The Bloodless Legend: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Kai finished following the trail after a few hours, absorbing crystals along the way. He’d reined in his temper to a gentle simmer. He lay nestled in the underbrush, hidden amongst leaves and the smell of pine, overlooking a heavily fortified encampment embedded into a mountain range, carved from the disembowelled woodlands surrounding it.

A large waterfall cascaded down the mountain, and from the evening sky he saw a familiar river of azure and golden aura flow into the mountain. Is this an incursion point?

Staring at the waterfall short-circuited his other thoughts, neurons in his brain sparked to life as if bolts of lightning had struck them and he remembered the last details of the technique he’d used to crush the root fiends.

He closed his eyes with a smile to contemplate and consolidate the insights for a moment, glad to have a breakthrough without almost dying for once.

His mind drifted to a memory of the lush waterfall back home. After some warm-up exercises and a greeting of respect to the powerful waterfall, he would first spray himself with water from its base pool as an act of purification. Then came the act of bravery, where he would attempt to stand beneath the thunderous cascade of water.

Kai grinned at how he’d initially had the help of a stick to keep himself upright. When he’d lasted more than a minute, he was no longer a novice and his beloved stick had been replaced with a teacup. That had been truly difficult, but after he’d mastered that he moved onto striking down with the flow of water and striking upwards, against the flow of water. Pondering it further he drew parallels to pressure and gravity and consolidated his insights. This would be the dual form of Waterfall Smash, and Reverse Waterfall Smash.

There was a sparkle in his eyes as he opened them and gazed upon the waterfall and the encampment with renewed vigour.

Congratulations, your struggle for supremacy has yielded results!

You have glimpsed the fathomless deep, and understand a fraction of hydrokinetic combat.

You have created an aura trait!

Waterfall Smash (Flawed): Strike with an endless torrent of force and weight using bone and muscle as conduits.

Kai contemplated that his lessons from the waterfall challenge had been more than just physical. There was risk involved while you were out in the elements and the amount of water fluctuated from rains. You could slip and fall — which he remembered doing frequently. Above all you had to endure your time spent under the waterfall, which had developed his mental toughness by allowing him to learn to accept and understand the flow of things and keep a strong positive attitude about difficult situations.

Kai returned his attention to observing the encampment, its perimeter wall built from sharpened tree logs. He could see a mix of Rakin paw prints, human footprints, and Lizardfolk tails trailing towards the encampment gates. He was no tracking expert, but there were so many it was hard to miss. Why did they take prisoners and how can I possibly get everyone out safely?

Kai looked at Kura. “You know, I’m pretty confident about coming up with a plan in a fight, but outside one — not so much.”

We going die die.

“I don’t want to hear that negativity,” Kai said.

He could practically feel Kura’s eyes rolling through their mental connection.

There was a brief pause before she responded.

Yay yay. We die die!

Kai let out a harumph. “If your evolution makes you more sarcastic…” He shook his head.

He ran through some options. This was primarily a stealth mission; he’d gotten stronger but wasn’t sure he could fight an entire army, let alone take Saurkar in a fight. Her soul had to be at least E-grade. However he could not just wait around either—he thought of his collapsed monastery—he had to do something.

His first idea involved reducing his weight and jumping high enough to see over the rudimentary defences, but that would expose his position. If his senses were high enough, perhaps he could have done it from miles away and still seen all the details.

He considered using the special mushroom, but he might be doomed if he needed it later. He needed to save it in case something went wrong. He also needed to make sure Kura stayed happy so he could withdraw items. The main problem was that he couldn’t just charge in there blindly. Without knowing the layout or how many members of the order of the Infinite Void were inside, he could injure Matt and other survivors.

He waited nervously till two Lizardfolk sentries opened the gate to change shifts and glimpsed some structures and dozens of Lizardfolk milling about or sitting at campfires.

If he did nothing, he would look back on this moment with great regret. He’d rather be glad he tried and failed, then live with himself if he did nothing. Kai formulated a simplistic plan looking at a spear he’d picked up on the trail. He would let them capture him, leading him straight to the captives. Then he could free Matt and the others and get out of here before he was assaulted by an army. His hope was that they wouldn’t expect his palms to be his primary weapons and therefore not realize they could not disarm him. He fidgeted nervously while watching the entrance. This is a stupid plan, Kura’s right, we gonna die die.

Kai shook his head at himself, then made himself look extra scruffy. He wore his fur pants and no shirt—because what was the point—and only a spear, he hoped the search would not be thorough.

He approached the gate and acted the part, begging for food as he meekly approached the guards stationed outside, which wasn’t hard given his haggard appearance.

So far things were going to plan; they had not tried to kill him on the spot and after a brief scuffle disarmed him of his spear and bound his hands. Two Lizardfolk were currently leading him through the encampment, kicking his back and laughing when he feigned stumbling.

The command tent, Kai assumed, was pressed against the mountain towards the back of the encampment. Its appearance was imposing yet luxurious, interwoven with dark wood and red scales. The area in front of the command tent was empty, however dozens of basic tents surrounded it protectively. Are there even more Lizardfolk inside the tents?

What surprised him was that some humans and Vanara were among the Lizardfolk. He wondered if they had intentionally joined the grand order of the Infinite Void, or were coerced? He had no way of knowing. He couldn’t run around asking each one and his vow of mercy felt like a noose tightening around his neck.

They led him to a giant cage made of unknown metal a few hundred feet from the command tent. He smelt the rot and filth of unwashed bodies before he saw them. His escorts shoved him inside the cage like rubbish into a garbage dump.

There were dozens of people, mostly humans, some Rakin, some Vanara and surprisingly, three Lizardfolk. Grubby faces looked at him with glazed eyes before returning to the dirty floor.

Appalled at the conditions, his anger simmered, ready to erupt at both himself and the mistreatment he saw. He calmed himself by digging his fingers into his palms.

Is this what happened to most of humanity? Rounded up on the first day? So my choice in starting location…while deadly…. was the right choice after all…

He’d been thinking about this all wrong. Much like his techniques, he had to fuse old beliefs with his new reality. He glanced at the beads on his wrist. He would not rain down kindness and mercy equally on all. He would judge or show mercy to individuals based on their actions. The answer seemed obvious. Stupidly obvious. He had been so hung up on the exact words of the teaching: to rain kindness and mercy to everyone no matter what.

Kai shared some provisions with everyone while he searched the cage for Matt. A Rakin who recognised Kai revealed Matt had been taken away just before Kai was thrown in. The timing was suspicious. I have a bad feeling about this.

“Do you know why the order of the Infinite Void keeps prisoners?” Kai said.

The Rakin whimpered, “…They train us on low-level monsters then defeat us for vital aura, like we’re farm animals.”

Kai almost threw up. He’d mistaken random cruelty for ruthless practically. He wiped spittle from his mouth; this was so much worse than the slavery he had imagined — they were cattle.

He paced the cage nervously as he revised his plan. He’d just come here with the intent of sneaking Matt and the Rakin out, unaware that this was where some humans had been rounded up. He could not leave everyone here like this — what planet they were from made no difference. He considered bashing through the perimeter walls and telling everyone to escape, but they were weak and would just get hunted down and slaughtered.

If the Lizardfolk were a society that respected strength, perhaps he just needed to defeat their leader — would they listen to him then? He doubted it, but there was a chance.

His thoughts shattered as two guards roughly made their way through the prisoners towards him.

“Lord Saurkar will see you next.”

“Works for me,” Kai mumbled. In response, the guard clapped him over the head, then shoved him towards the command tent.

Let's do this.