Death: Genesis

The forest was still. There were no rustling leaves, no chirping birds or chittering insects. It was entirely silent, but for Zeke’s heavy footsteps. Following a few miles behind was a troop of kobolds and his more capable companions, but the rest of the kobold army remained in the tower. They were ready to respond should the need arise, but Zeke hoped such a need would not come to pass.

For now, he moved alone, and for one simple reason: a single man could move far more quickly than even the most efficient army. On top of that, he could skate by unseen, while his army would surely draw plenty of attention. Already, he’d been forced to skirt large colonies of monsters – a giant anthill, a river full of horned, hippopotamus-like creatures, and a warren of goblins – and he’d managed to avoid a fight each time. If he’d brought his army along, that would not have been possible.

Normally, he’d have welcomed the challenge and opportunity to train his troops. There had been a lot of monsters along the way, and that would have given his army a great boost in levels. However, with how close they were to Imperium territory, stealth – relatively speaking – was far more important than a little kill energy.

He did mark them on his map, though, and once he’d completed his task of destroying the Imperium, he had every intention of revisiting the large colonies of monsters. After all, his success didn’t only depend on his power. The army had proven its usefulness time and time again, and he expected that would remain the case even after he descended the Pit and passed into the next realm.

“You say that like it’ll be a walk in the park,” Eveline said.

“I don’t think that.”

“You literally do,” she pointed out. “I can read your mind, remember?”

“You said you only get impressions of –”

“Oh, don’t be naïve. I know everything you’re thinking. And I can tell that you’re not taking the Pit seriously,” she said. “You really, really should. Most demons who try to descend never make it to the other side. Truly, most never even make it to the Pit at all.”

“What do you mean?” he asked inwardly.

“Hell is not like Heaven.”

“Yeah. I know. I’ve been there.”

“Not like this,” she said. “You visited a lower realm and an isolated portion of Mal’canus. It’s akin to looking around a secluded forest and thinking you know what it’s like in a big city. That is to say that you have no idea what’s in store. Hell has its own culture. A unique society, powerful armies, and plenty of strong figures who would like nothing more than to kill someone like you. And none of them want to allow anyone to descend to the next circle. In a lot of ways, that situation mirrors what you’ve seen here.”

“What do you mean?”

“It means that there are gods in Hell just like there are in Heaven. You have deities like the Sun Goddess and your dwarven druid patron. We have archdemons like Oda and the Devourer. Seven demon nations, each with their own patron,” she explained. “Some are willing to work with the others, but most would just as easily choose to destroy everything.”

“Including me, I assume.”

“Of course,” Eveline said. “You more than most, because you look so…well, you’re obviously not a demon.”

“Half-demon.”

“Technically, maybe. But you didn’t go through what they went through,” she countered. Before Zeke could argue, she went on, “Oh, you went through a bit of torture, and I’m sure it was just terrible. But all the demons on the other side had to endure everything you did and much, much more. They’ll look at you like you’re a tourist.”

“What does that mean?”

“They’ll target you. Test you. And they’ll certainly attempt to destroy you,” she said. “And around the Pit is where you’ll find the most powerful among them. Just getting to the point of descent will tax you like nothing else. By the time you reach the Pit, you’ll have killed enough of them to be a true demon lord.”

Zeke pondered her words. He felt confident in fighting just about any foe – especially with his newfound battle intent, which he still only vaguely understood – but he wasn’t so naïve as to believe that he was invincible. The recent encounter with the Sun Goddess and nearly dying to the necromantic vessel had proven the error in that way of thinking.

“Nearly dying? Ezekiel, you did die. You were just too stubborn to cross over.”

He frowned, but he didn’t dispute her assessment.

Instead, Zeke continued on, passing through the hilly region. He’d left the Muk’ti Plains behind almost a week before, and after crossing a forest, he’d encountered some low foothills that, according to his map, abutted the mountains that acted as a natural barrier for the Imperium’s border.

From what he’d seen, those mountains were infested with high-level monsters that the Radiant Host allowed to exist because they helped guard their borders. Zeke fully expected to be forced to fight his way through, but so long as he didn’t make too much of a ruckus, he would be able to sneak his army – still in the tower – into the Imperium where they would wreak havoc on the Radiant Host.

That was the biggest advantage of the Crimson Tower. With it, he didn’t need to move his army via conventional means. One man could move far more quickly and much more quietly than an army. On top of that, he didn’t need to worry about supply lines stretching out for miles.

Once, Zeke had read that the Romans were capable of maintaining their empire at least in part due to the presence of their extensive system of roads. With them, they could move their armies and supplies efficiently and quickly, which allowed them to respond to any threats extremely rapidly.

Zeke hoped to exploit that same strategy, though to a far more extensive degree. But first, he needed to pass through the foothills, cross the mountains, and get the lay of the land on the other side. So, even as Eveline continued to extoll the virtues – or lack thereof – of demon society, he climbed and descended one hill after another. For miles, he trotted across the landscape, and the days passed, one after another until, a week later, he reached the base of a truly imposing mountain range.

Zeke had never seen the Himalayas back on Earth. Indeed, at the time of his death, he’d never even visited a real mountain in person. But after seeing other mountain ranges both in the Mortal Realm and since ascending to the Eternal Realm, he’d thought he understood the scale of such landmarks.

The range before him skewed that perception, though. It was larger even than the mountains above Min Ferilik, and not by a small degree.

“How high do you think the peak is?” he asked inwardly.

“According to the briefing you barely paid attention to –”

“I was paying attention!”

“You really weren’t, or you would know that the highest peak of this mountain range – which is called the Daggers of Heaven, by the way – is around four-hundred miles high. If I’m reading your memories correctly, then that would put it outside your original planet’s atmosphere,” she said. “Of course, this planet is much larger than that, so the scale is a bit different. There’s also the chance that you remember those lessons incorrectly, in which case, I can’t be blamed for any errors.”

“How in the world do you know all of that? I don’t even remember it,” Zeke said. Indeed, most of his school years were a bit of a blur. He remembered the gist of things, but specifics eluded him.

“You remember it well enough. You’re just incapable of accessing those memories properly. You humans barely use the power of your own minds,” she said. “I know how to, so it’s no great difficulty delving into your memories and acquiring the appropriate information.”

Zeke sighed, then shook his head. “Whatever.”

“Don’t be like that. Humans are just…deficient.”

“Yeah, no – I understood what you were saying.”

“And now you’re angry.”

Zeke didn’t respond. Instead, he started climbing. It quickly became apparent that he was going to need to find a pass if he wanted to expedite the process, so he waited for the others to catch up, then summoned his gate. After that, he sent the rangers – including the Inashi – out to scout a proper path through the mountains.

While they did that, Zeke enjoyed a meal with Adara, followed by some alone time. And after a few hours, he was glad to find that the kobold rangers had been successful. So, armed with a detailed map, he shifted into his titanic form and headed to the designated route.

It was the easiest way through, but that didn’t mean it was without difficulty. Not only was he forced to climb more than one steep cliff, but the pass only cut the journey down by a hundred miles of elevation. That still meant that the way through was like climbing a dozen Mount Everests, but with the added danger of having to battle dangerous monsters along the way.

There were yetis, ice goblins, ice wolves, and a few elementals, but that was only the beginning. There were dozens of other creatures that defied description. Via [Inspect], he had no difficulty identifying them, but the labels were esoteric enough that even that was insufficient.

Regardless, none of them could rightly stand up to Zeke, so he had no issues traversing the mountain range. Or at least that was true right up until he crested a peak and looked down on a snow-covered valley.

“What the hell?”

“I concur,” Eveline said.

Instinctively, Zeke crouched, which was probably an odd sight, given that he was in the form of a thirty-foot-tall metal titan. Yet, as silly as the move might have been, Zeke felt it was warranted, given what he saw in that valley.

There were three creatures down there, which wouldn’t have seemed like bad odds if they all weren’t the size of skyscrapers. The monsters were enormous, composed of sharp rocks, and bipedal. Covered in ice, they all looked like they were moving in slow motion, but Zeke knew that was a trick of perception. The things were just so large that their movements seemed much slower than they really were.

And they were in the middle of a three-way battle that sent enormous shockwaves for miles in every direction. Every couple of seconds, the sound of huge rocks slamming against one another assaulted Zeke’s ears, making it difficult to think, much less hear anything around him.

Otherwise, the entire area was devoid of life, which wasn’t surprising, given the sheer destruction caused by the herculean struggle.

“No,” Eveline said.

“What?”

“Do not go fight them,” she said.

“I…I wasn’t…”

He’d been planning to do just that. With the isolated nature of the area, he could truly let loose without any chance of hurting innocent people. After all, if he’d judged it correctly, he was currently more than a hundred miles above sea level, so the chances of there being a settlement nearby were pretty slim.

“Those things will squish you!” Eveline shouted in his mind.

“Probably not. I’m pretty durable.”

“It’ll be just like the necromantic vessel.”

Zeke had reason to believe otherwise. After all, those things down there were clearly attuned to earth mana. Maybe ice, too, but definitely the former. And so was he, which he expected would give him an advantage. And besides, if he didn’t tempt death from time to time, there was no chance he was going to advance enough to descend into the Pit. He needed to keep pushing forward.

“That’s not how most people do it!” Eveline insisted. “They don’t go around challenging mountain-sized monsters to a fight, and if they did, they wouldn’t do so alone! This is suicidal, Ezekiel. Do you have a death wish? Didn’t the last time teach you that you’re not immortal?”

The stress in her voice – mental though it was – raised some alarms in Zeke’s mind. Suddenly, he realized how frightening his experience with the necromantic must have been for her. Had she briefly died as well? Or had she simply been put in limbo? Or worse?

“I’ve been a bad friend, haven’t I?” he asked. “Do you want to –”

“No, I don’t want to talk about my feelings! I just don’t want you to pick a fight with a trio of walking mountains!”

“Oh. Well, I’m still gonna.”

“Of course you are,” she muttered.

“I’ll be careful. Ish.”

“That is extremely reassuring.”

“I thought so.”

“Ugh. You’re so…just ugh.”

“Very articulate. Any advice? You know about fighting walking mountains?” Zeke asked.

“Don’t get squished.”

Zeke sighed. “Fine. Be that way. Good talk.”

Then, without further conversation, he leaped from his perch, slid down the corresponding slope, and launched himself at the closest creature. Just before he reached the thing, he used [Inspect]:

Mountain Elemental – Level 100

“Oh. This might have been a mistake,” he breathed before he reached his destination.