Advent Of The Apocalypse Chapter 9 Chapter 9

A year had passed since Marcus had arrived on the island, and his strength had increased by leaps and bounds.

Marcus leapt from tree to tree, imitating the movements of the shadow monkey he had come into contact with previously. There was another year left of his time on the island, but he had already become the strongest he would be able to on this island. There was not a single beast species he hadn't challenged and mastered the movements of, and the beasts here widely recognised him as the Beast King.

Turned out beasts had their own politics, however, as there was a faction of beasts that were going after the title of Island King. Because of this, Marcus's sudden rise in power had aggravated the beasts faction, and thus he was heading over to their base now to permanently silence them, and loot them of course.

Life on the island had instilled an even greater love for treasures, and the systems constant reminder as to the usages of them did not help to quench that thirst. He pretty much already possessed all of the greatest treasures on the island, but the other largest collection belonged to the enemy faction. He had also recently learned from his own beast army that the faction's HQ was in the shrine to the Dragon King, a legendary beast who had ruled over all beasts in several dimensions thousands of years ago. The shrine was sacred and was believed to contain the essence of the Dragon King, along with his core, however they had never been found and thus the theory had never been validated. The area contained an even denser Vis than the rest of the island, and was about 15 times more dense than the Human Realm.

Marcus landed onto the branch closest to the base, and used Vis to enhance his vision. He had copied the abilities of the Night Owl, and now had the ability to use night vision. He had worked on maxing out all of his skills, and his Menu now looked like this:

[Name – Marcus Vindictio]

[Species – Human / Inanis]

[Rank – Platinum II]

[Level - 14] [EXP – 19 / 100]

[Abilities]

[Call of the Void]

[Mastery – 73 / 100]

[Void Tentacles]

[Void Absorption]

[Inventory]

[Diamond III Shadow Steel Scythe (Rare)]

[Effect : Reaper – The closer to death they are, the more they will fear this weapon]

[Diamond III Shadow Steel Dagger (Rare)]

[Effect : Hunter – The weapon guides you through the actions of a hunter. Proficiency in skinning beasts and laying traps]

[Skills]

[Weapon Misdirection – lv 10]

[Advanced Blacksmithing – lv 9]

[Rune smithing – lv 9]

[Eyes of the Night Owl – lv 10]

[Lava Lion's Mane – lv 10]

[Shadow Wolf's Concealment – lv 10]

[Thunder Crow's Shriek – lv 10]

[Earth Mole's Tunnelling – lv 10]

[Sky Bat's Echolocation – lv 10]

[White Tiger's Agility – lv 10

[Emperor's Aura – lv 10]

[Missions]

[Take Over Delos Island (0/2)]

[Defeat the Faction seeking your position]

[Reward – 10 Platinum Coins]

[Bring the Island's Beasts under your control]

[Reward – Void Forgery and Void Rune Skill]

At first, Marcus had no plans to take over the island, but upon seeing the rewards for the second part of the mission, Marcus changed his mind. At first, Marcus planned to just do the second part of the quest and skip the first, but his non stop negotiations with the system had ended with failure and a random spurt of water into his face from a tentacle he had seen coming, but couldn't evade since it held him down.

His training sessions had normally included him fighting against the tentacles on his back, and evading them was basically impossible since they were attached to his back. This meant he would have to get used to high speed and close combat evasion, and he had mastered it over the past year. Whilst there were a few species of beasts far stronger than he was, they agreed to remain on their half of the island whilst he took the other half. In return, he made them some of the meals he had made for his sister back in the Human realm.

Marcus activated [Shadow Wolf's Concealment] and leapt onto the ground, stealthily moving amongst and between the beasts, slashing them down quietly whenever he saw the opportunity. They lived in small caves connected to a cave network besides the Dragon King's Temple, and came out to hunt or bully the other beasts.

They were now too weak for Marcus to gain exp from, and thus he quickly killed them before moving into the next area. After a half hour of slaughter, Marcus had moved through a quarter of the network, which went to show how large it was. Now that he had checked the strength of the regular beasts, he was sure his own army could handle it. He used [Earth Mole's Tunnelling] to reach the outside, and stood on a ledge to a hundred foot drop, Marcus used [Thunder Crow's Shriek], letting out a battle cry that was responded to by the roar of hundreds of beasts assembled surrounding the cave complex. There was a good chance of some of the Faction escaping, but that was to be expected from such a large operation. The beasts in his army had been told that anyone who found members of the faction would be rewarded, and anyone caught harbouring faction members would be killed. With this in place, Marcus was confident he could take down the Faction.

The assembled beasts rushed towards the cave complex, killing any beast in their path and splitting into the groups they had been trained and ordered to battle in. Shrieks of the Faction resounded, and hearing this, Marcus rushed straight to the deepest parts of the cave to find the leaders and the Dragon King's Altar. Whilst Marcus had taken over the actual Temple, they had found the Altar had been taken already, and Marcus assumed it was with the Faction.

After repeatedly using [Sky Bat's Echolocation], Marcus had figured out the structure of the cave complex. Majority of the beasts were rushing towards the outer parts of the complex to defend the entrances, whilst much more powerful enemies were further inwards, led by a group of half animals with the body of a human and the head of an animal.

Marcus took the shortest path to reach the large cave opening where he had sensed the half animals and peeked in, staying hidden using [Shadow Wolf's Concealment]. The half animals were wearing black robes and each carried black whips dipped in a purple fluid. The beasts following them had lifeless eyes, and seemed traumatised beyond recognition. There were adults and children, and the children seemed to clutch at the names of their parents, seeking security and safety from their parents. There were about 30 half animals in total, led by 5 robed half animals with their hoods up. The hooded half animals carried black daggers which had been dipped in a purple liquid.

The half animals carrying whips would slash at any animal which slowed down or got too close to the edges of the line. They looked more like a cult than a political faction, and were a terrifying sight even for Marcus, who had become quite a seasoned fighter after living like a brute for the last year.

< "I really feel bad for them" > a voice resounded from his shoulder again. He still had no idea why she sounded like she was on her shoulder, but he had gotten used to it over time.

'So do I, but that's not my focus here. I simply have to take control of everything, and taking back the altar will help me do that. The Faction's way of life and their social hierarchy has nothing to do with me as long as they submit to my power.

< "You big meanie" > the system pouted, < "You know what? You don't have a choice anymore…" >

Hearing this, Marcus's blood ran cold. He still didn't know the limits of the system's power over him, but his worries were not helped when he heard a small notification in the back of his head.

Sighing softly, Marcus opened his Menu, and nearly screamed when he saw what the system had changed.