Tower of Heaven

Atlas smiled as he stood atop a nearby tree branch and hid.

'I expected it to work, but I was not expecting it to work this well.'

The guards didn't get put to sleep because of his powder. His alchemy skill wasn't enough for him to make it well enough for it to work that well.

However, their drowsiness dropped their perception enough for him to make his way through unseen.

Now that he was here, the real struggle began.

'They said there are hundreds of enemies here. How do I make my way to the Celestial Ladder without alerting them?'

He was not an assassin, or anything close to one.

His skills were never meant to be used in a covert fashion.

'If I attempt to act in that manner, I will make a mistake and be found without a doubt. The best strategy is to cause a commotion.'

He needed to redirect their attention elsewhere and clear a way for himself.

However, the first step was to survey the environment and find that path. He also needed to understand his enemy better if he didn't want to be surprised by anything out of his comfort zone.

If there was one positive, it was that all the guards were on the ground. The tree layer was empty for Atlas to use as both cover and footing as he moved around, and as long as he kept his steps light, he was able to cross the majority of the forest without a problem.

'Their preparation is an annoyance.'

Heaven's Gate was ready for him.

Originally, there were no gaps in this forest, but now…?

The area roughly 100 feet around the Celestial Ladder was cleared out of anything, including trees and cover.

'As I was informed, there are roughly 200 cultivators in the forest. Among them, at least fifty are Earth Sages, while the rest can be easily handled.'

Atlas couldn't fight an Earth Sage.

Fighting across realms was his end goal, which was why he was laying such a solid foundation, however, the difference between the Warrior Realms and Sage Realms was too vast.

After all, Earth Sage was the first real stage of cultivation. The benefits of ascending to that level were plenty.

'Alright. I should be mostly prepared.'

He could definitely do more, but too much preparation would do him more harm than good.

If he was too reliant on a strategy, he'd lose his ability to adapt when that strategy fell through.

'Shall we start moving?'

He left the periphery of the Celestial Ladder and arrived closer to the checkpoint.

It was time to cause some mayhem.

Atlas' heart was beating quite wildly despite [Perfect Adaptability]'s activation.

This was his first real confrontation since his reincarnation.

So how could he not be excited?

***

BOOM!

An explosion rocked the trees of the nameless forest, disrupting the quiet that enveloped it thus far.

"Intruder!"

"The target is approaching!"

The yells of cultivators filled the air, attracting people towards the location.

Those at the Core Formation Realm rushed over, while those at the Earth Sage Realm remained in their positions for now.

Atlas watched them move from above.

'Good.'

The explosion drew roughly twenty people to the vicinity. While Atlas didn't get the results he wanted, the explosion was enough to announce his presence and put the enemy on alert.

'But I must do more.'

Two blades appeared in his hands. The chains connecting them to his body rattled as he took aim.

And without hesitation, he threw.

Swoooosh!

Two chain-sickles cut through the air.

And two heads flew off the bodies they were once attached to.

The cultivators below immediately went on alert.

"There's someone above!"

The yell brought everyone's attention to the trees, but Atlas had already moved.

Shing!

Shing!

Shing!

Shing!

His blades swept through the air with such speed that they blended into the shadows.

Atlas' control over the chains had increased to a relatively decent level, so as he swept them around and controlled them like a puppeteer with dancing fingers, they moved in such a way that his position couldn't be traced.

"Report to the seniors! We'll hold him off!"

Atlas rushed through the trees as the messenger ran away from the battlefield.

He rapidly killed the remaining cultivators before they could discover him, but he didn't chase the one who ran.

Instead, he moved again.

BOOM!

Another explosion went off in another part of the forest, and the same pattern repeated itself.

Fifteen cultivators at the Core Formation Realm were killed two at a time, assassinated without being able to understand the weapon that was killing them.

Chain sickles were not a common weapon. Most people used swords, spears, and other similar blades. If they wanted to be more unique, they'd use blunt weapons or their bodies.

Chain-sickles? There were definitely cultivators who used them in the past, but not enough for them to be a popular weapon of choice.

They were extremely difficult to control, and when used in close combat, they didn't have enough range or strength for people to see the benefit of learning how to use them.

However, Atlas trusted his decision and trained to use them. He hadn't seen the benefits yet, but he knew he would see them soon.

In this situation, the chain weapons were perfect. Because he could extend and retract the chains at will, he could bring them back before anyone could get a look at them.

The cuts were clean enough to look like they were made by a sword, and because there were no traces left behind, he was able to repeat his strategy without anyone catching on.

BOOM!

A third explosion went off, but this time, it wasn't only Core Formation cultivators who appeared.

Twenty Earth Sages arrived alongside them after the threat was confirmed to be too much for the weaker beings.

It was an excessive number, but there was only one person who would raid this place.

And if that person was here, no mistakes could be made.

The ones who wanted him captured were too powerful for this mission to end in failure. With no room for error, they used their full power without care for excessiveness and grandiosity.

However, the man they were looking for didn't appear.

The third explosion was made by a delayed explosive Atlas made before charging in.

And once the Earth Sages were drawn away…

BOOM!

A fourth explosion went off.

It was too far for those Earth Sages to arrive in time, but ten others did appear along with the Core Formation cultivators.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

Arrows flew wildly through the air, attacking them from above.

The cultivators on the ground dodged them relatively easily, and before the second volley could fire, they started breaking down trees to expose the shooter.

One might ask, since when did Atlas know how to shoot a bow…?

Well, he didn't!

He got a great amount of gold from Kallos' tomb.

The Tower Shop only sold goods for Tower Points, but there was a conversion mechanic between Tower Points and gold.

It was a scam-like mechanic where 1000 gold could only be converted to 1 Tower Point. Nobody would do this conversion when one could get a hundred or even a thousand times that amount on every floor as they climbed the Tower.

But Atlas was a man with a lot of gold and not much time.

If it was just arrows, which cost 1 Tower Point each for the mundane variety, and a mechanism to shoot them automatically, he was willing to waste some gold.

Nevertheless, by the time they learned that the arrows weren't shot by a man but by a machine, it was already too late.

A fifth explosion rang out in the distance.

And Atlas was nowhere near it.

He had already driven away over half the Earth Sages. The rest wouldn't move unless he killed those at their same level, so there was no need to continue this farce.

He was going to charge straight through the remaining twenty.

And he was going to cause a big splash as he did!

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