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Tanya von DegurechaffThea MarshallZac

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Crossovers & Fandom FusionsStrong Female CharactersPost-ApocalypseLitRPG

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Published:2026-07-30Updated:2026-10-04Words:219,820Chapters:47/?Comments:420Kudos:423Bookmarks:87Hits:16,515

Tanya's Defiance of the Fall

Failninjaninja

Chapter 6

Chapter Text

Quick note - I considered the feedback for a bit and I opted to go with: Defier of Gods: Defied a deity in a deity's presence. Significantly increased resistance against Mental Attacks from beings of a higher Grade. Chapter 1 is updated with the adjustment.

Chapter 6

Masha Summertree glanced at the group of eight who were at the gates of their village. She had been fortunate to have gone through the Tutorial and just recently reached her class. Given her people's preferred way of combat, she chose something that would be needed, which in her case was a frontline combatant, the Swordsman Class.

Her people believed in working together, so she knew that she was the first one in the village to reach Level 25. The next closest were a pair of brothers who were talented with the bow but they were only Level 22. There were a handful more at Level 20, and then the rest were depressingly still in their teens or even lower.

Better than many of these Humans, but I fear the Ogres will overwhelm us unless something changes.

Despite her strength, or perhaps because of it and her progress during the Tutorial, she had been able to acquire the [Book of Babel] skill that allowed her to communicate with Humans, and even Ogres. Not that those monsters were talkative. That meant she regularly cultivated at the gate along with the other guards, and allowed herself to be interrupted when visitors arrived. Most days had no one, as exit and entry for people who resided in Brightflower Village was on the other side.

Ahead were a group of eight. Masha could tell just by the way that they were equipped that the two in front were leading the six Humans behind them. The man approached first, unlike her people, his skin did not have any fur. Hair was different from fur, and his was cropped close to his skull. His spear was in his hand, but not held in a hostile manner, though she was certain he could wield it effectively.

The woman next to him had longer hair, sun-colored now that she had lowered her hood. Masha could sense a faint magical aura around the cloak. It was a powerful item, perhaps even of higher grade than her own sword.

"Welcome to Brightflower Village. Any overt aggression will be dealt with. You are welcome to trade with us and purchase items from our Nexus Node. If you wish to reside in the village for longer than a day, you will be expected to help. If you are Level 15 or higher, you can join our hunting parties, otherwise you can help with needed work. Cooking, cleaning, care for certain plants, mending, and other roles you may be suited for."

The woman spoke up. "My name is Tanya, this is Zhou. We'd like to leave these women with you, as they are low Level and were recently captives. I would like to talk with the Humans here to ensure that this isn't some form of indentured servitude."

She wondered if the translation skill was working properly, but she supposed it did not matter. The visitors were free to speak with whoever they wished. Masha explained as much and then asked about the cloak.

"The cloak you wear, we would be most interested in trading for it. I've held on to some Contribution Points, so I have some options."

Tanya paused. "Contribution Points? Is there an active quest?"

Masha tapped her foot in acknowledgement. "Yes, and I should be honest, Brightflower is in no immediate danger, but the Ogre threat is growing more dire. If you were able to win such an item during the Tutorial, we could use your strength if you wished to stay."

Tanya looked at the older man and then back at her.

"Tell me more about the Ogres and show me the Point Shop and we can discuss an arrangement. I actually may have several things I would be willing to trade. I have a Crafting Class; I am an Enchanter."

The woman shared her System Menu and made it visible. Masha's ears quivered, a Rare Class! She was a bit more on guard now, as it seemed almost certain the person before her was higher Level than she was. That meant she was dangerous and if her intentions were ill, it could be disastrous.

But it is a crafter. She probably is not combat focused. Power is power, attributes or attributes, but someone who chooses such a role will hopefully not wish to kill and steal.

Masha explained more about the Ogres and what could be gained from the Contribution Shop. Slain Ogres gave ten points, and if one was part of a group the System calculated how the total should be divvied. Other than simple Nexus Crystals, Contribution Points required numbers in the thousands to get truly helpful skills and items.

"The Ogres are very stupid, but it seems they are getting smarter. Every Ogre is physically tougher and stronger than our best warriors, but they are easily led into traps and distracted. However… as time has gone on, the System limitations on them are falling off and it is not just their leaders that are acting with intelligence now. Hunting them has grown more dangerous and we have lost many."

Tanya expressed sadness at the loss of her people, but said that after they had settled the six people they had been shepherding she would like to be pointed in the direction where the Ogres had based themselves.

Oh, that smile? It is humor? I wish my translations skill helped me understand Human mannerisms!

***

Masha had offered to send people with us, but I declined. While I got the positive sense from the people who had joined the Ishiate village, I didn't want them to one hundred percent know what all I could do. It was probably simple paranoia, but what if the village didn't harm lower leveled travelers, but chose to rob and kill the higher level ones?

Zhou applauded my caution.

"Such suspicious thinking, good. Was your university that cutthroat?"

"Huh? No, not really."

He made a soft sound in his throat, but let the matter drop. The direction had been clear and the area directly toward the Ogre Incursion wasn't far when you were moving as fast as an Olympic sprinter. There wasn't much mutated wildlife here, though I suppose I wouldn't know for sure what was and wasn't mutated if it came from another world, but given almost all the animals from Earth had been mutated, it seemed a safe bet.

The lack of it made sense as the active Dynamic Quest in the region was to kill Ogres and drive off the Incursion, the direct path to it would be cleared out of easy prey. We pulled up short as I saw several Ogres for the first time. They were moving massive stone blocks and creating a tower of sorts. Ogres were truly monstrous in size. Twice as tall as a Human and three times as thick around the waist. I spotted six of them working, almost completely naked save for rags, while two other Ogres armored in some sort of material. The Ogres working had massive clubs near them, while the two armored Ogres each had axes.

"What do you think? Can we handle the group?"

"Masha said they were stupid and they aren't moving with particular grace. In times like this, it is best to take out the biggest threats first. I'm going to immediately launch my most powerful Fireball at them and go for those. You deal with the others as you can. Focus on keeping yourself alive, I can dodge better than you can."

"Hǎo de."

While we had been travelling he was slowly teaching me Mandarin while I was slowly teaching him German. He also knew Korean and I knew Japanese, so as far as languages went we had a good array of them. The purpose though was to hopefully allow us greater adaptability when encountering new languages, such as perhaps with the Ishiates. Now at random times he would respond in his native tongue.

I was up and moving in a flash. Sprinting faster than any athlete had prior to joining the Multiverse. My Fireball Skill had advanced a few rungs. This seemed to be some sort of System granted upgrade on top of my own ability to shape the Fireball toward my desires. There were always tradeoffs. If I wanted the flames to last longer or fly further or faster, then I couldn't keep them as potent. If I wanted to increase the power then I could do things like lower the blast radius. As my Intelligence grew it felt easier to shape and alter it to the dimensions I wanted.

For a surprise attack, I wanted as intense a ball of heat as I could manage, so I completed my spell and thrust out my hand and sent a tennis ball-sized scorching flame melting through the air and slamming right into the nose of one of the armored Ogres.

Huh, didn't kill him.

But it had caused catastrophic damage. He was clutching his face and bellowing in agony as I raced forward toward the other one. I let loose a far more quickly summoned Fireball, more of a distraction really as I closed in on the kneeling Ogre. I ripped my blade across its neck, only to find that it barely breached the skin of the creature. In turn it flailed at me with his axe but the ungainly strike was easily avoided. The other Ogres were going for their weapons and I summoned another blazing ball of fire as the other armored Ogre neared me.

I used the wounded Ogre as a barrier to his charge and then detonated the Fireball on them both as they drew equal to each other.

Still no Cosmic Energy!

I dodged away again, judging from their swings they seemed more agile than the hapless ones trying to hit Zhou, but they really were not coordinated enough to hit someone who had a Dexterity as high as mine. And with that reality came the truth that until I ran out of mana, this fight was mine. It took another nine Fireballs before the two finally went down. Zhou had killed two of his own Ogres, but when the two that were in command were defeated, the others began running away. A larger bellow echoed out from deeper in Ogre territory and I felt it was time to go.

"If there were more and they could encircle us, it would go badly," Zhou commented as we ran back toward Brightflower.

"True, I do have to wonder how the Ishiates are handling them. If they hunt in groups, and they don't have as high of attributes like we do, casualties must be bad. Or perhaps their hunting parties are significantly larger and focused on ranged attacks."

I was happy with the amount of experience points I had gained killing the two armored Ogres. That had felt significant unlike the kills I had on the Humans who had tried to accost us or the sporadic beast attacks. My family wasn't in this village, but that was dismal odds of that being the case. There was a group of solid experience-giving foes to deal with, a Dynamic Quest that could get me some useful items from the Nexus Node, and I'd have a chance to spread my Enchanted weapons.

Yes, this won't be my permanent home, but I will spend a bit of time here.

***

Having blooded ourselves with the Ogres and appearing on the Contribution Ladder, the Ishiate villagers showed us some wary respect. Masha herself wasn't the leader of the village, but seemed to be its best fighter. Speaking with her further, I learned that their way of hunting the Ogres was to send one of their swiftness warriors and provoke small groups of Ogres. Then dozens of Ishiate and a few humans would lay in wait and unleash thrown javelins, fired bows, and various magics. The problem was, the Ogres were getting smarter, and more powerful ones were appearing.

Masha was still keen on trading and so I began my spiel on my class and what I could do. Particularly for weapons I could enhance their edge and improve their lethality. I was honest with the downside, the small percentage of Cosmic Energy lost when they slew something with one of the weapons I enchanted. She was willing to accept that and on my second day there I found myself improving an already magical weapon.

It made things a bit trickier, but fortunately it wasn't that great of an existing enhancement on it. I did come to the realization that there probably was a limit, at least for my current skill, of how many magical Enchantments could be stacked on an item. If she had a stronger weapon, I wouldn't have been able to do anything with it. At least at my current ability.

When I finished, Masha gave it a few swings. I had again focused on the Dao of Volition as well as the Dao of Delegation and the blade now swooshed through the air with minimal resistance. Her fur-lined face was pleased with the upgrade. Others in the village were also eager, but I came to somewhat of an impasse. If I Enchanted things, I couldn't go out and hunt. There was another [Constitution Pill] in the Contribution Shop that I wanted to get to help me move along the path toward advancing to the E-grade version of my race.

Then there was Zoey. She was twenty and had been through a lot. I had saved her from further sexual abuse, and now she wanted me to help her. Unfortunately, due to not being a cultivator and not having gone through the Tutorial, she was in a rough spot. Forced into sexual servitude she had not been able to gain many levels. She was Level 4.

The Ishiate only took people who were at least Level 15 on their hunting trips. The denizens could certainly go out on their own, but they wouldn't have the protection of higher level chaperones. I simply had way too much I wanted to do. If I wasn't Enchanting, I wanted to be killing Ogres, if I wasn't doing either of those two things, I wanted to learn more of the Ishiate language or cultivate. I didn't want to babysit.

"Tanya, please. I don't ever want to be so helpless again."

"Then don't be. Gather the others together and do things very carefully. It will take time but if you slowly kill some mutated mice or heck, maybe even insects now that even they are growing larger, might earn you a trickle of Cosmic Energy."

She looked down, frustrated. "That will take forever. And what if…" she shuddered. "Masha seems nice, but the other Humans are saying that many of the Ishiates are nervous. They don't know if they can beat the Ogres. If we have to move and run into other people like John, I couldn't stand." She made a bitter sound. "You know I used to think the world was so unfair. That life was so hard and awful because greedy rich people wouldn't share their wealth. That if the people would just rise up and throw down the oppressive system ruling us and just start over everything would be better."

I did my best not to look annoyed. Why did Zoey think that telling me that she was stupid was supposed to convince me to help? Having had the perspective of multiple lives, I understand that the 21st century was an incredible paradise to other time periods. The war on the Eastern Front was full of privation, but even then, I still had ample, if awful food. In so many other eras of human society, things were far worse.

Even in the 1800s the childhood mortality rate was so atrocious that one in two children born did not reach adulthood. The level of ignorance in society from earlier time periods was even worse. People were tormented by theocrats, there was no freedom of religion, and literal slavery existed. To be sure, there were parts of the modern world outside of the OECD countries that still had things like slavery, famine, and constant war, but not in the country that Zoey was in. Life, by any objective look at it, of a modern democracy was a paradise in comparison to all of human history.

If you tear down the system and let anarchy rule, you get predators who will abuse and kill without regard for others.

It was amusing how, during my third life at the University of Chicago, so many people maligned the Chicago School of Economics as some complete laissez-faire school of economic thought. That it somehow championed a platform of zero formal governments and law. One of the great luminaries, Milton Friedman, was in favor of a functioning government to provide protection and order, property rights and courts, and a monetary framework. Even Friedman had favored government intervention where genuine externalities existed. Having spent the last few years at that hallowed institution had only made me more appreciative of his great contributions to the field.

While I was not personally a fan of Thomas Hobbes myself, Zoey now understood that without some semblance of order, life was nasty, brutish, and short. All this went through my head as I waited for Zoey to get to her point.

"I was wrong. God, I would give anything to go back to the way my life was before. Scrolling on my phone, laughing with my friends, and being able to pick out what I want to eat. Not having to worry about…"

I was never good at comfort. Part of the reason why I enjoyed my second life's occupation… err, well I didn't enjoy it, I hated fighting on the frontlines, but part of the reason why I tolerated it was that I was never expected to be a compassionate ear for someone's troubles. Some good-natured griping was fine, but I never had to emotionally support someone when they allowed emotion to overcome them. Death and injury occurred, but I was the leader who didn't brook failure, and when a softer hand was needed, I let Visha handle it.

Damn, I miss her now more than ever. Though, my dad was pretty good at the comfort thing. He was always better about soothing Julia when she was upset.

"About being assaulted, yes. Zoey, I'm glad you had your epiphany, but please get to the point so I can get back to meditating."

She looked frustrated. "I need your help! Please! I can't be that helpless again."

I looked at her and shook my head. "You needing something doesn't move me. I've already done right by you, both by saving you, and by escorting you here. Now I should sacrifice my precious time to further assist you?"

She looked as if she might be crying, when Zhou cleared his throat.

"Tanya is an Enchanter and her time is limited. However, gains from cultivation pale compared to hunting with Tanya and for serious foes, I would prefer to fight them with her. I think you might have some value, Zoey, and so, while Tanya works on Enchanting, I can help protect you and ensure your hunting is safer."

I squinted in surprise at Zhou. He met my eyes and his lips quirked.

"You were the one who spoke about the value of human resources. She is eager and desperate. Such employees are useful. And you mentioned a Quest that will improve your aura. Collecting individuals like her, will help in the long-run, especially if you wish to keep moving in your search."

I understood the first part, but not the second.

"How so?"

"We are strong, you more so, but I doubt more than a handful of people here could defeat me. There are however many, many Ogres to contend with. We are planning to help, but how much better would it be if we went from Outpost to Outpost helping close Incursions and complete Dynamic Quests with a group of loyal followers willing to risk their lives to grow stronger?"

I nodded in approval. It was a sound plan.

"Zoey, you will hunt for a few hours with Zhou, but then afterwards you will work on improving your body. Your physical stats can be trained by exhausting yourself with exercise, but only if you put significant stress on your body. If you aren't puking your guts out to grind additional Vitality and Endurance, then you aren't useful. When we are done with Brightflower Village, we will be moving quickly, and if you can't keep up… you will be left behind."

She thanked us both and I watched Zhou walk with her toward the exit.

Now I'm going to get saddled with battle maniacs again…

I took a look at my current quests.

[Leader of Men] (Unique): Have followers that recognize your leadership slay 100,000 dangerous foes. Reward: Title: Leader of Men (Upgradeable). Followers who recognize your leadership gain 5% to all stats under your direction. (12,023/100,000)

Temporary Enchantment (Class) Enchant 1,000 items. (226/1,000)

Suppression (Class) Disenchant 1,000 items. (304/1,000)

Crafter's Wisdom (Class) Upgrade an F-grade item to E-grade through an Enchant. (0/1)

I was disappointed that I still had a long way to go. I could have pushed for more items getting Enchanted, using the least Cosmic Energy-intensive Enchantment that barely made a noticeable difference just to grind out the numbers, but that gave me next to no experience and felt wasteful. Just by the name of the Skill, I assumed it would allow me to cast non-permanent Enchantments. Which would be incredibly helpful in tough fights, but long-term it wasn't critical for me to get immediately.

Suppression could be a few things, but I sensed it might allow me to suppress other magical effects. That would be incredibly helpful as Masha had told me that deeper into Ogre territory there were Defensive Arrays.

I felt a smidge of energy flow to me from the north. It seemed Jayden or some of the others had killed something of decent Level. I could barely even feel the daily things they killed, which made sense given that it was 1% of something far below my own Level.

Good for them.

***

Masha rolled away from the armored Ogre's blow. She missed the days when Ogres moved slower. In the week since the group of Humans had arrived, things had gone very well against the Ogres.

And now this.

Masha slashed with her sword, and felt it cut into the layered armor of the Ogre's arm. Before Tanya's Enchantment, it would have just bounced away, now it had cut the material and opened a slight wound. She wished it had done more, but any blood loss was good.

Another Ogre hurled a javelin, narrowly missing his companion, but striking true and hitting her dead center in her chest. She was slammed backward by the incredible force that sent her careening through a small tree. Her Enchanted high-grade armor had been further Enchanted by Tanya, likely the only reason that it hadn't pierced her.

Unfortunately, that didn't mean she was unscathed. Had she not been Level 26 the bruising blow and the slam through a tree would have killed her. It might even kill people her Level who didn't have her titles and focus on physical attributes! As it was, her ability to fight was compromised and the wave of Ogres advanced.

This was bad. She was supposed to have slowed them and given more time for Brightflower Village to prepare itself. The Ogres were getting stronger by the day, but worse, they seemed to realize that they were being hunted and only were engaged when the advantage was for the Humans and Ishiates. They had now gone on the offense and over a hundred Ogres were on the march.

Masha got up, her breathing ragged. The first Ogre that came upon her took an arrow to the forehead. The fired arrow was shot by someone who had not yet had a Class, the aim was true, but the power wasn't there. The Ogre flinched away and a spot of grayish blood leaked, but it only caused a momentary distraction.

Which was enough for Masha as she got up and ran. A warning flared, from her Luck attribute, and she dodged to the side and another thick javelin missed her by footprint. She coughed up blood but continued to run.

Will I make it?

The answer was yes as Tanya appeared, a raging inferno dancing in her palm that was sent streaking toward the pursuing Ogres. Masha looked back and saw she hadn't targeted the lead one, but instead the one who had been throwing javelins. The Ogre had seen the attack coming and had shielded his face from the flames. His skin had turned an angry red, from where the flames had seared him, but evidently this Ogre had an abnormally high Endurance.

Daggers of ice flew out from the second Ishiate villager to reach Level 25. The difference in power between him and Tanya was vast. Zhou raced forward and stabbed the lead Ogres in their calf and feet, his spear and Class seemingly designed to puncture and his strikes parted their armor and skin. Those weren't killing blows, but they hobbled the Ogres and made them no longer a threat to the retreat.

Tanya launched a cascade of fiery balls and then she ran low on her reserves. This was where Masha felt the most depressed about her own achievements. Tanya was a crafting class and a Fireball specialist. And yet, when she drew her sword she danced among the Ogres like Masha had once danced against the stupidest of unarmored Ogres when they first encountered them.

How high must her Dexterity be?

A guttural roar rang out and the Ogres turned as one back to their Incursion base. Tanya had been untouched, though Zhou had been knocked aside once by a kick.

"Is it life threatening?" Tanya asked as Masha felt her wound cause her to falter.

"I… don't… think…" it was getting hard for her to breathe. "May… Maybe."

Tanya sat down cross-legged and closed her eyes briefly. Masha was out of Medicine Pills, but maybe someone else had one. As her breathing grew a bit more ragged, Tanya opened her eyes and a green glow came over her hands. Soothing energy flowed into Masha. Her breathing began to ease a bit. For about five minutes a steady trickle of mending essence flowed into her. The heavy bruising and trauma to her body did not right itself, but she felt the danger slipping away.

"Thank you. The Ogres are learning, or maybe relearning, how to wage war."

Tanya smiled. "It's a good thing we Humans are very experienced when it comes to warfare and military tactics."

Zhou glanced at her. "Don't depend on book learning. Reading about Su Yu's victories in the Huaihai Campaign is useful, but we've yet to meet any military personnel who have real military experience. Book knowledge can only go so far."

Tanya's grin didn't falter even a moment as she acknowledged her companion's words. Masha wasn't sure if it was the overconfidence of youth, or viewing past warfare strategies as irrelevant, given the nature of the System and the power of Levels and cultivation.

We can only hope for the best or evacuate the village. For now, I choose to place my trust in this young Human.

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