117 Another Godly Treasure
There were many conditions to get such material, which meant how valuable this material was. For me I knew of two uses of this material from the old man, or that's what I recalled.
I needed to get back to those beads and try to seek more answers for such extremely valuable material.
All I knew was that I could use it to transform any piece of land into a blessing land that would spontaneously spawn monsters at the same stage of the apocalypse.
It might seem worthless, but if I told you that these monsters would give us not only materials, but coins and could also drop gears at fixed rate in addition to stat points, scrolls, and other stuff then you'd get what I mean.
Not to mention it was considered a safe training zone for my troops. They would enter and train without any fear of facing a new challenge or unfavourable circumstances.
There was once a kingdom in our human race that had the chance to get their hands over this material. They used it over a large piece of land that was the size of a normal US state, and they called it The Dungeon.
As for the second use, it was mentioned in theory by the old man without any prior application to it. According to him, using this material over any kind of monster would tame him. Not only that, it would also allow the monster to evolve, turning monsters from just killing moving meat into our own strength.
If I got the chance to select, then I'd select both of them. However each portal would only allow for a single monster to come here. So I would only choose one thing to do with this material, and that would be the dungeon.
Even if taming monsters was something good, it was better to train my troops.
"It's coming," as I was lost in thoughts, the jumper spoke and jolted me awake.
Then the entire world all around changed. The world was already dim, but just as that monster appeared, it seemed like the entire world was bathed by fire.
It turned from a dim world into a hot and shining red world with black at the horizon like a gloomy background.
And with this, a colossal body started to step out from the gate. It was so massive that it had to pass through the portal with one limb at a time.
First he held the rim of that portal with his hand, pushed one leg out before pushing his head then his other arm and the last thing to pass was his second leg.
It took almost a couple of minutes for this colossal being to pass into our world. Yet in my eyes it seemed like time was forcibly stopped by its terror.
But instead of passing only one head and done, a second head passed, then a third, fourth, and lastly fifth.
The heads were like a lizard with big spiky scales on the upper half of its long neck. The five necks combined together just ten metres above its balloon-like belly.
Two thick and slightly short legs compared to its immense body appeared below. It had a short tail that was at least twenty metres in length.
It was short indeed, compared to the almost hundred metres length and almost forty metres in height belly. Not to mention its five long heads that rose up for another forty metres at least.
"This…" the jumper froze in his place and for the first time since getting to know this brutal person, he seemed scared! He was scared that even his voice came shaky when he added, "will this be the last moment of my life?"
He wasn't speaking to me, but to himself. "Don't be silly," despite being as afraid as him, I didn't show that on the surface like him, "we won't get hit as long as we are inside this bubble."
"A bubble? Against such doomsday level monsters?!" he seemed to not believe me. But dude, even if a snake evolved into a dragon, it would still be scared shit from eagles!
"We will endure," I knew the next battle wouldn't be simple, especially when I planned to not kill that monster right from the start. It wasn't even just hard because of that, but I also had another role to play here.
Or else that monster would simply kill any human inside the city and might just deviate away and leave the city to the surrounding counties. Or even it might cross the river and go to crush my forces at New York city.
Staying idle wasn't an option, and just trying to roam around, and evade any destructive collateral attacks from it wasn't an option either.
But I didn't say it out loud, or else that scared to pee himself, the jumper might just kill himself instead on the spot.
*Roar!*
The moment that monster came out, the portal closed in a flash of silver light before it raised its five heads and roared in a violent and domineering way.
It was announcing the arrival of its tyranny in this world.
"Any moment now," if I said I wasn't nervous then I would be lying. I was waiting for something, something essential to my future plans.
If that didn't happen, then all my plans would be destroyed.
"What is that?" Just as I was counting seconds with my heartbeats, the jumper pointed towards the distance while his voice carried a shocking tone.
"It's the balance my dear jumper," I was on the verge of jumping high in the air and shouting in triumph. Yet I controlled myself and as polite as a decent human I simply raised my middle finger to the hiding angels in the shadows.
Just at the forefront, high, high on top of the colossal monster, a strange whirlpool started to get formed. At first one might mistake it as a response to the mighty roars of that monster, a symbol of its terrorising power.
But I knew better! The colour of that whirlpool was pure milky white, the famous colour of the system. Yes, the system was intervening, my best ally so far was getting to move.
Of course it had to react. After all, at such a stage of the apocalypse the presence of such a monster was simply defying all rules and logic! Even if summoning such a monster here was according to the rules, the scale of its power was simply off charts.
So the system had to intervene, and it was the gamble I won just now against the angels, the move they might have overlooked, or simply didn't care about.
In either case, the monster was about to get what it deserved right from the start.
"Is it the system?" The jumper was smart enough to get what I meant. And I simply nodded.
"It's going to weaken it," I said, "and for the best it shall seal away many of its frightening abilities."
"You seem to know much about this lizard," the jumper pointed in the direction of the monster and I was astonished that he called it a lizard. "How?"
"None of your business," if you were daring enough to ask, then I'd be shameless enough to not answer.
"Humph," he harrumphed as my answer didn't satisfy him, "you are literally a walking meat sack filled with secrets!"
"If you were a girl," I tried to tease him, "I'd rather have you on my bed and tell you all the secrets you want."
"Says the one who gets scared from the approach of a few girls back there," he snorted and I didn't like that kind of answer.
"I only accept the girls that my heart moves on seeing them," I said in a challenging tone, feeling a little rage from what he just said.
"Like Karoline? Huh! You didn't see your face when she was around," he said as if it was something I should be ashamed of.
Dude! She was really a piece of art! Not to mention her own unique ability that defied logic!
*Roar!*
Yet what interrupted our useless conversation was the second roaring of that monster.
Before that by a few seconds, the whirlpool in the sky rotated in a high speed all of sudden before a large pillar of white light fell over the monster, enveloping its entire body within.
And as that happened, the monster roared and this time I could feel pain in its shocking voice.
Under the baptism of such light, the colossal body of that monster started to shrink in a rate obvious to naked eye. Instead of its colossal height and length, it started to dwindle and only one third of its original size remained.
Out of its five heads, one remained and the other four exploded. Thick and large drops of blue red blood started to rain down the area adjacent to it, eating away even the steel inside the buildings!
But that didn't matter! What mattered was the fact that this monster was punished and got its power decreased forcibly even before it could move a single foot off the ground!
Yes! Way to go, my beloved system!
But all this stopped here. I knew the effects of adjusting the punishment of the system wouldn't just stop at decreasing its size and killing off four of its five heads.
To know more, I needed to observe its actions during the next minutes first. Then I'd decide how I should kill it.
Just from the general look, I could tell this monster had some relations with dragons. Scales, heads like dragons, and even that giant shaped body and belly reminded me of the western dragons.
So if it had such a relation with them, it might be brutal and merciless as such. It also would use either fire or water in its attacks.
But if it retained the advantages of the dragons, it must also have their weaknesses.
What was the biggest flaw in dragons? Arrogance? Greed? Not to drop their enmity as they took it against their pride?
Many small things were known as the flaws of dragons. In my eyes, anything could be a virtue or a curse according to the circumstances.
"Hang tight," as the whirlpool started to slowly fade, the silver white pillar stopped and vanished as well. That gave the monster at last its moment to show up its frightening force.
And as expected, it moved its single head and roared in one direction, the direction where dense life signals came to its senses; the illusionists' gate!
"It missed us!!" The jumper looked at me like I was a street magician.
"That's normal," I shrugged, and yet I didn't shift my eyes away from the direction of the illusionist castle and gate.
I was sure my response in sealing myself came as a surprise for the angels and other enemies here in the city. But if I thought they wouldn't have a response to that, I'd be greatly mistaken.
So I watched attentively to determine what kind of response they'd do. If they didn't do anything, then against such embodiment of death drawing near, they got zero chance of survival.
"What are they doing?!" The monster was slowly moving towards the illusionists with its gigantic and heavy body. Yet in less than a minute, a new change occurred at the illusionists end.
"Where are they going?" The jumper was looking in the same direction as I was. He seemed to have a skill similar to mine, as he saw the first waves of monsters led by many illusionists flooding out from the gates of that castle.
"Are they going to fight it head on?" the jumper turned to me and I simply shook my head.
If they had something loose in their minds, then they would do that. "They are coming towards us," after a moment of pause and observation, I noticed the forces gushing out from the castle were taking a curved route, evading the monster and heading in our direction at the same time.
"But…" the jumper also noticed the missing piece here, "the monster already locked their castle in his senses. It won't follow these forces except after crushing the castle!"
Just before I could think of an explanation, a strange beam of light shone from the direction of the gate. The gate hovered hundred metres off the ground, and that made me spot that ray of light once it appeared.
"Another treasure?" I frowned. If anything would be used against that monster then it should be on the same calibre with the angelic star weapon or the illusionists godly tear.
118 Grenades Of Death
For the same race to possess two treasures of the same calibre in one city and in such an early stage of the apocalypse was something I never heard of before or even imagined!
"They got the support from their higher ups," it was the only explanation I could give in such a weird case, "but what are they trying to do?"
*Roar!*
Just as I said that, the beam of light which fell directly over the head of the monster started to get smaller. At first I thought it was fading away, but gradually I realised it was getting fiercer, being concentrated from a size of tens of metres radius to a thickness of a closed fist.
That was a great amount of condensation if you asked me. And once it reached such a scale, the monster roared in another painful way.
"Are they trying to kill it?" I couldn't believe even my own words when I said them. Killing the monster just after summoning it? That would be insane!
"No, they are messing with its senses," the jumper seemed to see something I couldn't. He pointed at the direction of the monster before adding in a panicked tone, "a distortion effect item… Something to mess with the senses of the monster and make it not see the illusionists!"
He didn't stop there. He took many things out of his inventory, strange items, different kinds of weird gears, and even many grenade like items that I recognised.
"F*ck! You have the grenade of death in your inventory all this time and didn't tell me?!!" I was shocked when seeing these little grenades that were shimmered in dangerous red light.
"They are my last card to survive," he rolled his eyes before adding, "plus it's not time for you to worry about them! We have an apocalyptic level monster heading our way right now!"
He was right indeed. That monster once got hit by the beam of light, it started to shake off its massive head before turning its head away from the castle.
It looked like that beam turned the entire castle into a deserted place in the monster's senses.
And now? The monster was attracted by the massive numbers of the monsters coming towards us. So the end result was very simple… It was coming in our direction!
"So what?" Unlike what the jumper might have thought, I shrugged as if this had nothing to do with me.
"Are you out of your goddamn mind?" The jumper left everything he took on the ground and jumped to my neck. Again I felt his strength squeezing my neck, yet it didn't look that domineering like before.
"Calm down," I pushed his arm using my own strength, "we aren't in such a desperate situation yet."
"Indeed we aren't!" He seemed to take my words as a joke. He laughed in a sarcastic way that I didn't care about.
"After we survive this, I'll take half of your precious grenades," I pointed at the grenades scattered at the ground.
"That's of course in case we survived this sh*t!" the jumper snorted and I shrugged in a carefree way.
"Watch and learn," I turned to the front, looking at the incoming thousands of monsters and races in my direction.
I had to admit, this move was really cunning. It was like my move of the bubble that took me out of this death game with a simple move.
And just like my brilliant move, they also used another one to take themselves out and force me back directly into the sour spot of the game.
But who said the game was over or it was a checkmate? I still had my own moves to play.
"Running away?" The jumper stood next to me while busying himself, arming every single inch of his body with anything he could carry. "Is this your answer?"
"No, it's that one," I simply motioned my head to a certain spot. The moment the jumper saw what was happening, and once he connected the dots, he couldn't help but gasp.
It was the first time for him to show me such a reaction since I knew him!
"This is…"
"A brilliant move?" I completed what he couldn't say.
"A silly and risky move," despite his rude answer, I was slightly glad he returned to his old nature.
"Silly or risky doesn't matter, we want to kill our enemies and not lose our lives in the process," I simply said while steering my chariot to move in her intermediate form away from the incoming enemy wave and that gigantic monster on their tails.
I wasn't trying to run outside the city, instead I was moving in a wide arc, almost taking the illusionist castle as my centre.
It was a wide circle where it extended from one shore to another! It was big enough to take almost an hour to cross it in one full circle.
And as the chariot was moving in her intermediate speed, it was enough to keep the distance between us and the racing enemies behind fixed.
"Won't you accelerate a little?" the jumper seemed to grow tired of this useless chase, "that monster… it only had a big body and little brain it seems!"
I knew why he was frustrated. When the monster first chased us, he thought it would attack the monsters and then come to kill us.
But up till now, the monster showed one hell of a weakness… It's slow compared to all of us!
"Not now," I shook my head and the jumper got my intentions.
"When is it then?" he asked, "this is the third round already!"
I looked at the direction of the central castle and said, "at the fifth circle we'll move."
"Fifth!!" The jumper was startled by my answer, and yet I didn't change my decision. I knew this would consume around five hours here doing nothing, but in fact that was wrong.
I wasn't just running in wide circles. Even the keen senses of the jumper couldn't get that the circular course we were running kept getting shorter with each lap!
If I did so in a big move or all of sudden, then the enemies would notice this. So I was cautious to slightly deviate the chariot's course a few metres every few minutes.
That might seem like a slow deviation, and that was why I needed the entire five laps to complete what I wanted to do.
The remaining two laps went without much suspense. It seemed that many monsters reached their limit and once got tired, they either slowed down and got devastated by the ongoing behemoth behind them, or they scattered across the city in an attempt to run.
"This might be bad," at the start of the fifth circle, the jumper said in warning.
"We'll move soon," I said, "hopefully we won't get discovered."
"Told you, it's a risky plan," he rolled his eyes in discontent. Why did that damn bastard keep grumbling all the time?
"Any plan is risky at this point," I shrugged, "get ready. We'll need your precious grenades soon."
"This…" he seemed to not see this coming.
"What? Didn't you plan to use them all to survive?" I asked while giving him a deep glance.
"But you already have a plan!" he argued.
"And in my plan I need your grenades!" I said while not flinching an inch.
"I won't give," he was about to store away his grenades, while his tone showed his deepest regret of taking them out.
"If you won't, then I'll use my privilege and empty your entire inventory!"
"I dare you do that!" he shouted in pure rage.
"I already did it once dude! I dare you to test me again!"
We stood motionless, eye to an eye, head to head, as if we were enemies and not friends and allies. Seconds passed and even when I was challenging him in such a stance, I was keeping an eye over the general direction we were heading towards.
"We are getting closer to the right point to move," I said, "either you voluntarily give me five grenades now to use or I'll empty your goddamn inventory out!"
"F… Five? Didn't you just say one?" he held his grenades like he was holding a precious part of his body! Dude! Come on! I didn't have time for that.
"I order you…" as I got tired of hammering such a steeled brain of his, I had no other choice but to force him to do it.
"Alright alright," but he hurriedly interrupted me, "I'll give you three, alright?"
"Are you bargaining with me?" I gave him a cold gaze that made him retreat a couple of steps.
"Why are you giving me such a look?" he said and I was already at my limit with him.
"I order you…"
"Alright alright, just stop it, please," he said before he gave a long glance at his grenades before throwing five at my direction. I swore I even saw a single tear coming down from his eyes when he did that!
Dude! They were precious, no doubt about that. But who said they were one of a kind? I knew of a few ways to get them later on, and you must be aware of that too!
"You should have done that from the start," I stored them at once inside my inventory.
In fact I only needed one, but who said to not try and tease that hard to get more from that bastard? If he was always getting on my nerves, then the pleasure of getting things out of his inventory by his own will was my response to that.
The grenades of death were a very brutal item. Single one was enough to cause small-scale devastation equal to a limited scaled single attack of the star weapon of the angels.
Their only drawback was that once exploded, they'd only hit a small zone of five hundred metres radius for ten seconds. That might be considered a weakness, but compared to other items like these, this was an insignificant weakness.
After I got what I wanted, it was time to start my next move. Yet it didn't start from my direction, but at the direction of the illusionist gate.
*Boom!* *Boom!* Boom!*
Loud explosions occurred in that direction in a span of a few breaths alongside few rumblings and the signs of brutal fighting happening all of sudden.
"Your boys have started," the jumper pointed in that direction, "shouldn't we join them now?"
"Of course," I evilly smiled while turning the direction of my chariot sharply to head directly towards the illusionist gate.
Up in that direction, all my warriors appeared miraculously there in a big formation. The first attacks came from my shield warriors, causing enough devastation to crack the doors of that big castle open.
This was my plan, the one I started in response to the brilliant move from the illusionists. Once I started running, I began to slowly deploy my own warriors in a few numbers with each few hundreds of metres.
I sent them instructions through one of the illusionists using the contract between me and them to relay messages. From all my warriors, only Gollems stood behind to operate the big ballista on the deck.
Even the illusionists, I scattered them with my warriors as well. Their mission was simple; move in a few numbers and gather near the direction of the illusionist gate.
I told them to move during my fourth lap, but it took some time for them to move. Once they attacked, it was no time for me to hide my intentions. So I steered my chariot and drove it towards the direction of that castle and gate.
The warriors were in enough numbers to hold their ground against the army inside the castle. Of course the illusionists weren't prepared for such a move. They mistook my actions earlier and thought they already pinned me down.
119 The Unexpected Slow Progress
So when my warriors hit hard over their doors, their reaction was sluggish. I could see my warriors swarm inside the castle, killing many illusionists inside out of surprise.
But just before I arrived there, the illusionists started to react. I could see that silver gate over the castle shine brighter as more troops were deployed from the world beyond that gate.
Of course that wasn't the only threat to my plan. Don't forget I was bringing a large number of monsters and races towards their direction, and not far behind that hellish gigantic monster was hot on our tail.
The jumper could see through all this and so he called this a risky plan. Indeed it was risky, and I accepted such risk without hesitation.
At such a point in this battle, if I leant towards safety then I would never be able to achieve what I wanted here.
My plan didn't just depend on the surprise element of this attack, but on other parts as well. If I just thought that my warriors would be enough to crush that castle, then I'd be greatly underestimating the enemy.
My main plan was to turn whatever method they used to become useless! Illusionists weren't a strong one on one race, in terms of strength in specific.
Their main weapon was their ability to stealth themselves. But when there were an army of illusionists working for me and soulers who could be called the nemesis of such a race, then things wouldn't become that easy for them to handle.
And then they would be forced to call races that were fighting under their command. That would turn the entire castle into a hot spot in the eyes of the gigantic monster behind. Not to mention I was planning to drag this fight until it arrived at the castle.
Then I'd let the monster deal with those illusionists and I'd call all my troops back and retreat as fast as possible.
This plan was perfect, provided that my forces would hold their ground until I arrived. Also I risked the possibility of my enemy having a great hidden weapon just like the godly tear or that godly distortion item.
It was a risk, but even if bad things happened, I'd only come out with losses in my entire warrior forces, nothing more.
I'd win this battle, this was sitting in stone already and couldn't be changed no matter what my enemy did.
And who said I didn't have my own ultimate weapon to use if things went wrong by any chance?
"Get ready," as the smashed doors of that castle became closer, I said to the jumper, "you'll jump and lead the forces on the ground."
"What about you?" he asked, "staying behind and hiding in here?"
"A general must act like one," I rolled my eyes before adding, "and who said the fight is limited only inside the castle?"
The jumper turned to watch the great number of enemies coming as fast as they could from behind. During the five laps, their number diminished by an obvious margin.
Yet they still had a great number of thousands of monsters. Not to mention the great behemoth running behind them blocking the horizon in my sight.
"Be careful," in a rare moment he showed his care about me. I smiled and looked at him as he jumped off and landed directly inside the castle.
As he started fighting, it was finally my turn to fight as well.
"It's time to summon a few dragons," as I was running all this time, I didn't move my eyes off the enemies chasing us. I noticed they were all formed of ground troops, with not a single flying monster or race in them.
So when considering my plus hundred thousand souls, I could instantly summon twenty dragons to my aid.
The only problem I got was their levels and stats. I wasn't ready to raise their levels by my stats at this point.
After all, I was preparing to defend against any sudden interruption from my enemies. So my stats were off limits here. And that made me decide to summon twenty dragons at one go.
*Roar!* *Roar!* *Roar!*
Twenty roars erupted from the twenty dragons summoned using my class unique ability. I didn't hustle and simply pointed at the direction of the incoming thousand of enemies and said one simple order:
"Kill them all!"
*Roar!*
The dragons soared high in the air and instantly headed towards the fast approaching enemies. "Unleash hell," I didn't only send my dragons at them, but also ordered my Gollems to start acting at once.
The dragons I summoned couldn't be compared with my four mighty dragons. They were smaller in size, emitted weaker air, and they could only use their basic breath attack.
Yet twenty flying killers without any nemesis on the ground was enough to cause enough devastation in the lines of my enemies.
Coupled with the roaring arrows that exploded once they touched the ground, the enemies were already put in a deadly situation.
After all, their advance was halted by my attack. Once they stopped there, they became easy targets for the dreadful monster.
"Come back!" After just a few minutes, the monster was already on their heads. I didn't hesitate to call back my dragons, fearing they might get entangled in the crossfire.
And then I witnessed the true horror of that monster with my two eyes!
*Rumble!* *Rumble!* *Rumble!*
All I saw was that single head arching towards the sky and roared a silent one. I didn't know if it roared in a frequency that I couldn't hear or if it used another way to launch its attack.
But the next moment I saw the entire dark red sky shine brightly over my head. Then without warning, large burning meteorites came raining down over an entire area spanning across an entire mile.
Damn! This was something I never expected!
Without waiting for those messengers of death to descend, I moved my chariot fast and instantly activated the fully powered form.
Hitting the illusionists inside the castle wasn't a priority now. Without needing to say anything, I saw the jumper running towards my direction while I threw the rope next to me over to him.
And I summoned all my warriors back while sending an urgent message to the illusionists to come back at once.
There was no time to fight anymore. That deadly attack was so severe enough to kill anything it touched. Only my chariot would withstand it, using its strong shield.
As the first wave of the burning rocks fell over the ground, all I could see was flashes of bright red light followed by a violent gush of hot wind slamming everywhere around, smashing even the remaining buildings in an area exceeding three miles radius.
This wasn't a simple attack, this was a mass destruction weapon! At this moment I realised that the monster wasn't running after us out of its limited options to attack us.
If it wanted to hit us, it could. But for some reason it seemed more funny and amusing for it to play this game with us.
In its eyes we were rats, and he was the mighty cat that was able to kill us at any moment!
Also it seemed it didn't forget the presence of the illusionists. Even with the distortion item used, that monster kept in its mind the illusionists and bidded it's time till it found them.
And once they were found, it didn't need to hold back anymore.
That wasn't a simple tactic used by common monsters, it was something only intelligent races could do.
Dammit! I underestimate that deadly freak!
But if it thought it could kill me and my troops using this kind of attack then it would be mistaken!
Also it underestimates the true strength of the illusionists!
*Boom!*
Just as my warriors came back, the jumper was already climbing the chariot using the rope, and the illusionists were swarming my chariot to shelter, the first wave of burning rocks finally descended upon the castle and gate.
Yet they were stopped by a big shield that appeared out of thin air at such a distressing moment.
"He is here!" for the second time I saw that strong illusionist warlord youth standing just beneath the gate. He was on top of his flying monster that looked like a big eagle.
In his hands, he held a shining long rod that seemed to be the source of that shield. I watched my troops getting to safety while I noticed many illusionists taking shelter underneath the gate.
As my chariot stood erect to defend my forces, that gate seemed to do something similar to that.
"Huff… Huff… that was close… Huff.. Huff…" the jumper climbed to the deck at last while panting out of short breath. He seemed to be more scared and nervous than exhausted.
And he should feel that way. Just the scene alone was enough to prove how deadly that monster was.
But it wasn't time to relax, not yet.
"What is that thing? A scale? A libra?" The jumper leant over the side of the chariot while watching me taking one treasure out of my inventory.
It was time to use my card. After all, my target finally appeared and this was the right moment to act.
"Just watch," in fact I didn't know how this thing would work, or would it really cause what was mentioned in its description or not. I didn't like using things for the first time, especially when the result of its usage would determine winning from losing.
But I had no other option here. From all the things I had, this Libra was the only weapon I could use to turn the tide over my side.
[The Anubis god Libra: A scale to measure one's soul. Grade white godly treasure. It's rumoured to be used by the Anubis god himself back when he supervised the matters of humans on Earth.
Using it consumes one million coins each time. You select a target and after activating the Libra, you can weigh his soul. If he harbours ill intentions towards your race then he will be cursed for life. His stats will be permanently halved.
Every time he uses stat points to increase his stats he will need double the amount to raise a single point. His cultivation will be halved. His gear stats will be halved.
His life span will be halved. His following forces will have a temporarily halved effect in all stats for one hour. His contract bound forces will be cursed like the master. The curse can't be blocked, elevated by anything except by using the same scale to undo it.
To undo the curse you'll need to consume another million coins. It has a fixed chance of twenty percent to undo the curse of other gods with a price of ten million coins each time.
Can be upgraded under certain conditions. Requiring the help of Anubis god for that]
[Do you want to use the Anubis god Libra and weigh the soul of your enemy?]
[Warning: you need to select the enemy by either pointing at him or calling his name]
"Use it against that dude," I pointed towards my enemy, "weigh his soul now!"
[One million coins are deducted]
[The Anubis god Libra is being activated]
[The weighing process is starting…]
[One percent in progress]
[Two percent in progress]
"Damn!" I cursed the moment I saw that slow metre moving slowly with each passing second. It was my first time using this thing, so I didn't imagine it would take a long time to get activated.
But when I thought about the low price I paid in return for such a deadly curse, I found this logical.
"What's wrong?" the jumper examined the black air coming from the Libra, "is it working? Is this the thing you got from that visit?"
120 The Weird Curse
That jumper was really smart to an annoying degree. "Let's just hope the attack would last longer," this was essential to my plan's success. As the Libra would take almost two minutes to get activated, I prayed the monster would keep showering us with its deadly rocks for much longer.
If I knew that, I'd have used the Libra before calling everyone back. But I didn't know that, sigh!
For two minutes, I was feeling so nervous. My body was soaked in sweat while watching the incoming waves of burning rocks and the great clash between them and the shield protecting the castle.
During these minutes, all the forces outside the castle were wiped out. That wasn't a surprise. What was a surprise was the scene of desolation left by these rocks.
As if the apocalypse wasn't enough in itself, these rocks came to crush what remained of the past human civilization, and even created deep holes in the ground with thick tongues of burning fire.
It could be simply described as hell on earth.
As for the castle, all the illusionists and the forces they summoned were now gathered tightly under the cover of that ring gate in the sky.
And my chariot was just simply standing idle at the outer borders of that gate.
Regarding my target, that illusionist powerhouse was standing still without any signs of exhaustion at all.
The rod in his hand kept shining brightly without interruption. Even when the monster focused all its attack over the shield, the shield didn't even crack.
If things kept going like this, then the monster's attack would fail. And if such a deadly attack failed, then that monster's chances to break it later grew smaller.
The only chance here was for my curse to work. If it didn't, then I could imagine how deadly the upcoming battle with that illusionist would be.
[Ninety-nine in progress]
[One hundred percent]
[The weighing process is done]
[The soul you targetted is hostile to you]
[The illusionist race Thorn is cursed by Anubis god Libra]
[His stats are permanently halved]
[His life span is halved]
[His forces following him are under temporary effect of the curse for one hour]
[The stats of his followers' stats are halved for one hour]
[The contract bound forces are halved in all stats permanently]
[His cultivation base is halved permanently]
[His gear stats are halved permanently]
[To raise one stat point, he is needed to use two stat points instead of one]
[His contract bound forces need double stat amount to raise their stats than usual]
[The curse is permanent]
[The curse needs one million coins to be undone]
[You can't use the Anubis god Libra for an hour]
I looked at the long rows of effects and couldn't help but laugh. In front of my eyes, that shining rod suddenly got dimmed, and that sturdy shield that didn't budge till now started to show long and deep cracks.
The curse came in time, and now all I needed to do was to grab a seat, light my cigarette, and watch this amusing show from far away.
So I led my chariot away without any moment of hesitation. If I delayed for a few seconds, then I'd get entangled in the deadly fight that erupted with the destruction of the protective shield.
*Roar!*
The monster roared in triumph the moment the shield cracked open like a soft egg shell. I already took my chariot half a mile away and could only stand there and watch this show.
Even if the monster focused its attack over the shield of the castle, many burning rocks still rained down over the area around. It wasn't enough to threaten my chariot's shield, yet it consumed many stats points like running water.
In just a few minutes, the chariot consumed close to two hundred thousand stat points! That was a terrifying consumption rate! And that was in such a case where that monster wasn't focusing its attack over my chariot.
Imagine if I was in place of that illusionist dude? Damn! I would be crying blood over my lost stats before my shield would become useless!
At the same time, a bloody battle erupted inside that castle. I saw the gate flashing many times, sending lots of troops to try and control the rage of that berserk.
I even saw many waves of monsters gushing out from inside, trying to lure the monster away.
But guys, that monster was using a deadly AOE attack that made it not bother with any fly running away. The randomly falling burning rocks away from the castle was enough to kill any forces running out from the castle without leaving a single survivor.
In my eyes those inside the perimeter of the illusionist gate would be killed in short minutes. My only concern was focused over two other issues.
First that one hour cooldown of my Libra treasure. Of course it wasn't a big deal but I planned to kill that monster in less than that.
Killing all the other races and clearing their castles and gates became a piece of cake now. But would it take an hour from such a behemoth? Of course not!
Should I babysit it or what then?
The other issue wasn't related directly to me, but the jumper. As the one who gave him that nasty curse was from the illusionist race, I was quite sure it was that strong youth I met earlier.
So would it be lifted by his death? Or would he run away and survive this, leaving behind my dear jumper cursed?
So I kept watching from afar, paying special attention to that illusionist prodigy. He was strong and rich, enough to contend head to head with that gigantic behemoth.
Yet each clash caused him to retreat until he eventually was thrown away from the entire castle zone. His body flew for hundreds of metres before clashing heavily on a falling burning rock.
"Let's go," despite things looking almost finished, I didn't want to give anything a chance. The jumper next to me seemed to have the same thoughts, as he silently took out a large curved sword and one hell of a heavy shield.
He was preparing to fight that illusionist if he survived the fall.
The illusionist fell towards a place that was totally littered in fire. I took a small circle around just to make sure we stayed away from the deadly bombardment of that behemoth.
"I hope he is still alive," I said while the jumper didn't speak for few seconds before asking:
"Do you hate me this much?"
"It's not like that," I tried so hard to hide my lie by coughing, "it's just the best way to remove curses is by killing the one who cursed you personally."
"Sounds like wisdom that came from real experience," his eyes were always cold when he looked at me. Dude, I was just trying to support you here, support you all the time!
"Stop," the jumper suddenly said and I made my chariot stop abruptly. "There are still two hundred metres away from that pool of fire," I looked at him but in his place all I found was emptiness.
"It's better for me to search from here for him," his voice came from down below as he jumped off the chariot without warning.
Well… If he was that impatient to kill him then what should I do?
I turned an eye over the direction of the bloody battle. From the look of it, that monster was almost done back there.
I just hoped they would keep sending more fodders to keep it busy. But if I was them, I wouldn't do that.
Of course, locking the gate was impossible for now. The gate once opened couldn't be closed except by using special measures.
As for their attempt to send more forces after the monster was gone, I wouldn't let them have this chance. I just had to wait until that monster started to roam the city and would instantly go and take control over the gate.
And by this I'd complete one heroic calling mission, removing a big burden off my shoulders.
*Boom!*
However, just before the monster started to move away from that castle, the jumper started his own battle with the illusionist prodigy.
That dude was really strong! Even such a fall didn't kill him. But he wasn't in any shape to fight the disaster called the jumper.
The illusionist youth was already exhausted. His body was filled with so many wounds that even his body was soaked with his pale red blood.
But the jumper didn't show him any mercy and started the fight using a strong skill that gathered bright white flames over the edge of his sword.
"I have to get myself a myriad of strong skills," seeing that scene made me recall this big flaw in my strength.
I had many things to boost about, but the skill tree of mine was limited to nothing. Just seeing that shining sword of the jumper made my blood boil with envy.
I wanted such skills, I was in desperate need for these strong attacks.
*Boom!*
Each strike from that sword was like a bombardment of its own. Loud explosive sounds erupted while that pathetic looking illusionist tried to resist for an entire minute before he was killed.
"Oh, his inventory must be nice," once that illusionist fell without a head on the scorching hot ground, I realised this issue. Without waiting I used the rope and jumped off the chariot.
Once I reached the jumper, I noticed him standing still and closing his eyes. I left him enjoying this moment while I went to the dead body and placed my hand over it.
[You can get ten percent of the inventory] the message I expected came and instantly claimed ten percent of that illusionist inventory.
But even such ten percent was big enough to make my dried up inventory rich again. Not to mention the blessing points that were slightly over two million points.
"What are these?" As I examined my loot until that jumper woke up, I found a strange thing in there.
"This… Isn't it like Bringold statues?" I took out one golden statue that wasn't any bigger than the ugly green statue of the Bringold.
[Your current level and cultivation are lacking]
[You can't view the details of this item]
As I tried to see its details, I was met with such weird message. It reminded me when I first got that Bringold statue. But back then it asked me to replace that died Gollem in that impact.
"I need to raise my level and cultivation then…" as my past experience with the Bringold impact was rich, I held higher expectations for that golden statue.
It was in the shape of an eagle, spreading both wings as if it was about to fly. Comparing the two statues together, this one was more detailed and far more beautiful than the Bringold one.
"How are you now?" as I stored it away, I noticed the jumper had reopened his eyes again.
"It's…" yet he seemed a bit lost, "I didn't feel the curse be lifted."
"What?!!" I was shocked when I heard that. Didn't the curse come from that illusionist or what?! "Are you sure?" I couldn't help but ask.
And he simply pointed at the hold that was still there on his chest.
Seeing that hole and the smoke coming from it made it clear. "Can you recall how you got it?" I asked. After all I must have missed something, or he did while narrating what happened.
"I told you already," his tone started to grow restless, "I was hit by a sneaky bastard hiding in the shadows. That arrow turned into ash once it hit me and I got this damn curse!"
His body started to tremble while his eyes began to turn scarlet red again. Damn! Chill out bud, or else that curse would flare up again.
*Roar!*
121 Winning
Just before I could say anything, a mighty roar came from the direction of the illusionist gate. That monster seemed to finish its warm up and ended the fight already.
"Go and clean half of his inventory," I motioned my head towards the headless body, "then come back at once. Don't delay or else…"
I didn't need to remind him of the dangerous monster. Yet even with my words, the scarlet red eyes of his didn't seem to return to normal.
"That motherf*cker! I want to kill him a thousand times over, no… A million times over, hell no… A…" as he kept cursing and increasing the times he wanted to kill that already dead illusionist over, I found my way towards my chariot, avoiding that on the verge to explode dude.
Come on! That illusionist was already dead. Besides, it was obvious now he wasn't the one who cursed him in the first place.
But who was it? As I returned to the surface of my chariot, my head kept spinning non-stop. "Dragons and Selvators are strong indeed, but they despise curses," I muttered to myself while feeling more puzzled.
These two races had their arrogance standing in between them and dirty methods just like curses. As for the succubi, their way to fight was something very different than the nature of this curse.
They used to curse the hearts of men, not their souls and powers.
And the fifth race… they were the berserkers! A mighty and violent race that turned their minds off during fights and got addicted to battles.
Berserkers using curses? That was surely unheard of!
Something was amiss here, something was fishy. Who was it? Was this the scheme of the angels? In fact the only answer that suited such a treacherous nature of the cruise was the angels.
But if they had such ability, why didn't they use it over me instead? Why target the jumper out of all the people in my forces?
Even if that answer was logical, and solved this mystery perfectly, it didn't seem quite right. It was so perfect that it made me suspicious about the whole thing.
*Roar!*
Amidst my thoughts, the mighty roar of that monster jolted me awake. I turned to see it venturing outside the castle and going to the other shore of this city.
"Don't tell me it's going towards New York city!" I was startled by this. Yet the jumper was still kicking the headless body of that illusionist in immense anger.
"Stay here," I shouted, "don't get yourself killed bud," I added in a soft voice while turning my chariot fast and headed towards the direction of the emptied castle.
I switched the mode of my chariot to be in the intermediate form.
The speed of the chariot wasn't at its top, but it was much faster than that behemoth. Not to mention that monster kept smashing through buildings, not leaving anything intact while using its immense body to spread devastation everywhere.
In my eyes, it seemed that monsters were the nemesis of any sign of civilization. That was normal. After all, monsters had such weird hatred towards any aspect of human civilization without any proper reason.
The moment I reached the inside of the castle I couldn't help but gasp. This wasn't a battlefield, it was literally a scene that crawled out of hell itself!
Fire spread all over the place, but that wasn't the main issue here. The dead bodies of the races made it so hard to not get the urge to vomit.
"Damn! I have to stop him from reaching New York," I couldn't even imagine how it would be if that brutal creature found its way to the other bank of Hudson river.
But now I have another problem to solve. "How can I control that gate?" I raised my head up there and started to ponder about this.
I knew the forces on the other side were trembling in fear by now. They wouldn't get awakened so soon. But it wasn't wise to waste time here.
"Let's give it a try," the first thing I thought about was the emblem in the heart of these ruins. I found it fast and despite all the devastation around, the emblem was still shining its bright silver white light.
It was bigger than any emblem I saw before, and it was activated already. Even with the boost coming from it, the forces here didn't stand a chance against brute and terrorising force.
"It's not working," I simply controlled the emblem and chose to deactivate it. But I didn't get any control over that gate. "The next method then," I simply controlled my chariot, activated its fully powered form for two reasons.
I needed to rise high in the air to reach that gate. Of course the intermediate form could deliver me there, but my safety would be in question.
The difference between the strength of the chariot's barrier was immense considering both forms. So once I activated the fully powered version, and added many stat points into my chariot shining little star pillar, I soared to the sky and got near that gate.
"Keep your hands off my race gate!"
Just as I was less than twenty metres away, such a violent shout came from deep within the gate. I was aiming at the body of the gate itself, yet a flash of silver white light came out from the centre, arched in the air before it slammed fast against my chariot.
*Rumble!*
The clash between that strange flash of light and my chariot's shield made the chariot for the first time ever tremble. I was standing on the front but when I first saw that flash of light I hurried towards the central pillar, providing it with more stat points.
I didn't lack stat points now. The sheer amount I got from that killed illusionist was more than what I already had inside my inventory!
But just as the attack landed, I saw the stat number inside the chariot to decrease like running water. "This can't be allowed to go on!" I clenched my fists and instead of defending and evading that deadly mysterious ray of light, I brazened myself and threw my chariot directly towards it.
After all that flash stood between me and that ring of that gate. Without the need to think about it, the illusionist who sent such a flash of light aimed to stop me from touching the gate.
The seconds passed like days at such a dangerous moment. Yet I kept pushing my chariot against that ray of light. Strangely enough, a pushing force resisted my chariot to decrease its speed. Yet I didn't even flinch from getting towards my goal.
If the gate belonged to me, then that ray of light would be severed. That attack would lose all the power it had and no harm would befall me at this point.
I didn't have time to appreciate my earlier decision to operate the chart at its full power. If I didn't, then I was sure my shield would be crushed and my life would be in danger.
"Come on!" As I got closer, I also kept an eye over the greatly swinging number of stat points at the chariot. I was throwing stat points like I was a flooding river, yet in a span of a blink of an eye the stat points I threw got exhausted and the number would decrease to a frightening low level.
If I paused for a couple of seconds, only a couple of seconds, then my chariot would be emptied of its fuel and be rendered powerless.
"Be mine!" At such a moment, I roared and threw myself over the ring metres above my head and slammed my hand over it. To be sure I created a deep wound by my sword, letting the blood gush out from my hand.
I didn't have time to experiment things here. One way or another this damn gate would be mine!
[You got in contact with a foreign race world gate]
[The last owner of the gate is now dead]
[The gate is considered ownerless]
[You have the right to conquer the gate]
[The gate is now yours]
[Congratulations! You now obtain full control over the gate]
[As long as you are alive, the gate will always be under your control]
"F*ck you!" I cursed in a voice filled with deep hatred, enmity, and immense joy of such close victory. Just as the rows of the system messages flashed in front of my eyes, I saw the central zone of the gate turn into something solid.
That ray of light was instantly severed, alongside a mighty painful scream that came from the other side for a few seconds before the world ushered under heavy deafening silence.
*Thud!*
Without any surprise, I fell over the surface of my chariot and turned over my back. At this moment I realised that my entire body was soaked in cold sweat while heavily panting as if I was short of breath.
"Huff… Huff… I f*cking survived this… Huff… Huff…"
I felt a strange weakness assaulting my body just like the same exhaustion anyone would feel after spending hours at a gym. I knew this wasn't a physical exhaustion, but due to mental overstress.
"I need to… F*ck!!!"
*Roar!*
Just as I was muttering to myself, a gigantic head loomed over my head, filling my entire eyesight when that deadly monster appeared out of nowhere in front of my eyes.
It had such a scary face that drove the blood out of my body! At this moment I felt like I was met face to face with death.
Its giant two eyes with elliptical vertical golden iris were looking straight towards me. I reflexively held my breath, fearing it could attract him to my place.
*Roar!*
It opened its mouth and I saw rows of sword-like teeth inside. The air it came from was filthy and thick, suffocating me to the point I wanted to sneeze and cough.
I didn't know how but my two hands moved at this moment and slammed my mouth and nose shut.
*Roar!*
This time it started to move its head right and left, sniffing around like it was looking for me. I thought of moving my chariot away, but feared that closing the air current created by it would attract that behemoth's attention.
It would go away at any moment, yes, it surely would!
I just needed to stay still and not do anything for now. Just wait, wait you dumbass!
It felt like my entire life just passed in front of me in these short seconds. Yet eventually that monster moved aside and started to look around, even hitting a few areas with its tail and giant claws.
"Phew!" when it moved a few hundreds of metres away, I could finally have a breath of relief. If my earlier counter with that deadly ray of light made me soaked in sweat, then such brief moments with that monstrous behemoth made me feel like I aged a decade or two!
"Damn you!" I cursed in a low voice, fearing it might hear me, "I was almost dead out of fear!!!"
After a few minutes I finally got the strength to stand up again. Despite that, my legs were shaking and trembling.
If I had time, I'd rather curse that monster and start to kill it. Yet it was just on top of my chariot, only a few tens of metres away. I still recalled its stinky hot breaths like they were still present!
It was an awful experience, one that wiped out any sense of accomplishment by taking that gate. Damn! That was a close call indeed!
"It must have sniffed my scent when I jumped up there," as I stood at the front and watched that damn bastard getting away and spreading destruction and death all over, I finally started to think rationally again.
It seemed the bubble I bought had a limit to its sealing effect.
As things finally settled down, it was time to check the last messages that arrived when that monster came.
[Congratulations! You have conquered one world gate]
122 The Terrifying Curasee Race
[Congratulations! You have conquered one world gate]
[The gate interface is now opened for you]
[The world gate market is now opened for you]
[You achieved something impossible! A heroic calling mission is now completed under you name]
[As a reward, you have the privilege to use the heroic calling for one time for free]
[As a reward you can use another heroic calling for one hundred million coins]
[To use the heroic calling, just select the heroic calling icon in your channel interface]
[These rewards are only eligible during the upcoming five quests]
Yes! At last I got what I came here for!
Without any delay I hurriedly opened my channel interface. The icon of the heroic calling was in the form of a small rounded and shiny button with the drawing of a face covered with a helmet.
It was a shining red colour. Just as I thought about selecting it, the button flared up as if fire was ignited in the entire button.
[The heroic calling option is activated]
[You can now record a video that's not shorter than one minute and not longer than half an hour]
[After recording the video, it will be delivered to all the intelligent races with systems inside the world you selected before]
[Please select a world from the list of worlds in the same apocalypse]
Once the messages ended, a list appeared in a separate window in front of my eyes. To my surprise, there weren't just five worlds, but dozens of worlds!
"Hmm… All the other worlds are mixed with many races…" I started to study this list. Each world had a weird name to it plus a small description of the main races living inside.
I never expected that all such worlds were in the same apocalypse with us. Just as I was taking advantage of this chance, I found a weird name that instantly rang a dangerous bell in my mind!
"The Curasee race… No way! No f*cking way!!"
I couldn't control myself when I read that nasty and infamous name. How could I forget about them? Damn!
Without knowing it, my eyes turned to the far away jumper. That dude… he was so unlucky to meet one of those deadly and notorious races early on in the apocalypse!
The term of Curasee wasn't known before quest sixty. It wasn't because they didn't appear before that, but because of a deadly feature of that nasty race.
That race appeared with other races invading Earth. But unlike any other race, this race's main goal was simply to curse to kill, kill anyone and everyone, eradicate the entire race off the face of the apocalypse without exception!
Everyone came to know about them when a general quest was issued after quest sixty, asking everyone to unite together and kill such a cancerous race or else they'd be wiped out!
In some sense knowing about the existence of such race so late in the apocalypse spread terror in all other races. That was expected, especially when information regarding that race started to be known by all thanks to the system support.
That race had a myriad of unique features that hailed them the king of all killers and the emperor of all assassins in the entire universe. Their bodies weren't physical, but formed entirely out of darkness itself.
So they could easily spread all over the world, get to any place they wanted without being detected. That was different from the stealth ability the illusionist race had, or even the nihility skill that few could learn later on.
The main difference lay in the way they vanished from sight. The stealth ability and all the other skills resembling it worked by binding the light around the body of the user. So he or she would turn invisible without being seen.
Yet they could be detected using some abilities like the sense skill I had for example. Also if they got hit by anything like a sword or even a wooden stick, their cover would be blown away at once.
But the Curasee weren't like that. In fact their bodies were a form of light waves in essence. So even against the skills that could detect stealth abilities and similar skills, they wouldn't be discovered.
And nothing physical could attack their bodies or even detect their presence!
That wasn't the only frightening thing about them. If they could only vanish from sight and not be detected, then they wouldn't be as scary as I knew.
Their most dreadful ability was their unique curses. That race was infamous for burning their own life force to curse other races in a way no one could detect.
Their curses didn't just attack the body, but mainly the soul. And they didn't just aim to kill the target, they turned the target personality while slowly taking over his consciousness.
And then the friend turned to a deadly foe and started a killing spree at all other targets around. That alone created a lot of unexplained mysterious incidents over the long course of the apocalypse until quest sixty and above.
If they managed to get the target to that point, then they would feed over his body and replicate. Like a virus entering a living host, they turned one Curasee into a group of ten.
Then each one would leave the dead body of the host after a brief slumber and search for another target to curse.
Cancer… they were simply a weird mix of cancer and a deadly virus! Damn! And out of all people they selected that jumper to do that!
I felt an instant cold in my heart, recalling the scarlet red eyes of that jumper. That was the sign of their dominance over the host. Dammit! Was I late? Please don't turn that dude into a meat sack for your filthy race to reproduce!
As for the way to kill them, there were actually many. Of course at this stage of the apocalypse, the sun was still gone and the new star wasn't born yet.
Their nemesis was light, heat, radiation, and strangely enough loud voices.
*Roar!*
Just at this moment, I heard the loud roaring of that gigantic behemoth. My eyes flashed in realisation as an idea popped up into my head.
Even in the darkest moments, any disaster could be turned into a blessing if things were done right.
"I first have to finish with that heroic calling," I knew that jumper might be facing a deadly situation anytime now. But I already activated the heroic calling and I had to give my speech before anything else.
Just don't die on me, please… I hadn't used your strength to the fullest yet!
[Please select a world to broadcast your video to all the intelligent races with systems in it]
"I select Earth," I said and then the name of Earth burned into bright red fire before it vanished and with it the entire window vanished as well.
[Earth world is selected]
[Please start recording the video in ten seconds]
[The video can't be shorter than one minute and not longer than half an hour]
[Ten…]
[Nine…]
I cleared my throat while the countdown reached zero. The next moment I saw a red flashing spot appeared that emitted a pale red light that enveloped my body.
"Fellow humans in the apocalypse, this Hye speaking from Jersey city, in the former US country…" I started to speak while feeling a little nervous at first. But once I started speaking about the dirty trap of the angels, I lost any sense of time.
I spoke about many things, the trap of the angels, the castles and emblems, the upcoming danger from many races, how to raise one's strength, how to detect traitors… I spoke and spoke about anything and everything that might be helpful to humans to survive in this deadly apocalypse.
[Warning… You are less than two minutes away from the half an hour limit]
I was interrupted by the system by this message which was accompanied by a loud buzzing and annoying bell sound. I paused for a brief moment before I closed up the recording:
"I'm going to establish my base here in the US at the Atlantic coast. Right now New York city is considered a safe zone. And soon enough Jersey city will become so. Other cities will be freed and controlled by my forces. If you are close, if you can come, then head out right now and come directly towards either cities. My forces will warmly welcome and shield any humans no matter how old you are, how old you are, what nationalities you belonged to before… We are humans… And we will prevail as united as ever! Good luck and God bless all of you!"
I didn't know why but I mimicked famous quotes from the era before the apocalypse in my last words. I tried to look cool, to give the impression of how strong and mighty I was.
And if any refugees managed to come, then it would be great. The greatest danger humans faced was the threat of extinction thanks to the big losses we all suffered during the early stages of the apocalypse.
Unlike other races, we were already in a sour spot. If I could gain more followers, then my rise would become faster.
Of course I wouldn't plan to just shelter anyone without giving them the chance to repay that kindness in many ways. But that was something I couldn't publicly announce, not when all the humans were about to watch my recording.
[The recording is rendered successfully]
[Do you want to broadcast it now?]
"Spread it over," I said without a moment of hesitation. What was the point in asking me this in the first place?
[The video is now spread all over the world]
[Do you want to receive feedback from the viewers?]
"Feedback?!" I was astonished to know this, "sure, why not?" I shrugged before I turned my gaze towards a certain direction.
It wasn't the direction of the monster, but the jumper.
"I hope I'm not too late," I felt regretful. After all, how could I possibly link the curse he got with such nasty race?
Despite that I felt more responsibility towards his fate. He wasn't just a simple follower of mine, but someone I might call a friend.
He and I shared a lot of things together. We were both strong, had special powers, and had specific goals to achieve. It would be a great loss if things ended up in the wrong.
As I moved my chariot, I summoned my warriors and illusionists. I wasn't afraid of any hostile forces in the city. With the presence of that monster, any force here would send themselves to death itself if they tried to come at me.
But what I feared was the jumper himself. If the worst happened, if the curse started to control his consciousness, then I'd find myself in a very tight spot.
"You finally came!"
Just as I arrived a few hundred metres away, I found the jumper still standing on the side of the dead illusionist. He gave me his back, so I couldn't tell if he was alright or not.
"How are you feeling now, my friend?" I asked while trying to know his status.
"Friend? Hahahaha! Which race would bind his friend by a contract?"
"…"
My face instantly sank at this moment. I clenched both fists, looked around and saw the monster far away.
If I had to do it, then it should be done right.
"Wait for me there," I said in a grave tone, "I'll come down for you."
Without saying more I pushed my chariot to the back for half a mile before I activated the fully powered version of it again.
After that deadly encounter with the mysterious illusionist powerhouse, I changed the mode back to the intermediate state. Now I was going to have a brutal fight with the jumper, so I needed my chariot to be in its full power.
"Stay here," I said to my warriors, "be ready to get deployed once I give the order."
123 A Very Close Call
They nodded while I jumped off my chariot using the long rope. Once I reached the ground, I didn't stand idle for even one second and started to run as fast as I could.
I knew I had a short span of time to clash with the jumper. So I got out my two swords, feeling more regretful about that big glaive inside my inventory.
If I got the strength and cultivation base enough to use it, then this battle wouldn't be this hard.
What made the Curasee race frightening was the fact that they could use the host's power and abilities to the max. Yet this came at a price they had to pay.
If they fought, they had to burn more of their life force. If they did that, then their ultimate mission of reproduction would be jeopardised.
But I wouldn't hang any hope over that Curasee fear towards this point. After all, it seemed that the bastard bug had already decided to give me a good fight to the bitter end.
"You really came," as I reached him, he finally turned to face me. His eyes were both scarlet red. That wasn't all, but even his skin started to radiate a faint layer of red lustre like it was burning from deep within.
"I won't let my friend fall down here," I announced before pointing my swords both at him, "come, let's see how strong Curasees are!"
"You…" his eyes shook slightly before he laughed in a vicious way, "as you already knew about us, then it's no way to let you off."
"As if you planned to let me live from the beginning," I said while starting to walk slowly towards him, "as if you intended to let my friend live."
"Hmm, I always heard about how your race treasures useless emotions like love," he said while taking two spears, "you'll never be strong until you transcend such useless things… Male and female… Love and relations… All these are useless, all of them are nothing but weaknesses!"
*Phew!* *Phew!*
He threw the two spears like he was throwing two rocks towards me. I leant towards the right and left in a smooth way while feeling how dangerous these spears were.
Just passing past me made me feel a gush of wind as if they were like arrows and not spears. I expected that. After all, the strongest points of that jumper were in two things; his cultivation base and his rich inventory.
"Speaking as if living without feeling a girl's warmth is useless," I returned to walk again, "it's you who lost all the fun in the world living like parasites."
"Words coming from a dead sack of meat are ash in the wind," he took out two more spears before throwing them again towards me.
And this time once he threw these two, he took another two out and repeated this. I knew just leaning to the sides wouldn't be enough, so I started to run instead of retreat.
*Phew!* *Phew!* *Phew!* *Phew!*
The spears flew fast, so fast like real arrows. Yet I kept jumping right and left, leant to the back and front, even turned around myself a couple of times like I was dancing, letting all of the spears fly to the wind and hit nothing but thin air.
And the more I evaded, the closer I got to him.
*Clang!* *Clang!*
Two swords of his appeared and stopped my two swords. At this moment, I could already feel his scorching hot breaths. It was apparent now what another kind of battle was going on inside that jumper's body.
"I'm interested to see how you plan to deal with me," he said in a voice that didn't belong to the jumper, "I want to see your swords cut the body of your beloved friend. Come on, show me how you'll decide this!"
He pushed me a few steps to the back using the jumper's higher strength. As I retreated, he raised both hands to aim the two swords at my head and neck in two deadly blows.
"Let me see how you'll save your friend without killing him," he shouted in a strange happy tone. "Or will you fall on the hands of the warmth you dreamt about falling asleep within."
*Clang!* *Clang!*
I hurriedly pushed my two swords to deflect his two attacks. At the same time I rotated around, used the pushing force to reach the area behind him.
"Let's see then," without hesitation I threw one sword towards his back. From such a close angle, it was very hard for anyone to evade it. Yet that jumper really had a high cultivation base indeed.
*Fwoosh!* *Clang!* *Phew!*
It happened so fast as he rotated in a smooth way like a flash. He evaded my throne sword before slamming both swords one at my flank and the other at my chest.
One sword was deflected by my sword, and the other was simply evaded by leaning to the ground.
"Die!" he roared in a crazy tone while jumping high in the air while raising both swords like they were one greatsword.
"It's too early to say so," yet at this moment I wasn't even close to nervous. Once I threw my sword out, I knew he was going to evade it.
But all I wanted was for him to jump high in the air. No matter how strong the jumper was, no matter how high his cultivation was, once being airborne he would lose a big deal of his advantage.
As for me, I simply used the force generated from blocking his sword and pushed with all my might against the ground. As he jumped, I also jumped higher.
Instead of having the advantage of a high vantage point, the situation reversed at this moment as I became the one flying higher, with him not being able to adjust his body at all while being midair.
"Yes, come and kill him, come and kill your lover, human bastard!" he roared and laughed in a hysterical way while I was flying higher than his head.
"Did you think I knew about your race without knowing about your weaknesses?" I snorted and suddenly the sword in my hand vanished. I held his two shoulders with both hands, used his body as a ground base to control and stabilise my body midair and stop it just upside down on top of his head.
"F*ck you! F*ck you! F*ck you!!" It seemed what I said got into his mind. Of course there were ways to kill such races before cursing anyone. And there were other ways to cleanse them outside anybody they cursed.
And out of all the ways I knew, it happened that I knew of a simple way to kick that bastard outside of that jumper's body.
"I won't let you do it!" Just as I stabilised my body, two things happened at the same moment!
That filthy parasite roared in defiance as he took out two spears from the jumper's inventory, letting his two swords down to the ground. The spears he got instantly turned upwards, trying to hit my body.
And at the same time I felt a familiar deathly heavy pressure coming from one direction. It was that monster! Damn! It came at this crucial moment and without even causing a single sound!
Yet I already came at this stage, so there was no point in retreating or hesitation. As the Curasee two spears nailed at my chest, I flipped my body from right to left, putting my face towards the back of that jumper.
And a blink of an eye earlier than the arrival of the two spears, I threw my body with all my might while bending my legs. I fixed my hands over his shoulder like anchor points while aiming the tips of my toes towards the back of his head.
The simple way to kick that parasite out of a body was simple. Using a strong force to hit the back of the neck was enough to force it out. Once expelled, the Curasee wouldn't survive for more than ten seconds.
If he didn't find a suitable host fast, a host that was overwhelmed with rage that clouded one's mind, then he would die!
That was why I kept myself as calm as possible. If I was driven by rage or fear, I might become the next target of such deadly Curasee.
"My kin won't let my death go without revenge!" he roared like a wounded beast. It was too late to do anything, especially if both our bodies were still in midair.
Yet I never cared about such empty threats. "Drop the act and just die!" especially when I knew what he desperately needed at this point.
He was trying to push me over the edge of rage or fear, trying to cloud my mind so he wouldn't end up dying. That race might seem suicidal, but in fact I knew how valuable they treasured life.
Or else he would have killed the jumper from the first moment he controlled his soul, or when I started fighting him.
But even if he tried to do that now, it was already too late. Besides he wouldn't lean to such suicidal acts.
*Crack!*
My legs hit the back of that jumper's head, but it felt like I hit some form of a fragile glass. I felt like something cracked under my hit and then a long trail of filthy odoured black red fog came out from the nostrils of the jumper.
And with that I felt the body of the jumper to suddenly grow soft, losing all signs of living.
I didn't feel any alarm. After all the fight I had from the outside had a more brutal one deep within the jumper's body.
The two souls were clashing in a deadly fight. So losing consciousness was something expected.
"Come here," but there was no time for me to care about that damn Curasee. After all there was a far deadlier predator eyeing me and the jumper at this moment.
Without even waiting to reach the ground, I extended my arms and held the jumper from the chest.
"… This…!!!" yet at this moment I discovered something groundshaking! But the next instant I threw all I felt behind my back. It wasn't time for such distraction.
"Now!" Once I held him, I shouted while turning my head to the side. A giant behemoth appeared like a mountain just less than a hundred metres away from the two of us.
And that bastard wasn't just standing there idle. I saw its gigantic tail arching high in the air, almost hundred metres higher than its body. That thick and rounded end of that tail was aiming at the two of us.
In less than ten seconds, that tail would land mercilessly over our heads, smashing us into nothing more than two pulps of smashed meat!
"Hahaha!" a nasty laugh came from the side, "even if I died, it will still be great to deliver both of you to death with me as well, hahaha!"
"You'll be the only one dying here," I replied without showing any sign of distress. From one side, a gigantic tail was arching high in the air, prepared to fall upon my head.
And on the other side, a ferocious predator was eyeing me, waiting to lose my cool to get his one in time chance to survive.
But how could I come here without being prepared for that?
*Fwoosh!* *Fwoosh!*
Just as I said this, two red foggy silhouettes appeared around me and the jumper as the soulers came. Before I left I gave one single instruction to the soulers in secrecy.
'Come and save my ass when I call, come and take me away when the signal is given.'
Out of my warriors, the only ones who could come and save me and the jumper from the jaws of death were the soulers.
Just as I planned, once I called, two came and each carried one of us and flashed again before taking us tens of metres away from our original position.
This time they didn't try to attack, so there was danger to me or the jumper.
*Fwoosh!* *Fwoosh!*
124 A Deadly Trap
Just as we flashed once, we flashed again, again, and again. In the ten seconds before that tail slammed like a meteorite towards the spot we were at, we already were over a hundred metres away.
And at this moment, just as the tail created a mighty shockwave that wasn't any less dangerous than the tail itself, my big chariot flashed and appeared in front of us.
*Fwoosh!* *Fwoosh!*
And by the last jump, we finally arrived over the surface of the chariot while the world was rumbled by the aftershock of the tail, the loud monster roar, and the deep hatred scream of that Curasee.
"Huff… Huff… That was pretty damn close! Huff… Huff…"
As we landed, I rolled over my back and rested there for the second time in such a short time.
Like before, my body was entirely soaked in cold sweat. Even if I tried to control my fear and nervousness from the surface, I was shit scared from within.
And even if I controlled my fear and mind, my body reacted in a different way. I stayed there for a few minutes while not caring about that monster anymore.
After all, my chariot was protected well with that bubble. To save my life in such a close call, I couldn't help but feel more grateful towards that bubble.
It was worth every penny paid into it.
"Why is it so calm?!" Just as I finally managed to stand up, I noticed that the world around me was ushering under weird heavy silence.
I knew that monster's attitude. By now it should be swarming the entire city under its rage. But unlike what I expected, I saw it standing still in its place, like getting frozen while its tail was still on the spot I was at before.
"This…" some bad foreboding came like lightning inside my mind. No, it was impossible! There was no such a way to happen, right?
But before I could even catch my breaths, I noticed something far weirder than the monster.
And it was too late for me to do anything at this moment!
*Rumble!*
A pillar of red light fell directly over my head! A pillar of familiar red light came directly from that nasty star weapon in the depth of the dark red sky!
Damn! Wouldn't they even give me a damn moment to catch my breath?!!
I only had enough strength to stagger towards the central pillar of mine. I knew the angels planned this beforehand, using this moment of weakness of mine to hit me with their deadly weapon.
But what was the point behind this? I didn't know. Their previous times proved how useless that weapon was against my chariot.
Did they think I was weak to not resupply my chariot with stat points? Or was there something else I didn't know about?
As I reached the pillar, I started to throw stat points like running water. All I was focused on was to make sure the stat points were near million to make sure the shield would sustain this attack.
*Boom!*
"Damn!"
Just as I was in the middle of all this, I felt like my body was hit with a bulldozer. Just when I regained the clarity of my mind, all I could see was dark shadow blocking even the red pillar of light falling over from the sky.
"That monster…" without the need to ask or think about useless questions, I instantly gave the order to my chariot to move.
*Rumble!*
Just by hair breadth I escaped the mighty fall of that monster's gigantic body. It felt like a mountain just fell over Earth, causing a mighty explosion that started as a small flash of bright red and white light before expanding fast in a half circle.
The explosion looked like a sweeper, sweeping away anything standing in its path. If I even stopped my chariot for one second, I doubted the shield would survive this attack.
Despite the explosion, it didn't seem logical at all, but I didn't care about that for now. After all, I knew the main reason behind that strange attacking behaviour of the monster.
*Boom!* Just as that explosion exceeded two hundred metres radius, its explosive power dissipated all around and swept across my chariot.
I could feel my chariot trembling out of this mighty shockwave. Yet the shield sustained that attack. And in the middle of that bravely burning fire, a gigantic dark shadow stood straight up like it wasn't a monster, but a human.
"Kakakaka! This is really fun!" a strange hoarse voice came from that direction with a weird laugh. I narrowed my eyes and started to move my chariot as far away as possible.
At this moment it was better to move away from that deadly monster's direction.
*Rumble!*
Just as I pushed my chariot half a mile away, another pillar of red light fell over my head again. Damn! What was wrong with those angels?! Did they just abandon this city and decide to deplete all their blessings over such useless attacks?
Did they mistake me for state reserves to be this shallow? No f*cking way!
I kept pouring stat points inside the pillar. My chariot's stat amount was now over half a million. Even after taking two attacks of the star weapon and that sudden bombardment of that monster, the stat points level was at a secured level.
"Sh*t!"
But just as the pillar of red fell upon me for a few seconds, I saw that gigantic behemoth running on four. I didn't know from where it got these two extra limbs, but it was running in preparation for another attack.
And that made me realise something… "How did he find me in the first place?"
I raised my head and at this moment I noticed what was going on. The red light coming from the star weapon was blocked by my chariot defence, yet the bubble surrounding my entire chariot wasn't enough to sustain such a fierce attack.
I could see thick vapour coming out from the entire chariot as if it was grilled over fire. Damn! Damn! Damn!
At this moment I realised what was going on here. That monster was able to sense my presence thanks to the neutralising effect of the angelic star weapon over my sealing bubble.
And from the look of it, my bubble wouldn't sustain for much longer. I tried to push my chariot fast away from the fall of that pillar, but it seemed something was wrong with that deadly light.
It kept following my chariot, sticking to it like its shadow. "Dammit!" I turned my head around before I noticed dense numbers of enemies coming from every corner in the city towards me.
Those angels… they didn't just depend on the monster, but also over their allied forces in the city to come and finish this job.
At this moment I felt the heavy breaths of death over my face for the first time since coming back in time.
Was I going to fall here?
The thought just crossed my mind for a flash of moment before I instantly burnt it away with my will. No f*cking way I'd fall here! No f*cking way I'd let that happen!
If they wanted to fight in such a way, then I'd show them how strong I was.
*Rumble!*
Like before, my chariot managed to bypass the incoming attack of that monster. Just as I expected, once it got close, it jumped high in the air. The scene of such a behemoth jumping in the air was really breath freezing.
But I didn't even allow my dragorses to stop for even one second. As the monster landed, another deadly explosion occurred.
And this time I was paying more attention to see what caused this explosion. It wasn't only an ability of that monster, but a combined effort from both the monster and the falling deadly pillar of red light.
It seemed that the monster had evolved and became able to affect the falling pure energy from the star weapon. Just by its massive fall, it detonated the red light and created such a scary explosion.
The first shockwave didn't fade away yet before another came after me. I embraced myself against the impact while thinking about my options here.
The situation looked really tough, even impossible if you wanted a rational opinion. But such a dark end of the tunnel wasn't without spots of light for me to survive this.
The first flaw here was the angels themselves. They were crazily consuming their blessing points to unleash that star weapon. So far they have used that weapon five times. Would they have more blessing points to use that weapon for more times then?
That was one flaw in this plan, and that was why they summoned all their allied forces scattered across the city. They knew they wouldn't be able to keep hitting me like this, especially when even under such circumstances they failed to even touch my hair, even when allying themselves with that monster.
The second major flaw here was the monster itself. I knew what happened to it. That scary Curasee just invaded the body of that monster. It seemed when I evaded the attack of that tail, the monster was in a chaotic state of mind, allowing that parasite to invade its body.
But who said that race could invade such an unintelligent form of life? Once such a thing happened, like this situation now, the Curasee would slowly burn his life force before finally dying.
So that was why the monster was attacking in such a berserk way. Unlike the monster's past attitude, it didn't just run around and had fun.
This monster was desperately fighting against time, before the Curasee controlling it would burn the remaining of his life force and would die!
So it was clear what I should do next. But as I evaded the last attack, I noticed that this monster wasn't just toying around.
It was trying to force me towards a certain direction, a curved way towards the incoming forces.
So from the front it would attack me, and from behind the forces would shut down my path of retreat, and from above that deadly star weapon would keep hammering over my head.
Well the trap was laid and it seemed there was no way out of here. The two main flaws of them shared the same solution; to come with everything they had and try to kill me as fast as they could.
"Kakakaka! This is fun!" the monster roared in an ear deafening laughter before it turned towards my direction. "Your nasty sealing toy has been damaged, and you won't be able to use your market for now… How are you going to survive this little sheep? Kakakaka!"
I opened my market and as Curasee said, the market was locked up by some sort of item.
Well… such a thing was expected. But if they thought by sealing my market I was powerless, then I'd have to prove them wrong.
"Oh, the look on your face is… priceless!"
I didn't know what he saw on my face, but it seemed that Curasee was amused. Ok, let's consider it his last death wish, right?
*Rumble!*
Again another attack landed from that annoying star weapon. I knew my stat points were depleted like running water, but there was something they missed.
Whenever that monster jumped and combined its force with that deadly beam, my chariot would be freed from such danger. So even if I had to pay around a hundred thousand stat points each time I got him, it was much better than paying almost close to a million with a full force of such a weapon taken head on!
But I got what they wanted to do here. They were trying to force me towards one direction, their trap. So they didn't care about that issue for now.
Once trapped, my shield wouldn't last forever… Right?
No, it was wrong!