest monkeys couldn’t restrain themselves while waiting for backup. The deterrence of Zac’s overbearing, blood-drenched aura paled before their anger at seeing their home destroyed. Two streaks flashed over on waves of Spatial momentum, immediately drowning Zac in a flurry of swipes and punches.

The nigh-impenetrable wall made from Alea’s chains couldn’t stop the barrage, and the speed was so quick that keeping track of real attacks and illusory feints was impossible. Not to mention, knowing the right answer wasn’t always enough. An illusory punch slipped through the cracks, and the air was forced out of Zac’s lungs when it slammed into his breastplate.

Like Ogras, these Fantasy-wielding monkeys were capable of inverting truths and falsehoods. Zac guessed they relied on space to teleport their limbs to take the illusion’s place. Understanding the concept didn’t make much of a difference when he couldn’t activate [Void Zone]. Esmeralda needed to observe the real formation to find a way out.

Zac was forced to rely on superior attributes and honed instincts to guard his vitals and the toad perched on his head. Soon enough, he saw through certain patterns and seized the tempo. From solely defending, the chains dripping with [Inexorable Subjugation] began targeting eyes and throats.

It wasn’t a true attempt to maim his opponents. He just needed to control the pace and delay with the Inexorable Technique’s constrictive combat style. Killing the monkeys would only make the others angrier, and the four-meter-tall hulks were the perfect human shields against the long-range attacks.

‘I got it!’ Esmeralda suddenly exclaimed in Zac’s mind.

Zac answered by unleashing a roar filled with Death and War as coruscating waves of Miasma began coursing through his body. It all congealed in a spot on his right arm, signaling the activation of a powerful skill. The monkey kings were shocked awake from their berserk state and quickly scurried out of the way.

Instead of a desperate, all-out attack, Zac simply disappeared. The surroundings rapidly shifted as the pocket-sized toad dragged him through the complex labyrinth of subspace streams, following rules only known to her. The seemingly endless forest of stone trees gave way to a familiar shoreline in the blink of an eye, and Zac knew they were safe. The monkeys might dare to follow him onto the shores, but the rippling waters beyond were a safe zone.

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The local tyrants of the Peregrine Isles clearly had an agreement with the Mercurial Court not to move against lower-grade disciples, though those restrictions only went so far. There were plenty of disciples who were grievously wounded or died while exploring the isles every year. It was all balanced.

The greater the commotion a disciple caused, the fiercer resistance they’d encounter. Exploring the island only warranted some light harassment, while wanton slaughter or stealing valuable treasures would trigger a deadly response.

The disciples knew as much, yet they kept diving deep into the jungles. Finding a [Peregrine Almond] or other valuable resources near the shores was no different from finding a needle in a haystack. On the rare occasions something like that happened, it would be snatched up by one of the thousands of sailors exploring the freshwater archipelago in minutes.

Another roar shook the island, this time much closer. A gargantuan head appeared between the trees. It was just an avatar, seeing as these humanoid beasts were on the smaller side, but its power was very real. The emperor immediately spotted the intruders and attacked by spitting a ball of phlegm infinitely more terrifying than any booby-trapped coconut.

Esmeralda met the incoming attack with an excited laugh, clearly enjoying the thrill of the escape following a successful heist. Zac watched in awe as she siphoned some of the attack’s rampant energy for herself and turned it into an unstable Spatial Gate. They slipped inside just before five miles of pristine shores were torn apart.