After recovering from the blast, picking himself up from the ground where he had lain, Sam looked up to see a crystal orb falling from where Garev had been. A few other artifacts of the D Ranker remained, his fist wraps fluttering down towards Sam. Despite being only made out of cloth, they were incredibly durable, able to withstand the strength of their previous wielder.
A quick usage of his Authority brought the two items to him. Sam scanned the orb first, already having a bit of an inkling as to what it was.
Spatial Gate Orb
D Rank Magical Item
This orb contains a present bank of Darkness elemental energy, wrapped up in an array that directs it towards spatial travel. Up to five destinations can be encoded into the array. The orb has enough power to last for twenty five jumps before falling apart. As a compromise for this limitation, it may be used to teleport through dimensions as well as space. Every additional dimension jumped through will require double the charges as the previous
Charges Remaining: 7/25
Stored Destinations:5/5
Ozeri Clan Holdings
The Craglands
Loam Outpost 73
Shivra’s Sea
Paphos Antechamber
Warning!
The previous owner of this item has cursed it to start decaying after his defeat. Each of the destinations will be removed one by one as the device degrades, moving in order down the list. This will occur every five minutes.
It was a very useful item, though Sam wasn’t sure what most of the destinations were. The first was obvious enough, and likely where he needed to go to continue his mission. Time was of the essence, given the inexorable destruction of the orb. The fact that Garev had been using a device like this to transport himself through the dungeon meant that there were probably multiple layers of reality. Otherwise, D Rank speed would have been sufficient within a D Rank dungeon.
Sam scanned the fist wraps right after, wondering if they would make a good weapon for Jacob.
Brutal Tapestry
D Rank Artifact(Fist)
Brutal Tapestry is a weapon made for a single man. Garev Ozeri of the Ozeri Clan, the very artist whose tapestry is made not from thread, but from the blood of his enemies. Every kill adds a trophy to the weapon, increasing the user’s stats relative to their enemy’s total power. Only the deaths of enemies up to twenty five below the level of the wielder will be counted, and kills made while the wielder was at a lower level will not count towards the total. Attempting to wield Brutal Tapestry while using another weapon will result in severe negative consequences for both you and the world around you.
Active Kills: 73,456
+7346 to all stats(not affected by multipliers)
Sam was almost tempted to put on the fist wrappings himself, but it would mean giving up Worldbreaker. While the stat bonus was immense, Sam was strong enough that it wouldn’t mean as much as the versatility and raw power that Worldbreaker brought. Who cared about a few thousand more points in strength when you could bring a metal mountain down on your enemies instead? Weapons all had different purposes, and while Sam could potentially use Brutal Tapestry, it didn’t fit his fighting style.
Sam tucked the fist wrappings away in his storage device, remembering to give them to Jacob at the first opportunity he got.
With that, he held the Spatial Gate Orb and selected the Ozeri Clan Holdings. If Garev had been the strongest person in his clan, Sam had no worries about facing off against the rest. Going by Garev’s attitude, he would likely have to.
An odd sensation of weightlessness overtook Sam, before space bent and tore him through reality. Blinking, Sam found himself standing in the middle of an ostentatious bedroom. A four poster bed was propped up against the wall, while the rest of the room was filled with trophies from battle. Pieces of armor, weapons, even a few heads were placed with care on small stands. The floor beneath his feet was covered in a thick velvet carpet.
A blaring alarm sounded constantly, followed by a robotic message. “Patriarch Garev has fallen! Prepare for the defence of clan holdings!”
A small whimper came from the bed, and Sam looked over to see a woman sitting there, the sheets bunched up around her. Judging by her flaming red cheeks, she had been with Garev for some… pre-battle entertainment.
“You can leave,” Sam said with a sigh. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
The woman was only an F Ranker, no doubt forced to be there by the far more powerful Garev.
When she didn’t move, Sam realized that she didn't have any clothes to wear. He snapped his fingers and some nondescript pants and a shirt dropped onto the bed. Sam turned around and waited for her to change, focusing his Authority away.
A few moments later, the woman raced past Sam, pushing open the door and vanishing.
Sam shook his head and followed her out, waiting a few seconds so that she was out of sight. After killing the Ozeri Patriarch, Sam had no doubt that the clan members would be baying for his blood. He had no wish to bring an innocent into it.
Every step on the tiled floor rang out crisp and clear as Sam walked down it. The walls were covered in tapestries depicting Garev’s exploits. The few spaces not monopolized by his arrogance were taken up by pictures of his children. There was even one of Alana.
Sam let his Authority sweep out, feeling around for enemies. While higher level cultivators could overpower his Authority with brute force, that didn't really matter. The only thing holding Sam’s Authority back was his low level. It would have been much more powerful if his level had actually matched his strength.
Immediately, he felt a few dozen D Rankers, all of whom were between Alana and Garev’s levels. The five strongest were all around level 370, just below what Garev himself had been.
Sam felt their Authorities come online as soon as they detected him. He felt his own Authority being forced back to his skin, but he didn’t let the sensation bother him. Well, not that much. Sam let loose with a full power blast of his aura, wanting to instill a bit of fear in his foes before he met them.
A rippling wave of rainbow energy expanded in every direction, cracking the walls and floor. Sam blinked at the effect. He hadn’t been expecting his aura to be that potent. It wasn’t a skill he often used as it was only really useful against much weaker opponents.
Sam’s aura had changed a lot as he progressed. Initially it had been patterned after his Daos, but after reaching D Rank, it took after his Dao Heritage to a much higher extent.
The wall in front of Sam caved in a split second later, a fist hurtling his way. Given that it was coming from one of the weaker D Ranker’s he had sensed, Sam simply blurred forwards and obliterated the warrior’s head with a single Dao infused punch. Then he tossed the body up through the ceiling, the detonation of the Dao Core exposing the sky above.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Sam rose out of the building, wanting some more space to fight. He didn’t want to end up wiping out every non combatant within the nearest hundred miles by accident. He floated above a vast city, layered into the side of an entire mountain range. Each mountain had a different colored symbol floating in the air high above them, and a different color scheme of buildings. The one Sam floated over had an intricate calligraphic glyph above it, that while in another language, could easily be translated. Sam was almost disappointed that all it turned out to say was ‘Ozeri’.
Like ants rushing to a kicked anthill, all of the defenders of the Ozeri clan rose out of the clan building and into the sky. Three women glared at Sam with such hatred that he could almost feel a burning sensation where their gazes landed.
“I assume you three were involved with Garev in some way?” Sam asked, raising an eyebrow. “Though, judging by what I just saw in his room, he isn’t worth the effort. Or rather, wasn’t.”
“You will suffer for what you did to our husband,” one woman said, bunching her hands into fists. Thorns started to grow out of her knuckles. “I will skin you alive and then grow my vines throughout you. I will leave just enough of your sanity remaining to beg for death, but never reach it. As your flesh droops from your body and your raw flesh screams at the touch of the air, I will be there.”
“Yikes,” Sam said, wincing. “That’s descriptive. Pity it’s never going to happen.”
With an incoherent scream, the plant mage thrust her hand forward. A tree formed out of thin air, growing out into a spear of sharpened wood and surrounded by thrashing vines. Sam blocked it with his hammer, letting the momentum carry him further up into the air. When he made his move, he wanted as much empty space between him and the ground as possible.
The tree petered out, flaking away into ash as the energy infused into it ran out. Sam waited behind it with his hammer ready, and as the tree vanished, he swung it three times in quick succession. Blades of Dao energy peeled off the end, slicing towards the group of cultivators below.
Sam opened a portal and appeared amongst them, hammer flashing out to claim lives. The three energy blades hit as he arrived, passing through the air around him to cover his blind spots. Almost twenty cultivators died in a single second, falling to the ground like crimson rain.
The plant mage attacked again, this time aided by Garev’s other wives. Coils of liquid flame and darkness curled around the next tree spear, raising it a few notches in Sam’s estimation. This time, instead of blocking, he evaded it with a quick teleport. Had he been facing off against more competent or put together opponents, space would already have been locked down. Sam’s mobility was an asset that would help him win this battle more easily than he normally could.
The tree raced past, streaking off into the atmosphere. Sam flew down along its length, heading towards Garev’s wives.
It was only then that the strongest enemy cultivators stepped in, having waited to see what Sam could do. Space froze as their Daos worked together in sync to prevent Sam teleporting. He didn’t let that affect him, continuing to fly towards his targets.
A shield of vines rose up in front of the women, but Sam just plowed through with his hammer, the concentrated energy surrounding it crisping and blackening the wood. He forced his way through, but the women were nowhere to be found. They had teleported away in the confusion.
Instead, Sam found himself facing three warriors in glowing suits of armor, wielding swords and shields. They threw themselves at him in unison, bellowing out war cries. Their swords crossed at the same time and the magnitude of their assault grew exponentially in a split second. A massive wave of cutting force swept out and washed Sam away, sending him tumbling through the heavens.
His hammer bowed beneath the force as he blocked, but the weapon held together well enough. It was near the peak of what was possible for a D Rank weapon, and would hold strong against much stronger attacks than that.
Sam himself was struck by some of the blow back from the strike, lacerations forming across his chest. None of them were especially concerning, however, and even the deepest one regrew in moments.
Having gathered enough Karmic energy to properly use his skills, Sam flew back towards the battlefield, Worldbreaker swinging in with all the force he could muster. A haze of red light formed around the hammer as it expanded, growing until it was almost a mile long. It was a bit harder to wield than normal, given that Sam’s Authority was limited, but still within the boundaries of his strength and Dao. Worldbreaker always had the same weight, no matter how large it was, and the only difference between its normal and expanded forms was that the latter had a different center of gravity.
Using it for descending or sweeping movements, as Sam was fond of doing, used this perfectly. Besides, there wasn’t any close quarters situation in which he would be able to use the hammer’s larger form.
Worldbreaker sailed through the skies like a dreadnought, whipping around so quickly that the air before it caught fire, unable to move out of the way in time. Sam sent a pulse of energy from his Dao Seed through the weapon, speeding it up just enough to throw off the preparations of his enemies.
Some were able to teleport away in time, but others were splattered like bugs on a windshield as Worldbreaker proved to be just as good at breaking bodies as well. When the hammer had passed all the way through the enemy formation, Sam retracted it, watching as small clouds of blood mist floated down towards the ground.
In one strike, over half of the enemies had died, leaving only the true threats.
“Well?” Sam asked. “Are you going to keep throwing yourselves at me in vain?”
“We will fight until we avenge our Patriarch,” one of the sword and shield users spat. “I am his son Brakus, and my life will be dedicated to avenging him!”
Sam raised an eyebrow at Brakus. “How do you think you’re going to do that when even your father couldn’t do the job?”
Instead of answering, Brakus pointed his sword at Sam and started channeling elemental energy into it. A swirling tornado of wind and lightning began to ground around the end of the weapon, a lance of lightning growing within it like a cannonball within a cannon.
Brakus’ eyes glistened with electricity as he leveled the sword at Sam, releasing the spear. The sharp tang of ozone clawed at Sam’s nostrils as the spear sped towards him, moving faster than any normal lightning bolt.
Sam stood his ground and held Worldbreaker in front of himself, surrounding the hammer with a shield of power. The lightning bolt crashed down, but Sam only was pushed back a few feet, most of the impact absorbed with his hammer.
Using his Dao Sapling, Sam tugged upon the strings of Karma and redirected the electricity around his hammer. He swung it in a tight arc, sending the electric blast back at Brakus.
The other two sons of Garev slammed their shields together and a ghostly barrier snapped into place before them and Brakus. The redirected lightning slithered over the shimmering plane of energy, but eventually petered out, having little effect.
Sam wasted no time, using his speed to the utmost to reach Brakus and his brothers in time to catch them unawares. Worldbreaker shattered the barrier and crashed into Brakus’, denting his metallic armor. The damage wasn’t all that impressive, but as Sam raised Worldbreaker, this time charging it with as much power as he could, he could tell that things would be different.
The other two warriors moved in, swinging their swords at Sam. He was forced to block, flying back from the force. Right before impact, the swords had pulsed with light, hinting at the usage of a skill. Sam hadn’t taken all that much damage, but the redirection was annoying.
The other combatants were more cautious than Brakus and his brothers, attacking from range. Only Garev’s wives were any sort of threat, though, most of the other cultivators too weak to contribute much to the battle. Their attacks bounced off of Sam’s skin in some cases, or did so little damage that the regeneration was instant.
Sam moved back into the fray, hammer swinging in like an anvil on a stick. Brakus met the attack with a full power swing of his sword, a nova of light exploding out from the weapon as he did so. Sam pushed back with his own Dao and the two armaments froze midair, a few inches apart.
Brakus’ brothers moved in, and Garev’s wives made their play, coordinating their strikes. Sam merely smiled, and whispered their death knell. “Descent…. Of the Heavenly Judge.”
Sam, empowered by his adversarial nature against the Ozeri Clan, manifested a titanic amount of Dao Energy. The world of Karma shuddered as Sam channeled his will through it, homing bolts of light speeding off towards their targets.
The world lit up with the fires of vengeance as the bolts hit home, bypassing anything the targets tried to do to avoid them. Brakus and his brothers’ shields were useless, as insubstantial as paper before the Karmic blasts. The three mage women summoned elemental shields, but those too were useless. While Garev had been strong enough to stand against Sam’s abilities, Karmic powers were extremely difficult to fully counteract. With Sam being much more powerful than anyone here on an individual level, none of them could do much.
The weaker fighters died instantly, their bodies barely blunting the damage from Sam’s technique. Clouds of flame tore across the sky for dozens of miles in every direction, spilling out from the impact points.
Sam floated forwards, still feeling a few vital signatures. Brakus, one of his brothers and the plant mage were still alive. The latter was barely hanging on, seemingly having repaired large portions of her body with plant matter. Brakus was the only one to have done reasonably well, only missing his right arm. To a D Ranker, that meant little. It was a pity that his arm wasn’t the only thing he would lose in this fight.
