Return of the Tower Conqueror

  Empire Engulfed (VII)

Q'tels were lizard-bodied, long and scale-skinned, yet erect on all four like hounds; they had ruby-red eyes and squared snouts above wide and hairy maw that gaped nearly a whole foot at its widest, allowing them to nearly swallow people whole. They varied in size, from two-three feet long to some extending as far as ten feet, and the King-tiered ones having the ability both to contract themselves to the size of an ant and expand up to thirty feet in length, making them one of the largest species of the underground world.

Though Cain had never been here, he had encountered Q'tels in almost every other underground setting, from the Canals of Edynor, Maesuul Labyrinth, to Enshrined Caves. Individually, Q'tels were fairly weak, so much so that even recently-classified Conquerors would have no trouble killing them. However, they weren't 'individualistic species', so to say, but instead a massive hive-mind; bolstered by either a King or a Queen, usually the latter, their numbers could swell in hundreds of thousands within months if left unchecked.

However, hunting them down is usually more trouble than it's worth, which is the reason why most places usually just take the 'seasonal invasion' instead. Every year, since their insane growth was simply unsustainable, Q'tels would invade any nearby settlement either for its resources, or simply to cull their own numbers if nothing else.

Seeing the horizon swell, Cain felt a wave of nostalgia wash over him; this would be far from his first time participating in the defense against Q'tels hordes. Rather, he'd often go out of his way to find places that had the chance for this kind of the 'event' since they were one of the easiest sources of XP and low to mid-tier materials. While there was always the chance of getting overwhelmed by the numbers, it happened rarely, and it wasn't all that difficult to escape by himself.

Thinking back, creatures like Q'tels and the events like the invasion were akin to 'gifts' from the Tower -- if it were a game, they'd be like occasional XP boosts to all activities with increased drop rate of items. This was also the reason nobody standing either on the ramparts or in front of the wall seemed perturbed.

The difficulty of the quest wasn't because of Q'tels, but because other people competing to see who gets the most kills. In reality, a good number of quests, especially those shared across the masses, were like this. Cain recalled the specific one for a moment, dull and dark memories swelling; 'Capture Escaped Prisoner G'lsha' was a quest that shook the 17th floor of the Tower right around the time Cain was preparing to move on.

Everyone received it and considering that the rewards were truly remarkable, everyone on the floor immediately rushed out. In total there were nearly 90,000 people competing altogether for the quest reward. And though Gl'sha was a fairly powerful foe, he was a joke against the ocean; he was found within less than 30 minutes, and killed within less than 32. Of nearly 90,000 that 'participated' in the quest, only 78 ever saw G'lsha, only 16 interacted with him at all, and only 2 got any sort of rewards from him.

There were no threats to anyone's lives throughout the entire 'quest', yet many classified it immediately as one of the most difficult quests on 'individual basis' since the competition was so massive -- essentially, it meant that individual strength was irrelevant, and whether one succeeded in the quest or not was entirely because of luck.

Cain had almost forgotten these types of quests as most of the ones he and his party faced were... well, insane, really. Sighing, he looked around at the excited masses before dipping out; there was no need for him to compete for the number of kills, especially now that he'd 'sided' with Princess Anna. The only reason he wanted to fight was to test his Skills -- and there certainly wasn't a need to do that in front of everyone.

He used 'Camouflage' skill immediately, an off-shoot of Assassin's 'Stealth', blending in with the surroundings and leaving the bordered region. The curvy flatland and the decorative, sky-upholding pillars expanded in front of him as he made his way past the vanguard and over toward the horizon where Q'tels were still gathering. By now, their numbers had easily trumped a few tens of thousands, though it was just a beginning. Usually, Q'tels numbers would have to reach millions before they were dispatched into an invasion, and the 'cull rate' was usually anywhere between 70 to 80%.

Cain's plan was to sneak past the front and edge from the rear, killing a few thousand while testing out his Skills and the general combat prowess. His strength, then, wouldn't be openly exposed, and though the quest would be considered a failure, rewards that he could gain from it mostly stemmed from the XP he'd get by killing Q'tels anyway, making it an easy decision.

By now, he'd completely shafted the idea of becoming a stationary turret when it came to fight; not only was it not the most efficient way to fight, it was also mindbogglingly boring. And, perhaps even more importantly, he had no doubts that he'd eventually be tasked with another 'duel boss fight' due to being a Time Thief. If all he could do was stand still and shoot stuff, there was no way he'd be able to defeat anything.

It wasn't difficult to sneak past the front of Q'tels' army; after all, even with his quasi-stealth, it was still leagues above anything the creatures could perceive. Perhaps, only a King-tiered Q'tel would be able to see him, but there was no way someone like that would actually participate in the invasion. It was usually the weakest or the oldest members that were sent out to die.

Standing at the back, Cain stared at the massive sea of creatures surrounded by brown dirt and massive pillars that went on for miles upward, upholding the world. Everything and everyone seemed incomparably small inside this 'cave'; in many ways, it's even worse than the outside, as in broad daylight it was possible to see most of the summits -- here, however, the pillars simply branched into darkness past the certain point, making it impossible to see them from top to bottom.

There was slight movement in the massive army, snapping him out of his daze; the first few rows broke off and began their final march. In the distance, he could hear the drums limping out into the world, warning and ordering. This wasn't the only origin of attack, naturally -- there were 9 points as far as Cain knew, each attacked by roughly the same numbers. Well, I should see how far I can push it...

Smiling faintly, he undid the camouflage, appearing seemingly out of nowhere at the rear of the Q'tels army. He was quickly noticed, several hundreds of heads snapping backward, the ruby-red eyes gleaming at him with malice and hostility. Grinning, he ushered Mana through his veins and ascended, wings of flickering flames appearing on his back, spreading out until they were fifteen feet long each. From above, holistic circles began appearing around them, conferred in rainbow-spectrum colors. He glanced at his Mana, noting the abrupt 35% drop that quickly began to recover.

Ushering with his hands, he began to avoid the long-range attacks in the shape of quills and acidic breaths while commanding the circles to rotate and spit out massive, infernal fists that bore into the world below. Each fist left behind a forty-by-forty crater at least, and dozens of dead, charred corpses within, rocking the world around and setting it ablaze.

The horizon lit up as though the sun itself had appeared, fires bellowing out into the world. Cain dipped downward and landed, withdrawing the wings of fire as he slammed his fist into the ground below. Space ruptured and opened up a massive hole in front of him just as he swung his other arm in a wide arc in front of him. A mere moment later, above the upcoming surge of Q'tels numbering hundreds that was trying to encircle him, world opened up like a slit of the eye, spitting out spears of earth and dirt, each encased in a solid layer of fire that easily pierced through the Q'tels' soft skulls.

Cries of anguish began to sing the lullaby as fires began to rage further; Cain began using his omnidirectional teleportation, dipping left, right, back, forward, up and down at will, easily evading being encircled, while continuing his testing. After nearly a dozen failed attempts, and good 3000 wasted Mana, a quasi 'mind control' skill finally succeeded, creating a thin veil within a small space; every Q'tel that passed through fell momentarily confused and began attacking the allies. This, in turn, created even more confusion until the entire battlefield turned purely chaotic.

By now, those near the Kingdom's borders noticed something was wrong -- they'd already easily beaten back the first wave, yet the second one wasn't coming. Instead, the world would quake ever so often and the shockwave-molded winds would sweep through them. Looking in the distance, everything turned hollow for a moment before explosion shattered the barrier of sound, bursting hundreds of eardrums in the process.

Several dozen pillars of fire, half the size of the 'Pillars the Hold the Heavens', surged out of nowhere like tornadoes, burning in the beautiful coral. Around them, the surging winds carried tens of thousands of charred corpses and began tossing them outwardly as the pillars settled and vanished some few seconds later.

A mere moment later, it began to rain corpses, black and still smoking, everywhere, prompting a temporary bout of panic.

Standing on top of ramparts, still disguised, Sebas, Mina, and Anna stared at the distant flames and sighed. They recognized them -- rather easily at that -- and realized... they'd 'picked up' someone beyond dangerous. Yet, it was too late to part ways. If anything, the fact that he was this strong... was reinvigorating. There was a chance, Anna believed -- a chance that the Kingdom might truly be born anew beneath his hooves.

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