DefianceNovels

Chapter 1,103.

Yselio hummed a nursery rhyme as he read through the reports, occasionally making a calculation with his fingers. Things were progressing as expected, and he was beginning to unravel the patterns behind the deployments. The universe might seem random and fickle, but that was only because you couldn't see the Order hiding within. And so long as you understood the rules, you could nudge them in your favor.

It took a few hours to collate the necessary adjustments, but Yselio believed they ...

Chapter 1,102.

The attendants had long since been sent out, leaving only Pavina and Kator within the necropolis. Their unmoving postures were a stark contrast to the chaotic scene playing in front of them. The Abyssal Pond had just exploded, threatening to drown the whole cave. The events moved at an accelerated pace, but not a single detail escaped visual bones.

"No wonder they fought so hard to keep this information contained," Kator muttered as the recording neared its end. "I can't believe he blew...

Chapter 1,101.

[World Lord of Kerkos VI killed. Kerkos VI considered neutral for two weeks.]

Zac breathed out in relief upon seeing the prompt, its message further confirmed by the huge surge of Kill Energy entering his body. He was confident in his skills, but there were all kinds of odd techniques and counters out there. The World Lord might have had a cloning method that let him swap out targets at the last second or possess a means of survival even with an axe through his head. Th...

Chapter 1,100.

Their eyes met, and Zac's murderous intent was reflected in the World Lord's. Zac rushed out of the crater, making no attempt to hide his goals as death rose from the ground. He had activated [Fields of Despair] to improve his sight and levy its debuff on his targets. Zac doubted an E-grade skill could retain its full efficacy on Middle Hegemons wielding Dao Branches, but he'd already confirmed it could remove the full 10%, up to 2,500, on Early Hegemons.

Death fought w...

Chapter 1,099.

Happy midsummer, fellow Defiers. May your day be full of schnapps and pagan rituals!

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"Are you certain, Warmaster?" Rhubat asked.

"I trust my instincts."

"Do you require assistance?"

"No," Zac smiled. "Just don't shoot me with your cannons after opening the path."

"The death of a World Lord triggers a global prompt," Joanna...

Chapter 1,098.

It took a moment for Zac to come to grips with the numbers. The War Machines hadn't left a single body intact, but the biggest culprit, by far, was the Heart Curses. The only way you could get an intact body from the Kan'Tanu was if you destroyed the Heart Curse before or simultaneously as the opponent, while neither damaging the heart nor head. Such a feat was easier said than done when only a fraction of his soldiers walked the popular body-preserving paths of the Undead Empire.

Certa...

Chapter 1,097.

Zac didn't have to wait long before the Hidden Node in his chest began dumping vast amounts of energy into his body. [Void Heart] had returned something that was both familiar and foreign. The aura of the Abyss was somehow still there, yet it wasn't holding the Dao of Death. It had all been stripped away, turned into amorphous energy that was neither attuned nor unattuned.

One moment, Zac was looking at something very similar to the universal Kill Energy that the system...

Chapter 1,096.

Zac gazed down at the backs of the advancing soldiers, their silhouettes illuminated by the still-smoldering flames ahead. In an odd way, the endless lines of cultivators stretching across the horizon made him calmer rather than more anxious. The suffering and death of war were turned into something abstract when individuals became cogs in such a vast machine.

The stars inside the spherical War Machines had greatly dimmed after unleashing their power, and the contraptions were rolled ba...

Chapter 1,095.

"Display intent," Janos muttered just as Zac was about to call out his order.

"The Kan'Tanu are not fools," Rhubat said. "The unholy ones will sense our approach soon enough. An army this size cannot go unnoticed, even in this chaotic environment. Our lines stretch for miles. Warmaster's plan to push them back early might make them expend more resources on defenses, but it should reduce the surprises."

Zac agreed. He wasn't worried about any walls or defensive barriers the Kan'Tan...

Chapter 1,094.

Acrid smoke and an overcast sky greeted Zac as he stepped out from the battlefront teleporter, surrounded by his generals and commanders. The view was unfamiliar, but the blue prompt appearing before him was not.

[Second Battlefront of the Atwood Empire. No assigned leader.]

[De-facto leader of Atwood Empire detected, designation qualified for leadership. Assign yourself leader?]

Rhubat had wrapped up their previous campaign two days ago bef...

Chapter 1,093.

"Kator is incredibly powerful," Pavina sighed upon seeing Zac's look. "I wouldn't last ten seconds if we were the same grade. A few lucky Reavers are born with special bones that provide unique and incredible abilities. They call them Miracle Bones because that's what they enable. Only one out of a hundred thousand purebloods gets one. Getting two is a blessing from the Heavens. Kator has four that I know of."

Zac grunted noncommittally, taking the news in stride. It wasn't that he unde...

Chapter 1,092.

A/N: As you might guess from the late release time, this'll be the last chapter of the week.

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The feeling of pushing beyond one's previous limits was addictive. Accounting for his increased attributes was one thing, but he could tell just how much his body had improved from his bloodline awakening. His energy stores hadn't increased much like from his previous improvements since he had a Cosmic Core for that now, but the other benefits of a Draugr constitut...

Chapter 1,091.

A/N: So I was hoping I'd be better today, but I'm kind of worse. Pending on how things look tomorrow, this might unfortunately become a 4-chapter-week.

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Zac knew Tavza wasn't lying when saying that today's assistance hadn't come without a price. Zac still wasn't sure if Eoz really had reached through the river of time to impart his knowledge, similar to the Technocrat Codex. But Zac had felt the fury of the Heavens in the vision and how the universe itself was trying to resist...

No chapter today

Will either do double tomorrow or additional on sat. Sorry about the inconvenience!

Chapter 1,090.

Zac's previous breakthrough took place shortly before entering the Perennial Vastness. He'd found the answers to Death after walking through the maze of Life inside the hidden level of the Gates of Reincarnation. At that time, he'd based the insights on balance, which helped him harmonize his Life- and Death-attuned branches.

Of course, the breakthrough direction wasn't because of the Limited Trial. It was the natural conclusion to years of studying balance and duality for his blueprint...

Chapter 1,089.

Zac gasped as he found himself back in his body, his mind a confused mess. Witnessing the monstrous power contained within Eoz's body was almost enough to destroy his mind. The Draugr Progenitor's hand, especially, beggared comprehension. It was like a corner of the Heavens taken physical form, holding the limits of Dao. Its splendor had pushed everything aside, subverting reality and bending it to his will.

The scene itself wasn't the only thing that left him reeling. It had felt too r...

Chapter 1,088.

Zac guessed he shouldn't have been surprised that the truths of the Abyssal Lake could become nourishment for his original bloodline, even if his cells rarely competed for the energy entering his body. The Abyssal Lake held a unique approach to the Dao of Death that seemed to go beyond his understanding of Dao. Zac wouldn't even be surprised if the Void of Death could be found in the lake's depth, where its Dao of Death reached the extremity.

So what should he do? Let alone awakening mu...

Chapter 1,087.

The call of the Abyss overwhelmed all thoughts and impressions for a moment, and Zac's eyes were glued to the distant black spot in the ground. It took him a couple of seconds to recover, at which point he finally took in the rest of the scene.

The subterranean cave the portal at the bottom of the Deepmist Lake led them to was just under a mile across, yet the pond in the distance was no more than a few dozen meters wide. The rest was occupied by a massive array surrounding the abyssal ...

Chapter 1,086.

A gentle chime indicated it was about time, and Zac slowly opened his eyes. The medicinal haze around him was incredibly dense, having found nothing to fix since yesterday and left accumulating inside the sacred tree.

He was ready.

The work on his Pathways finished two days ago. The general circuit was fully upgraded already, both as Human and Draugr. Most cultivators wouldn't believe their ears upon hearing a Mortal finishing everything in under a week. Then again, Zac wasn't a M...

Chapter 1,085.

The box in Zac's hands held a golden array flag rippling with Temporal Energy. Just holding it exacerbated his disconnect with the River of Time, and he quickly backed away after placing it some distance away. A powerful suction soon dragged vast amounts of ambient energy toward the Array Flag, and a shimmering sphere five meters wide soon became visible.

It was a Temporal Chamber he'd just bought from the closest Limited Exchange, this one a two-year version costing 35,000 Merit. Since...

Chapter 1,084.

Similar preparations like those for Alea were quickly arranged, and Zac stepped onto another private island at the archipelago's edge. It was one of the few pure Life-attuned hotspots that had yet been turned into spiritual farms, reserved for his private use. Zac installed the [Primordial Awakening Array] inside the valley at the island's heart before taking out the mounds of treasure he'd prepared.

The refined bones he'd gotten from Kruta were one of the core items, a...

DotF Summer Schedule

Alas, not a Sunday chappy ;)

Instead, a quick update on the release schedule for this summer. Overall, it's the same as previous summers, where I take a break in August (which means no Patreon Charges).

One change is that this year, I'll be at Dragoncon (barring force majeure, unbearable heatwaves, or social anxiety), so there won't be any chapters the first week of September. Perhaps I'll see some of you guys there.

Anyway, here's the schedule:

June: ...

Chapter 1,083.

It had been years since Zac met Rhubat in person. Decades, if Zac included his time in the Temporal Chambers. Zac had been busy with his cultivation, while Rhubat had immediately rushed back to the hives after returning with Ogras. They'd been so eager to discuss their recent findings with the other Anointed that Zac only managed to exchange brief messages before he set off to the Perennial Vastness. A meeting was long overdue.

"Warchief, you asked for me?" Rhubat said.

"I did," Z...