149 [Bonus chapter] I'm Your Love Rival!
As I stood there and said these words, a few metres away from me a cloud of fog appeared.
It was all blue, and it didn't take the shape of a person and just kept itself like a rising pillar of fog that rose up for ten metres then stopped.
"A human knowing about my abilities… that means you are the one I'm seeking for," a voice that didn't resemble anything coming from a normal larynx appeared, echoing like it was a mighty god or something.
"Stop using these lame tricks," I shrugged, "you won't scare a kid with that."
"I didn't mean to scare you to begin with," he responded in the same way as before.
"Are you looking for me?" I asked, "a friend of a foe?"
"A love rival," he said in a tone that told me he held great hatred for myself.
"The deadliest of all enemies then," I snorted, "but I don't recall tricking any girl of your race to fall in with me. So how come we are love rivals?"
"Stop lying!" he shouted and even the air trembled like he was a real god, "you played your dirty tricks with her! I won't let you off, not a chance."
"The same goes for me as well," I placed one sword over my shoulder before adding, "you have no power to resist me. So where is your confidence coming from?"
"Even if you have such an advantage, you can't kill me even if you did it a hundred time."
His words… damn! What was wrong with me? Attracting all the beasts out of each race in such a way! He wasn't just a shadow master illusionist, but a damn reincarnator as well.
"So that's the reason you can't show up with your real body… why not save all of us the trouble and tell me where your real body is?"
"As expected from my love rival," he seemed to find my answer amusing as he laughed shortly before adding, "you need to come and look for me. And in return, I'll always keep coming at you and your loved ones."
The look over my face changed at once when I heard what he said. Damn bastard! Did he do something to Karoline or what?
"Don't give me this look," he laughed in a distasteful tone, "you can't save anyone from me. After all, you have a lot to watch over, hahaha."
"Die you motherf*cker!" for a reason my blood got all ignited and turned like lava. The next instant I jumped and instead of aiming at the fog, I hit the ground.
A loud crushing voice came from this hit while his laughs kept echoing for a few seconds. Without hesitating I opened my channel and checked first over Karoline.
This girl… for a reason once I saw where she was I couldn't help but inwardly sigh. She was throwing herself at the frontlines, killing many enemies and monsters without pause like a god of death.
She used two long and slender swords that I gave her. Her entire body was cladded in silver and golden armour that gave her a magical appearance of a real angel.
"Come…" I had to go to her first. After all that bastard's words held no other meaning but to threaten everyone I cared about.
He got a point here… I cared about my chosen team and they weren't just one person. While my warriors got summoned from the city, I sent the same warning message copy and paste to every single one of them.
[Watch out from your shadows, there is a strong foe who can attach himself into your shadows and can't be killed if you slain his shadow]
As I finished sending this message over, my warriors gathered all around.
"Kill as freely as you feel," I pointed at the grand army here, "don't let anyone alive."
As that bastard threatened me, I didn't lose my calm in return. He wanted to make me quite busy running around and burdened with worry.
Dude… I didn't gather common folks from the streets. Each single person on my side was a mighty figure in the future. With such my warning they would be all safe and secured.
If you have the ability, then come and try your luck with them. I dare you to do that and let's see who would win in the end!
As I scattered all my warriors around, I simply took out my staff and selected a bookmark in Jersey city. Luckily I had a few points saved in the north while I was first invading the city.
Once activating the staff, I called back my chariot and fell directly into the portal. The familiar feeling from before came as I was teleported towards the northern part of Jersey city, or to be precise to the outskirts of it.
"Come," I resummoned my chariot before activating its full power, "go, let's finish this useless fight here."
With a flash, my chariot crossed almost one and half miles that separated me from my girl in a few seconds. Once I appeared, I didn't say a single word and simply released a pulse wave first to clear all the hostile around.
Then I jumped off my chariot, landed with my two swords hitting fiercely the ground behind the all shocked Karoline.
She didn't get the message as she was already absorbed in fighting. That dude wouldn't dare to touch her in such a state or else she would simply react and kill him.
"You…" with a face filled with wrath and covered with mud and dirt, she gave me a shocked look that made her stop midway in her words.
Her shock wasn't the only reason for that. The fog that came out from her shadow with that despicable laugh of that dude made her not able to continue saying a single word.
And in a flash the look of a fighter was turned upside down with a look of fear.
She didn't need me to say anything. She was smart enough to realise the value of danger she was in.
"Just leave them to fight here and come with me," I said but she took a deep breath and shook her head.
"I can handle that," she said and her fear changed again to be replaced with her fighting self.
"Are you sure?" I asked, "this dude can come at any time without you knowing about that."
"I can handle him," she said in a firm tone and I couldn't help but sigh.
Girls and their pride… or was it because she came from such a deeply rooted family in US history? What was it? Her raising or perhaps this ran in her genes?
"Alright, but be extra careful from now on," under her firm stance, I couldn't help but show respect to her.
"You too," she was smart enough to realise that I was also facing the same fate. As I returned to my chariot, I threw my sword carelessly at my shadow.
"Extra careful? Hahaha! I'll grant you that she will be extra careful, hahaha!"
He laughed again amidst the dying fog of him. Damn! That dude was more troublesome to deal with than I thought.
Without staying much here, I used my staff again to return to my initial spot in the other battleground.
Before leaving, I made sure to bookmark that location so I wouldn't have to fly all the way there.
As I returned, I opened my channel and checked over my team. Like I expected, that dude was scattered all over their shadows as I saw with my two eyes his blue fog rising after killing him.
The deadliest thing about such a stubborn foe was the fact he was always next to you. He wouldn't attack while one was fighting, but at the moment when one's guard would be down.
No one could be on his guard forever. That was given. Another troublesome fact about that dude was the fact he was a reincarnator.
How could you kill someone who was just lying far away and simply using his endless shadows to kill you?
"I have to find him," I clenched on the hilts of my two swords while trying to recall anything related to that kind of troublesome race.
Reincarnation wasn't just a limited thing to illusionists, they were also found in other races like humans. But there was something related to an ancient relic or ritual in the possession of the illusionist race, they had the highest number of such troublesome people.
I knew many facts about these reincarnators. For example I knew they couldn't just shade without paying a price. But I didn't recall what the old man said about that price. What was it? Coins? I didn't think so.
I knew that by using shadows, they would enter a weakened status related to the magnitude of their shadows. As far as I could see, that dude was using a large number of shadows at such a short time.
Wait… if he was doing so, then he wouldn't just leave his body suffering from weakness. He would be in danger even from the weakest monsters or even humans.
Someone must be watching over him… Someone strong enough to make him go full out without worrying about his life.
He was a love rival… a love rival wouldn't go suicidal indeed. He would only try to kill me and stay alive as far as he could. Or else what was the point of coming all the way here and killing me?
Who might be the one protecting him? A race popped in my mind at once, yet it wasn't logical.
That dragon archlord was already stationed far, far away from here. The range of using the shadows was limited by distance and numbers.
I recalled the old man's words about that. Reincarnation could summon up to three long living shadows and release them all around the world, or summon endless numbers with limited area based on their cultivation.
Damn! Why didn't I focus much on the old man's teachings from before? I knew the old man kept records of what he taught me before coming here, but that wasn't accessible now.
Come on! If I just opened my memory beads and watched a record then it would be like inviting that dude to kill me.
"Let me say he can only use his ability in a twenty mile radius," I just gave that number out of the blue.
*Clang!*
"Hahaha, you won't find me," another clone was killed and I heard his voice again. And that enraged me more.
"Calm down… where is the most secure place here that he could hide at?" I took deep breaths in and out, calming down myself before I looked back at the map again.
The map was still on the surface top of my chariot. I looked carefully at such a detailed map while deeply pondering over it.
Fang was leading his Selvator forces to the south. The Berserkers were heading to the south-west as well. Only dragons were in the west and the succubus race would be with them.
I looked at the map and suddenly my thoughts changed.
No… it shouldn't be like that… If he was seeing me as a f*cking love rival then he wouldn't position himself away from my girl.
I looked to the north and suddenly I noticed something up there. When I thought about it, I found this was the best location he could hide at.
First of all I was thinking wrong. He didn't need the help of another race to be safe. He could simply rely on his race gate at a big city and he would definitely be safe.
That city I selected was a big one, and the distance from there to here was like what I thought about. At the same time he would be the closest to my girl while leading me astray to somewhere else.
That dirty bastard… he was depending on tricking me to go west. It was a smart move, I had to give him that credit. But dude, the north was all unsecured or busies by any race at this point of time.
Even the most of the Selvators went south following Fang and few would only remain up there working over their cities. So this created a golden chance for such an opportunistic cowardly race.
Alright… as you were up there, just wait for me and shave your neck… my sword would fly faster than you would imagine and kill you without making a single sound.
But first I had to respond to his trick with another… Or else I might just scare him away.
150 Newark City
If he joined hands with that dragon overlord, then things wouldn't end up well for me. I had such a trophy to claim, why should I lose it then?
To do so, I had to make a feint attack first. And so I opened my friend list, and sent a message to Fang.
[Do you know where that dragon archlord is right now? And his forces? Are they near Jersey city?]
The answer came swiftly as Fang sent:
[He is in the west, one hundred and twenty miles away from your city. His forces are yet to set out, so they are just limiting their activities in twenty miles radius around that dude]
So he was far from me, that was such a relieving news for now.
*Clang!*
"You won't find me, hahaha! You can't, hahaha!"
Again that bastard was killed in my shadows using my sword. Two times were strange, but three? Something seemed wrong here.
One had to know the shadow masters could only move between shadows. I was all alone all this time, so where did he come from?
I looked around and all I could see was only my chariot and nothing else. Yes, he was hiding there… Then…
I opened the market and started to look for something that could help me kill all his shadows around. Just in few minutes, I finally found something useful.
[The flying leaf of the lightning tree: Consumable item. Once used, it will fly for a hundred metres above the user's head. The leaf will emit dazzling light resembling that of any star, radiating warmth as well. The area of coverage is a mile radius around the user. Can last for one day. Price: one hundred thousand coins]
"Buy twenty," I didn't hesitate and the next moment I found the leaves inside my inventory.
They were in the shape of broad long silver white leaves. Once I took one out, that small icon inside my inventory turned to a big leaf with a length exceeding ten metres.
Then it floated out of my hand, flying for a hundred metres above my head. Once there, it seemed like it got burnt by some sort of lightning as many thin dancing blue arcs of lightning started to dance all around it.
Light came, and heat as well. The entire area of one mile around me got bathed under the bright and warm light from this leaf.
Races coming from other worlds were fine towards this sort of light. But monsters weren't. Just when the entire area got lightened up, I started to hear many painful roars coming from everywhere.
"You deserve this," I ignored all of these wails as I started to take many swords out of my inventory and threw them all over the chariot.
Each place my swords hit left behind a deafening roar from that illusionist. He was hiding inside my chariot as expected, taking advantage of all the shadows in here to hide his presence.
*Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!*
I kept walking step by step while throwing as many swords as needed to cover every single inch on the chariot's rooftop. It took me roughly twenty minutes to clean the upper floor, then I started to head to the lower levels.
"You won't be safe no matter what you do!"
"I'll kill you! Do you f*cking hear me?!!"
"F*ck you, damn bastard!!"
And with my swords killing the shadows, the illusionist started to shout in panic and rage. It was clear he planned to keep harassing me using this dirty little trick of his.
But now I was killing off all of his shadows, leaving all blind in the dark.
After two hours, I finally cleaned the entire chariot from his annoying presence and also gathered up my swords.
"Now let's arrange things here first," I didn't hurry to leave. After all, my chariot was hung midair, away from the reach of that bastard.
[Lead your men and go to secure the north border of the city] I sent to one of Fang's men and also sent the same message to the reinforcement army who came from New York city.
I also left another small instruction before finally starting to move.
Of course my army here was enough to clean the enemies, but they'd take time. I was sure that the illusionist was still watching my moves from down below, so I headed west first.
My target was a city marked on the map drawn by Isabella and Leo; Newark city.
It wasn't really my target, but I had to take a detour while going to hunt that bastard. I also wanted to check over the status of the cities close to here. Who knew, I might find something interesting or something worthy of my attention.
But the distance to that city wasn't short as it appeared on that small map. I travelled for two hours before finally seeing a glimpse of that city's damaged buildings.
"It's like Jersey city," I stood away from the city, enough so that my light wouldn't reach there. I tried to call back that leaf but couldn't. It seemed once used, one had to leave it high in the air.
It worked quite well against monsters, but it also was like a beacon to anyone standing afar. I was sure that those races inside the city were already aware of my presence a long time before coming here.
The city had five big gates hovering in midair, scattered across its size. I used my hawk skill and watched different zones of the city.
"They are amassing a big number of forces here," without the need to go into the city and scan its castles, I knew all the humans were either killed or trapped in cages.
"Alright, let's go and free them then," despite this wasn't in my plans, but knowing a large number of humans were trapped and would soon be moved to other realms made me act.
I was alone, and the enemy had a large number of forces. But who said I was weak? I got my chariot, and I got something else.
"Summon twenty dragons!" Just as I approached there, I instantly used up almost half of my soul points and summoned twenty small drags.
*Roar!*
They all roared in unison, before turning to my direction and bowed.
"Don't come here," I stopped them from approaching my chariot. After all, I cleaned it with difficulty from the filth of that illusionist. I didn't want any shadow to hide here and keep tracking my movements. "Come with me, and kill anything I attack."
My plan was simple. Against such a large number of enemies, only direct brute force would work.
Just as I came closer to the city, the first wave of attacks came. "Activate full powered version," I didn't hustle and released my strongest shield before following it with a wide ranged attack of my pulse wave.
*Boom!* *Boom!* *Flash!*
Just as I flew inside the city for five minutes, killing any resisting force that was here, a flash of red light fell over my head without any warning.
"Damn! I totally forgot about them," I instantly summoned back all my drags and kept attacking while the star beam of light descended over the top of my head.
My chariot's shield was strong enough to resist the attack. So I wasn't worried about the angels here. Yet my drugs would die if left alone out there.
The beam lasted for twenty minutes straight. Those angels here seemed to be so filled with blessing points to the degree of releasing such a long attack as a welcome.
"Time to free humans," as the third attack ended, I started to fly directly towards the closest portal.
It was protected by a dragon race. The moment I got there, I instantly released my dragons, and a big fight erupted.
The fight was simply one sided, where the dragons tried to resist and depended over the gate for that.
Yet I didn't aim to control the castle, I only flew directly towards the gate and claimed it.
As I cut the source of their reinforcements, taking control of the castle was an easy thing to do. And by its fall, and the death of all the drags and their allied forces here, I eliminated one troublesome enemy at the beginning of this fight.
"One down, four others are left to go," the next target was a gate controlled by berserkers. Those dudes were really warmongers, who didn't listen to my words until I crushed the gate and then they started to listen.
"I have a friendship with your leader," I said before adding, "leave this city and walk to another one. I won't kill any of you after this."
I had to admit, I thought dragons were hard to argue with before. But after taking almost an hour of arguing with Berserkers, I knew the latter race was on the top of the most stubborn races list in the entire apocalypse.
And they were also slightly dumb! I had to kill half of their remaining force before they finally listened to the sound of logic and left the city.
"Damn! I have to speak with him about this," as I watched their fast vanishing backs, I opened my friendlist and sent a message to their leader.
[I'll see what I can do about that] he only sent this back, giving me the impression even he wasn't enough to control his people.
Damn! What did that race have inside their minds? Axes and swords or what?
"I have to see Selvators next," I also sent a message to Fang without moving against any other gate.
I kept roaming the city, killing all the enemies I faced until Fang sent only one word back:
[Done!]
I liked that dude. He knew how to do business, swift and decisive. Not just like the other one, humph.
As I turned around the city, I noticed one group was on the move. Unlike what I sent for Fang, he didn't order his forces to withdraw and relocate, but rather to hit the other two remaining gates with a large number of forces.
"That dude… He is acting greedy," I shook my head when I saw that. As he wanted to take a gate, then fine. Let him take one and I'd take the other.
The one I moved towards wasn't the illusionist gate. After all, those folks were troublesome to deal with. Last time I hit their gate they showered my chariot with many of their members.
If I wanted to claim that gate, then I'd have to call back my soulers. They were the only capable ones to deal with them swiftly. But that would also bring that bastard back to my chariot.
So I took a small detour and headed directly towards the gate with many girls standing on their walls and defensive towers.
"Kill!" without saying a single word, or listening to any of their bullsh*t, I sent out my dragons in an attack while following with my pulse wave.
The fight didn't last for long, not like what happened at the last gate. The illusionists were cowards, but even a coward with a push back to the wall would definitely bite back.
The last fight would last for almost three hours in my best estimate. I didn't stay for that long as I left after sending a message to Fang, arranging how to control the city.
[So you want three gates and release all of your humans? Pay one gate and I'll consider it] he sent back, trying to bargain with me.
[If you want another gate as a price then it's fine, but you can't just offer such little help in return for that]
[What price do you want then?] That dude seemed so desperate to take one more gate here. I knew the reason of that. After all this was related to the end goal of the second quest.
151 [Bonus chapter] Going For City Hunting Spree
After all, the one controlling more gates and castles would gain the ownership of any city or town. I didn't ask to bite what I couldn't chew. My forces weren't that large or experienced enough to capture more cities.
I was struggling this bad with only two! So I leant toward another kind of a deal here.
[In addition to free all the humans trapped inside the cages, you'll have to assign a force from your elites in each city I conquer and make them train all the humans how to fight and survive in the apocalypse]
[What?!!] Fang sent almost instantly, showing how shocked he was.
Sure, that would be the right price I'd ask for in return for giving a city to him. I couldn't protect more cities, and I didn't want any of this sh*t.
But who said he knew anything about any of that? In his eyes, I was just acting the way he did, working my best to expand my territory before the arrival of the real monster.
[Are you referring to other cities as well?] After five minutes of silence from his side, he finally started to take the bait.
[I'm planning to conquer at least five more cities around here] I wasn't lying. After all I was forced to take such a long detour to trick my enemy, [and I might go even beyond that before the big battle]
[It's a deal then] as he saw five free cities added to his reign, how could he resist such an offer? Even if it meant he would turn his mighty experienced elite Selvators into tutoring teachers for my weak and helpless humans, he wouldn't say no just for that.
He got something, and I got a much valuable thing in return. At this moment I started to get a bit greedy. Who said I would settle down with just five cities trapped humans? I should work harder and expand that number by at least double.
I had such a priceless chance to make my humans get such training from one of the best masters in this apocalypse.
[Hey, change in plans] As I decided that, I instantly sent copied messages to my scattered team, [Go to any city with gates. Work with Selvators there to take over the other gates. We get two, they get three]
Of course the jumper dude didn't drop this matter without getting to the bottom of it. He kept ramping in messages, threatening to not follow these new orders as he had inexperienced forces.
But when he knew about the deal I made with Fang, he sent me this message:
[Goddammit! Are you sure you are really a human? I heard of a race called tricksters who loved to trick other races and con them in every possible way! Alright, alright… This is a good chance indeed. I'll take as many cities as I can, but in return all the humans I free will end up under my command. No room for objection dude, this is a final call!]
I read that message and couldn't help but inwardly sigh. That bastard changed his attitude and started to drool over this big loot. [Don't forget you are under my mercy] I sent to remind him of his position.
[One day I'll find a way to crush that f*cked up contract]
[I meant your little secret buddy] I laughed while totally ignoring the showering rain of angry messages that came after my last message.
Dude… I wasn't only tying you up with a contract, but also with that little secret of yours. Humph, let's see how you'd get yourself freed from that as well. As if breaking a contract was something possible in the first place!
The other team members didn't have the same farsighted goal like the jumper. They were happy, but none dreamt about forming their own forces like him.
Even the spearhead, he simply was delighted and didn't ask for anything.
In fact I liked the jumper's attitude. Having elites under my command was a must, but also aspiring people was also a necessity.
I needed to let them deal more with the jumper to learn from his shamelessness. Such an attitude might get on my nerves most of the time, but in the end it would bring great results to me.
As I saw the team's enthusiasm, I sent a message to Fang notifying him about the increase in the city number. He was excited as well, and didn't show any sign of rejection at all.
"Alright, time to go for the next city," as I closed this good deal, I finally had time to focus on moving onward.
The next city to hit was Bloomfield. This time the fight was more organised and far easier than the one at Newark city.
Fang's men were already attacking other forces when I arrived. I just jumped in, threw every dragon I summoned so far, including new twenty drags as well, and took the direct hits of that angelic star weapon.
I got used to it. As long as I sat foot inside a city from now on, the angels of that city would hit me with their deadly weapon. At some point I knew my big reserve of stat points in the chariot would be depleted if this kept going on.
Just taking the toll of a single city star weapon was enough to take away almost ten million stat points. I initially had close to sixty million in reserve. So I could do that for six cities only.
That was slightly annoying. So instead of that, I asked my drags to go around, gather the dead bodies of all the top fighters in any race gate.
Putting aside Selvators, I had four other races to replenish my own stat reserves from. In just two cities, I collected close to forty million stat points, making me feel more relaxed.
Even if I paid almost half of that number into my chariot's shield, I still ended up with almost twenty million stat points. Giving stat points to all my newly summoned drags, I was now having twelve million stat points after taking two cities.
The other good thing about this was the large number of souls added to my account. For a reason, the system seemed to count Fang's men as part of my force. So anything they killed was added to my stored souls.
And like that conquering each city would grant me at least fifty thousand souls. Not to mention other ongoing battles everywhere. So by the time I took Bloomfield city, I had close to one hundred thousand souls.
"Come forth," I summoned twenty more dragons and by now my drag forces summoned here were sixty. Putting in mind that I pushed their levels up to level two hundred, then this small force of big drags was enough to shake any enemy gate forces.
Even taking a city now wasn't that hard if I got triple that number, and I aimed for that.
The only problem I constantly faced was the angels. Their deadly weapons could easily kill my drugs. If I didn't hurry and call them all back, they'd be all dead by now.
And doing so always left a void in the middle of deadly battles. Within the last fight, I noticed the angels timed their deadly weapon to interfere whenever the battle was hot.
That might have caused many problems for the Selvators, but it didn't change the final outcome.
After organising things with Fang's men in the city and making sure they understood their part to play next, I left towards my next target.
Cities started to fall like pieces of dominoes. After Bloomfield I headed south all of sudden and hit Irvington, Plainfield, and Elizabeth cities.
I did so to just make my real enemy miss my real intentions. If I kept heading north, he might get suspicious and would leave far away.
So going south was a must to move. Besides I gained three more cities, sixty more drags, and had raised the total number of my human training camps to five.
Aside from me, the jumper seemed to go all out. According to the messages coming from Fang himself, he was totally overwhelmed with the ability of the jumper.
That dude's luck was really great as he aimed towards a cluster of five cities south of Plainfield. The five cities were close up, and I didn't know how the jumper did it but he controlled four out of those five in the time I took five.
I had my drags and chariot, so what did he use then? At some point I was tempted to open his feed and see what the hell was that dude doing!
When I did that, I found him using lots and lots of scrolls. The scrolls he used were all strangely AOE that covered almost half a mile in radius with each hit.
Some were even mobile moving and rotating around. That added more damage to his scrolls and helped in cleaning a large number of enemies in a short time.
I thought he would conquer one city, wait until humans would be trained to some degree before taking them with him and go directly on a killing spree in other cities.
But that dude was so fixed at getting his goal; a large army of human elites.
Besides the army he already led was only carried along the way. As I watched for an hour, I got bored. That dude just exhausted more than a couple hundred scrolls in just an hour, cleaning the fourth city and controlling two gates in return.
"Sigh, that dude really has a rich inventory," I shook my head while examining my own scrolls inside my inventory.
I had tons of such scrolls, yet they were all low grade ones that only covered an area of one hundred metres. Not only that, the damage that each scroll dealt wasn't enough to kill fighters from other races.
They might be good against normal monsters. I looked at such a large amount and felt how pointless it was to use them.
"I should give them to the boys then," I closed my inventory while considering giving these useless scrolls to the growing army of mine.
They might be useless to me, but for them these scrolls might be heaven defying.
As I came from Elizabeth city in the south, I had to go past Newark and Bloomfield cities. When I passed by them, I saw a large number of humans getting taught how to fight and get stronger outside the cities.
I didn't know why Fang arranged for things to be like this. The cities were already in ruins. But as his men led the humans freed from the castles outside the city, they arranged them in groups, each having one thousand humans.
Each city had around twenty to thirty of such groups. That meant the mean number of human survivors in each city would be around twenty-five thousand.
That was a big number if you calculated the ten cities that now resided under my agreement with Fang. damn! Even if I counted only half of that number to be promising elites, that still was close to fifty thousand human forces.
I wanted more cities! At this point I started to seriously consider expanding such an offer with Fang. After all, my real target wasn't any city here, but high up the north where my future base would reside.
"It's not time to talk about this," I knew I had to restrain myself. After all, Fang wasn't that easy to deal with. Let him first taste the sweetness of our deal before considering expanding it.
My next target was the last city in the upper north part of New Jersey state. One that was called Paterson city.
The real target didn't situate there, but to the last city at the east of it, a city called Hackensack.
But to go to Hackensack I needed to first tighten my net around the big fish I was hunting. To do so I planned to go further north where few cities waited for me to conquer, those who belonged to New York state.
Let's do it!
152 The All Dangerous Paterson City
The time I took while moving from south to north took six hours alone. I stopped for almost half an hour each at the two cities, but the distance already was vast.
In total it took me twenty hours to clean all the cities, twenty hours since I left the outer region of Jersey city.
I didn't have any camera feedback from my fighting warriors. And the count of my gained souls was still rising non-stop all the time. So I had to call back one drag and asked him about the ongoing situation back there.
The fight was still raging on! That was simply unbelievable! Even after twenty straight hours of fighting, the enemy kept sending fresh troops to the frontlines, which kept all my forces busy.
Hearing such intel made me frown. "I took control over all the cities around Jersey… So from where did these troops come?"
I revised the map drawn by Isabella and Leo, and even sent messages to the two to make sure they didn't miss anything.
[No, all the cities are marked with rough distance from my memory] Leo sent.
[The map is right, there is no doubt about that!] Isabella seemed a bit busy as she sent such an answer back.
So the map was right and I took control over the cities to the south and west of Jersey. Even a big part of the north was about to be secured by the upcoming city.
I didn't even meet a single force coming out from any city. And even if they were moving under stealth, I already cut off all the illusionists' gates inside those cities.
The only city that I was sure to keep sending reinforcements was Hackensack city. After all that jerk was hiding there.
But if that was true, then the main battlefield should come from north not west. What was I missing here?
Just as I was feeling puzzled, I finally saw Paterson city on the horizon. From the first moment I saw it, I knew something was wrong there.
The first thing I usually saw about any city was the five small sparkling stars, each race realm gate.
But this time all I saw was one giant star sparkling in fierce and dreadful blue light and one smaller one channelling in silver light.
What was that? I stopped my chariot the moment I got close enough from the city to be sure there were only two gates there.
Gates would never disappear even if another race conquered it. For instance the gates I controlled so far still stood erect inside my cities.
[Fang… Something is wrong dude at Paterson city] I sent instantly to Fang and the response took a few minutes before coming.
He seemed to be not aware of what was going on here.
[One race took over the other three gates and merged them together] he sent before adding, [That city now holds a mega gate, or one close to it]
I looked up again at that big sparkling gate, it looked really giant even from all this distance. I was almost two miles away from the city, yet it felt like I was standing under the walls of the castle holding a normal gate instead.
From the colour I could guess the origin of that race. Dragons were famed for their golden coloured gates. As for Berserkers, they had red.
Succubus were grey in colour, so this left only one race behind. [Illusionists?] I sent it just to be sure.
[Bingo!] and his answer told me I guessed it right.
[How the hell did that happen?] If I looked into the good relationship with the Berserkers, I'd doubt their leader would strike a deal with illusionists.
Something stincted here, and I had to get to the bottom of this before going inside that hell of a trap.
[All I know is that our forces got bambered all of sudden with that angelic star weapon] Fang sent such a weird message, [They cleaned almost all the forces on our side and the Berserkers as well using such a method. If not for the swift interference of my people on the other side, things would end up uglier than that]
My face darkened when I saw that news. [Do you know how many attacks landed over your gate?]
[I think there were three] he sent, [Unfortunately only a few managed to retreat through the gate and asked for reinforcements. They witnessed three hits landing one after another before leaving. So I can't be sure]
"Three at each race? That means the angels went all out to make sure the illusionists will have their mega gate…"
[What's that mega gate benefit anyway] I asked the most crucial question at this moment.
[They can bring anything from their realm] he sent back almost instantly, [Normal gates won't allow for big forces to come here. For example warriors who served under the leadership of our race at other apocalypses can't pass through the normal gates. Also hybrid monsters or big weapons won't be able to pass either]
My eyes flashed in the cold light. [So you are saying they are bringing big ammunition and strong forces here?]
[That's my bet] he sent, [Or else this move won't bring anything but a mere city under their control]
[Can anyone do that merge?] I asked again, and the answer that came made me pinpoint where the problem emerged from.
[Only archlords can do it! And only after paying a hefty price, a price that I can surely tell you it will stop me from using such method except at dire situations]
He paused for a brief second before asking the question that seemed to fester inside his mind: [Do you know why such a person appeared here? And why would he do such a big move?]
Of course I knew the exact reason behind this. That dude wasn't just a nameless illusionist, but an archlord.
Damn! An archlord was doing all his best to stop me from flanking him. Dude, I raised my hat for your effort, and had to lower it for your stupidity.
Did you think doing such a thing would make me believe you are inside that city? Come on! You already were aware of me coming all the way here.
Trying to trick me in such a way wouldn't work. If you wanted to play in such a way, then let me show you how futile this move was, or how really desperate it was.
[I'm going to withdraw all my warriors from the west of the city] the first thing I did wasn't to go inside that deadly fight directly from the start.
I first sent a message to my girl back in Jersey city.
[I have little enemy at my side for now] she sent back, before adding, [Isn't there already that elite army of Selvators and ours?]
[I'm just notifying you] I sent, [Make sure to stay safe. If anything bad happened, just send me a distress message and try to go either outside the city up north or to the heart of the city itself. I got eyes there]
[Got it!]
I had bookmarks stored in the heart of that city and at the north and west of it. Also I got many bookmarks left back at all the cities I conquered so far.
I didn't expect such a move from my enemy. I thought he might try sneaky attacks from the cities I conquered already as my guard would be lowered there.
But it seemed he got valuable intel regarding my staff and its usage. Those damn angels! Really good intelligence was always a nuisance for me.
As I closed that chat with her, I sent other messages and got the answers I wanted. My team was already rocking things everywhere. We just gained control over three more cities from other teams.
Of course the jumper was hitting the fifth city by now. He seemed to stop for a few hours to replenish his exhausted forces with new ones from the previous cities he visited.
That dude went from all boring and complaining to all active and impulsive when he knew about that deal. He didn't hesitate to throw his forces into the heated fights, sacrificing lots of humans inside his force based on the fact he could get more and better troops from the cities.
So by this we had control over thirteen cities, with thirteen training camps working against the clock to raise strong troops.
If I gained one hundred thousand elites from that deal then I'd say I had struck it gold. If I got more then I'd be blessed with heavenly luck indeed.
But now… I had a hard city to crack in front of me.
The city was already in ruins. Everywhere I saw obvious signs of the brutal destruction. Using my hawkeye skill, I could see many Selvators and Berserkers bodies lying over many places there.
It seemed the fight wasn't only limited to the gates, but it also extended to the entire city. It was a massive genocide inside that city, and that would look terrible.
But in my eyes, that thing was a good excuse for me to ask for more reinforcements from those two.
[I need two hours to arrive there. I'm already on my way to that damned city even before you sent that message to me]
[A large army is waiting for your mark] after waiting for half an hour, I got these two messages in response to my request.
What was remarkable though was the message from Wrayly. That warmonger dude was already leading his forces himself here. How cool was that?
Two hours? I thought before nodding, "it just seems about right."
I knew such a battle wouldn't only need all my entire force, but it would also need me to do some tricks as well.
[Hey, I want to ask about something] without any hesitation, I opened my friendlist and chose a single name without hesitation.
[Oh, long time no see, human boy] she sent back before adding, [What's up with you sending a message for me?]
[I want to strike another good deal with you] I sent, [I wanted more soulers, the more the better]
[Oh] she sent this and paused for a long few minutes. She was a lady green nymph, that winged nymph whom I met before at Bringold impact auction.
She already was friends with me. In fact I didn't want to do this kind of exchange. I didn't yet make up my mind about what I should ask in return for my bones.
But in such an upcoming fight, I needed not only my personal force of warriors and summoned creatures, but also to add as much as I could.
Having the threat of soulers was nothing to someone like me. I already had a massive amount of souls added with each passing hour. If this continued, then I'd have no worry to add even an army of thousands or even tens of thousands of those soulers to my current force.
[Do you have a way to deal with that soul consumption thing?] she sent again asking about the same thing she asked me before.
[Didn't I answer that point before?] and like before, I didn't answer the question and simply chose to avoid it.
[I'm just asking as there is another race that's pretty similar to soulers] her words raised my expectations.
[Is that race as strong as soulers?] it seemed her impact ran short of souler warriors at the moment. Of course she knew what was on the stake here, my precious bones.
[It's even stronger in some ways] she managed to pique my interest here.
[Tell me about that race] I waited and this time she seemed to hesitate or had trouble giving me such info or something as she took almost half an hour before returning back.
[Did you hear about gods before?]
[Don't be silly!] I sent to her, [Of course I know about them]
How could she ask someone like me such a silly question? Damn!
[So did you hear before about fallen gods?] yet her next message made me all pumped up.
Damn! Damn! Damn! Don't tell me I'd get something on par with the true strength of gods as my warriors! Damn! How cool would that be?!
153 A Shocking Deal!!!
[Never heard of them] I wasn't joking. The word might be familiar thanks to gods, but fallen gods? [Are they like fallen angels?] I asked, [Are they like real gods?]
I held my hopes high up before seeing her next message.
[Of course they aren't!]
Sure, what did I truly expect here? Real gods fighting on my side, moving around on my words? That was simply hilarious!
[But they are considered gods in comparison with other races] this message made me hold back my breaths.
Sexy lady nymph, please don't toy with me like that!
[You mean compared to the five big races in the apocalypse?]
[I mean compared to any other race exists inside our endless universe]
Damn! Didn't that mean they were gods? Or what?
[They are strong, very strong indeed. Yet they can't be treated lightly. The price for keeping them alive is way higher and harder to meet compared with soulers]
[What is that price?] I didn't beat around the bush, I wanted them. If I could satisfy their needs, I'd gain much stronger force on my side.
[For each one of them, you'll need to feed souls like soulers. But the sheer number of souls needed is simply way too much. For a single day, you'll need to pay around five thousand souls to keep them alive, ten to make them be in their top forms]
[I can do that] I wasn't bluffing. If things continued to escalate in such a way, then having ten or twenty of them on my side wouldn't matter.
[That's not all] she seemed to read my excitement and confidence, so she added, [They also need to consume a high source of power. According to the current stage of the apocalypse you are in, only stat points and gears in pale gold rank or higher could do the trick]
Stat points? Not again! [How many stat points does each one of them need?] I asked while feeling the next answer wouldn't be satisfying.
[just like souls, five thousand to keep them alive per day, and ten to keep them in the perfect shape]
I paused, yet she kept speaking:
[They also need a black energy source as well. In fact you can consider them similar to creatures dwelling in fallen realms. I know you lack such materials right now so I can add enough amount in the deal to make you keep what you purchase alive for one month]
Girl… Are you trying to bind me eternally for your impact? Come on! If I got such a deep pit by my side, wouldn't I be forced to depend on your impact all the time?
[What's the price of a single dude then?] I asked, [and add in that the price of stat points needed to keep one alive]
[Well… stat points aren't that precious after all] she seemed to be preparing to put on a good show with me, [the question is, how many bones are you willing to trade this time? One? Dozen? Or more?]
[Dozen] I said, [What can I get back for such an amount?]
This time she didn't directly answer. It seemed she wasn't the only one holding the call here. After ten minutes of silence, she finally returned back saying:
[I can give you five fallen gods in return to your bones]
[Only five?!!] I was shocked when I read her answer. Come on girl, these were my red graded bones that made you drool over them before.
[It's you who is underestimating these warriors] she sent before adding, [Forget about anything else you are familiar with. When talking about fallen gods, you have to be happy to gain such number with your bones]
I paused while considering what she said. [Alright, let me first see this batch] I sent to her, [How can I send my bones over to you?]
[Damn boy! Do you have more bones?]
[That depends on what I get] I didn't directly answer her while waiting for the deal to proceed.
[Alright… Then as a token of appreciation from our impact, and based on our great deal from before, we'll add more stat points and dark materials enough to sustain these five for two months]
[Thanks] I wasn't honestly appreciating this move. After all, I just paid twelve of my white bones here.
Along the course of my travel, I gathered lots of killed top elites and leaders of the three big races in each city I conquered. Despite the fact that I got mostly bronze and blue grade bones, my stockpile of white bones was simply in the hundreds!
So paying more wasn't a problem in itself. The problem was in the fallen gods themselves. I had my expectations off the roof when I heard what she said about them.
But come on… Getting only five wasn't even close to enough! What would five even do against the upcoming mighty enemies?
[Bringold impact sent you a deal exchange]
[Do you want to check it?]
"Open the exchange window," I checked the conditions of the deal before clicking on the agreement button.
[Twelve white graded bones are deducted from your inventory]
[The deal is under progress]
[The Bringold impact confirms the integrity of your goods]
[They are sending their goods to you]
[One hundred million stat points are added to your inventory]
[Ten million dark realm orbs are added to your inventory]
[Five fallen gods souls are bound to your soul class]
To my class?!! The last message came as a surprise to me.
[The goods sent by Bringold impact right?]
[Please confirm during the following one hour, or else the deal will be reneged and you'll be recharged back]
What the hell…!! I opened my inventory and saw the large number of stat points added to me from that impact. These guys… they said they'll add enough for two months and yet they sent such a large batch over.
But I didn't see anything related to the fallen gods.
[Where can I find the fallen gods you sent?] I searched through my entire inventory for the entire five minutes with nothing there. So I had to ask the lady about it.
[They are found inside your inventory like any other warrior] she seemed surprised by my message, [Didn't you get them?]
[I got a notification saying…] I paused before I realised they weren't sent into my inventory but into my class.
Wait… why were they sent to my class and not inventory? I opened my class over and searched about it yet didn't find anything mentioning fallen gods whatsoever.
"System, where are the fallen gods I just received?" As I was lost like this, I asked the one who notified me earlier about that.
[You can check out your soul list inside your class to determine the integrity of these souls]
Soul list… Did that system just say soul list?!!! Damn! That was f*cking insane!
I instantly opened my soul list and like the system said, there were five more souls added to my list.
[Soul of death fallen god: a soul of an ancient race who fell far behind the course of time and became forgotten. The death fallen god hailed from a long and epic lineage of special bloodline. You need one thousand souls to summon a normal cursed death fallen god. You need fifty thousand souls to summon a perfectly healthy and well death fallen god]
[Soul of wrath fallen god: a soul of an ancient race who fell far behind the course of time and became forgotten. The wrath fallen god hailed from a long and epic lineage of special bloodline. You need one thousand souls to summon a normal cursed wrath fallen god. You need fifty thousand souls to summon a perfectly healthy and well wrath fallen god]
[Soul of war fallen god: a soul of an ancient race who fell far behind the course of time and became forgotten. The war fallen god hailed from a long and epic lineage of special bloodline. You need one thousand souls to summon a normal cursed war fallen god. You need fifty thousand souls to summon a perfectly healthy and well war fallen god]
[Soul of darkness fallen god: a soul of an ancient race who fell far behind the course of time and became forgotten. The darkness fallen god hailed from a long and epic lineage of special bloodline. You need one thousand souls to summon a normal cursed darkness fallen god. You need fifty thousand souls to summon a perfectly healthy and well darkness fallen god]
[Soul of lightning fallen god: a soul of an ancient race who fell far behind the course of time and became forgotten. The lightning fallen god hailed from a long and epic lineage of special bloodline. You need one thousand souls to summon a normal cursed lightning fallen god. You need fifty thousand souls to summon a perfectly healthy and well lightning fallen god]
Damn! Was that true?!! Was what I was seeing really true?!!!
I held my head out of excitement, looking around to make sure I wasn't saying anything heard by that lady.
Come on! I just paid for a summoned warrior who got a lot to suck from my inventory. In return for that, I got their souls bound to my soul class.
What did that mean? Just look again at their description and you'd get it! I was now able to summon an unlimited number of those fallen gods, far beyond what I should have gotten.
And that wasn't all! The normal way to summon one of them was really much cheaper than the usual summoning price I got from my soul class.
I had to pay five thousand souls per one summoned soul, but now I could pay only one thousand to get one of those fallen gods.
But that wasn't the thing who got me all hyped up! The other high and extravagant looking price of fifty thousand souls per summon was a game changer for me.
What was the difference? It was like the one existed between heaven and hell! If I summoned regular fallen gods then I'd end up with a bottomless pit.
I'd have to pay for their survival each day, and I'd be tied up with the impact for the rest of my life.
But if I paid that astronomical price of souls then I'd be freed from all this. I wouldn't need to worry about anything else as the fallen gods summoned would be all pure and intact.
Not to mention I got their souls, and would be able to summon an endless number of them with the course of time.
Adding to all that, if they were that good like that lady said, then I could also try merging them with other souls.
Just look at the dragolves race I got when I tried mixing two souls together. What would it be like if I merged drags, Gollems, or even the mighty Curasee with fallen gods?
Damn! I couldn't even imagine that!!! It was way beyond what I even had in my wildest dreams.
But everything depended entirely on the calibre and true power of those fallen gods. Would they be strong enough to make me see this trade as a lottery hit? Would they be stronger than drags and soulers? Would they be deadly like Curasee?
Would they be enough to turn this bloody battle around? These were the main questions I had to simply solve by summoning one of them as a trial.
But whom should I start with?
[Did you find them yet?] as I was absorbed in my shocking surprise, the lady nymph sent me this message.
[I got them] I said, [The system just delayed their deliver]
[Phew! I just felt tense about losing them or something] she seemed to get so worried.
[I found they have names like death fallen god and wrathful fallen god. Does each fallen god have his own unique name like that? Or they carried similar names to these five?]
I wanted to know that answer so I could determine how I should deal with the impact from now on. If each fallen god was a unique entity, then I'd have to do such a trade over and over again.
But if they all hailed from the same bloodlines I got, then there was no point in buying more. The five I got were like gooses who would deliver me golden eggs once I paid the souls needed for that.
154 Hocken
[Well I really don't know who many families there are remaining from such race, but I can tell you the list is at least exceeding one thousand there]
That was it! What glorious loot I got this time! Indeed if she knew about my secret ability to turn all of them into souls, she might get greedier and ask for a far extravagant price.
[Thanks] I sent to her before adding, [I'll test those fallen gods first in a big battle up ahead. If they are really terrifying as you say, then I'll come to order more]
Of course there was another problem that I had to solve. Just having these five souls in my stock made me drool over summoning an entire army of them.
But I lacked souls! This was a big problem that I didn't know how to solve. If it was just a few tens of thousands or even a couple of hundred thousands then it wouldn't be a problem at all.
I gained tens of thousand souls by each passing hour. Having one hundred thousand souls was something easy for me.
However I was talking about summoning an army, not a couple of tens of those folks. If I used the low price for them, then I wouldn't face a problem for now, but a disaster later on.
Despite how tempting it was to spend souls over the fallen fallen gods, I couldn't bring myself to overlook the threat they posed later on.
"I'll summon them all clean then," I decided. And when I looked at my current soul balance, I knew I could only summon four of them at the moment.
"Let's see one first," I decided to give it a go towards the dead fallen god. Such a dude must be a hell of a fighter no matter how strong the fallen gods truly were.
[Do you want to spend one thousand souls for this summon or fifty thousand souls?]
"Fifty thousand of course," I firmly answered. The next moment I got the message notifying me of the souls deducted before a flash of light appeared next.
It started as a spark of black fire, then it got itself extended fast to become a mighty pillar that even reached the highest clouds.
Damn! Just from the air emitted from it I could feel chills back at my spine! That lady didn't fool me here, this race seemed to be quite brutal.
The phenomenon continued for five minutes straight before the pillar vanished and a silhouette appeared on the ground.
The first thing I saw was a dude that wasn't standing on the ground. He seemed to float over earth by a few inches, rising up and down in a strange rhythm.
The second most noticeable thing about him was that he didn't have any eyes. Instead he got a strange bandage that seemed to be made out of strange black ore.
That bandage was like melted metal covering the upper half of his face just midway of his nasal bridge. It extended both ways, forming two arching up horns that gave him a more brutal appearance.
He had no wings, two arms holding two big swords compared to his size. The problem here was his size. It wasn't even as big as mine, almost half a man I was.
That was surprising more than anything else. He was dressed in the same strange black metal that covered his eyes, forming a strong crescent shield over his chest, waist, lower half of his arms and legs.
He had a cape that reminded me of those superheroes the past age of humans were filled with their stories.
"Hi there," I waved my hand as I spoke, not knowing if he could see me or not, "are you the death fallen god?"
"I'm Hocken, at your service."
His voice was so coarse that it reminded me of that jumper dude.
"Hi Hocken," I said in return, "so you are a fallen god?"
"Don't I look like one?" His tone and attitude didn't appeal to me.
"This is my first time seeing one of your kin," I said but the next instant that dude roared as if he was about to die! "Damn! Are you alright?" I asked while feeling more anxious here.
What? Was I fooled by that lady or what?
"Amazing! Truly amazing!!" he raised both fists high in the air, "I have no curse! No curse at all! Hahaha! That's unbelievable! Do you see gods? Dirty giant folks who thought high and mighty of yourself once before. Do you see this? Do you see me having my full power back? Hahahaha!"
I looked at him in a strange way. If this dude was just at my height, I'd take him seriously. But come on… He was like a smaller version of what he should be!
"Are you sure nothing is wrong?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Everything is terrific!" he laughed again in his own way that looked like roars of a dying monster to me, "I got my power back! My full power is back! How cool is that? Hahaha!"
Without warning he raised both hands in the air, clasped all his fingers and left only the middle one raised towards the sky. "This is for you, bastards!"
"What did I get myself into!" I shook my head in an attempt to deny what I just saw. Such a short and weak looking dude was challenging the mighty gods in such a way? Dude, did you have loose screws in your head or what?!!
"Calm down first," I said while trying to get to know what I really bought for such an astronomical price. It wasn't only limited to the bones I paid, but also the hefty fifty thousand souls.
Only that price alone was enough to make me vomit blood if I got nothing but such a weak dude! I could have summoned ten drags instead. They wouldn't be so noisy and would look much stronger indeed.
"What you got here is normal. After all this is my unique ability."
"Can you remove the curses of gods?!!!" this time his voice came softer like he was using something to change his voice before.
"I can't do that," I shrugged, "but I have something that turned you into this. I can't tell you in detail, and now you have to show me your worth."
"First I have something to ask your majesty about," he bowed deep in a ninety degree manner, "can your majesty free my brothers and sisters as well? We will all be in your debt for our entire life, serve you truly and wholly like you are our king."
"I'm your king," I said as if there was no need for him to say that, "and if you want me to help your race, I can promise to do my best. But first I need to see what I can get from here. After all… and don't mind be for being blunt, you don't give me a sh*t shred of confidence about your ability and strength."
"Majesty…"
"Call me lord instead," I corrected him, "I'm your lord from this moment on."
"Lord… My powers are immense and beyond what you can imagine."
"Stop boasting and spouting nonsense and just show me what you can do," I didn't like the way he talked about himself. Dude, if you had eyes and could see, I'd prefer to buy a mirror to make you see how the f*ck do you look like!
"It's just…"
"What?"
"I lack any source of energy at the moment," he said while shaking his head as if it was a bitter thing for him, "without energy I can't show my real might."
"Do stat points work for you?" I was getting bored with this dude. I wasted much upon him and already got nothing back. If it was a few stat points he needed, then sure I could give away some.
I already invested too deep in him. If that was truly what held him back, then sure I was ready to invest a little more and see the end result.
"It can," he nodded, "but it will be consumed fast with each fight I'm in."
"I have a way to get tons of these, so don't worry about that," I acted like a real tycoon here. And I was truly considering things like stat points. "How much do you need?"
"Well… If I want to open just the first tier of my power then I need one million stat points. If I…"
"Just tell me how much the highest tier will cost," I interrupted this chattering dude.
"This…" he hesitated, "at least one hundred million to use… And I have to remind the lord that this amount will only be enough to fuel me for the entire day."
One day for one hundred million stat points? f*ck! Dude, I was a tycoon indeed but I wasn't crazy!
Even my grand chariot didn't consume such an extravagant amount in one day! Hell, my girl had one hundred million and took countless hits from those deadly star weapons and still had almost half of that left!
"I'll give you ten million then," as a start, I could give away such an amount for now. "If you showed me good results, then you'll have what you asked for."
"Ok," he seemed a bit disappointed, "this will only open tier two of my power."
"Let's see what tier two can do then," I took out such a huge amount of stat points, mostly pearls and crystals. Yet they formed a small hill on one side.
"T… Thanks lord," he spoke again in his soft voice like he was really excited from these stat points.
I stood to the side watching in curiosity how he'd consume them. Would he eat these stat points? Chew them inside? Or would he simply take them into his inventory or whatsoever he stored things within?
But what happened was something different. A thick layer of black smoke rose up from him towards the hill of stat points. It was the size of my arm, and the moment it touched the hill, almost half of it vanished with a black spark.
Then he waved again and the entire hill vanished! Damn! This was some weird way to consume my stat points.
*Rumble!*
Yet the next moment I forgot totally about that. That dude emitted an ear deafening rumble before drastic changes started to appear on his body.
First his small size started to change. Instead of growing he started to shrink. Before I could curse, a strange black shadow started to be formed behind him.
It was a giant! Reaching up for even more than fifteen metres in height and five in width. A gigantic form of the real shape of that dude appeared in front of me.
Even he held the two swords and kept the same strange black metal covering his eyes and body parts. Yet the air it emitted was vastly different.
Layers of purple black gas started to circulate around that gigantic body. The body itself kept emitting pulses of violent winds two times in a row, violent enough to force me back for ten metres at least.
Then a pillar of black light rose up from that shadow head when I saw the real fallen god in the size of my closed fist entering inside it.
Like a behemoth who was long left in deep slumber, once that dude entered the gigantic shadow, the shadow opened its eyes. Two large rounded circles appeared before they were ignited like a machine coming back to life.
*Flash!*
Two rays of purple black light emanate from his two eyes like two rays of laser. The place it fell towards, a mighty explosion occurred where a fast expanding ball of black and purple fire was eating away anything in its path.
Damn! Damn cool! What the f*ck just happened?!!! This dude turned into something else just by using the stat points I gave him.
"Lord," this time his voice came majestic, reminding me of that Nero death god's voice when I met him, "I'm ready to show off my worth to you."
"Damn! Just wait," I hurriedly stopped that behemoth from going towards the city.
"Doesn't lord want to hit that?" He pointed his sword towards the city.
"You guessed it right, but let's add two more in the mix," I was almost on the verge of dancing out of my delight.
Just seeing his true shape made me drool over having more. Bones? f*ck these, I wasn't in need for any low grade white or even silver bones anyway.
Stat points? f*ck them as well! I'd trade tons of these from the impact without holding anything back.
[Lady… Lady green nymph… Esteemed lady green nymph… How much stat points can your impact trade with me?]
155 [Bonus chapter] The Three Terrifying Fallen Gods
[Stat points? We have enough, close to five hundred million… But why would you need such an amount?]
I looked at the message and grinned. [Just prepare all of them for me] I sent before adding, [I believe my bones will be more than enough. So for the extra, send me all the soulers you have]
[You don't want fallen gods anymore?]
[Just soulers for now]
I didn't become greedy. At the moment I solved the problem of stat points, but still had the major problem of souls.
Even with such ongoing fights everywhere, the number of souls I could generate wouldn't show any much increase for a long time.
So my only option was to be satisfied with what I gained so far. Seeking to buy more fallen gods wouldn't be practical or useful for me at this stage.
"Alright," after I closed the deal with her, selling another batch of my bones in exchange for five hundred soulers and five million stat points, I shifted my attention over summoning more fallen gods.
I wasn't aiming to gain their top forms at this battle. Of course I could easily turn all of the fallen gods into unstoppable fighters, but that would deplete most of my stat point reserves in return for one battle.
I still had that other city where that bastard was there. And I was sure what happened here would also be repeated over there.
"Let's bring more brothers and sisters for you," putting aside one hundred thousand soul points, I could only summon two more fallen gods for now.
Three mighty fallen gods acting as my generals, leading an army of soulers, drags, and other warriors. Damn! That was a scene that made my heart bound fiercely with much anticipation.
[Do you want to summon a fallen god while spending one thousand soul points or fifty thousand souls?]
[Do you want to summon lightning fallen god while spending one thousand soul points or fifty thousand souls?]
"Fifty thousand."
I answered without hesitation. The next ten minutes passed while I got myself two more strong fighters on my side.
"Lord, thanks for your mercy and generosity," the three bowed in their mighty figures. Like the death fallen god, the other two used ten million stat points and summoned what I called their avatars.
And their avatars were simply dreadful to any eye even from far.
"Come forth," as I got finished from dealing with the fallen gods, I instantly summoned all my warriors back into my inventory before resummoning them again.
The line up I had was really terrifying! Led by my giant chariot with Bulltors, shield warriors, and illusionists working at its platforms, the small army I led gave a very dangerous vibe.
The three behemoths of fallen gods stood in the forefront, leading three divisions of soulers and the rest of my warriors as well.
The dragons I got so far were all flying like a small myriad of coloured clouds hovering over our heads. Yes this fight was considered the real embodiment of my full power.
I wasn't aiming just to conquer this city. Starting from here, I'd carve my path deep and hard through all obstacles, ending up at my end goal at the far north.
"Bring it to the ground," I waited for a few minutes to add more intimidation and fear into the souls of my enemies. Just imagining standing on the other side made me laugh at their bitter situation.
Having a giant portal? What would that do if you had such an army standing at your doorsteps? Hahaha! I just wanted to see that fool's face when he saw my army and tasted its brutality.
*Roar!* *Roar!* *Raor!*
"For the lord!"
My warriors all roared in unison while three earth shattering shouts came one by one from my fallen gods.
Then my army started to sprint towards their foes.
On the other side, and just as I got so close from the outskirts of the ruined city, I saw swarms of enemies everywhere!
The grand portal hovering on one side of the city kept flashing non-stop during the past minutes. They panicked and summoned forth everything they got.
Higher grade monsters, advanced weapons, various different races including the all hidden illusionists… They even summoned flying eagles and many winged lizards that looked like rudimentary dragons.
But even with such endless line up, I never felt any fear or even hesitation in my victory. Come on, bring me a million forces here, I would crush them all and celebrate crossing one million soul points tonight.
I'd even arrange a big feast after killing that dude at the other city for such a big fight and great spoils of war.
I didn't see them as enemies, but walking treasure chests holding various precious materials, stat points, gears, war weapons, and even the most precious of all; souls!
*Rumble!*
The first attack didn't come from my side, but from the enemy. It was a cliche kind of attack where that angelic and all useless against me star weapon launched its attack upon me.
"Disperse!" The first order I gave was for my army to stand away from me. I was the sole focus of hatred for those angels. But I could only protect myself using the chariot.
So the first blood fell from my side when few slowly reacted illusionists got into that falling pillar of deadly red light.
But losing a few illusionists wasn't a big deal. Those folks proved more than once how cowardly this race was.
They stuck closer to my chariot, at the rear of each of the three armies, thinking it was quite safe. So when the star weapon hit, they couldn't get away in time.
But that was a simple loss I didn't care about. Standing on top of my chariot, bathed with the falling red beam from the depth of the sky, I watched my three armies get into different directions before they attacked.
The first wave that came from the enemy didn't even do a single damage towards any of my warriors. This was all thanks to the three behemoths leading the way.
The war fallen god held two gigantic and terrifying scarlet red halpreds, and the lightning fallen god carried one terrifying spear that was bathed in lightning with an oval heavy looking blue white shield in the other hand.
The death fallen god just simply waved his two swords, releasing tornados of wind that engulfed all the incoming attacks, shattering them in loud bangs.
The war fallen god held one halpred and started to rotate it, creating a massive ball of red storm around him and his force. All the attacks fell and crashed over such a sturdy ball.
And the lightning fallen god just raised his oval shaped shield. An image of a semi-translucent bigger shield made entirely out of lightning appeared behind him.
Then it passed through him, moving forward in an unstoppable momentum, cleansing away any attack coming at his direction.
The first wave of enemy attacks didn't even cause a single damage at all! All it did was to force my three behemoths to use part of their power.
And just as I thought they'd stop what they did and shift towards offence, using another flashy attack, the three simply outdid my expectations.
The death fallen god who was using his sword slash to stop the incoming attacks had the earliest explosive hits in this war.
The sword slashes he simply used to crush the incoming attacks changed from violent wind tornados all of sudden to form large spear-like slashes of wind.
They travelled so fast and hit a large number of enemies before finally hitting the ground. And loud rumbling sounds erupted next while these attacks kept taking lives non-stop.
The war fallen god was using one halpred to deflect the incoming attacks until that ball of red violent wind stopped as if it was an egg and burst open.
Just as the ball vanished, I saw that gigantic behemoth of the fallen god taking a posture where he pointed both halpreds towards two different directions.
Then like the ball he created before didn't vanish, the two halpreds vibrated violently while big swirls of energy started to gather around them.
*Voom!* *Voom!*
Just like two lasers were launched, each halpred released a terrifying ray of red light that travelled at the speed of light, killing an endless number of enemies before finally landing on two different places.
*Rumble!* *Rumble!*
And the places they fell at left behind two expanding balls of bright red light.
But these two weren't the mightiest, the lightning god was. He simply kept defending using his shield before raising his spear high in the air.
It was the first time since the fall of the apocalypse that the sky changed and showed arcs of dancing lightning. It felt like he was calling forth ancient souls residing inside the depths of the dimmed sky, calling forth serpents of lightning to his aid.
The lightning fell in torrents over the tip of that spear. Yet unlike what I expected, he didn't just point his spear towards the enemy direction, but simply raised and lowered his shield only once.
Like a magician controlling the world with his mana and spells, this fallen god simply controlled the lightning by the movement of his shield, leading all the gathering up lightning to fall like silk threads over the heads of everyone on the other side.
The scale of attack was really terrifying! At least one tenth of the city's entire surface was engulfed in such an attack. Standing from high enough, I finally realised why he used his shield.
The shape of the area covered by the lightning falling pillars was just a bigger form of his shield. That dude… he was really bloody, bloodier even than the death and war fallen gods combined!
"Press forward!" as the three attacks landed and cleared large areas off enemies, I shouted from my position for the rest of the army to follow.
Then the battle itself went deep inside the city but the three fallen gods seemed to have something wrong.
"Lord," the lightning fallen god turned in my way before adding, "I can only use that kind of attack for two more times."
"Me too, lord."
"I can also use it twice more."
The three spoke in their rumbling voices that seemed a little shaky in my ears. These dudes… they just used such heavy attacks and ended up consuming one third of their stat point reserve.
So ten million stat points were just enough for three attacks. That might be enough for this city, but considering the other city waiting in the east… Tsk, this wouldn't do.
"Just use one more if needed," despite my slight disappointment, I looked at the bright side here, "leave the skirmish battles for the others to handle. Just focus on the bigger and deadly forces of the enemy… Ah, don't forget, we have two allies here; Selvators and Berserkers. Make sure to not touch them."
"That…"
"Can't they just back off for now?"
"I can't control my attacks this way."
The three seemed to have trouble with my last request. Well, if you can only use your attacks for two more times, then it would be better for you to retreat back a bit and let the others fight.
After all this battle wasn't only including me and my forces. Let others fight, let them bleed and I'd collect trophies at the end.
"Just hold your attacks for now," I said, "you can just use your swords, halpreds, and spear, right?" they nodded and I added, "cool. Just stay on the back and simply use your weapons simply to kill anyone closer to your places."
"What about that big portal?" the more aggressive and far lethal lightning fallen god pointed at the direction of the giant portal, "won't we attack it?"
"Not now," I opened my friend list, "we are waiting for a special guest anyway. So hold back your power for now. We have another fight soon where you'll have the moment to shine."
Then I sent a brief message to Wryly, asking about his current whereabouts.
156 The Crazy Lightning Fallen God!
[Give me ten minutes] Wryly only sent this message. Ten minutes wasn't that much time to wait. But for a second there I doubted his addition would be effective.
After all, my warriors were moving like a tsunami. The early on strong line up of the enemy was now shattered by the three attacks from my fallen gods.
Everywhere the enemy was routed under the pursuit of my warriors. At the same time I started to lead my chariot slowly forward.
This fight didn't need my help at all in it. So why would I sweat over such a useless fight?
At the same time I spotted a mighty charging wave of fighters moving at the other end of the city. It was close to the Selvator's gate, meaning they were Fang's fighters.
So we were pressuring the enemies from four different directions. My fallen gods listened to my words and they kept themselves back at the rear of the charging forces.
And just after a few minutes, and while every single battle was won for my side in a crushing way, a beam of red light suddenly fell without warning.
It came from that angelic star weapon, yet it didn't target me this time. The angels seemed to feel the threatening danger of my fallen gods, and decided to take them off the picture first.
"Damn!" without hesitation I pushed my chariot fast, pushing it over its limit to reach that side of the lightning fallen god.
Come on! I just used them for a single fight and single attack. At least let them fight for me for a few battles before targeting them.
"Ahhh!"
But just before I could reach his side, that gigantic behemoth suddenly roared. He raised his head high up as if he was defying the incoming attack.
"Is this what you answer me with? Do gods degenerate to such a low scale? Humph!" his deep voice echoed before all of sudden he raised his shield.
And at this moment, I saw the same arcs of lightning that appeared before appearing once more. Yet this time they were summoned using his shield, not spear.
I didn't know what he was going to do. For a moment there I was tempted to step in and shield him. But I discarded such thoughts. "Let him do it," I muttered to myself while hoping for a miracle to appear.
*Rumble!*
Just in less than ten seconds, the arcs of lightning gathering high above reached a terrifying scale. They started to clash with each other, releasing dreadful booming explosive rumbling sounds.
"Ahhh!" again that fallen god roared and this time it seemed like he was ready to fight back. He didn't move his spear, and instead he planted that spear deeply into the ground.
With both hands he raised that shield like it weighed a million tons. I looked at his bulging veins and felt like he was exerting every single ounce of his strength here.
"Do you need help?" seeing my precious fallen god breaking sweat under such pressure made me want to step in and help, "do you need stat points?"
"N…o…t… N…o…w…" he said it while gritting his own teeth before he roared again, summing up all the strength he could muster before an ear deafening breaking sound came.
"Ahhh!" and with that sound, it seemed as if he broke through some sort of a hurdle. The shield was raised faster and the resisting force seemed to be decreased by a big chunk. "Come on!" he shouted and at this moment the densely packed lightning arcs started to fall over his shield.
Like a mirror, all the lightning falling on his shield was deflected, sent directly straight upward towards the depth of the sky.
"Damn!" I couldn't prevent myself from jumping off my feet, "don't tell me… please hit it, please destroy it!" I looked up towards the depth of the sky, focusing my eyes towards that distant red sparkling weapon that looked like a bloodied star.
I couldn't follow the arcs of lightning my fallen god sent. At some point they disappeared inside the darkness as if their terrifying force wasn't even enough to make them form a single shining dot up there.
"Come on…" I urged while my hopes kept rising up, "kill it… Hit it and let such a nasty thing vanish off our world!"
I didn't know how many of such star weapons were here in the apocalypse, but at least there were enough to cover up the entire world. For each continent there might be one or couple of those weapons according to the continent size and importance.
So if my fallen god's unexpected move would bring down one of them then it would be simply perfect. I didn't want to celebrate this early, but I kept praying it would work.
"Ahhh!" On the other side, my fallen god was exerting his full strength while that red beam kept intensified. It seemed like that weapon felt threat coming at it from my fallen god, or perhaps it was all done by those distasteful angels.
Just after one minute, the intensity of that red beam started to become scarlet red like it was formed of real blood. I even felt great doubts towards facing such an attack. Would I be able to survive this? Could my chariot sustain such a terrifying upgraded attack?
Just seeing my fallen god breathed deep inside that deadly beam made me know things weren't that good for him. His skin was getting peeled off like it was turning to layers of ash with the wind.
"Come on!" Even if it took his life for it, this exchange was still in my favour. Come on, just destroy it, just one hit and it will be gone.
But as minutes passed, I started to lose hope. Especially when the other two fallen gods roared in wrath, summoned their deadly attacks and launched theirs over that deadly pillar descending from the sky.
*Phew!*
Without risking my life here I moved my chariot far as fast as I could. This part of the city turned into a piece of hell. All the attacks landing over it were deadly. Just a single touch from any of these deadly ones was enough to take away my life.
As I retreated for half a mile away, I started to look first at my fallen god inside that beam. From my far place I couldn't even penetrate the thick veil of myriad colours that enveloped my fallen god.
The two attacks that came clashed directly against the red beam and started a mighty battle between the three energies. It was obvious that the other two fallen gods felt how critical the situation their third brother was facing, so they decided to step in and try to help.
But would they be able to do so?
"What the hell is going on here?!!!" Just as I was focusing my full attention at the depth of the sky where that red beam was still showering my fallen god from, a familiar voice came that startled me.
"You… came already?!!" He was Wryly. And from the look over his face I could tell how intimidated he was.
"I told you ten minutes and ten minutes passed," he said without shifting his eyes off that deadly battle going on, "what the hell are these?"
"My boys," I simply said and this time the look he gave to me was like he was seeing a deadly monster next to him.
He came all the way up my chariot and was now standing just half a metre away from me. I didn't bother with his gaze or reaction. All I cared about this moment was to take down that deadly star in the sky.
Even if it needed the three lives of my fallen gods, it still was worth it.
"Are they fighting back that deadly star?" Wryly was holding a giant sledgehammer, pointing it towards the direction of the sky.
"They are trying to destroy it," I didn't hide it from him.
"What…" just before he could say anything, a silent, mighty explosion occurred. It didn't happen just at the direction of the ongoing fight, but also came from the depth of the dimly lit sky.
Even at this moment all the shadows and darkness were pushed away like a real star was falling over this world.
Starting from the place that red beam fell upon, a gigantic swirl of bright white, red, and silver light appeared before it rose high up like a tornado.
It didn't stop anywhere in the clouds, and this time I could clearly see where it led to. High up there, I saw a colossal net that seemed to be formed out of dark beams of light.
And at some point there, a big hole was formed. It seemed my fallen god's attack was facing a mighty battle against that net first, and it won that battle.
Then after travelling for almost ten seconds, that light beam finally got attached to the vaster and a much brighter area bathed in the same coloured light.
"This…" Wryly's voice came shaking just like my entire body. I clenched my fist, raised it high in the air, directing it towards the direction of that eye blinding light.
"They did it!" I shouted in triumph. Yes they did, yes my fallen god finally did the impossible, shredded that damned star weapon into pieces high in the space.
"The star weapon…" Wryly turned to look at me and all I saw was an awe inspiring shock over his face, "how the hell did you do it? How in the world did they do it?!!!"
I smiled and simply enjoyed this moment. I even closed my eyes, took in a deep breath of air, feeling the fresh smell of freedom.
Yes, this was my first declaration towards the entire apocalypse. I wouldn't live inside fear or hide like my ancestors did. Hell, I wouldn't end up the same failure they were.
Starting up from this moment, I'd become the anomaly no one ever counted for. Come, bring everything you could and try to harm me. I swore I would welcome any challenge with a far exceeding force that would be enough to make gods tremble in their shrines.
See that star weapon? That infamous symbol of terror that even lived for my past time before coming here… Did you see that? I, Hye, one who came here without a class or power, a mere human who wasn't backed by any god or any force or race, I did break that weapon and bring justice upon you, filthy angels.
*Thud!*
"Lord!"
"Lord, please hurry… Take him back… Please before he disintegrates!"
Just as I was immersed in such a mighty feeling of superiority and addicting air of freedom, the shouts of my other two fallen gods jolted me awake.
"Come back!" I didn't even spare a glance to check upon the status of my brave fallen god. Lightning fallen god… Great job dude! From this moment on, I'd summon more of your kin and let you rebuild your family house once again.
Just as he vanished from his place, the pillar of three lights started to shift towards me like it was attracted by a magnet. For a second there I felt great fear that a retaliation was coming at my side.
"Lord, don't shield this," but the shout of the dead fallen god made me unlock the shield off my chariot.
In a flash the two behemoths appeared next to me, giving Wryly the worst scare of his life.
"Is this good?" In fact I didn't feel anything from that pillar of colourful light. I didn't even feel a single shred of pressure whatsoever.
"He had to separate his soul and send it high up there to destroy that thing," the war fallen god said in some sort of bizarre envy.
"Are you perhaps envying him?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Of course!" both of them said in unison, "his soul just sucked away the entire energy inside that damn thing. That bro of ours is lucky, brave but lucky," the war fallen god shook his head while his tone showed more signs of envy.
"Are they crazy?" and Wryly from my side couldn't help but shout in doubt.