Return of the Tower Conqueror

Chapter 380: When the Star Fell (X)

Chapter 380

When the Star Fell (X)

Cain felt the burst of energy barely miss him as he hurriedly blinked away. The barely-visible spectrum exploded several miles behind him, though he still felt the energy whack in his back and push him forward a few feet. He appeared ragged and tired, his hair disheveled, clothes torn in several places, reddish hue of blood visible here and there.

He had been fighting for a long timeso long, in fact, that he had lost the track of hours, and even days. It had been days, at least, if not weeks at this point. He had forgotten how sensationally exhausting and demanding long brawls were, and if this was anything, it was a very long brawl.

He rarely went on an offensive, and mostly just stayed back and conserved his Mana while delicately probing and prodding the invaders. Figuring out their potential weaknesses and such would go a long way to helping them with a ground battle, but it was not going all that well. Only on the first day did anyone leave a ship and try fighting him directlyafter that, they mostly used ships as conduits for all manner and kind of magic.

It wasnt particularly unique, however, even if it was diverse. Hed seen it all in the Tower prior, and it was clear that the ships were stocked with Mages and similar classes that were channeling their Mana and spells through some items that likely enhanced the overall prowess of a spell. Even he would run dry of Mana if he tried to match just one ships output spell-for-spell, which likely meant that there were a lot of Mages fighting in cycles.

In the few offensive moves he made, he found that it wasnt just Mages and Mage-like classes. Rather than using the ships defenses, they deployed standard shields of many tanker classes, diffusing and deflecting his attacks. This meant that they likely had a proper force, outfitted for a full-scale raid battle. As such, theyd also have to treat it as a raid battle.

The difficulty was that, despite being the host, Earth would be outnumbered, easily. Not in the number of soldiers, so to say, but in the number of those who wouldnt simply die at the mere Mana fluctuations. At best, there were about a few hundred spread throughout all seven Towers that could somewhat withstand and be about while the fight was happening.

The only reason they could close the gap even remotely and had a chance of victory was him, Quinn, and the twins. From what he felt, the armada in front of him hosted three thrice-Awakened in total, just like they had. Those three could be held back by Quinn and the twins, while he could work to support the rest. Alternatively, he could stand his ground against the three and have Quinn and the twins support, but their classes hardly lent themselves to such a task.

On the other hand, they seemed to barely have any once-Awakened, with the vast majority of their force being made up of the twice-Awakened. This was a massive issue as, even if the gap wasnt exactly insurmountable, it was a gulf that only a few could cross. His hope was that the twins and Quinn could dispatch their foes quickly and come assist. Otherwise, he might have to go nuclearand hed rather avoid doing so for the time being if at all possible.

Shuffling to the side once again, he dodged yet another attack and retaliated by instinct, though they have gotten into a strange rhythm where it was clear that they were trying to exhaust his Mana reserves. In truth, they would never be able to, not at this pace, anyway. Cains Mana regeneration was absurd, not just for his level but in general, and drying him out like a well was a project only few were fit to even attempt.

He would never give it away, thoughhe had consciously started adding longer timers between casting spells as to simulate the Mana depletion concerns. His biggest worry was his psychethough he was vastly strong, there were still many limitations to his physicality. He still needed to sleep from time to time, not to mention eat and drinkespecially after spending himself being concentrated every hour of every day for weeks, potentially.

As such, the trek and struggle continued. Hours ticked on by without any awareness. Time, for Cain, was an abstract in many ways. Having spent a regurgitated infinity within nothingness, spending even a few months fighting would feel like a blink if he simply adjusted himself. But, similarly, he couldnt do it. He had to pretend to be simply an advanced, extremely talented Conqueror defending his world. He couldnt give away more than he already didthat was exactly the point of this probing.

If their intent was to truly steamroll through, they would have long since attacked with all the ships and obliterated him. He would only be able dodge and run away if he didnt want to reveal who he truly was. But they didnt. They were still probing, trying to find his bottom line, and he was feeding them static, bit by bit. Crudely edging, in a way, but never quite letting them see the end of the tunnel.

It would have to end eventually, that much he knewand that eventually came some ten days later, when he noticed that they became much more hyper than before. Their attacks came quicker and quicker, with fewer breaks, and were much more concentratedusually at least three-four ships working in concert to fire off a barrage at him.

Though he could defend credibly, he began to slowly give way to the skills, letting himself be pushed back here and there, as to appear like he was struggling. In a way, he actually was. He had to be extremely careful as a slip-up could cost him dearly. After all, the attacks were all extremely high-level and would be deadly to everyone but him, Quinn, and the twins.

It turned into a dance, soon enough, or like a rhythmic game: hed duck and dodge and dip in specific moments, and it felt like they would attack in the same patterns. But, those patterns began to change and shuffle and speed up, and he had to adjust accordingly.

Sweat soon began to pour down his face as he struggled to maintain and equilibrium. For every spell he used, they used twoand they werent giving him much breathing room at all to figure out his next move. They were pressing him and waiting for him to make a mistake. Cain never would, but he had to.

He bought as much time as he physically could without revealing himself. Going any further was unwise as he would risk a major injuryor worse, exposing himself by instinct in the moment of grave danger. Even he, mighty though he may be, was unable to entirely cull humans primal instincts, especially during the key points of danger and alarm.

Letting one of the attacks scratch his side, he forced himself into a spiral and extended it into a free fall. Turning around, he did a quick scan of the landmass and noticed there was something offin the middle of Pacific there was a mini continent that shouldnt be there. Comparatively, it was a fairly large landmass, seemingly as large as the entire Eastern coast and then some, and the closer he looked, the more he realized thats where he was supposed to go.

The land was mostly flat and entirely barren, neither a river nor a tree to be found, but there were decked out spell systems that he only recognized because he knew Quinns Mana signature. It was her work, no doubt and, like he was an airplane and that patch of land his landing strip, he headed toward it without any hesitation, intending to crash there and lure the invaders in.

He only hoped that the plan was progressing smoothlythat everyone had undergone the cleansing, and that Quinn managed to gather as many people as possible that ought to be able to stay on their feet at least and provide some rear support.

When the next attack landed on him, he began careening down with seemingly no control over himself, jetting through the atmosphere en-route to the island in the middle of the Pacific. The closer the got, the more he realized what the general plan wasit was a prayer, effectively, that the invaders wouldnt just employ wide-net and would instead focus on the island with the intent of wiping them out. Most of the defenses were designed to keep those to land near within the proximity, though Cain had no doubt that hed have to fly around frequently in case they deployed invading forces elsewhere.

He sighed, realizing he wouldnt yet get to rest. For how long, he had no answerbut it wouldnt be short, that much, at least, he knew.