Chapter 609: Conflicting Truths


    The group in front of them didn''t exactly cause Zacs Danger Sense to go haywire, but he still didnt want to risk his sister getting hurt. So he pushed aside any reluctance over this no-win situation as he stomped down on the ground, pushing himself forward with enough force to cause a dent in the Memorysteel on the ground.


    The next moment the whole shielded frontline of the Cartava nsmen was sent flying as Zac mmed straight into their ranks while using <strong>[Loves Bond]</strong> as a wallbreaker, the sturdy coffin easily deflecting the beams shooting out from the handheld energy weapons. He had intentionally not used <strong>[Loamwalker]</strong> for that very purpose, to draw the enemies'' attention toward himself.


    A few projectiles still shot toward the others as well, but they were all capable of dealing with it. Only Levi helplessly scrambled into a side corridor after realizing her attempts at reconciliation were futile. Kenzie had instead conjured what looked like a raincloud, and the beams actually dispersed as they entered it.


    Somethings wrong with the swarm! a man in the back of the Cartava toon suddenly shouted.


    Fix it, NOW! the middle-aged captain roared as he rushed to block Zac along with a group of cultivators.


    The man was somewhere between middle and high E-Grade judging by his aura, but Zac still wouldnt look down on the enemy even if he didn''t emit the aura of an elite like Void''s Disciple. He just barely avoided the restraining tool of the werewolves in his first battle with the natives, and who knew what kind of hidden means the Cartava n possessed?


    After all, Levi had never given him any real details of the strength and means of her n, to the point that he didn''t even know they fought like Technocrats.


    However, it was clear that not everyone in the n leaned toward the ''Dao of Technology'' as over half the squad emitted the condensed auras of traditional warriors. The captain and his squad of elites were definitely part of this group as they rushed toward Zac with killing intent seeping out of their bodies.


    A massive pressure enveloped Zac as he prepared to meet the iing cultivators, and it felt like he was ensconced in quicksand. He nced down at his body and noticed he was covered in blue fractals, their glow mirrored in the eyes of three of the cultivators. The eyes of a few more lit up next, and Zac felt the world turning upside down and bend and distort.


    He was initially worried that these cultivators were throwing him into another space-time or something with the help of their bloodlines, but he quickly realized that his warped surroundings were simply illusions. A few of the members of the Cartava elite squad were apparently the same sort of cultivators as Janos, mental support mages.


    Those kinds of people were a bit troublesome, but it was a lot better than time-cultivators as far as Zac was concerned, and it somewhat confirmed what Levi had said before. Only a select few had that ability in her n, with the rest having a lower-quality version of the bloodline.


    Zac''s soul was thankfully a lot more powerful than the average Strength-based cultivator''s thanks to the <strong>[Nine Reincarnations Manual]</strong> and his lucky encounters. Furthermore, while <strong>[Mental Fortress]</strong> was just an average mental defensive skill, it was enough to help him minimize the effect to the point that he could at least tell fake from real.


    The first thing to wee his escape from the illusions was two sets of shimmering grey eyes and the realization that some sort of stones had started to grow across his body. Two of the cultivators actually had Medusa eyes from the looks of it, their gaze slowly petrifying him.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Zac quickly understood what was going on; the Cartava Cultivators who didn''t rely on Technology all seemed to have sses or at least skills that took advantage of their eyes. He guessed that most eye-rted skills would have an increased effect for cultivators with an Ocr Bloodline, even if the actual usage of the Bloodline might be rted to something different.


    The cultivators seemed to somewhat rx after seeing Zac getting entrapped inyer afteryer of restrictions, but they still maintained their gazes on him as they stopped twenty meters away. Only the captain rushed forward, wielding an exquisite sword in his hands. It wasn''t a technocrat energy weapon, but Zac rather assumed it to be a Spirit Tool made from some reddish metal.


    There was also arge red gem embedded in the hilt, making it possible for Zac to guess its origins; the gemlings on the other side of the base. A sharp aura that was all too simr to Zac radiated from the sword as the captain suddenly disappeared. The captain possessed a Late-Stage Seed of Sharpness. The swordsman appeared right next to Zac a momentter, the edge already ripping through the air on its way toward Zac''s throat.


    But the air around Zac suddenly started crackling as he unleashed his aura in full, further empowering it with his <strong>[Spiritual Void]</strong>. The stones on his body crumbled to dust and the blue restraining fractals shattered as Zac finally fought back in earnest. His body turned into a blur next as a coffin lid appeared to intercept the sword-strike.


    A series of groans echoed out from the cultivator squad after Zac had forcibly broken their skills, and chaos erupted among the soldiers as Zac''s immense aura mmed into them like a hammer. The captain''s eyes widened in horror when he realized Zac had been going easy on them until now, and he quickly tried to sh away the moment he realized his execution had failed.


    But there was no way Zac would allow that, and <strong>[Love''s Bond]</strong> mmed into the captain with the full force of someone with over five thousand effective Strength. A deep thud was followed by the sound of bones breaking. The leader of the Cartava n''s toon was shot through his own ranks like a projectile, mming into the Memorysteel wall with enough force to cause the whole corridor to vibrate.


    The captain was still someone well into the E-Grade though, so Zac immediately caught up to him with the help of <strong>[Loamwalker]</strong> and punched him in the side of his head the moment the captain ricocheted off the wall. He mmed down into the ground causing another shudder to spread out across the area, and a mute silence spread among the n Cartava warriors as they looked at Zac with mute iprehension.


    Getting trapped earlier wasn''t Zac simply getting caught unaware. On the contrary, he could have instantly broken the blue fractals covering his body just by using his superior attributes to force it, and one attack of <strong>[Rapturous Divide] </strong>would have instantly killed the ocr cultivators along with half the toon. However, he had quickly decided against that, allowing the elite squad to keep going to disy more of what kind of sses and tactics they used.


    He still held a small hope that things could be salvaged peacefully even after all this, which was why he didn''t just cut the captain in two, but he felt there was a real risk that his own army would be embroiled in arge-scale battle with these people in a few days. Any intelligence he gathered right now could be sent back, which hopefully would save some lives.


    The momentum of the Cartava n hadpletely been quashed by thebination of their drones failing them and Zac using their leader like a punching bag. A few warriors in the back reacted the quickest, immediately starting running for their lives. However, they only got a few meters before the whole area turned into a hazy gray, like a dense fogte at night.


    It was Ogras who had appeared out of nowhere and flooded the whole area with his shadows. The fleeing cultivators immediately found themselves caught by an endless number of shadow tendrils, and they actually sank into the shadows like half their bodies had been sent to another dimension. The Cartava warriors reacted instantaneously as they took out energy-knives that were able to cut straight through the shadows, and they desperately iled about in an attempt to free themselves.


    But shadows were intangible, and cutting them with a de didnt really do much. They simply reformed and bound the warriors again. A few of the more powerful warriors did manage to free themselves one way or another, but they didn''t even get a taste of freedom before they found themselves gored by a ck spear hiding among the shadows.


    Zac looked at the disy with gleaming eyes. It felt like the Cartava warriors were shipwrecked sailors on a sea of shadows, and Ogras was a shark in the depths, striking from the darkness before immediately disappearing again. Zac felt that it was worth learning from the demon in this regard, especially for his second ss. Fetters of Destion was a ss focusing on restraining and whittling down the enemy, just like Ogras was doing right now.


    It wasn''t too surprising that Ogras could so easily capture over a dozen people in an instant. Most of the warriors in the back of the toon seemed to be responsible for the drones, and their ''weapons'' had just been tablets and some weird helmets. Then again, the frontlines weren''t doing any better even though they were manned by soldiers armed with proper energy weapons.


    Thea had made her move as well, turning into a whirlwind that destroyed every piece of equipment in her path. The floor was already littered with brokenponents from everything from tablets to guns and even clothes. Everything that could be used as a weapon was either cut by the invisible des or Thea herself, and any resistance resulted in streaks turning into bleeding wounds.


    Less than half a minute had passed, but the Cartava squadron was already utterly crushed. The drones that had been silently hovering in the air until now suddenly started moving, forming an orderly line as they flew toward Kenzie. She simply took out a Cosmos Sack with a wide grin, and the machines flew straight into it one by one while Levi stared at her with a bbergasted look.


    Lay down your weapons, or well start killing, Zac roared when he saw the battle was over, and everyone immediately followed suit.


    The soldiers were seated against the wall a minuteter, unarmed and with a dozen of Kenzie''s own Drones keeping watch. The others had already gathered again, with Levi hesitantly standing between Zac''s group and her n members. She already looked a lot betterpared to before, and it seemed she had overextended herself, running out of Cosmic Energy in her escape.


    Girl, how is your faction still standing? Ogras asked with bemusement as he nced at Levi. You better pledge allegiance to this guy fast, otherwise youll just get eradicated even if you get out of this realm alive.


    These people are not our strongest warriors, Levi muttered, though she looked a bit shamefaced at the result of the battle even if her nsmen were technically her enemies in this scenario. We have a lot of powerhouses.


    More importantly, Zac said as he lifted the still-unconscious middle-aged man by his neck. Whats up with the bullshit this guy was spewing? I told you we were looking for an alliance.


    Levi sighed as she started exining the situation back in her n. It turned out that the werewolves hadn''t just kidnapped Levi, but also destroyed a few key buildings along with the corridors leading toward the Lunar Forest. The chaos had allowed the werewolves to slink away. n Cartava wasn''t about to give up Levi though, and they immediately decided to set out toward the Wastnd. But just as the first groups were about to set out a damning video emerged.


    It was without audio, but it clearly disyed two werewolves talking with an unknown human and two demonkin in an abandoned warehouse.


    The n had already learned of Ogras'' appearance somehow, and they quickly put two and two together. They believed Port Atwood and the Lunar n were working together, targeting n Cartava at this critical time.


    "What, there''s a video of our people conversing with Werewolves?" Zac said with confusion all over his face, and he turned to Ogras.


    "Impossible," Ogras said with a shake of his head. "No one would be that stupid."


    "It''s true," Levi said, her eyes flickering. "I saw the video myself after I returned."


    "There''s one simple exnation of how that''s possible, apart from betrayal," Thea interjected as she took an all-too-familiar root, holding it so the captives couldn''t see it.


    "Impossible, our people have been rigorously tested," Zac said with a shake of his head.


    "I know, but theirs haven''t," Thea said as she looked at the captives.