Chapter 15 - 62-69

Chapter 62 - Dragons!

[Class quest: Survival is finished]

[Your assessment is rare]

[You gained three levels at your class]

[Your current class level is level three]

[You have enough soul points to advance your class]

[You gained ten class points]

[Class specific market interface is now unlocked for you]

[Class specific skill: Soul sense skill is now upgraded and you got ten sense stat points]

I hurriedly opened my soul sense skill but I found no difference there. That was weird until I got the meaning behind the upgrade.

"So I got ten soul stat points as an upgrade… Not bad," I knew my skill didn't play any role at all at the last battle thanks to my insignificant sense stat. But now… I could easily crush any opponent and monster.

It wasn't only limited to that, but the range of the soul sense skill increased to cover up ten meters radius around me.

It was before zero, making the range not practical at all.

As I got this upgrade that I deserved, I opened the market interface and examined the newly added class specific market.

In fact I didn't expect much at first. However later on I found something interesting. Out there I found a few items sold that I instantly recognized, bones similar to the ones I got from the dragons.

The higher one was silver in grade and was sold in an auction starting with one hundred class points. I didn't know what value these points were but that made me think about these bones.

"The explanation about the bones said that I have to use soul points to use them… This one is a gold vertebral bone which needs one hundred soul points to be integrated."

I took that small golden bone shimmering in golden light and examined it for a brief second. I opened my class details and was shocked to see the number of soul points I had there.

"Twenty-seven thousand soul points… That's enough, more than enough."

I was elated as I understood the meaning behind the system's message about the soul points I had. Using one thousand soul points was enough to increase my class by one level.

As I was currently at the third level, I only needed seven thousand soul points to reach level ten. I could spend all my points and reach level thirty, but would it be worth it?

I still had to check the effect of these bones I had in my inventory.

"Use seven thousand soul points and make the class advance to level ten," I said with expectations, while waiting for the next level of my class.

I had to admit, the first phase of my class was really disappointing. What was the use of absorbing souls and storing them? It didn't make any sense!

[Congratulations! Your class has been advanced]

[Soul master class: Rank: Hidden. Grade: Heaven. Level: 10]

[Second stage is opened for you to use: The grade of soul merge]

[Each time you kill a living being, you'll be able to absorb his soul. The absorbed soul won't reincarnate or be revived by any means]

[Storing one hundred souls will allow you to raise all your stats by one point]

[Storing one thousand souls will let you upgrade the level by one]

[You can decide to sacrifice five thousand souls and merge them together. The merge will yield a soul monster that's totally loyal to you. The monster will be one resembling the souls used in its formation. If you used more than one origin of the soul, a new species will be developed]

[The newly merged monsters will be loyal and follow your orders. They can be stored inside your inventory. They will possess zero stats and will need you to spend stat points to increase their stats. The rise of the stats will follow the same rules of the warrior section]

[There is no limit to the number of the monsters you can merge]

[Death of the monster you merged will result in entering it into a dormant stage. Each monster's dormant stage's duration differs according to the strength of the monster and the number of deaths it suffered before. The higher the deaths the longer the duration. The stronger the monster the longer the duration. You can use soul points to shorten the duration as follows: for each day you'll need to spend five hundred soul points] [Upgrading the class level to reach level fifty will open the next stage of the class for you]

All of sudden I saw a bottomless pit! That pit was formed entirely of soul points. Now I desire more than ever to face herds of monsters like before and keep fighting and killing till I store millions or even tens of millions of souls.

What did that new advance mean? It was groundbreaking! A game changer, a real game changer!

Yeah, this was fitting such a brutal class. Now I could see why everyone acted fervently and brutally towards this class. It was a class out of this world.

Gaining the ability to merge souls and make monsters? Most of the souls came from regular monsters, but they were also dragonoid ones. They were better than the normal monsters.

Plus I already absorbed the souls of the dragons I killed. Wouldn't the souls of the real dragons be more tyrannical than the souls of the dragonoid monsters?

Both shared the same bloodline at least. So the end result would be something in between the two, yet far stronger than the normal dragonoid monster.

It was a shame that I only had twenty thousand soul points remaining. It was just enough to summon four monsters only.

Yet that wasn't the end of my bottomless pit. The stat points began to be a real headache for me.

I knew that my current wealth of stat points was more than enough to turn those monsters into tyrannical existences like my other warriors.

But what about later? I needed to find a way to replenish my storage of the stat points.

"I got half of those kids' inventory… I hope they have good things there," as I recalled this, I started to check the inventory with anticipation and slight worry.

Just as I hoped, my current storage of stat points swelled up. From the remaining few thousand stat points I now had roughly one hundred thousand stat points.

That made me quite relieved. At least I wouldn't dare to worry for now. Yet that wasn't a good solution.

Everything here was based on balance. As I got my channel and made a small fame for myself, I had also suffered from another angle that I didn't care about before.

My enemies would realize how dangerous I was. So they wouldn't recklessly send their people after me from now on.

Even if they did, it was expected to make them dump their inventory before leaving out for me. This way they wouldn't lose a lot if I won.

"Let me deal with things one problem at a time," I looked up at my thirty million something coins and felt more reassurance. The only guaranteed way of getting stat points was from the market and auctions.

With such wealth, I could easily gain at least fifty thousand stat points. And if I sold most of the useless items in my inventory, then that number might be doubled or even tripled.

At this point I felt delighted by my earlier decision. Despite the fact that I only acted based on greed, the monster drops coming from almost thirty thousand monsters wasn't a small figure.

As my warriors hadn't returned yet, I had nothing else but to try this new merging ability of my class. I had high expectations for this ability, but I also tried not to hope for too much.

"Use the soul points," I slowly said, "all of them and summon four monsters now!"

[You have twenty thousand soul points]

[You can merge them and get four monsters]

[Detecting dragon bloodline in the souls absorbed]

[Forming four new monsters based on the preferences of the souls and their strength]

*Whoosh!* *Whoosh!* *Whoosh!* *Whoosh!*

Just like a flash, four big monsters appeared in front of me. From the first look, these four monsters looked quite the same as if they came from the same species.

Each one was around five meters in height, with small faint purple scales covering up their entire bodies. They had strong claws, two broad wings, and one long tail that made their lengths exceed ten meters easily.

The scales covered almost one third of their tales. As for their eyes, they were big, rounded with purple flashing lights emanating from them.

They looked at me in slight confusion, just like babies coming out from their eggs for the first time and seeing their mother. One by one they lowered their heads and made a gesture like they were declaring their loyalty to me.

I was excited! Just from the air they each emanated I could tell they were stronger than my warriors. Even the Bulltos wouldn't give the same dangerous air as these four.

"Master!" "Master!" "Master!" "Master!"

Four hoarse voices came just as if their throats were all made up from mechanical parts. Yet their ability to speak overthrew my expectations and made me shocked.

One had to know that normal monsters weren't that intelligent. The ability to speak was considered one of the highest signs of high intelligence, roughly only limited to evolved races just like those dragons I killed.

To have four of them talking meant that I hit the jackpot! These monsters weren't just dull and dummy like others, but they had their own level of intelligence.

Also when I thought about advancing them using stat points, I couldn't help but suck a cold air of breath. The intelligence stat would allow them to become more intelligent, and gradually as they advanced and became stronger they would become more like the real dragons.

Wait a second… Did that mean I got four real dragons as my servants? Damn! That was simply unbelievable!

"Do you know what skills you have?" This was the first thing that popped into my mind.

"Answering my master," one of them took the initiative to speak, leaving a good impression inside me, "we don't have any skills for now. But when advancing, we can obtain skills hailing from the purple bloodline high dragons."

"High dragons? Damn!!" despite not knowing what purple dragons meant, but I could expect this to be related to that arrogant dragon and his entourage that I killed.

Regardless of that, having the high dragon bloodline was a real treasure! Now I was sure about my earlier assumptions. Giving these dragons time and letting them advance, they'd eventually turn into real dragons one day.

"Come, take these stat crystals and orbs and use them to advance your stats," impatiently I took out many large and small crystals and left them on the floor.

They gazed up at me in a weird way. "Don't be humble, c'mon, take them and distribute them equally. I want you to grow stronger fast."

Each stat crystal was enough to give each five thousand stat points, and I took one for each dragon. Their shocked reactions were all normal.

"But master… we only need to advance the stats by ten points each to upgrade one level," the one who spoke before said in hesitation as if he feared I didn't know the real value of these precious stones.

"Take them, I already have more with me."

I wasn't acting arrogant, but regarding stat points I would now be considered a tycoon. Despite spending slightly over thirty thousand stat points just now over them, I knew it was worth it.

As they got my confirmation, they didn't act humble anymore. As they got the stat crystals and orbs, I noticed a sudden change in their auras.

The dangerous air they emitted before was just lingering around their bodies. But now? At first a strong typhoon of purple energy rose up and engulfed their giant bodies at first.

This phenomenon lasted for a few breaths before I noticed cracking sounds coming from their bodies, alongside visible changes in their bodies.

The initial height of five meters changed into double. Their wings grew broader and thicker. Their scales grew thicker and longer while their faint purple started to get darkened at a rate visible to naked eye.

Even their heads grew as well. That wasn't all. Just in less than one minute, the purple air they were baptized in began to be absorbed deeply inside their bodies.

Their flat bodies began to show bulging over their four limbs, wings, and tail. Their heads slowly grew a small horn not exceeding five inches in length.

Yet it was like it was made out of pure purple jade. I didn't even know the origin of these horns, not to mention their value if I sold them in the market.

*Roar!* *Roar!* *Roar!* *Roar!*

One by one, they all roared while the purple air vanished around their bodies. With each roar they tilted their heads to the sky and each released a pillar of purple fire that had arcs of red lightning dancing around it.

Such dangerous fire breaths… Damn! I really hit the jackpot this time!

My only regret was that I didn't have enough soul points to try even one bone I had. That golden bone was in my hand and when the four dragons finished their defying roars against the gods and the apocalypse, against the universe, the one who spoke before looked at me in obvious greed and said:

"Master, can I have this bone? It will help me advance more and grow stronger."

Yeah, I raised four greedy dragons and I had to suffer the consequences now.

Chapter 63 - Looking For The Ace

I looked at the golden bone in my hand and felt little hesitation for a moment. "I'll give you one to try, but not this one," I switched the bone and took out a torso bone that brimmed in white light. "You can take it."

"Thanks master," unlike what I expected, that dragon didn't look disturbed by my decision. It felt like any bone would help him greatly no matter the quality.

As I had no way to use the bones for now, I stood in silence watching him. He took the bone and strangely enough, he swallowed it.

I could hear the sound of crunching the bone inside his mouth. Damn, did he treat it as a food or what?

Just as I was taken aback by what that dragon did to my precious bone, the next thing that happened made me realize something.

At some area at his back, an area broadened for half a meter square began to shine in strange white light. The light was the same as that bone and I could see the location of that light was also the same.

"So you can use the bones in a different way than me? Interesting…" I muttered while that dragon closed his big eyes and kept himself motionless for the entire five minutes. I calmly stood there and didn't say anything to not disturb him. After all this was the first time seeing my precious bones being used.

And I held much anticipation towards these bones.

*Roar!*

The five minutes were gone then the dragon opened his eyes. A flash of pure purple light appeared in his eyes, giving me goosebumps.

That dragon… despite nothing changed on his body, yet the air he emitted began to look more dangerous than others.

I had to say that these dragons were my strongest force by far. Each had one hundred levels and five different skills by far.

"What do you feel?" I asked with impatience, praying that something good would come from that bone.

"Master, I broke through the first bottleneck in my cultivation," the dragon said in a happy tone, "now I can be considered closer than my three brothers to a true dragon."

"Only this?" despite this being something big, yet it didn't reach my expectations for that bone. Only the first bottleneck? I knew what that meant.

To cultivate the body and soul, one had to first cross the first bottleneck. It was like tempering the body and strengthening the soul. That might seem a big step, but compared to the long road ahead it was just the first.

"I also inherited a skill from the bone," the dragon said finally something worthy, "before this I had five skills only, but now I had another one. And this skill is much better than other skills."

"What does it do?"

"It's a fusion skill, using it I will fuse all my other five skills and create an attack that goes beyond my abilities."

"Fusion skill… Impressive! Can I see it?" my eyes shone in brilliance as I wanted to see this strong skill.

"I can only use it once per day," but as anything in the apocalypse, a mighty skill would come with its own restrictions, "plus after using it I have to go and sleep."

"No rush then," I knew a stage would come soon where this dragon would shine. "Come take one each and fuse with it."

As I confirmed the great effects of the bones, I took three more white bones and gave them to the other three dragons. For a moment there I noticed a gaze of regret over the face of the first dragon, and much intense light of excitement in the eyes of the others.

I didn't say anything to that dragon. After all they were all my strength and they lived to work for me. If not for that fusion ability, I would never have given the others any bones.

Just like the first dragon, the other three took roughly five minutes to absorb that bone. Then the skills they got was also a fusion skill.

"Go back now," I waved my hand as I pointed at the four dragons. For now I didn't need such an eye catchy entourage to be with me.

I preferred to keep them hidden and act low profile for now.

In the next half an hour, the warriors all came one by one and gave me the loot they gathered. A loot from seventy-thousand monsters was something big. My inventory swelled up again by over a hundred thousand items gathered from the monsters.

Without any hesitation I put them all for sale. Luckily I did not get a few of them to be auctioned at the market. That meant my gains would soar higher than expected.

"Go back as well," as I finished wrapping things here, I also took away my warriors. After all this, I felt the entire world growing deathly and eerie silent all around.

"Time to go south then," I started to move. I planned to run towards that hospital as I had a few hours left before the next quest. But after getting the time extended, I didn't hurry there.

[Any news yet?] I sent asking and as expected, Angelica instantly answered.

[Not yet]

I thought for a second. The next quest was something that needed quiet preparation from the angels. If I guessed it right, then this quest might contain some hidden change that I wasn't aware of.

To make things easier for me and my people, I sent a warning to Angelica and asked her to relay it to others.

[Are you sure?] Angelica didn't even take a second to think, [We might get in trouble this way]

[Just do as I said] I didn't give her any room to argue and I didn't explain myself. [Be ready, when the quest starts, no matter how grave the situation is, you all need to be on high alert and wait for my instructions]

[What if we couldn't reach you?] Angelica seemed to think deeply about this or she might have asked others for opinions.

[I hope nothing like this will ever happen] I didn't refute her worries. After all, I knew about many dirty tricks the angels could use to make things hard for me and them. [If things reach this point, then you aren't allowed to move outside the museum. I'll come for you no matter what]

[Ok]

[Tell me, what was the name of that hospital your friend is at? And what's the name of your friend?]

After all this time, I forgot about such trivial knowledge. I could easily look for her name through the contract between the two of us, but I was too lazy to do so.

[The hospital is a New York health center. And her name is Alex]

[Alright, I'll keep you updated] I closed the chat with her and started to pick up the pace. Something about that ace didn't seem quite right.

I knew her fatal weakness. Having only intelligence stat wasn't a good thing. After the end of the first quest, many people would enjoy the baptism of the new power given by stats.

Not to mention the blessing of gods as well. The survivors here wouldn't be like the start of the apocalypse. Everyone living till now was someone strong and cunning, not confused and frightened by the apocalypse like before.

Just as I got myself out of the central park, I found the look of the bustling streets with prosperity and civilization had already gone. What I had in front of me right now was simply the familiar scene of destruction and devastation.

The streets were filled with burning cars, broken buildings, and many corpses or what was left out from them. Most of the dead around were humans, with few monsters seen every now and then.

As I walked through this deadly silent world, I took out a piece of meat and ate it. Then I ended my short meal by drinking a little water from one of my liquor bottles before feeling more refreshed.

I fought for a long time already without eating or drinking, so I was slightly exhausted. After eating and drinking, I started to pay more attention to the surroundings.

There wasn't a single building without harm. I even saw buildings with big holes that took more than half of its surface. Tongues of fire kept dancing wildly while I moved in between the rubbles everywhere.

*Howl!*

Just as I walked in extreme silence for twenty minutes, a loud howl suddenly rang from a side street. I was almost half a mile away from the hospital.

But hearing that familiar howl made me stop in my tracks. "Wolves are still raging havoc here? Weird," I muttered without any speck of worry.

What surprised me was the fact that these wolves were still alive. At the end of the first quest, most of the monsters were either killed by humans, or were busy eating the killed humans for food.

But I never heard of wolves roaming the streets at this stage of the apocalypse. But that didn't matter. Without any hesitation I called out a group of twenty Bulltors, twenty shield warriors, and ten archers.

"Go, kill everything that stands in my way," I simply waved my sword towards the street I heard the howl coming from, "don't forget to get my things back."

Even if I met these monsters by luck, how could I let their materials be lost? In an instance, my warriors left and vanished inside the nearby twist of the road. Then the sounds of brutal fighting and painful howls came from there.

As I moved casually towards that street, I frowned once I saw the scenery there.

Wolves were known creatures to me. They moved in great numbers under the leadership of one alpha. Each group might range between a couple hundred up to five or six hundred.

But seeing the scene in front of me I couldn't help but frown. There weren't only a few hundreds, but till the end of this vast street wolves appeared with no end.

Their number was in thousands, or even more. That meant one thing; there was more than one alpha here.

And that made things weirder.

"Come out," at this point, I didn't want to waste more time here. So I took the rest of my warriors out, arranged them like usual before releasing the frontline warriors to hit the wolves with deadly force.

As for my four dragons, I kept them for later. Who knew what really was going on here.

My warriors were nothing these wolves could face or endure. Even with the obvious disparity in numbers, they were simply unstoppable.

In front of pure strength, what numbers could do?

I watched as the brutal charge of my Bulltors crushed any resistance up front. When the shield warriors released their combined skill, the wolves simply fell into such a messy state while almost half of that vast street was engulfed under the craters they created.

The archers kept launching their arrows, killing any wolf that survived so far. As for my magicians… well they found no room to display their might and walked silently by my side.

*Howl!* *How!* *Howl!*

Just as I got inside the street, a repetitive howl came from behind. Without any worry I turned while giving the orders in calm tone:

"Rain that area with your skills."

My magicians who had nothing else to do turned and made that part of the street into a living hell for wolves.

I wasn't worried, but with the incoming wolves I realized something.

Monsters never crowd in such a manner except for two things. One was to be part of an ongoing quest and the second… if something appeared to attract monsters, something like a treasure.

"A treasure appeared just next door… How can I let it slip away from me?"

I knew the first condition was out of question for many reasons. The angels already consumed a lot of their blessing points in the past encounters with me.

So issuing special quests like that was out of the question. And if someone found some hidden quests here, then it wouldn't attract all these wolves around.

There was a treasure, and I had to get my hands on it first.

Chapter 64 - [Bonus Chapter] Now I Realize Everything!

"Keep pushing forward," I shouted while getting deeper into the street. The path was already blocked by many fallen pieces of the nearby buildings, plus the still burning fire here and there.

But that didn't stop me. It took roughly five minutes to get near the building those wolves tried so hard to crush inside.

My mind kept wondering about the identity of the treasures found in New York city. According to the records, there were not a few treasures that appeared here.

But the strange thing was that none of them appeared in this region. Besides, they should appear after the fifth quest is over.

Having treasures meant an immense boost to anyone's strength. Be it monsters or humans, no one would say no to such a chance.

According to the laws of the system, balance must be maintained. So the greater the benefits the greater the risk. That meant any treasure appearing would be tightly supported and guarded by many fearsome advanced tier monsters.

Even the hybrid monster from before might be present in large numbers this time, and in full strength.

Despite knowing all that, I never felt any worry. I was sure that my current warriors might put up a good fight against the full powerful hybrid monsters. But I never planned to use them.

I didn't want to lose almost every warrior I had just to get one single treasure. No matter how valuable that treasure was, it wasn't enough to compensate for the loss of my warriors.

So the option I had was simple; I had to use my dragons. They reached level hundred already. Even faced with the hybrid monsters of tier seven and higher wouldn't be an issue.

My dragons had six skills by now, including the immense boost in strength thanks to the bones they got from me. At this moment I didn't feel any pain from giving them my bones.

But the moment I reached that building in the protection of my warriors, I couldn't help but frown at what I saw inside.

"Stay back! Don't come near or we will kill you!"

"This is your first and last warning. Don't come near us!"

"Thanks for the help in pushing the monsters away, but we won't share this emblem with you."

"Sorry, but you need to keep going up ahead and leave this zone to us."

"This zone is under the protection of our lion squad. You have to reconcile and leave or we won't be polite anymore!"

As I saw it, the inside of that ten story building was transformed into a scene looking like a small castle. The front was covered by big and thick walls, reaching almost the heights of twenty meters from the ground.

Three rounded big towers appeared, two on the corners of the front segment of the castle and one just in front of the main gate.

The gate was made entirely of special alloy looking like dark iron. It was ten meters in height, twenty meters in width, and was shut tightly in front of my face.

As for those who spoke just now, they were a group of fifty people standing on the top of these three towers.

Just seeing this scene made my scalp numb. I knew this, I recognized this at first glance. How could I not recognize this tyrannical quest?

"Damn! So it isn't the quest to conquer the city, but the quest of a dogfight between cities," I cursed out loud without controlling myself.

What I saw in front of me was a trademark of a famous bloody quest, the fifteen quest. It was the same quest where the jumper gained his unique ability and met that dying angel.

It was a simple quest from the surface, asking people from various cities to be prepared for a cross-city battle. It was called the arena quest, a name not fitting the real scenario of this quest.

This quest proved how cunning and dirty these angels were. Providing humans with only pieces of the truth, while keeping the rest for themselves.

This castle in front of me wasn't an exception, as I knew there were other castles spread all around the city. Each castle would appear randomly and without any prior planning, all surrounding something called an emblem.

The emblems were floating, semi-real objects that were attached to certain areas and couldn't be moved. Getting a hand over one emblem meant this zone would turn totally under the control of people.

Boosting in all stats, decreasing the stats of the enemies, even turning the terrain in the favor of the defenders… anything was possible with these emblems.

I could already see how greedy everyone was towards these emblems. They usually appeared at quest fifteen, after a long journey of fight and struggle in between the humans and monsters.

Seeing this castle drove back old memories from what I read in the records and heard from the old man. The angels did a marvelous job to make sure humans wouldn't stand united under a single powerhouse.

Using many tactics and quests, they managed to create a deep crater between human forces. Even the strongest forces never accepted the appointment of the city lords from earlier quests.

And so this quest came as a way to vent their anger and fulfill their desires. Who would reject such a chance? Gaining their hands over emblems that would turn small zones into their territory? Monsters wouldn't be able to stand a chance against these forces, not to mention the already powerful city lords and their loyal forces.

The quest that should be a struggle between various city lords turned by the dirty machinations and underhanded schemes of the angels into a struggle between human forces under the same city lord.

And that wasn't all!

The biggest trick here wasn't in driving humans towards this dark end of the tunnel, but the big secret about the reality of this quest.

It wasn't a quest between humans, but between human cities and other races' cities. It was the start of the big merge between Earth and other worlds in this apocalypse.

And to add more to their treacherous nature, this move must be done by the agreement of the humans themselves. It was simply linked to the emblems scattered all over the world.

I knew I couldn't stop the massacre that was going to happen around the world, but at least I could delay its happening in this part of the world.

For the quest to develop into the merge between the four worlds and other scattered worlds with ours, humans need to activate more than ninety-five percent of the emblems at the time of the merge.

Activating the emblems wasn't that hard to do. It was simply done by activating the effects of the emblems and linking them using blood. Like all other cases in the apocalypse, any benefits must be accompanied by a challenge and a price to pay.

The price of gaining such overbearing authority was the agreement of the merge between the various worlds. What did that mean?

Humans were still weak. Even after gaining the support from the gods, we weren't anything compared with tyrannical races like the dragons, the intelligent monsters, the Selvators, the illusionists, and many others weaker races in these four worlds.

Letting this to happen this early meant one end for us, total annihilation!

I didn't plan to act heroic, but letting the angels slip by their actions meant one dead end for me. Even if I was someone coming from the future, even if I was equipped with a lot of knowledge about the quests, even if I had a jumper by my side… I knew if this scheme was left to be completed, things would end miserably for myself.

"Sorry guys, but you shouldn't have worked for the angels as traitors," in front of the clear threatening words and strong stance of those humans, I didn't show any sign of weakness.

One thing was for sure. If the angels decided to start the preparations for this quest at this time, then they should have issued a general quest for everyone.

But I didn't get anything, nor did any of the people who worked under me. What did this imply then? The angels only shared this knowledge with their traitors and asked them to get a head on start before issuing the general subquest for everyone.

Having their dogs controlling the needed quota of the emblems at the start of the second quest would ensure their success in the merge. And I simply needed to stop that from happening.

I knew why they had to do that. I wasn't the sole reason behind this. I was sure many people like me existed all over the planet. Resisting the angels and trying to do the best for our human race.

But I knew the sole weakness of the emblems… They needed time to be activated. The castle up front might boost the stats of everyone standing inside. But it wasn't enough to make them invincible.

Each emblem had ranks like everything else. Starting with white all the way up to black. Even the lowest grade emblems needed at least four hours to be activated, and the black ones needed at least twenty hours.

So the angels had to extend the duration of the rest period for this plan to succeed. They also wouldn't issue the general subquest until they were sure their dirty minions got the needed quota for linking Earth with other worlds.

They would make sure that all the emblems they needed for the merge would be already activated even before the start of the second quest.

Scary! They were such a scary foe!

But would I stand idle and let them do that?

"All form a defensive circle around," I instantly started to issue my orders and organize my forces, "shield warriors, half at the front and half at the back. All Bulltors stay at the back and help in stopping any coming monster. As for the rest, pay your attention to the ongoing battles on both sides, heal everyone and release your arrows and magic to claim anyone you can."

I arranged my warriors this way. However, from the general look of it, I planned to defend and not attack. After all, my main attack force in the eyes of those traitors were my giant Bulltors.

"Prepare for battle!"

"Activate the defensive shield!"

"Use the defensive gears inside, don't let him get close to the emblem!"

Many shouts appeared from inside the castle, making me realize the fifty something traitors showed to me weren't the full force of the traitors.

But no matter how hard they tried to resist, I was totally confident in my ability to conquer this place.

Despite that, I didn't hurry to issue my overwhelming attack at the castle. This wasn't the most crucial thing right now.

At the moment, I should pay more attention to something else.

[Tell me you still have connection with those fifty aces across the world]

Chapter 65 - Starting The Counter Attack

If I had to start a change in this deadly scheme, then I had to use the help of those who revolted against the angels.

As I recalled, Angelica once mentioned there were many like her, who revolted and defied the treacherous plan of the angels.

She also said these people were scattered all over the globe. If that was true, then we might have a chance here.

My top priority wasn't to dominate most of the emblems, but only slightly over five percent of them. With their help, I could make that impossible feat a reality.

[Why asking all of a sudden?]

I didn't know why but seeing her answer at this moment made me want to curse. [There is a big thing going on in the world and we need to act, move fast or else we are doomed]

[We will lose the quest?]

[We are going to be all dead if we don't move now!]

She paused for a few moments, as if she was shocked and trying to get better control over herself. I knew she wouldn't take me for an exaggerated type of a person. I was never one to begin with.

[Yes, I still have connection with them]

[Good, then listen…]

I started to narrate the story of the upcoming quest without revealing some points. For example I didn't say how I got to know all this. I also kept another simple detail hidden from her.

Whoever won more emblems at any city had the control over this city. If the city had a ruler, a lord, then he would obtain the right to challenge him. If not, like our universal case, then that person would become the lord directly.

When thinking back to this small detail, I got to know how the angels managed to bypass such a quest ahead of time despite all the odds against us.

The upcoming quest should be the one paving the path for races to appoint their city lords. If this small detail wasn't there, then passing this quest would become impossible.

Yet as this quest would serve both the higher controllers and the angels agendas, the two managed to come to some sort of agreement.

What I hoped for was that this quest would have more limitations to help humans survive. Or else even with the fifty scattered ex-traitors, things wouldn't become smooth as I planned.

[Damn! Those f*cking bastards!! Alright, leave it to me]

[Once done, make sure to gather everyone and start looking for emblems inside the park] I sent to her before adding, [the park is one of the main places in the Manhattan island. So you'll have to find at least one castle out there]

[We'll control it, don't worry] she sent, [What's after that?]

[Stay put and wait for my orders]

I didn't hurry to add more tasks to her. From knowing her for such a short time, I could tell a few things about her personality.

If I gave her another order, she would try to achieve both goals at the same time. Dividing the limited human forces I had wasn't wise. But that didn't mean I wouldn't use them later.

This quest would still have long hours to start. So at first they had to control one castle before doing anything else. The boost in stats gained from there would be enough to protect the few of them who would be stationed there.

Even if a weak human with zero battle experience like most of my forces back there, with the help of the castles they could become a force to be reckoned with.

The main threat wouldn't be from traitors or other human forces in the city, but from the monsters. Just like this castle here, the wolves came in such a domineering show to try and kill even the traitors.

That would happen all around the city in the next long hours. And that was one of the main reasons behind my decision to wait and not rush to divide my few forces up from the start.

The next thing I did was to warn the jumper. He was going further away with each passing minute. I needed him. His individual strength was far beyond any other human I had.

Yet if I asked him to go directly and claim one castle for me, it would be pointless and stupid. Even if he was so strong, he was just a single warrior.

In this entire city, and even in the entire world, I might be the sole human capable of attacking castles and fighting traitor armies and monster waves all alone.

So I gave him another task instead, and he understood my intentions without the need for me to explain or give reasons.

"Now, let's get this done with," as I finished my preparations, I shifted my attention totally towards that castle up ahead.

As the traitors from the inside shouted, a semi-transparent white shield appeared to encircle the entire castle and those inside. The shield looked thin, but I knew it was sturdy and hard to crack.

The shield came as a feature of the emblem. Without the need to really activate it, the emblem would give much help to forces inside the castle.

But who said such a shield was hard on me? C'mon, it was just a white grade shield, meaning the emblem inside was simply a white grade emblem.

"Come forth, my valiant dragons!" as they made their move, it was time for mine.

The next instant I brought out my main attack force; the dragons. Each dragon was enough to face a castle of a higher caliber and destroy its shield without much effort.

But it would take a long time to do so. According to my calculations, half an hour would take a single dragon to crack one white grade shield. But with four together… Humph, it would be a piece of cake without doubt.

"Go and kill all of them," I leisurely pointed towards the castle, "leave none alive!"

"Roar!"

The dragons roared in a mighty show. After all this was their first appearance in a battlefield after getting summoned by me.

I stood in the middle of my forces while watching the three towers starting to rain long arrows, rocks, and even boiling substances over the scales of the four dragons.

However… Who said dragons were a weak race? Not to mention my dragons were really invincible at such a stage of the apocalypse.

Not only their high levels, but with I gave them bones as well. These four dragons were like real embodiments of the god of death.

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Crack!*

It didn't take longer than three minutes for their mighty dragon breaths to cause wide cracks all over the shield. At this point, those inside the castle would realize it was futile to resist, knowing how badly they messed up when they chose to betray humans.

"Fools! Aim for the summoner, he is the one we should kill!"

Just as the shield was about to burst open, a loud shout came from within. I had to admit, that person was really smart. Yet he was late in realizing what to do.

*Bang!*

Just as the total offense of the castle and its three towers rained down on me, the shield burst wide open. In fact I stood in the middle of my troops without the need to do anything.

I already was away from the attack range of most of their darts. As for those arrows who held enough momentum to reach me, my shield warriors were ready to deflect all of them.

*Roar!*

The dragons seemed to feel some humiliation from the reaction of the traitors. In their eyes, any foe in front of them should focus on them alone, and not anyone else.

So it was expected what happened next. The four dragons ventured inside the castle, spreading death violently with all means possible.

Despite their tyrannical attacks, they couldn't leave a single scratch over the castle or the towers. After all these were buildings summoned and supported by the system. They were far sturdier than the world itself.

In the span of five minutes, accompanied with constant screams of agony and death like an endless chorus, the castle was controlled smoothly and calmness prevailed next.

"Lord, all rodents were eradicated," one of the big dragons out of the four stretched out his head and spoke in a prideful tone.

Yeah, dragons were attentive to their image and pride. Never harm any dragon's pride, that would even bring you death. A lesson those traitors learnt in such harsh way indeed.

"Good job everyone," I said in applause, "come back and rest. We have a long ride up ahead."

In fact I was telling them to shut the hell up! I hated nothing like arrogance. So I took them back while going inside the castle with my forces.

The castle was much more spacious than it looked from the outside. Inside it a space spanning around half a kilometer square was enough to be filled with a large army indeed.

Yet the traitors' bodies left all over the place showed their mediocre number. Only two hundred one of them, just a weak force to stop me.

"Leave behind three Bulltors, five shield warriors, three healers, five archers and five magicians," I shouted while starting to collect my trophies. Yet I held little hope for this.

"Damn! Not a single one of them had a decent inventory!" After finishing collecting my share, and despite expecting a low result, I didn't expect it to be in such a way.

Only three of them had inventories with monster cores and gears. The rest had only coins, and it wasn't much to begin with.

Each one gave me almost one hundred coins, making me not know where to laugh or cry.

I expected that the moment I saw their numbers. Such a large number meant the angels of this city worked hard and recruited many humans as traitors after their disastrous defeat in the first quest.

What did that mean? Those traitors weren't that unique or outstanding to begin with. In addition to that, they didn't have time to level up or gain more support or kill enough monsters to fill their wallets and inventory.

Was my luck starting to shift towards the worse side now or what?

Taking down a deep breath was my only answer to this miserable loot.

I looked at the central part of the castle. A white diamond shaped, white emblem appeared half a meter floating above the ground. This emblem wasn't that big as I expected. A grown up man could encircle his arms around it with ease.

"Follow me," as I finished examining that emblem from a distance, I moved without going towards it. My sole mission was to just take the castles and not use the emblems.

As I walked out of the castle, I didn't forget to give short instructions to the forces I left behind. In my opinion, a single Bulltor was more than enough to defend the castle with the help of a few archers or magicians.

I didn't leave such a small force behind just to defend the castle. Besides if this continued, then the number of castles I would control in the end would fall short.

But I already had a plan to solve this.

*Howl!*

Just as I went outside, I found a swarm of wolves waiting for me. When I got control over the castle, not a single wolf dared to attack me. After all, I was so formidable without any boost or defensive advantage of the castle and towers.

"Listen up," I said, "Bulltors will encircle us with shield warriors… Other warriors stay inside and keep attacking.. Our main goal is to move fast across them, not to wipe them out."

Chapter 66 - The God's Warning!

Wasting my time fighting useless battles with these wolves and monsters wouldn't work. I knew they would swarm the entire world in endless waves.

Besides, my main goal was to capture castles, not just kill monsters.

"Keep moving."

However it seemed my enemies were also aware of this point. Another thing I had to care about was sleep.

I haven't had any sleep since coming to this world, which was over a day ago. I could stay awake for two days straight, but not a second more.

I needed to finish wrapping things here before going to sleep.

My target for now wasn't to go and seek other castles, but to go and find that ace's whereabouts. As for looking for the castles, I have this task handed to someone else.

The distance from the castle I took and the hospital wasn't that much in the first place, but it seemed like I was crossing rivers and mountains to get there.

The sheer number of wolves was a problem to the point that killing them became pointless. The more we killed, the more that appeared and walking through them began to be like crawling on four.

"Come out," but who said I was without an option? Once I took out a single dragon, things started to change for the better.

At this stage of the apocalypse there weren't a single water monster, not to mention airborne monsters. So having a dragon midair fighting them gave me total control over the situation.

"Finally arrived," once I reached the hospital, I couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief. But at this moment I had another thing to think about.

The jumper just sent me two places with castles, one of them wasn't far from here. That madman was strong enough to not get himself killed. So having him scout the entire city was the best mission he could do solo for me.

"Shall I go and take another castle for now or what?" I wasted almost half an hour just crossing a distance that should take ten minutes. But when I was just considering leaving for now, I got a strange message.

[Unknown god supporting your channel sent you a direct message]

Before I started the main fight against the traitors at that castle, I locked up all the notifications again. I didn't want to be disturbed by anything else.

But one of the gods seemed to pay a large price to deliver this message to me.

[The message says: You won't succeed in your goal this way. Contact me for more info]

I looked at this weird message and couldn't help but frown. I knew what he wanted to say. Having fifty ex-traitors work all around the world was a gamble from my side, but I did it because I lacked any other options here.

It was simply the best response to such an impossible quest. However, something told me that I should speak with that god, so I simply reopened my notifications again.

"You can tell me what you want now," I said while raising my head to the sky like speaking to it.

A long row of useless messages popped up. Most contained different reactions from many gods, mostly supporting my actions. Few didn't like what I was doing.

Who knew what their real motives were. However my wait for that god's message didn't last long as a few messages came interrupted with messages of other gods.

[The number of your helpers isn't enough to change the situation. The angels made a deal you didn't know about. They changed the requirement to cancel the merge to be at least twenty percent of your human race]

"What the hell…!!!" Once I read this message, the blood all over my body boiled out of pure anger. Those despicable angels… they really outdid themselves this time!

If this was true, then even with the help of those ex-traitors I got no chance at all.

[They suspect that you already know the content of the quest. But there is another way to stop them, a way that only you can do]

"Then say it!"

The god seemed to love playing with my nerves! He didn't say anything for a long minute. If there was another way that could solve this disaster, then it would be great to do it.

But something told me this method wasn't that easy to do.

[Do you know about the heroic calling?]

Just this simple message came without any explanation in front of me from that god. But when I read it, I couldn't help but getting soaked in cold sweat.

"Damn! Isn't there any other choice but that?!" I couldn't help but shout in fright.

[Oho, you know about it! That's impressive and quite interesting]

[Worthy of the human I'm following and supporting, lol]

"It's not time to say that!" I felt colder in my heart and back the more I thought about it. "Isn't there any other way?"

[This is the only way]

[Or else you will lose everything by losing your world]

I knew he got a point here. But the thing he asked me to do was really dangerous! Really impossible!

What did a heroic calling mean? In an advanced quest, over fifty perhaps, there was such a quest given to the surviving races of the apocalypse.

In such a quest, they were asked to deliver a hero. A hero was someone having achieved something not achievable by common sense and logic.

For such quest, different missions were assigned to each race. Wait a second, I didn't need to go and do that crazy task of the humans back then, right? After all this would be considered a voluntary act of mine.

But what were the other missions for other races?

"I can do any of the missions in the heroic calling list to achieve this, right?" I asked about my first dilemma. And the answer swiftly came.

[Smart kid! Yes, any mission there is counted]

[But all are, arguably, on the same level of difficulty]

"Of course I know that," I sucked in a cold air of breath before asking, "where can I find such a list?"

[You'll need the help of the oracle, not me!]

Oracle? I felt puzzled for a few seconds and even thought about asking him again. However, just as I looked up at the hospital in front of me, I realised what I missed here.

"Yeah, an oracle… indeed she is one, hahaha!"

I laughed while realising that the ace I tried to save was in fact an oracle herself. She had no other stats unlocked thanks to her ability to see through the intentions of the angels.

What did that mean? She could see through the future! She was an oracle indeed.

[Good boy] and this message of the god proved my assumptions were right.

I walked inside the wide and empty street alone. Since taking the turn a few blocks away, not a single monster was present here.

This was expected. After all, if there wasn't a single castle here then the monsters wouldn't appear.

As for my boys, I scattered them all around in a large circle of protection.

The hospital was in L shape, comprising three big blocks merging together with at least ten stories tall. In front of this, there was a low levelled building with only one story tall, acting as the front gate and entrance of the hospital.

With the lack of monsters, it was normal to see many people standing on patrol and in high guard against any incoming. They covered an area of almost three hundred metre radius around the hospital.

They looked slightly relaxed. Compared to what I and my team experienced, these folks were much better.

The hospital was lit by big lights, turning the area around it for five hundred metres to be bright in such a dim world.

It wasn't hard to spot them from far, and it was easy for them to see me coming at them.

"Halt right there," as I got closer, I was called to stop.

The people surviving the apocalypse here might be considered one of the luckiest groups ever. They had such a large and easy to defend place as a base. Coupled with the medium height wall, strong gate, and those strong lights, not a single monster could come near here and threaten them.

Plus the place was bustling with people from different places and origins. This hospital wasn't the only one surviving here. But from the look of people gathered up in three groups to welcome me, their stance and their high alert, I figured they looked a bit different.

They weren't lax or inexperienced, meaning they must have their own share of the apocalypse and survived these fair and square.

"Excuse me, I'm here looking for a friend," I complied to their request, and even put my sword away. I came here without any ill intentions, and only wanted to find Alex as fast as possible.

"A patient here?" one of them asked, one who was cladded all in armour from head to toe. He wasn't the only human here fully wearing armour, but there were at least a dozen like him.

Having such wealth to buy full body armours and even caps and helmets meant they killed a lot of monsters. Or... Something else!

However as I looked around, I could only see a limited number of dead hyenas, not even a single wolf was there.

"She said she will come here to have a check before all this happened," I gave a reasonable explanation before adding, "her name is Alex."

"Alex? Hmm…" another one said, pausing as if he was thinking about something, "I met few with such name. Do you know anything special about her?"

"Why not let me enter and look for her myself then?" I forgot to ask for her description from Angelica. But it wasn't time to ask her about that. "I came from downtown, met a lot of monsters and am very tired and wounded. I can also ask for help."

I put on a sincere expression while closely watching their faces. I knew it was logical for them to stop anyone looking suspicious, but they acted a little aggressive against me.

"Alright, come here my friend," the first one to speak said, "but here we follow rules. No fighting is allowed and also inside the hospital, no weapons are allowed either."

Without any hesitation I moved towards them. Even if there was a trap here, I was sure to crush anything if anyone tried something funny.

*Rumble!*

But the moment I got closer than one hundred metres from the main gate, I felt my body shudder without a reason. Something seemed to hit me, something invisible that I couldn't see.

Then a strange message popped up in front of my eyes.

[Warning: You have entered a private zone. All your stats are locked. Your inventory is locked]

"What the hell…?!!" I was shocked to see such a message. Instant weakness started to find its way into my body while one of the three groups moved and two strong youths held me by the arm.

And I could feel the cold tip of a sword pointed at my back.

"Don't struggle, it's futile," a new voice came from the front, before a man in his mid twentieth appeared.

He wasn't much taller than me, cladded in full body red armour with faint pink rose drawings on it. He held two long spears, wore a strange pointy helmet and had a long scar over his forehead, a scar that resembled a spear.

A name suddenly popped up in my head, a name that I never expected to meet this early and not right here.

The bloody spearhead, that was the name of such infamous and notorious person who once ruled a great stretch of cities with terror and blood.

One of the ten criminal warlords of our human race back in the apocalypse. He was considered one of the strongest and most brutal outlaws in the apocalypse.

Bound by no morality or honour, he only lived by spreading terror and killing anyone who dare to stand against him.

Such a vicious and greedy person was once the leader of a mighty group of evil people.. They worked their way in the apocalypse, did everything you could imagine wrong, and they found an astounding success amidst such tumultuous times.

Chapter 67 - [Bonus Chapter] The Spearhead

He wasn't someone I should have met here. As far as I know, he lived in the nearby Jersey city. It was so close to New York City, separated from it only by the Hudson river.

A question instantly popped up in my head, with an instant answer for it. What was someone like him doing here? And when I thought back to the angels and their dirty schemes, I couldn't help but inwardly sigh.

Either they moved him when I started to topple their plans here, or he simply started from here before moving to the nearby Jersey city and expanded his terror over New Jersey state.

No matter what, he was here. I heard many terrifying stories about him, but it was the first time for me to witness the horrifying and infamous zone effect of his.

It was called the domain of death god, where no one could exert his full power at all. Imagine facing his army with yours when you and your men had no strength to fight back.

I also heard rumours that his domain ability could even boost the stats of his people. If that was true, then this figure was worthy of the infame he acquired later in his life.

"What's the meaning of that?" I asked while feigning ignorance and burying all the shock deep within me.

"You came asking for our little witch, Alex, right?" he stopped not so close from me, protected by a group of his men.

Even under such conditions where he held the upper hand, he was extremely cautious.

"She might be called that," I smiled without any speck of worry over my face, "where is she?"

"Follow me," he said with an inviting gesture, "after all you are going to be imprisoned with her in the same cell."

My smile never faded away. Even if he was that notorious person from the past, I knew his key points of weakness.

If he met another person, even my precious jumper, he would be lucky. But meeting me meant he ran out of his luck already.

"I heard a lot about you," as we walked inside the hospital, I couldn't help but notice something weird. There were many people inside, but unlike the groups I met outside, all those living here looked pathetic.

Ugly dark faces, not a single scrap of metal on anyone's body, shaking in fear and their eyes seemed to lose any hope for the future… They all gave me the impression that I walked inside a graveyard, not a hospital.

"From whom?" I calmly asked while watching this bizarre situation.

"The angels," he laughed, "did you think your moves weren't monitored and reported to us? The angels seem to think highly of you, even calling you one of their great threats."

He grinned and with that ugly scar on his forehead, his face seemed more vicious and less humane, "they also told us about Alex, saying she was of the same importance as you. I dunno what you exactly did, but I can't think of anything boring, hahaha!"

"You should have seen what I did to them, hahaha!" I returned his sinister laugh with another, "I made them pee their pants."

"The type of man I admire most," he patted my shoulder as we were best mates, "it's a misfortune that you are my enemy. Sigh, all the people here aren't fun to live with at all."

He rolled his eyes around. He seemed to put not a single human in his eyes as worthy of living. It was just the typical of such a tyrant.

"Then why don't you renege on their side and stand by mine?" I said in a sly tone, "I promise you won't feel bored at all."

I know of his misdeeds, but they were all things that didn't occur yet. If I would evaluate him from practical point of view, then with his unique and domineering domain ability, he could be even on equal standing with the jumper.

Thinking of this stage and the upcoming stages of the apocalypse, he might be even more important than the jumper for me.

"Well, my hands are bound here," he raised both hands as if he was helpless, "I gained everything I have right now thanks to the angels. At first I didn't believe them, but when I saw everything happening around me, I couldn't say no to their help."

So he was one of those late traitors joining hands with those angels after the apocalypse. I could only inwardly sigh. Those angels really knew their craft very well. Not leaving such a prodigy untouched.

"You won't be the first to give your back to them," I didn't lose my hope in recruiting him. "Even Alex was once like you, but she revolted against them after getting everything from them."

"And see what happened to her?" he laughed as if he was hearing an amusing joke, "I don't want to have her end, mate."

"It's still too early to say she had a bad end," I mysteriously said and my hidden message managed to reach past his ears.

His face dropped slightly for a brief moment. With furrowed brows and ugly irregular lines formed at his forehead he said:

"You know you can't use your stats or inventory as long as I mark you as an enemy. Nah, you have no way to turn this around."

His face relaxed once he said the last piece of words. But that didn't stop me from laughing.

"Nothing is set in stone, right?"

My confidence and carefree mood made him frown again. "If so, what would you do if I moved my little toy here and cut your throat with it?"

He raised his sword and seemed to try to threaten me. Nice try, but I wasn't the type to be threatened this easily, mate!

"And where is the fun in that?" I met his threats with a laugh, "why not have a bet?"

"A bet?" This was one of his weaknesses. He was addicted to gamble, even more than the dragons. "What kind of bet?"

"If I manage to break free, not only me but also with Alex, what will you do about it?"

"Break free? From my prison?" he asked with a plain look on his face before he broke into a wave of laughter, "damn! You are far more interesting than I thought. Alright, let's do it this way... I'll stay next to your cell to make sure the strength of my domain is strong all the time. Let's see how you can break my hidden class ability."

"Just stand by and watch," despite feeling surprised to have a hidden class, I answered him with a wide smile like usual, "but if I succeed, you'll join my forces."

"That depends on your ability to force me to join you," he shrugged as if he never believed I would be able to do this.

Yet his meaning was simple. The bet didn't only depend on my ability to break free and escape, but also to have the power to force him to yield.

Oh my poor tyrant! You truly underestimated me.

As we spoke, we finally reached our destination. We descended to the underground level, where it seemed to be a place of the radiotherapy and the radiology department.

The place was dimly lit, but at the end of the wide hall I could see a room made out of glass and a person's shadow seemed to be inside.

"This way, mighty hero," that jerk said in a mocking tone. He still didn't get it. His fate was already in my hands.

If time came and he didn't want to join me, then killing him would be my second best option. Such a person shouldn't be allowed to live freely or else disasters would follow his steps.

The room seemed to be sound proof as that girl inside didn't even notice us coming until the door was opened. She sat on the ground, looking fragile and shaking from fear.

The moment the door opened, her pale face met my eyes. She had such pure angelic face with nothing wrong except for those long trails of dried up tears that stained her small cheeks.

Elliptical eyes, small nose, slit like lips… She gave me the impression of having asian origin from the first glance.

She wore a white dress that isn't white anymore. Her hair was dishevelled, scattered to form a mess with all that dust and mud like substance that was more like blood mixing with her icy white strands.

Her pupils looked special, silver white in colour for one iris, and bronze at the other one. Double pupils with two distinctive colours forming such a contrast to anyone seeing her.

"Here, you have a friend coming from far to see you," the spearhead laughed before I felt a strong kick to my back, sending my flying inside without a warning.

Then the door was closed and it seemed like all the lights coming from outside vanished.

"You…"

A soft, yet hoarse voice weakly appeared from those slit like lips, as if it came from a dead person, a voice appeared with eyes that lost all hope for a better future.

"How long have you been locked here?" I didn't satisfy her curiosity at first but started to assess the situation.

This room seemed to be prepared for radiotherapy. That meant we wouldn't be able to hear or see anything from outside, and also the same went for those thugs.

I knew that the spearhead wouldn't move away. I raised his curiosity and piqued his interest. I didn't want to fight against everyone here before getting to him.

So as my trap was successful, and this place seemed to be isolated from outside, I started to consider my next move.

"I… have been here for long time already," her eyes lost focus for a brief moment before she lowered her head and buried it inside her bent knees.

She was in a messy state, a state of a person who lost all the will to live.

No one would reach such a state without proper reason, and in her case it was all the dead ends she had so far.

She seemed to experience a lot. Despite feeling sympathy towards her, I knew in the apocalypse, humans were doomed to face more disasters to come.

This… This was simply one of the classical stories that I read all about and never lost their genuine taste of tragedy even after the passage of ninety-nine years.

"Be ready," without speaking nonsense, I calmly said while examining my profile, "we are going out now."

"What?!!" I heard a deep gasp from the side, "look, I don't know what you did to deserve coming here but… Just look at me…"

I moved my eyes aside from the profile and saw her raising both fists. There were a lot of wounds with lots of clotted blood all over her smooth skin.

"I tried, tried so much until I gave up," she bitterly said and her eyes got clouded with tears, "you can't destroy this glass with pure strength. Did you forget? Our stats are locked and we can't even summon our weapons."

"You didn't have any stat outside intelligence to begin with," I shifted my eyes away, returning to examine my profile.

I checked my profile the moment I got such a weird message when I was outside this hospital. That spearhead was only able to lock the stats and inventory, but he didn't lock my system or class.

What did that mean? He was like putting a wooden cage around me, and I wasn't a normal human... I was a dragon!

"What did you just say?"

Just as I finished confirming that my system was still working, I felt a weak and shaking hand gripping my arm. She looked at me with widened eyes, eyes that were filled with doubt and surprise.

"Who are you?" she added, but I simply answered with a calm smile.

"I'm the one who sent you here in the first place," I slowly said while gently pushing her hand away, "and also the one who is going to get you outside."

Chapter 68 - The Diamond Dungeon Key

"It's you…" she was shocked, but it wasn't time to be shocked over this. I was sure the next trick I'd pull would really shock her.

As for that spearhead, he would be scared, not shocked, might be puzzled.

"Come back," I slowly said while raising both arms in the air like I was some sort of a magician, "come back my valiant warriors."

The next moment nothing happened, but I knew they would take a few seconds to come. Before I said these words, I thought about the warriors I'd need here.

I didn't summon all of them. After all, those people here didn't need my full strength to crush them. I only thought about a dozen of my warriors, half were shield warriors, three giant Bulltors, two wizards, and my strongest warrior; the dragon.

*Rumble!*

The room was soundproof, but it didn't prevent shaking from being transmitted inside. It wasn't only the ground that shook, but literally everything.

Then like an egg got smashed against a rock, the entire glass cracked before it smashed into pieces. The glass that Alex tried her best to break was simply crushed by the approach of my warriors.

Then the world outside appeared in front of my eyes. Under the dim lights here, I saw giant shadows coming directly from the ceiling. They didn't use stairs, who said my warriors were this civilised?

They simply crashed into this hospital and started breaking the building to reach me. Great job, my warriors.

Few metres away, a group of shocked and terrified people stood there, led by the spearhead.

"Told you," I took a few steps and stood outside that room, "you can't lock me here."

*Boom!* *Bang!*

The ceiling broke and simply a large piece of it fell and smashed violently to the ground. A large wave of dust emerged, while in the middle of it the shadows of more of my warriors appeared.

*Woosh!* *Woosh!* *Woosh!*

The next thing to happen was simple. The rest of my warriors jumped through that big hole one by one. The one to destroy it was my dragon, while the Bulltors seemed to have some manners as they were the ones who came later on through the stairs.

"This…" the spearhead's voice came shaky. He should be afraid right now. But who told him to play with fire? Play with me?

"We have a bet together," I took a few steps towards him before stopping a few metres away. The closer I got, the further he and his group of men retreated out of fear. "I'll give you the option; either honour it or die."

My words weren't without backing. At this moment, all the giant bodies of the Bulltors, shield warriors, and the dragon stood in front of me and on my side.

If anyone wanted to try his luck, then I could just snap a finger and crush him with that damned luck of his.

Behind me, the two wizards stood while holding their staffs. The warriors I summoned didn't turn into tokens like usual.

After all, and thanks to that useless domain of his, my inventory was locked, but my system wasn't.

When I examined my profile before, I found the biggest weakness of his ability. As my warriors had no way to return to, they would naturally appear by my side.

Also this experience taught me something; I needed an ability to call my forces to my side from far. Thanks to him, I got to learn that lesson without losing much, and I was slightly grateful for that.

"What's your call?" I crossed my arms in a leisurely way while Alex finally overcame her shock and got the courage to step outside that smashed room.

She stood by my side, moving her eyes in pure amazement and deep shock around. She got all the reason to feel like that, after all this was the first time we met together.

"Kill him," she suddenly said in pure hatred, "someone like him shouldn't have the chance to live any longer."

I looked up at her in silence and didn't say anything. In fact I knew he was going to be a bad guy, a very bad guy. But at this moment he wasn't yet at a point of no redemption.

But if he persisted on this path, I wouldn't show him any mercy. If not for his OP ability, I would have killed him early on and didn't go through all this trouble.

"Please don't," fearing that I might be persuaded by her words, he shouted at me in a panicked voice, "I yield, I concede and consider you my master from now on."

"He isn't trustworthy," Alex wasn't the kind to easily forget or forgive it seemed, "kill him now, or else he will cause more trouble later on."

"I won't, I swear on my life that I won't," he hurriedly shouted and even hit his head on the ground in a pleading manner, "I swear, I swear my never ending allegiance to you."

"Words can't be trusted from such a traitor," she kept her stance firm.

"Who said I trust his words?" to stop any further and useless chat here, I said with a simple shrug. "I only trust one thing, the system. You, release that lock over the two of us, now!"

I ordered in a domineering tone.

"Right away," he cancelled his ability by whatever means he had.

"Sign it," without waiting more time here, I bought a contract, filled its content and then signed it before throwing it back to him.

Without even sparing it a glance, he hurriedly signed it. He knew he wouldn't be spared a chance if he delayed or tried to bargain.

"I'm glad you made the right choice," I said with a smile before turning to Alex, "this is the only way you can trust anyone here in the apocalypse."

"Just like what you did with me?" she said in a harsh tone, like she didn't let that contract between us off her mind yet.

And I laughed at her remark without commenting further.

"Tell me, what was your mission here from the angels?"

In fact knowing that someone like him was on the side of angels and was left behind to just stand on guard didn't seem logical to me.

This was simply stupid! Having one of your best fighters being out of the game from the beginning didn't make any sense, and didn't suit the treacherous nature of those angels.

Not to mention he came from another city over to here, following the orders of another group of angels.

So there was another reason for this, there must be one.

"They told me to wait for you," he said as if this wasn't enough reason. I didn't change my face and kept staring at him in silence, making him less comfortable.

No matter how big my deeds here was, I knew it wasn't enough to attract the attention of another city angels.

Then his eyes shone brighter as if he recalled something.

"Yes, yes, I remember now…" he paused as if he was running and panting out of excitement, "they told me I have to stay here and defend this place as there is a key here."

"Key?" I asked with doubt, "what kind of key?"

"Dunno," he shrugged, "I tried to examine it before with no success at all."

"Hmm…" I didn't know why but I doubted this was the reason behind him staying behind, "why didn't you take it and leave then?"

"Because it's unmovable," he pointed towards the opposite direction of the room we were held in, "this way, it's inserted in the ground like Arthur's sword in legends. Follow me, I'll show it to you."

I turned to Alex and found her eyes moving with enmity and doubt towards him and obvious admiration towards me.

"Lead the way," I simply said. With all my warriors here, what could possibly go wrong?

We went to the end of this large hall, ending up into a twisted narrow corridor. My Bulltors needed to crush the walls at some points to walk regularly without any hindrance.

And I didn't stop them.

In a few minutes, we arrived at our destination. It was as he described, but the significance of this key was far beyond what I initially thought.

"This…" on my side, Alex was also as shocked as me. Despite the fact that she didn't know the full potential of that key, she at least recognized it. "It's like the dungeon key in my possession," she murmured in a low tone that was audible to me.

Yes, it was like a dungeon key. It was a giant key made of precious metal, like those old time keys of mediaeval times. It had a rounded large head with an oval gap within. Its shaft was smooth and cylindrical, extending for almost two metres and ending with thick and irregular protrusions, suiting that of a key.

Yet what distinguished it from any dungeon key was its appearance. It had no specific colour, appearing like it was formed of pure crystals or even diamonds.

Light was reflected over it and fractionated through its material into rainbow colour. "It's the diamond key," I said with certainty. How could I miss such a rare treasure in the apocalypse?

Dungeon keys were divided upon their colour. For example the one Alex had was a copper grade dungeon key. But this one was different. It wasn't used to open dungeons of diamond grade, but to upgrade existing dungeon keys to higher grades.

The end grade result was random, depending entirely upon luck. I turned to Alex and extended my hand as I said:

"Give me the key."

"...Ok," she seemed to be surprised by my sudden demand. After all, the deal between us was already fulfilled by my presence here.

With me here, no harm would happen to her. She was smart enough to realise this. She simply took her key out from inventory and it was a similar image of that diamond key, only copper in colour.

"Another key?!!" the spearhead said in surprise, "I never expected you to have another one!"

"Another?" I didn't miss this remark and a flash of regret passed over the spearhead face. "You know everything you own is practically mine," I said in a tone that left no room for discussion.

"Here," just as Alex took out a key, he also took one out. It was also a copper grade dungeon key, making me feel these keys were like common cabbage found on streets.

C'mon, they were dungeon keys. They couldn't be fake, right?

"Do you know what this is?" Alex asked. I only smiled and didn't answer her but said to everyone: "Get back!"

This diamond key was really a strike of luck. It could upgrade any keys in the vicinity of ten metres radius during one minute only. After this, the key would vanish and turn into pure dust.

Of course this wasn't the only usage of it. There was another one, a devilish use that angels and human enemies would find better use for than I.

If this key was left intact, then when the time came, the angels could use it to expand an ongoing merge between the other worlds and here on a faster rate.

That was why I needed to destroy this key, but in a good exchange for myself.

As they moved away, I didn't move closer to the key. The way to activate the upgrade function was easy.

*Clang!* *Clang!*

I threw the two keys to fall just beneath the key set in stone. Two clanging sounds erupted before a wave of energy gushed out from the diamond key and held the two keys.

They floated midair under the force. I stayed twenty metres away, not daring to get closer.

This key was safe against other keys, but not anything else. No matter who the being was, even gods wouldn't survive the diamond key energy.

*Bang!* *Bang!*

The energy gushed inside the two copper keys, removing their copper colour and replacing it with the same transparent and majestic appearance of the diamond key.

The keys emitted banging sounds, rumbling in loud noise. The mere scene of the energy made the group behind me restless.

"What's happening?"

"Is it safe to stay here?"

"C'mon, we tried everything to make this damn key react with no success. Only with a single glance he knew what to do. Who exactly is he?"

Many whispers erupted from behind but I could hear them all. I simply ignored all of them and waited for my two precious keys to evolve.

What would they end up to be? Silver grade? Or even gold grade? Damn! My heart is already throbbing out of excitement!

Chapter 69 - Do You Have A Girlfriend?

One minute passed fast. The two keys kept emitting loud noises before the energy faded and the diamond key turned into white ash.

"It's… gone!!" I heard the exclamation of shock from the spearhead mouth from behind. I didn't care about that diamond key anymore.

I only moved fast and grabbed the two keys and examined them. There were still traces of the energy of the diamond key on them. I didn't hurry to wipe the energy out and stored them inside my inventory for now.

It seemed they would take quite some time to end their upgrade process. So stay inside boys, your time to shine would come soon without doubt!

"Oho, what did we get here?" Just before I could return to them, I noticed something sparkling in the ground. It was at the spot where the diamond key was embedded.

It must be something nice! Just from the flash of bright red light coming from the hole left behind, I could tell it was a treasure.

But I never imagined my luck to be heaven defying to this extent!

"An ore vein? Damn! It's the lava heart ore, one of the top ores in the world!!" I was shocked beyond belief when I saw what lay in the hole. It wasn't just a mere rock, but a large amount of rocks.

The hole seemed to be a hole in a ceiling, a covering layer raised a few metres away from the bottom of the vein. From this small hole I could clearly see a world bathed in scarlet red light.

Just seeing this scene made my scalp numb! This ore was precious, so precious for any force at the apocalypse.

When guests enter later stages, seventy stages and higher, the quests would change from deadly encounters to strengthening the remaining forces and help them secure their spots in this world.

What else would help a force to establish themselves than a quest asking them to learn how to forge weapons out of the new ores?

The apocalypse wasn't just a calamity, but a blessing in disguise. The new world was filled with opportunities, waiting for the brave ones to get them.

Just in front of me was one of those legendary and most precious ores in the new world. It was responsible for making the strongest offensive weapons in the apocalypse.

Any force seizing up such ore would become mighty in the future. For a second I couldn't help but be envious of those angels and their traitors.

The angels had the ability to access unique intel, including this one. Places of such rare and valuable ores would be a piece of info worth fighting for.

"Come," I said to the spearhead with a wide smile on my face. For unknown reason, my smile seemed to make him less comfortable and more wary of me.

"Don't be afraid, I won't bite," I couldn't help but laugh, "tell me, how many people do you have here? Are they all with systems? Have they added stat points yet?"

The spearhead seemed to not understand my intentions. For a moment there his face went dark but he had no choice but to answer me.

"We have around a couple thousand one," he gave me such a pleasant answer, "all have their systems, all have added a few stat points already. Even there are few of them who gained the blessing of the gods during the past event."

"Fantastic," I said in a happy tone yet again I seemed to frighten him. He took a step backward, looking at me in a gaze filled with doubt.

"See this?" I pointed towards the hole in the ground, "I want you from this moment on to safeguard this place. This ore must be excavated during the next forty hours. Don't leave a single rock behind, and send everything you get directly to my inventory."

"Are you going to stay here?" he seemed for a reason slightly relieved.

"No, but I have a way to handle this," I instantly sent him an invitation to join my channel. "I'll send a few invitations to your key people to make sure I can see what you do."

I didn't intend on threatening him with my last words, but it seemed he got the wrong side of my meaning here. Without saying more, I sent a few invitations to dozens of his people after buying more reels from the market.

As for the problem of sharing our inventory, I would look for a solution later on in the entire market.

After finishing all this, I finally said my last piece of advice.

"Don't trust anyone other than the ones I inform you about coming here. If anyone dares to appear here, trap him first and wait for me to send someone to interrogate him."

"Ok," he helplessly nodded. At this point he knew he was my lackey, not the old big boss of this place.

Yet when I went outside and left, I could see an honest expression of relief on his face even from far away.

"Is it okay to leave him behind like this?" Alex on my side asked in doubt. She was still concerned about him and his evil nature.

"He is already bound to me with a rope around his neck," I didn't delve into any details. The contract was enough to secure my safety and interests. As for the channel contract, it was enough to make me monitor his actions at any given time.

If I could see and give him orders all the time, what possibly could go wrong? He was like a mighty lion trapped in a zoo cage, with no ability to revolt or even break free without dying.

"Where are we going now?" she noticed the large number of my warriors whom I just gathered around in ten minutes walk. "God! You still have more of those big guys?!!"

Her remark was really funny. "They are my warriors," I simply introduced them to her, "and we are going to do something important first. Also I have a matter that I want to ask you about."

Even if I had to find a way to topple the angel's plans, I first needed to secure my backyard. If the city wasn't secured, then forget about that impossible task of that god.

"So we have two things to do?" she asked, trying to make sure she understood me correctly.

"Yes," I nodded, "the first one is easy. You'll just have to stay with me all the time and you'll be safe. Ah, contact Angelica. She is deeply worried about you."

"She is a b*tch!" out of nowhere I heard this loud shout filled with deep anger, "she is lucky we are far apart! If she was in front of me now... Humph! I would have taught her a proper lesson. Hump! She even dared to go around, telling people we are lovers!!"

For some reason, I couldn't help but raise my eyebrows when I heard all these explosive words of anger coming out from her mouth. I initially thought both were lovers, or ex-lovers at the least. But it seemed things were more complicated than that.

"What?" she noticed my weird reaction, "did she also go around and tell you we were bed lovers?"

God! I should keep myself away from such mess!

"We are not!" she said it as if her life depended on it. I frankly didn't care but the next question came without warning. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

"What?!!" I was surprised by her question and I didn't like the way this discussion was turning into. What brought me into the spotlight here? C'mon, it was a business between you and her!

"I mean a girl you love," she said, "don't tell me you are still a virgin?!!"

"Well, consider me a hermit," I wanted to stop this talk right away.

But it seemed she enjoyed this more than I thought.

"C'mon, in our time? Unbelievable! Where did you crawl out from? Under a dead rock in the desert or what?"

She laughed as if this was something funny. What could I say? I came from the future and there was no hope for a guy like me back there?

"Ahem, let's focus on our tasks," I cleared my throat and was prepared to shift the topic back to something useful.

But the next moment her face changed and she put on such an innocent look that no one could resist. She held her hands in front of her and even swayed right and left as if she was a little shy girl.

'Girl! You are literally killing me here! You aren't the innocent one here, I am!!'

"What about me?" and the question I didn't want to hear came, "do you like me?"

"Ahem," I cleared my throat for the second time. For a second there I couldn't resist myself, but I had to not lose my focus here. "I have no such luxury to think about this."

"This?" she scoffed as if she heard something outrageous, "Hye, there is nothing called wrong time for love, not to mention sex."

Yeah, she must be Angelica's lover! If not, how come the two shared the same shamelessness and be so daring?!

"Maybe after securing my life, but not for now at least," I honestly said. She was a piece of art, I had to admit that. Even that stance and expression on her face looked like seeing a perfect little doll coming out of the box for the first time.

For someone like me, someone who never felt any girl warmth in his entire life, I couldn't help but gulp while watching her acting like that.

But she wasn't able to move my heart... That was a fact! If we were together back in my dark days, then I wouldn't neglect such beauty at all.

Yet something changed... I could feel it. My own standards for girls changed alongside my own strength and vision in this world.

I wasn't seeing myself as useless anymore. So what was weird about raising my own standards about the girl I should love?

Such a girl must be unique, not only in appearance. She must be hot, that was given. But when I thought back to the girls I had under my control right now, I couldn't help but feel strange.

Thinking about Isabella, Angelica, or even this sexy to hell Alex… I was surrounded by my little army of beauties. But I was never moved. That was strange, right?

In my eyes, the girl that could move me would be someone so special. If there was a female version of a jumper, then I would definitely consider her as my girl.

Just thinking about that made me want to laugh and cry. I always looked at loving couples when I was weak and I envied them. And now? When such a beauty asked me to become her man in such a direct way, I simply turned her down without a moment of hesitation.

Did I change all this much? Damn!

"Oh, so it's a promise then?" this girl! Was she dumb or had something loose in her head? How did she see any promise in what I just said?

"Ahem," for a third time I had to clear my throat until it really started to hurt, "let's speak about another thing. Tell me, did you ever hear about the hero calling a list of missions?"

"What?" she blinked with her eyes for a brief second, "is this a place for wedding vows? Oh god! I never expected you to ask this on our first date! So cute!"

"Cute my as*! Stop fooling around and just tell me if you know about it!" as clearing my throat didn't work, I had to slap her on the back of the head, hopefully that loose screw would return to its place.

"Cute! Our first fight! That's lovely!!"

Gosh! This girl…!

For a moment there I didn't know what to do. Yet a brilliant idea flashed in my mind. Without waiting, I instantly did it.

"What?!!! How did she know?!!!"