196 Screw It... I'll Fight!!
"Created?" It was the first time for me to hear this term. "Didn't I just copy the cultivation from that dark realm monster?!"
[Of course not! You created a new cultivation way, unique only to you] Yonker's words made me finally realise how big the feat I did here was.
It also explained why he decided to stay behind.
[Don't celebrate too early. After all every advantage comes with challenges]
"I know that," I nodded, "so what are my challenges here?"
[You can't use any known cultivation way to advance your cultivation] he first threw such a bomb before throwing a second one, [You also can't use any known technique. You have to come up with you own ideas from the scratch]
"I have to create my cultivation manual and techniques?!!!" Even though I was prepared for this news, they came much worse than I expected. "Isn't that too much?"
I wasn't flinching back from this. Just from hearing the words of the old man in his recordings, I knew how complicated the world of cultivation was.
Just understanding the existing cultivation ways and techniques of other races was just a headache. Imagine creating these from scratches!
For someone like me with no prior cultivation experience, I had to admit my lacking in this field.
[Don't panic so early] but Yonker's words came to reassure me, especially when he added, [You created a new cultivation path. Each one who made such a feat had to face the same challenge. But that doesn't mean you are out of options or can't take any help]
"Will you help me?"
[Not to that extent] he laughed, [it's not up to me actually. After all, it's all related to you. You are the one to decide everything. All I can do is to just give you useful data to use in your research, also will open the big library up for you to access]
"Library? What library?" It was the first time for me to hear about such a thing.
[The universal system library. What? Did you think we were experimenting all these years without a road map? Or did you think we will depend on our memories and long life span to keep track of everything that happened?]
His words made sense, but that also didn't explain the value of such a library to me.
[As for its value, you'll see for yourself when you start reading its content. But for now I have one single tip for you to know]
"Tell sir," as he decided to help me to such an extent, I tried to show little respect to him.
[No matter what you plan or devise to do, you have to know that first things always matter] he said such vague words before adding:
[If you started your cultivation based on black energy, or lightning energy, then you'll be forced to continue your cultivation path down that road. If you decided to upgrade your cultivation base and built it on a certain model, then you'll stick to that model till the end]
"Aha, I see," I nodded in realisation. I now understood what he meant earlier.
[Don't belittle this, it's a major step that you won't have the ability to undo or fix later] he stressed over this again, [So before taking a single step forward, I strongly advise you to seal your cultivation and not use it in any fight at all. In addition to that, you have to first read through the library records and deeply ponder over your next step before doing anything]
"I get it," despite not liking the idea of abandoning my cultivation after paying all this price for it, I had to accept what he proposed.
After all, according to the old man's words, a cultivator without technique was simply useless! The only benefits I would gain here were the ones related to my body strength, speed, and tenacity.
Other than these, I'd have to wait until I create my private self created techniques. Besides, low level cultivation like mine wouldn't do me any good actually.
I would run out of spiritual energy even if I used the simplest techniques out there! I had to first raise my cultivation base before doing anything else.
So it all came to reading, studying, and thinking about a way to raise my cultivation base rank.
[I'll leave you for your pathetic fight then] Yonker's tone returned to his arrogance and impatience, [Just a gentle reminder… You attracted many eyes towards you by what you just did. Don't disappoint all of us by losing to such useless worm]
"I won't," I didn't know why, but just hearing him calling that dragon archlord a useless worm made me smile and feel more confidence inside.
But whom he was just talking about now? Were they also higher ups like him? Or other beings I never knew about?
Damn! This universe felt like a real maze! The more I knew, the more I realised I knew sh*t!
As Yonker was gone, and my cultivation was done, I had time to care about the ongoing battle here.
I opened my long row of messages and scrolled till the end. I got messages from the system telling me that I opened my cultivation.
I was asked to name that cultivation, as it was a new cultivation method. Also I got access to cultivation limited market interface. I didn't open that yet, as things were too chaotic here.
My team was dispersed at some point in this battle. According to the messages I read, things were going smoothly until that archlord came.
I inwardly cursed that Berserker's paragon. If he listened to my words and kept that dude in check for a longer time, then this city would have long fallen into my hands.
Yet just as the troops finished digging tunnels underneath the walls, and as they were preparing to get inside and attack the city, that dude arrived with a great army of his.
According to my team's words, the army that the dude bought was really massive in number. Also they had many elites and strange weapons and abilities.
This didn't come as a surprise for me. I knew that drags were a race with much wealth in their pockets than any other race in the apocalypse.
Besides, they weren't stingy. This wealth would be used to buy many rare and unique things. Just look at my chariot and you'd get the idea.
So my forces were forced to give up on our plans to screw that city. They also got chased down so fiercely that they couldn't regroup till now.
Each one of them was leading a group of his forces and trying to fight back. Some were trapped in the middle of this army, but luckily my girl was safe away from such trapped forces.
The jumper wasn't! That cautious dude seemed to greatly hate dragons to the extent of fighting on the frontlines all this time!
And Wryly wasn't doing any much better than him.
Putting my forces aside, the soulers kept fighting into this great army. They were killers, compared to other warriors I had were the perfect counter to this army.
I lost none at all from them. And they kept themselves close to my chariot. They kept killing, yet their numbers weren't enough to make a big impact or create any difference here.
I thought for a moment to call the lady nymph and buy more of them. I didn't need any other bones from other races for now.
But the problem still lies in my limited souls! After all these hours, and with the intense killing spree happening everywhere, my soul points replenished and even got doubled.
Yet recalling the big debt I had, I knew that bringing more soulers would be a risky and rash move.
But what if it was a risky and rash move? I looked around and all I could see was an army in millions covering up the entire world!
This army was within my grasp! All I needed to do was to be more courageous and take more risks. What if I bought more soulers? Would I struggle to pay them souls? Give them stat points?
I knew my debt was so deep and huge, but I still had six months ahead of me. So why would I shake in fear, and think like a coward or a stingy man?
I raised my eyes, exchanged a brief gaze with that damn dragon archlord. The look over his face… That look… I really wanted to wipe that look and replace it with a look of bitterness and regret!
I looked at the city within my reach. It was something I knew I'd pay tons of wealth and resources, plus lots of time and effort to get such one.
This city was lying in wait, just a mile or less away from me! Surrounded by a defensive shield? I had tunnels ready underneath its big and pretty walls.
Having a grand army defending it? Then I have my own warriors, soulers, and fallen gods to kill them all.
Having a mega gate that kept flashing and sending troops out like a running river? I'd go there and shut that thing down!
Screw it! I'd better try all my best to claim this valuable trophy than retreat and leave such a sore thorn in my back all the time.
This city didn't only hold great value in its buildings and defences, it lied just west to my about to be established territory.
Instead of leaving such a dangerous poisonous dagger in my back, why not do everything I could and turn it into a mighty stronghold, enough to defend my entire kingdom and act like the main doorway to my land?
Why not turn it into a symbol of fear and terror to my enemies. Here a human kingdom lies and I challenge anyone to come and try his luck against my crown jewelled fortress!
Screw it! I'd risk everything to get all or demolish this massive and impressive city brick by brick over these drags thick skulls.
[Lady, I want as many soulers as you can get me] As I finally made my mind, I didn't hesitate to ignore the attacks coming from everywhere and sent such messages to the lady.
[I got a few thousand here, but are you sure you want them?] she asked, [We were going to slay them as we can't support most of them by souls]
[Just bring me everything you got," I didn't flinch back, "also work your magic and bring me more. With each thousand you get me, I'll gift you one bone of mine as a present]
[What?] I bet she must have jolted on her feet by now and screamed in surprise and delight, [Are you for real? This isn't a joke, right?]
[Since when I joked with you before?] I evilly grinned, [Bring me ten thousands and you'll get ten bones. Bring me a hundred thousand and you'll get a hundred bone]
[Damn! All I can get is only a couple of tens of thousands… Let me contact everyone I know and return to you]
[I have no time for this] I knew once I started, I would have little attention to spare even on talking with her, [Just send me a contract. When you get some, the system will automatically pay the price for you. Ah, the price of souler should be lowered a bit]
[Sure sure, you are our best VIP customer for now] I knew she was speaking about herself and not the impact here. Damn! Was she drooling right now? That would be an epic scene to watch!
I got the contract. In it the price of a thousand soulers was set to be a batch of my bones.
I looked into my inventory. After fighting against many races for such a long time, my store of bones was getting inflated.
197 [Bonus chapter] You Don't Want To Come? Then I'll Force You!
I got near one thousand bones. And that wasn't the end of it. This fight once done and concluded for my side, I was sure doubling this number was just a breeze.
I got most of that after the augmentation I got after visiting the death shrine. At this moment I realised how valuable such a gift was.
So even if she brought one hundred thousand soulers, I was ready to pay for all of them. As for the souls needed for their life, I decided to leave the four million soul points in my account untouchable for now.
Five souls per day for each one was a big consumption rate considering the huge number of one hundred thousand I hoped to get. But who said I'd just leave such deadly force idle?
If luck was on my side and I managed to kill this dragon archlord here, then his territory would be empty and waiting for anyone to reap it.
I'd be among others fighting to claim that void territory. I'd aim for the west side from here, expanding my territory and setting a foot into the mid zone of this big continent.
So wars wouldn't stop and souls would be like running water for me. In addition to that, the previous deal with the nymph girl would be completed.
I'd gain lots of those hostile races who were trading in human lives. Souls wouldn't be a problem, not until six months from now at least.
As I ended this deal with her, I opened my chat with my team and gave them one single order:
[Prepare to fight and push all the way towards the city]
Of course this order came as shocking news to them. Even that jumper who used to bite at me around any corner remained silent for long minutes.
During that time, I waited for the lady to send her first batch of soulers. I left my boys fighting and killing in the middle of the enemy army, waiting for the right moment to retaliate.
The plan was simple. What was the hottest and most painful point in the enemy grand army? Of course it was the city!
In such wars, fighting a battle of attrition wouldn't end up well for me. The only thing I could do was to use a surgical strike.
Gathering up all my elites, moving like a sharp dagger and fiercely stab the enemy at his heart.
Like this the grand numbers and various tools and weapons of the enemy wouldn't help him. Instead this would be a terrible burden that the enemy would be lost while trying to react.
Of course my team started to shower me with crazy messages that I chose to ignore. They were notified, and when they saw what I'd do, they'd understand everything.
I also decided to record this battle as well. I once recorded a fight before and decided to use it to show to other fellow humans what they could possibly do if they got strong enough.
And this fight here wasn't any lesser in importance and significance than the previous battle. In fact this one held more value in my eyes.
After all, things here didn't look well at all. Anyone here would simply decide to retreat and ditch this entire battle.
And that precisely was what gave this fight an advantage over the previous battle.
Of course provided that it ended up with my crushing victory and not defeat.
[You got soulers delivered from the Bringold impact]
[Soulers are bound to you]
As I waited for five more minutes, and after losing almost ten million after I ended my chat with Lady green nymph, the soulers finally arrived.
When I opened my inventory and saw the number of tokens there, I couldn't help but laugh.
"That girl… She is really hungry for my bones."
I expected to see a couple hundred soulers there. Yet I found almost eight thousand. She worked fast and delivered such a big number as our first trade.
Alright… I raised my head and looked at that dragon. Bastard… Just wait… I swore I'd make you regret facing me.
I didn't stop thinking like this. Instead I raised my two hands middle fingers in the air, insulting him in the most humiliating way.
That bastard raised his eyebrow in shock. What? Did you think I'd run away? Or perhaps you thought I had nothing in my hand to do?
Then watch and learn…
The next instant I called back all my soulers in the entire battleground around me. Then I simply thought, and my chariot flashed like a bolt of lightning, headed directly towards one direction.
The city walls!
The distance between me and the city walls was crossed in the span of a few breaths. This move came as a surprise to everyone, including my teammates.
Just when I arrived there, I found large and deep tunnels running down the walls. Without any wait I called my chariot back, landed on the ground with my fallen gods, warriors, and those useless illusionists.
At this moment, the illusionists were forced to fight. Or else they would die. I took out my light weighted glaive, pointed towards the tunnels up front and roared with a single word:
"Attack!"
Like the god of death I moved towards one of the tunnels in front of me. The tunnel was one of dozens spanning all across the walls on my side.
It was twenty metres in width, ten in height, and it was already filled with lots and lots of enemies.
I ran without looking back, raised my glaive high and waved it with one hand. My other hand got a sword and started to kill the enemies who dared to come closer while I was waving my glaive for the second round.
The howls of enemies were brutal and deadly. They weren't just facing me, but my entire forces as well.
The shield warriors used their ultimate combined attacks to create a deep groove at some point. I had to jump on the edge of that deep groove, attacking anyone surviving from this deadly attack.
At the same time my fallen gods landed their ultimate attacks, sweeping the enemies like they were dominoes.
My dragons flew and passed fast inside the tunnel. The tunnel went downwards for almost thirty metres in a sloppy way. Then a flat distance of almost ten to twenty metres was there before the tunnel started to go up.
My soulers were the fastest killers here. They just flashed and left behind a long trail of dead bodies.
My forces were divided across seven tunnels. Yet when I reached the other side, I found them waiting for me at the end of my tunnel.
They were fighting against the enemies without waiting for my orders. Just when I got out, I saw a flash before that gigantic semi-illusional body of a giant appeared in front of me.
He held his axe already in the air, preparing to land it. Without any hesitation I called my chariot and just when the axe landed, my precious girl blocked that attack successfully and defended even my scattered forces from this deadly attack.
I looked up at this giant then back to the area outside the city. My chariot started to rise in the air while I called back all my warriors except for soulers and illusionists.
I was already fed up with this bunch of cowards. Let them fight for their lives or die and relieve me of their useless burden.
As I looked over the city walls, my eyes met with the astounded and full rounded eyes of that dragon archlord.
He never expected me to do this. It seemed he was prepared to block any attempt of me to escape. Yet the thought of me fighting him over this city even in such dire state never crossed his mind.
I raised my glaive towards him and moved it in a motion to invite that dude for a direct clash between the two of us.
Once I did so, his eyebrows twitched and I laughed in mockery.
"Let me show you how fierce humans can be," I turned to the sky, speaking as if I was speaking to an audience watching me, "Let me show you how us, humans, can be domineering, no less than any other powerhouse in any race here. Open your eyes and watch closely guys… This will be epic!"
As I said that, I stretched my two hands, one holding a sword and the other holding a glaive, before I let loose all the soulers I just bought.
The chariot looked like a den which released hidden animals to face the intruders. My soulers gushed out in waves, giving me the impression that I was the real ruler of this piece of land.
And as they appeared, flashes of black light came. I already took out tons of stat points, scattered these all over the ground around my chariot.
"Use the stat points and raise your levels boys! Go for level one hundred and then fight!"
The soulers once came out from my chariot and moved fast to clean a big area around my chariot. They were so hungry for souls it seemed. But it was far more important to raise their levels before doing anything else.
Just using my stat points let the black fog circulate like a fierce black fiery tornado in the entire area around. I looked over the entire city, feeling like I was a deadly general leading his deadly troops at this moment.
"Come out," I didn't hesitate to call back all my fallen gods, "see that big dude?" I pointed my glaive towards that giant, "once his axe lands over my chariot, send everything you got to hit him. He will be vulnerable in such a narrow window."
I knew all along the flaw in that gigantic dude's attack pattern. Yet I didn't move against him until now. That was obviously because I wanted to lure that dragon dude to here.
As long as I kept fighting the incoming stream of forces from the gate without threatening that dragon archlord, then nothing would change here.
I had to attack that dude, to force him to break his pattern. Surprise moves just like the one I did was the only way to create a difference here.
Just as that giant landed another axe over my chariot's shield, the fallen gods around me attacked.
Their ultimate attacks crashed down at the giant just at this moment. The body of the giant turned already corporeal for a brief moment, yet one moment was enough to cause enough devastation to make it fall.
He lost an arm, part of his leg, and his torso had a big gaping hole there. His body was filled with many wounds and he didn't seem the majestic giant he was before.
And from far behind, I could hear a loud roar of anger coming from no one but that dragon archlord.
Yes… Get enraged bud, get mad and try to come at me.
At the same time, many messages came from all the team members and Wryly. They all asked what they should do for now, and I only sent one simple phrase as an answer to all
"Just wait for my mark."
I had to lure that bastard to here so he would be trapped in a fight against me. This was the way to pave the path for my forces scattered outside to make a comeback.
Yet unlike what I expected, that dude was more tenacious and far more patient than I thought. He simply took out a staff with a strange white skull on its top, raised it high in the air before a golden energy swirled all around him.
His eyes flashed in bright yellow light before another giant came to this earth. I knew he must have more cards up his sleeve, and that was precisely why I didn't rush to send in all my forces while he was out there.
"You don't want to come and honour me with that ugly face of yours… Then I'll force you to come," I instantly turned my attention towards one direction, totally ignoring that new giant which flashed and appeared next to my chariot.
198 A Direct Clash With A Real God!
I looked up at the mega gate hovering high in the sky. If that dude didn't intend to move his fat ass to defend his city, then I bet he would be shit scared when I go all out and try to claim this gate.
If he lost this gate, he'd lost all the reinforcements coming and with it the city and this entire battle.
"Let's see how deep you patience run dude…" and without any hesitation, I moved my chariot fast towards the sky while my fallen gods kept hammering that giant with their ultimates.
The new giant seemed a bit different from the one I just wounded. He was similar in size, but his body was shining all the time with a strange golden lustre.
The previous wounded giant had such golden aura but it was much dimmer and a lot weaker than this one. Also the weapon he held had a strange golden gas that gave it a more terrifying look.
It felt like I was targeted by a giant made out of golden foam, not made of flesh.
Just the few attacks of my fallen gods landed at that giant when his axe touched my shield, I knew what I noticed before held a deeper meaning.
The attacks all passed through his body without causing a single harm over him. I didn't have time to watch and observe his new weaknesses, so I just ignored such fruitless results.
I totally focused on my chariot heading towards that gate.
The distance between me and that gate was much closer than that dragon dude. Yet the moment I moved, I heard a loud roar coming from behind followed by a terrifying gale of wind.
He was coming… He finally took the bait!
My chariot needed a couple of seconds to arrive at the gate. Just as I raised my hand towards it, I heard a roar tens of metres away from me with an ear deafening scream.
"Stop where you are or you'll die here!"
"Humph! As if we were having a nice chit chat just now," I didn't even listen to his empty threats and let my hand touch that gate.
The next moment the entire gate trembled, showing signs of being taken over. At this moment, that dude flashed and appeared just metres away from me.
We were only separated by the shield of my chariot. The look on his face was very satisfying. These eyes that were filled with mockery and underestimation were now boiling with pure rage.
"Screw yourself," I said without making a single sound, slowly spelling the words while the gate was getting under my control fast.
"I'll kill you and regain control over it!" he roared while waving both hands as if he was worshipping some sort of a god.
I knew he belonged to the shrine of war, which belonged to the dragon race and not humans.
Just as he did that, strange tongues of lightning echoed out of nowhere, filling the entire sky over my head.
The sky was lightened by the small suns rotating all over the world now. The light coming from there dimmed when these arching thick tongues of lightning appeared.
They were black, pitch black that didn't only add a depressive touch on the sky, but it also spread strange darkness again to this part of the world.
It felt like light feared this darkness. I looked at that image and only admitted the pure advantages these races held over humans in the apocalypse.
They were supported not only with knowledge, meticulous preparations, but also powerful gods supporting their backs.
Yet that made me more determined to change all that. We humans deserved a fair chance for a fair competition against those races.
If it would be called a rebellion against everything in the universe, then I'd gladly accept the role of being the leader of such rebellion.
This lightning kept escalating and expanding like it was a cancer. I knew this dude was preparing his strongest attack to wipe me off this place once and for all.
[Start attacking now!] yet the first thing I did was to call forth over my scattered forces. At this moment, it was the most stressful action I needed to do, even more important than defending myself here.
[Spare nothing to crush all the enemies outside… Leave the city to me]
This was the task I should shoulder without complaints. I had to face my destined enemy here, use his bones and inventory to rise higher in this apocalypse.
As he was preparing his fiercest attack, I also prepared my strongest defence.
[Give me all the stat points you have in your impact right now!] without even waiting for the gate to be closed, I instantly sent this message over to the lady green nymph.
[All? This might consume twenty bones of yours]
[Just send them now and I'll pay you later] I didn't have time to even waste on giving her bones. Just as I sent this message over to her, this gate was already under my control.
Then I ran towards the centre of my chariot. It was ironic that my only hope to sustain this upcoming deadly attack from this dragon would be by using a chariot I got from another dragon!
Pathetic!
Once reaching there, I took out all the remaining stat points from my inventory. I got almost close to two hundred and fifty million stat points. Yet I felt this was far from enough.
That lightning was rumbling all over my head. Just from its clattering noise I felt a deep chill running down the back of my spine.
This attack was far, far more deadly than any attack I faced so far! I even suspected it was a direct hit from a god and not related to any dragon race member at all.
"Come on!" I kept my eyes hanging over my inventory. I needed her to send the stat points over fast, so fast or else I'd perish even before receiving them.
"Die you piece of human sh*t!" Just as I waited, that distasteful voice rang while the lightning started to show a change high up in the sky.
The tongues that were arching, expanding, and eating away the light here began to descend towards me.
Unlike what I knew about lightning, this one wasn't alike at all! It wasn't moving at any high speed that any lightning was famous for!
I looked up and found these tongues descending slowly, like they were resisting something. It felt that their presence here was out of the system regulations, as that was the only authority that could hinder anything like that in such a way.
[You got a delivery from the Bringold impact]
"Yes!" and at such a desperate moment, I read such pleasant words that acted like magic over me. Instantly I waved my hand, taking out all the stat points I got without even counting them.
I didn't even waste any second to inspect or look inside my inventory. I trusted the system and now I had to fill my chariot up with everything I got.
Darkness started to surround me from every angle. I knew without the need to raise my head that this lightning was descending over my chariot, nearly getting at me.
"Perish… Perish in hell bastard!" That dragon dude was so explosive at this moment. Come on dude! It was me who was supposed to curse and insult, be so anxious, not you!
But that was expected. After all that dude seemed to invest too much in this city. He bet with high risk over this place, and just by closing that gate, everything he worked for was on the verge of collapsing.
And the most bitter fact about all this was the fact that I did that. A human, a weak and pathetic human in his eyes, did that. One who didn't even deserve any attention at all before did that.
*Rumble!*
The black lightning came down over me like it was night time. I saw the light all around getting weakened, before it was about to turn all into darkness.
Weird! At such a moment I felt that light wasn't getting conquered by darkness, not getting eaten away as I previously expected. It was turned from pure light to pitch blackness, something that never crossed my mind at all.
[One of the gods following your channel broke the curse over your channel]
What the f*ck was that?!!
Just as I was this close to being totally absorbed into darkness, I got such a weird message which I read with much difficulty. It was strange though. I got the skill to see through the dark, but it seemed this skill paled in the face of the descending darkness.
And what was that curse? My channel was cursed? What the f*ck was going on here?!!
[A message is sent from that god]
[Do you want to hear it?]
[Warning: He paid a hefty price to deliver it to you with the tag: High alert!]
"Show it!" I didn't understand what the hell was going on here, but why would I decline such a message?
Just as the darkness was almost enveloping over my chariot, I heard a deep and majestic voice that was new to my ears.
[Hi human race Hye. I'm one of those supporting gods to you and your amazing channel. I know that you lack many intel about what's really going on with your channel, but let me first speak about the stressing and urgent things right here]
[What you are facing now is a direct attack from a god. It's not something that should exist in the apocalypse at all. It's getting nerfed by much thanks to the system power. But it's not enough to turn it harmless]
[Your chariot can't withstand this hit. You'll die if you take this attack head on no matter what!]
Just hearing till this made me want to scream in curses. Why the f*ck didn't you send this damn message prior to this moment? Just a few moments sooner and I'd be able to slip away and run from here!
But as I heard the next part of his horrible message, I tried to move my chariot away. Yet my chariot was stopped by a force that looked no lesser than a mighty mountain.
Damn! Damn! Damn! What the hell should I do now? F*ck gods! F*ck system! And f*ck all the dragons in this universe!
[The issue here isn't the difference in strength, but in the wrong way you use to defend against such lethal attack]
Dude! Come on! Just spill out what mattered and stop giving me such a lecture!
[Luckily you have what you want to defend against this attack. However I want something in return for that]
I knew it! He was playing with me! Using such a stressful moment, literally grasping my neck with his hand, holding the fate of my life and death with the simple words of his.
[I trust your words, so just say you'll accept the blessing from me and my shrine once you finish this quest. Or else…]
"I do… I agree…" I didn't even flinch at this decision! Just while that chitty chatty bastard was wasting his breaths over such useless words and bargains, I tried to launch everything my chariot got at that black lightning.
Nothing worked! Nothing at all! In fact I felt even my attacks got absorbed and turned totally into darkness. All I did was to give more power to this attack without even affecting it at all!
[Good! I know you'll accept so I'll tell you the little secret about this…]
Dude! I was on the verge of dying here! All the lights were gone and I could only see darkness. It was remarkable that he chose to send this message in voice and not in words.
Or else even the system messages wouldn't work against this darkness. Damn! Were gods this mighty to even push over the system and bound their rules?
[This attack came from the god shrine of that dragon kid. I know you know he belonged to the war shrine of the dragons. But what you don't know is that your human race shrine of war is already destroyed long time ago]
What the f*ck!!! If that shrine was destroyed, then who the hell sent me a message on behalf of the war shrine before? And what was the relation between all this sh*t and that deadly attack?
[Do you know how to kill a god?]
199 How To Kill A God In The Apocalypse
What?!!! Did he just speak about killing a god? Come on dude! Weren't you a god yourself or what?
[I know you won't be familiar with such knowledge for sure. So listen up and try to understand what I will say…]
I looked around. The world was all black and it was closely tightening over me from every single angle.
I didn't know if I'd have the time to finish listening to this talkative god or I'd be killed before that.
But no matter how I thought, that god kept talking non-stop as if we were chatting in the middle of his palace backyard garden!
[Gods are the highest beings in the universe. They can't be killed except under certain conditions. One of them would be killed by a god. Of course you won't be able to do that!]
He even laughed when he said the last sentence! What dude?! Did you decide to have fun at my last moments before dying? Did I have such an unknown death feud with you or what?
[As for the way you can do it here then… It will by using the system against gods. Of course gods are mighty and that blah blah thing, but they are still bound to some extent by the fierce rules of the system. And here my human boy, you have a chance to use the system rules against this annoying god]
Annoying? Damn dude! This god was literally this close to killing me! And you called him just annoying?!!!
[I know you killed that dark realm monster before and have many of his bones. I also am aware of your class and what it can do. It's an amazing class to be honest, even to the extent of making a god like me gaze in envy at you]
F*ck you! Was this the time for such words dude?!! Come on!!!
[Anyway… Back to the point… That god here despite breaking a few rules by what he is doing, it's not enough to get him a killing blow. So you need to do something to make him a wanted god by the system higher ups. And luckily you can do it]
Dude! Please say what you came here to say or just leave me to my dark fate!!
[This god's attack is a unique form of energy attack that's limited only to gods. His energy can turn any form of energy into his, turning him almost weak and on the verge of collapsing. The attack gets stronger and fiercer the more you fight and struggle against it… But don't falter, don't panic, I got your back here]
Screw you! What the hell was that backing me up all about? You wasted all the time and now that crazy god was already attacking and absorbing my shield!!!
[Listen to my words and do as exactly as I say… Take out one of your bones now, the ones you collected from that dead body of the dark realm monster. You know them, right? They can't be missed anyway!]
F*ck you!!!
[Anyway, after getting one out, make sure to wait till that god enveloped you totally with his attack. You'll know when the world around you turns all dark and gloomy]
That was eons ago dude! Dude! Please shut the hell up! I had already accepted my fate! It was better to die than to have hopes of living and ending up dying as well!
[Throw it at the darkest energy of that son of b*tch! He is a son of a mighty goddess indeed, but she was a b*tch no doubt about that! Take my words as a fact Hye]
…
[Now after throwing it at him, he will be a target for the system higher ups and will be killed. As for why, let me explain to you…]
I didn't listen to the rest of that rubbish as I took out a bone with a silver grade and threw it. That god already was crushing my shield, so close to breaking it and getting to my neck.
Just as the bone vanished into that darkness, a new change occurred. That darkness suddenly shook, paused for a brief moment before a new colour appeared; green.
That dark realm monster had black and green energy. But it felt strange how that simple bone managed to cause such a change in that pitch black energy.
I tried everything before, and nothing worked. Yet a simple bone of mine did that small change? Damn!
But that change wasn't simple at all!
Just as the few green colours appeared, it started to expand fiercely at such a terrifying speed. It was like this god was getting a change in his energy colour from pitch black all the way to dark green.
The entire world all around looked like it was a deep place of a forest at dusk! I looked around and checked… double checked… Triple checked…
Yes, that god's attack stopped! It didn't retreat, but it didn't advance. I looked at my chariot and sensed the amount of stat points there.
At this point, the world wasn't as black as before. It turned slowly into green while letting green rays fall over everything that god energy covered.
What I saw was really scary! I was sure that I threw hundreds of millions of stat points there… But now? Only a couple hundred million stat points remained!
Just a short exchange led to exhaustion all this amount of stat points? Damn! What was that energy exactly?
[Gods are considered on the side of the system and the apocalypse. No matter what race the god or shrine belonged to, this was an undeniable fact. Gods take their power thanks to the blessing from the universe. So they depend on the system and apocalypse to be this mighty. So what will happen if one god turns into an anti-system god? Do you know?]
At this moment, I had little time of relief to finally listen to these crazy god words without being threatened to die. That god seemed to have something wrong happening to him thanks to my little bone.
I was worried that the grade of my bone wouldn't be enough. After all, I had higher grades in my inventory. Yet when I thought back to my cultivation, I didn't hurry to throw away a black grade or even a fine gold grade bone.
I couldn't bring myself to do it! Even if I was going to die, I had to be reasonable. What if that crazy god's words proved to be right? What if I was saved by these bones? Would I regret it when I knew later I could have survived with lower grades?
Of course I'd be!
[Let me tell you then… Once that god's aggressive warring energy touches your bone, it will blindly consume it and use its energy to his favour. This will be the fatal little thing someone as mighty as him will overlook at this precise moment. And that's why you have to select the closest moment to your death to use this counter attack. This will surprise him and he will fall for this easily like a fool]
Well… I had to admit he had a point here. Yet before he could continue, I noticed a new change at that all green energy surrounding me.
The light that came from it started to grow in intensity. At first it wasn't noticeable, but as that talkative god continued to narrate his life tale, that light became shining like the sun at sunset.
Then it turned into a shining sun at midday! Something didn't seem right here at all. Just as I was looking around, a pillar of green light fell all of sudden from that tightening up at me.
It was like someone threw something and fell over a place not far from my chariot. I hurriedly turned to look, and there I knew it wasn't nothing but a ray of green light.
That light fell from a hole in that colossal energy mass. What did that mean? That dude was getting attacked somehow and became weakened, to the extent that his energy was collapsing and showing holes!
[Once that god got his energy corrupted by the dark realm monster, he will be considered a rogue god, an anti-system god. This is a grave sin in our universe, one that won't be dealt with lightly at all. Just wait and see the changes that will happen to that god. How his energy will change from all black to all green and then he will have his energy attack collapse, hahaha!]
As he laughed, I saw what he just said happening in real time in front of my eyes. It was unbelievable! Just moments ago I was this close, this close to death. And now I was standing leisurely on board of my chariot, watching my deadly enemy getting crushed as he was on the verge of death.
Damn! Tables sure turned around so fast to be quite shocking and terrifying!
[Once his energy gets corrupted, the system higher ups will intervene. Those scary folks know no mercy at all towards such cases. Gods are supposed to be their top and finest weapon in their own wars. It's always devastating to let one of your top generals run rogue and turns against you]
I nodded while seeing more thick pillars of green light falling from that massive green mass. At this point, I believed all that crazy god said. It seemed I was destined to be surrounded with crazy folks by my side.
First that old man, then that jumper, and now that god! Damn! Was I cursed or something?
[This will happen at two levels, one at the world you are living in and the other will happen at where that god is at. Don't worry, that god won't have a way to escape this fate. In fact it might be considered a cheap trick in the eyes of all gods to be killed in this humiliating way, but he was the one who crossed the red line first]
I couldn't agree more! But I didn't care about all that for now. I only cared about saving my neck from slaughter, then seek for that damn bastard dragon archlord and cut his throat in revenge.
Yes, indeed I'd seek revenge. Before this the fight here was just a fight over dominance. But that dude turned this fight into such never to be resolved but with blood death feud between the two of us.
I wouldn't rest or stop until I'd kill him. And luckily he was just nearby. All I had to do was to wait for this god to die, then go with everything I got and hit him until he became dead.
[But you have to know that gods won't die as fast as any other race. We take a long time to die. Yet once we get the curse of the system, we won't be able to use our energy or power at all. So rest assured, if you lived to hear these words of mine and trusted me in this, you'll be safe for now]
For now? I didn't miss his last remark. But I had no time to waste here. He said that once that god got the curse, then he wouldn't be able to use his powers.
So that was why his attack paused the moment I threw that bone into it. And that also explained why his gigantic energy cloud was getting screwed slowly in front of me.
[Tell me, where is that dragon archlord? Is he still inside the city?] without hesitating I sent this message to the most trustworthy dude in my team; the jumper.
Of course I had tons of messaging from my teammates and my girl. All were devastated when that scary attack landed, especially my girl. That Karoline was weeping in her messages using emojis!
[Are you still alive?] and instead of answering me, he sent this annoying question like always.
[Rest assured, I'll keep living and getting on your nerves till the last day of your life] I harrumphed while sending this message to him.
[Ok smiley boy, that arrogant dragon is standing just underneath that gate, having such a smug and pretty annoying smile over his face]
Oh, he didn't leave then? That was great!
During this fight, I didn't move my chariot at all. When I tried to escape, it was too late and I couldn't even budge an inch.
I looked around, recalled the events before that god came to disturb me. I guessed where he was now and slowly walked towards that edge of my chariot closest to him.
"Prepare your neck, ugly dragon boy, your papa is coming to claim this bloody debt with your life."
200 A Conflict Of Interest
As I was ready, I replaced my two weapons with the heavy glaive. It was time to use that deadly power of my heavy glaive, hopefully it could crash all that dude's defences.
I controlled my chariot, moving it with its strongest speed. I also activated all the weapons from it, got all my warriors out to operate all the weapons in the chariot.
I knew I had just one chance, one attack… If failed, then that dude would take more precautions and raise his guard again.
He was now in his most vulnerable moment. When feeling victory was in grasp, one's guard would be lowered.
Not to mention that dude brought his god to kill me. He would never have thought I'd survive even this, not to mention I actually killed his god.
Damn! I was so cool!
*Flash!*
"Surprise!"
Just in a blink of an eye, my chariot took me outside from the green decaying mass of that god's energy. Just as I went out, I crashed heavily against that dragon archlord's body and his flying mount.
The look over his face was priceless! Yet I didn't even give him the chance to say anything, as I used all my chariot's powerful attacks and weapons and landed everything over him!
I even let my fallen gods use all of their attacks at this moment. Yet that bastard proved to be a master of his trade.
Just the first hit came and before most of the attacks would land, a strong golden shield appeared.
It was pitch gold in colour, even shielding his entire body from me. All the attacks landed, created rumbling explosive sounds and wildly dancing sparks of fire with different colours.
I knew killing this dude wouldn't be easier than killing that god. Yet all I wanted was to not give him any time to catch his breaths.
Just as most of my attacks landed over his shield, I jumped off my chariot. I was midair on a high altitude, holding my glaive with both arms while raising it over my head. I could even feel the coldness of his blade on my back.
I had to crush that shield now! I had to deprive that bastard from everything he got, and make sure he wasn't preparing another unsightly surprise.
*Bang!*
Just as I landed with all my weight behind my glaive, a loud banging sound came that shook my entire body. All my chariot's and warrior's attacks landed with me and together, that shield started to crack.
"I'll kill you!" from the middle of that cracking golden shield, I heard the angry voice of that bastard.
"Not if I killed you first," I instantly switched my glaive with my two daggers. I aimed at the largest and deepest crack before throwing one dagger at it.
*Crash!*
The dagger crashed through that shield's weakest point. It vanished and with it I heard a loud roar from the inside before everything turned into silence.
With such silence, I knew he fell for my illusion grenades. I inserted my dagger into one of his shield's cracks, stabilising myself before pushing up again.
*Crash!*
As I was above his head, that shield finally cracked open. I didn't want to risk anything at this moment. Victory was near, but I had to put everything I got to claim it.
So I took back my dagger and took out my strongest weapon in my arsenal; that dragon glaive!
It was ironic! The one to kill that dragon archlord was a weapon I got from another dragon archlord!
Funny!
*Bang!*
The moment I got it out, I felt like I was holding a mountain in my hands. I just let it fall freely without taking me down with it. Yet that bastard didn't have the same fate as me.
As his shield crashed open, I saw him standing still while the look over his face was a mix of anger and terror. He was afraid, and he should be. After all he knew once he got into that illusion he was done for.
*Boom!*
As my glaive hit his body alongside the remaining attacks coming from my chariot, many explosive sounds erupted while many shields and protective gears erupted with full force.
They could sustain him against everything, except my glaive. When I saw the flashing colourful lights from his defences, I felt relieved to depend on my glaive to end his life.
Or else I would fail in even harming him until he got out from that illusion.
As all of his defences got exhausted, my glaive, who stopped briefly under all the might of his defensive gears and items, started to push his body down.
In a flash of light, that bastard fell all the way down to the ground, smashing violently with it and creating a mushroom like cloud.
And from the depth of that cloud, I heard the last wailing scream of that dude before everything ushered under deafening silence.
This fight seemed too long but in fact everything happened in a span of seconds. But as we were all fighting high in the air, everyone inside or around the city managed to see what happened.
It was clear to everyone now who won this clash. Just as I summoned one of my drags to save me from this deadly fall, a ground shaking shout came from one direction.
"Ooohhhaaa!"
And it was followed with more shouts from every direction surrounding this city.
"Ooohhhaaa!"
Guys! Please don't follow those crazy berserkers and shout their war cries at them! But hearing that earth shattering shouts made my blood boil and my excitement escalated off the roof.
It was my moment of victory, and I deserved to enjoy it to the fullest.
"Crush them all!"
I raised my fist high in the air while getting carried back to my chariot on the back of my dragon. I was sure this scene would be epic! This fight was the most shocking and blood boiling battle I ever had so far!
The enemies were now at their lowest point. The gate that gave them reinforcements was now closed in their faces. And their leader was slain in such an awe inspiring way.
Once I reached my chariot I didn't sit idle. Even if the enemy was in such a low state, I knew it was still threatening.
Their number was huge and they still had lots of elites and lots of ways to turn this battle around.
Besides there were lots of souls here waiting for me to claim!
I acted as a flying death god messenger inside the city. Anywhere I flew at, death followed. The enemy tried their best to regroup, follow the orders of the elites and higher ranked dragons who remained alive.
But once I spotted such a scene, I'd instantly move fast and wipe that group off the surface of the world.
Gradually things became under my control until I finally saw the remaining forces run away, being routed and chased down by my forces.
"Victory!"
This shout came from one direction before it spread like a plague everywhere. I stood over my chariot, overlooking this epic scene that I'd never forget.
"It was a really nice battle," I muttered to myself before I got a message from none other than Wryly.
[Bro, that was a great fight! Damn! I'll follow your steps from now on]
[Thanks dude] I knew he was sincere about his words, but I still couldn't forgive what his paragon did before.
[By the way, can I come to grab that gate now?]
[Sorry pal, this gate and city are mine]
[What? Didn't you promise to give it to me?]
[That was before what happened! As you can see, this fight was won because of my actions alone]
He paused and didn't shower me with his angry words like that Fang of the Selvators. I knew he was speaking with his paragon at this moment to know what he should say to me.
At this moment, he and his paragon knew how effective I was as a player in this stage of the apocalypse. Risking to turn me into a neutral or even their enemy would be a reckless decision.
But on the other hand, they wanted this city. Who wouldn't desire such a grand jewel under his wing?
So they were in a tight spot, and I did this intentionally. I wouldn't give them this city or the gate. After all, controlling the gate meant controlling the city.
[You have no value for this gate bro] it seemed his paragon decided to keep me as an ally.
[If I gave it to you bro, then this city will be under your control and not mine. So I can't do that, sorry]
[But you don't need such a city at all! Aren't you going east?]
[I heard from Fang that Berserkers weren't that much interested in gaining any territory or having a foothold here. You only love wars and strong fighting. I can give you that but can't give you the city]
[Fang said that?] Wryly seemed surprised to hear that. I left him chatting with his paragon while I responded to my team messages.
They were so happy and asked about our next move. Once the enemies were gone, the city was literally defenceless.
But I had to take over all the smaller castles with emblems inside to fully take control over the defences here. Also I had another mission for them.
[Karoline will stay back here, leading her forces to take control over the castles left defenceless in the city. As for the rest, expand outside, move to the west and keep killing the retreating dragon forces]
I sent this message to everyone, all but the jumper. I added another message to him, with one more task that he could only do.
[Find her and bring her here no matter what]
[Leave this to me]
As things reached such a stalemate situation with the berserkers, I knew that paragon would do everything in his power to stop me from meeting with the human girl.
He was very interested in her at first. And now I just took away such a big trophy, and in return he would keep that girl as his own trophy and to punish me.
I declared my intention to meet up with her before Wryly and he must have told his paragon about this. So instead of letting that bastard move the girl by force to a secure far away place from me, why not take the initiative and grab that girl from their clutches?
We were allies indeed, but that was just on things that we both shared interest in. When our interests clashed just like this situation here, then I'd not hesitate to do what was best for me and my people.
Besides… That girl was a human girl after all! She was forced to run away after the crushing defeat at the hands of that dragon. Yet that berserker paragon just used this chance to seize control over her.
I was sure she had no choice but to follow the berserker's forces. If she was given a choice, she would never accept to act like a normal wife for that dude.
She was a fighter. And I needed her to keep playing such a role. After all, with each passing stage in the apocalypse, all the races would grow stronger far more than what humans could do.
Out of all my forces, the jumper was the most capable one to do such a task. Leading a grand army in such a search mission wasn't an easy feat at all.
Besides, he had to land fiercely and act decisively once spotted them. I explained the current situation in brief and he got the general picture about the stressing situation.
He had to be swift in his actions, kill everyone of the berserkers without giving them the chance to report back to their paragon. Also I asked him to take clothes from dragons he would kill along his path, and disguise his troops to look like dragons.
Of course that wouldn't fool the enemy for long. Humans had the smallest body building among other races. But at least this would help to leave the berserkers lost for a few minutes, enough for the jumper and his elite task force to wipe them out before exposing their identities.
It was a risky move, but a must to do. I would never let such a trophy slip off my hands and fall into another race's hands.
201 War Embodiment Building
[Alright bro, my paragon accepts to give you this city but he has a request in return for this]
Wryly sent me this message just minutes after I sent my orders to everyone. My team was now rearranging their forces, claiming the loot, and preparing to leave.
The entire battlefield was now filled with chaotic movements from all of my forces. I was preparing my warriors to go out and collect the elites and top leaders of the dragon army and bring their bodies to me.
[What request?] I asked, overlooking the useless words and attitude his paragon used to accept his loss over this city.
Of course he didn't have any choice but to give me this city. If he tried to do anything else, well… He saw how I dealt with such a grand army of dragons here.
[He wants the acquisition of a building in the city, it's called the war embodiment building]
War embodiment building? What the heck was that?
[What's that building then?] I didn't hurry to accept before sending this back to Wryly.
[I frankly don't know, but according to his words it's a useful thing to our race]
Wryly was trying to act smart here. Alright bro, I took the entire city from you so it would be fair to give such a small building to you.
[But I have one condition for that] But even if I intended to accept his request, I had to make sure I didn't overlook something big and useful to my forces.
[Tell bro]
[I want access to that building for my race as well. In other words, we both will have access to that building while you have total ownership of it]
[Wait bro…] Wryly seemed to be surprised by my request and went to ask for instructions from his paragon. It seemed Wryly got reprimanded heavily by his paragon, so that dude started to be more cautious when dealing with me.
"Alright boys, go and bring me all the dead strong dragons to me," as he went to ask his paragon, I sent my boys into the entire battlefield inside and outside the city to bring my loot back.
I anticipated this loot so much. I now was in desperate need for more bones. I still had a deal with that nymph girl to bring me lots of soulers to strengthen my forces.
Just in the span of ten minutes, the area around my chariot was filled with small hills of dead dragon bodies. I estimated the final loot would be around a few thousand elites and leaders of this army.
Just as I started gathering up my loot from their inventory and gathering up their bones, Wryly finally replied with the paragon's response.
[My paragon agrees to that but he also asks for our race to access other buildings around the city]
[If the ownership will still be mine then it's ok] I didn't have any issue at refusing such a deal, [Send a contract signed by your paragon and stating all these conditions. I'll sign it now]
As I kept gathering up my loot and my boys kept bringing more bodies to me, I received the contract from Wryly.
It was signed by his paragon. After carefully reading it through for three times, I signed it.
I trusted Wryly but not his paragon. Wryly was a good man, kind hearted and didn't have the scheming nature of other races. But I couldn't say the same thing about his paragon.
But what that paragon requested was new to me. I knew each city was built in such a massive and grand way to make it a jewel in such a ruined world.
Yet since when have such cities had special buildings? Was that true? I started to grow a desire to take a stroll over my city and start exploring its buildings.
Who knew, I might stumble upon nice things here.
First I stayed for a few hours collecting the trophies and ate and drank to quench my thirst and hunger. I was a little tired, especially after the last stressful battle.
But it wasn't time to sleep just yet. I gained a lot from this loot. The number of bones alone was already in the thousands right now, reaching almost ten thousands.
As for coins, I got two billion from these dragons. The last and biggest gain I got was from the dead body of that archlord.
His inventory was literally brimming with many treasures! Gears of black grade were there! That was mind blowing!
Yet I couldn't even handle one of these weapons. Just taking one out would leave me experiencing what that big glaive of the chariot did to me before.
In addition to that, I found many useful machine gun-like big weapons. Up till now, that lady from the Bringold impact didn't reply to me with any good news regarding these weapons.
But now I got around a few hundreds of such smaller weapons like what I had over my chariot. As for that big and grand weapon, I also got ten of them.
The ammunition for them was there, but not enough to sustain big successive battles. I didn't feel any regret about that, as I already had my way to buy the grenades from the market and use them as ammunition.
In addition to that, I also found lots of small statues that all looked strange and new to my eyes.
Scrolls, lower grade gears in hundreds of thousands, and also many potions as well. This dude was just like a treasure volt walking on two legs, lol!
At this time, my forces were already out. They worked fast to claim their loot in the first hour before they led their forces out and started chasing their enemies.
The loot they gained during the last two epic fights gave them the fuel and desire to greed for more. Such greed was favourable indeed, and I simply wanted to ignite such desire even more.
As for Karoline, my girl entered the city through the tunnels in the second hour. During this time, she kept attacking and claiming the castles with emblems, slowly taking over the city.
But this city was really massive! Just as I finished, I sent a message to her to check upon her progress.
[I still didn't cover even one tenth of the city] yet her answer was strange. She was leading an army of tens of thousands and yet she couldn't take control over even one tenth of the city?
[Why?] I couldn't help but ask.
[This city… Each building here is considered a castle of its own with an emblem in it!]
I was shocked to hear that! Now I was more eager to take a stroll over the city.
[Keep working hard then] I took my boys and led them on foot this time. If what she said was true, then it was better to walk and check every single building.
The first building I saw was a three story building that looked normal from the outside. It looked like a normal residential building on a wide street.
But just as I reached the building door, I noticed the presence of a group of monsters standing inside, waiting for me.
"Attack!" I didn't hesitate to launch my boys. Yet the first thing I saw was the first ever failed attack of my soulers!
They just passed through the bodies of these monsters without giving them any harm. I blinked twice, and even rubbed my eyes. Damn! That was really happening!
I looked closer to the monsters and seriously examined them. They were like werewolves, big hairy bodies, big sharp claws and teeth. Their hair was ice white, and they had a long thick tail made out of white fur, reminding me of foxes.
Their eyes were wide with red vertical iris, reminding me of those dragons. I watched closely while more soulers tried their luck and failed.
"Oh… So you are like that dude then!" I noticed what was wrong here. Just when the soulers passed through them, their bodies turned hazy as if they weren't real.
So the soulers passed through air and couldn't hit these monsters at all. That explained while they failed, but made me recall the two giants that the dragon archlord summoned before.
After killing that dragon archlord, the two giants disappeared and were nowhere to be seen.
As for that dragon god energy, it was slowly decaying even till now. I estimated it would take almost a day or two to vanish.
If his energy would take such time to disappear, then what about the god himself? I sighed when recalling the past stressful moments, realising I just escaped certain death with pure luck.
I looked up at the monsters up front of me and couldn't help but think about Karoline. She didn't have my soulers, so how did she manage to kill these monsters then?
"Go!" I thought about something and gave the order to my Bulltors and shield warriors. The shield warriors go upfront and slam their unique attack at these monsters.
But they failed to even touch them! However when my Bulltors reached them, things started to change.
Their bodies that kept changing between illusion and reality didn't show that phenomenon again. My Bulltors clashed with them and this time the monsters didn't just stand idle and started to fight back.
A group of almost a hundred fought against my Bulltors fiercely. Just as the battle heated up, I snapped my fingers and without making a sound, my soulers jumped in the fray.
This time the monsters didn't have time to switch to the illusionary phase. Their bodies fell over the ground heavily, causing a series of loud thuds all over the place.
"They are annoying," I now realise why Karoline took such a long time fighting through the city and claiming the emblems. "Go, clean the rest of the buildings in this way," I waved my arm and instantly all my warriors moved except for the cowardly illusionists, five of each warrior, and a group of a hundred soulers acting as my personal bodyguards.
The illusionists were really a headache to me. Even in such battles, their losses were mild and didn't exceed a hundred! I was already at limits in dealing with these cowards and useless dudes.
They didn't fight properly or show up at times of need. They usually ran away in times of distress, and would always find a way to survive with their cowardice no matter what!
Remarkable and disgusting! I had to find a way to put them into good use, or else find a good battle to throw them at and get rid of those useless bastards.
As I sent my boys out, I looked again at the pile of dead bodies of these monsters. Something told me these monsters were special. And that made me think back about the two giants I fought before.
Were they summoned by something in this city? Don't tell me it was that building the Berserkers' paragon asked for?
Anyway I secured an access to use that building by my contract. I just hoped it wouldn't be the one to summon those giants. After all, I didn't like to share such a tremendous weapon with anyone else.
But when I touched the bodies of these dead monsters, a strange message popped up in front of my eyes.
[You can't take any loot or any bone from this monster]
[This monster is a half real half holographic projection summoned from the heart of the city and this castle's emblem]
[Taking over the emblem will allow you to control the monsters in exchange for energy]
[This is a privilege given only to the owner of the city and the building]
[The owner of the city can give privilege to owners of the buildings to control the monsters related to each building]
[Controlled monsters will be able to fight by your side and answer your call]
[Each monster requires energy equal to one hundred Yewan, or one thousand stat points to live for one day]
"What the f*ck is that?!!!" I looked at the long row of messages in front of me, trying to get what was going on here.
202 Albany City Mercenary Recruitment Building
I reread the messages again before turning towards these monsters and the big rounded emblem rising a few metres off the ground.
"So each building here will give such monsters… Interesting," I went to claim that emblem. The moment I did that, I felt a strange connection with something in the depth of the city.
It was kinda vague, but I definitely felt it.
"Rise!" A word popped in my mind out of my instincts and strangely enough, all the monsters here rose up as if they weren't dead just now.
But the next moment, a message popped in front of my eyes.
[The first time for the owner of the building and the city is always free]
Free? That's nice for the first try. I looked at my newly controlled monsters. It felt like my warriors.
"Go and help others in taking down other buildings," I said and the next moment these monsters roared, turned around and started to run.
They looked like my soulers when running. Their bodies would turn slightly illusional, sometimes they would even emit a fog that covered all of their white haired bodies.
Would they also accept my stat points and evolve like my warriors? Would they lose my stat points after dying or I would send them back here?
I didn't have any info about that. So I had to test them afterwards. But first let me evaluate their value.
As I followed them with my personal guards, I found them going to another building that wasn't attacked by my army.
There I saw how valuable they were! Astounding fighting power! They simply acted like my soulers, yet in different ways.
First they flashed towards the other one hundred monsters. These ones were like big tigers with all black fur covering their bodies. They stood in their places until my boys reached them.
The best word to describe their way of attack would be: Dancing! They simply jumped around their targets, slashing with their sharp claws and biting with their sharp teeth.
Their enemies were taken by surprise, especially when my boys fought at a superb speed that left afterimages behind.
The one hundred monsters here didn't take more than one minute to be cleared out. The previous building took me roughly ten minutes. That was a big difference in clearing the monster's speed, proving their worth at least here.
"Come here," as I took over this building and summoned the one hundred tiger-like monsters, I said to the two hundred of them, "try these."
It was time to test if my stat points would work or not. Just as I expected, they ate the stats like my fallen gods. Then something new developed.
Each monster grew in size the more it ate. I calculated the amount to be enough to raise any warrior of mine to level one hundred.
Yet as they finished eating, they turned to me with gazes filled with pleas.
"Wanna more?" I asked with a surprised tone. I never saw any of my warriors do like this after eating all these stats. "Ok, but let me first test something out."
Giving them more stats wasn't a problem. The problem here was if after sending them back and recalling them again, these monsters would lose these stats.
If that was true, then it would be a great waste to use such a way to strengthen them. I selected five tigers, sent them back to this building before calling them again.
[You need to pay five thousand stat points for them to be summoned] yet this time it wasn't free lunch for me.
"Take them," I shrugged and then five tigers appeared. Before they vanished, each one swelled up in size to be over five folds of its original size.
The building here became slightly tight with all these big dudes. But when they came back, they were slightly smaller.
"So there is a tax for calling them back… That means giving them more stats won't be safe."
I didn't know if this tax was deducted one time or every time I summoned them. Also I wasn't sure if that tax was related to the time they would waste inside these buildings.
So I refrained from giving them any more stat points. Let them enjoy that previous meal as this would be their last meal for now.
As I got their support, I started to speed up clearing this city. At first things were going slow. But when I cleared an entire street filled with tens of buildings, I had an army strong enough to clear the streets in one go.
So the speed of my clearing started to skyrocket from here. I didn't leave a single building without summoning their monsters. After a couple of hours, the entire city was covered with my boys, while I had tons of buildings to control.
[I saw a lot of monsters attacking buildings… Is that you?] Karoline seemed to be scared when she saw my boys.
[They are mine] I sent to her, [Just spread our people over and take all the buildings. I believe all of them are cleared off any monster]
[Ok]
As I got this problem sorted out, I started to think about my next move.
I had to see where the special buildings were. If I was the one who designed this city, then I'd place them all below the big mega gate in the centre of it.
I went towards that gate while waiting for Karoline and her forces to control the city. I had to do little repairs later to the region outside the wall. Also I'd need my forces to dig a trench and I'd buy some sort of burning material and fill that trench with.
This way I'd be sure that no one else would come and harass my precious city the same way I did take it with.
As I reached the central region, I found buildings there had many differences than the ones I claimed so far.
First they were all taller. The lowest building here was five stories in height and there were even some reaching twelve stories height.
Their surfaces were covered with shining materials, something like fire was brimming all over their surfaces. Some had weapons placed all over their surfaces, while others had strange symbols.
Just when I arrived at one of them, I noticed a stronger batch of monsters gushing out of these buildings as if they felt my threatening presence.
"Go… Kill them all!" without any hesitation I ordered my grand army of monsters to attack those defending the buildings.
These monsters were similar to the ones I had but had bigger bodies than the basic status of all monsters I gained. But compared to the two hundred I spent my stat points over, they were lacking a lot in size and power.
The first clashes proved that these monsters were an advanced version of normal monsters. They could be elements in attacks. Thunder, fire, water, ice, and even light and darkness… Myriad of elemental attacks landed over my monsters, killing a good deal of them.
But who said they could stand against such grand numbers of my forces with their low numbers?
Even if they were advanced and evolved versions of monsters, they were limited in numbers. Each building brought out only a hundred of them, something that couldn't even be compared to my tens of thousands of monsters under my lead.
This fight didn't last more than half an hour. The first advantage these evolved monsters showed was crushed later by sheer numbers and the participation of my ace forces like soulers and fallen gods.
"Let's see what these buildings are all about," as I cleared the entire battlefield, I took over the emblem of the first building.
[You gained control over the Albany city recruitment building]
[Here you can use coins, stat points, gears, or anything of value to hire mercenaries to fight on your side for specific period of time]
[You can spend a few more and unlock the recruitment interface. Doing so will enable you to summon mercenaries to any place you are at and let them fight for you. But that will cost extra for each mercenary]
[Do you want to pay one million coins per month to open the recruitment interface in your profile?]
I looked at these messages and couldn't help but agree. I had to check these mercenaries. If they were strong enough, then I'd be able to spare lots of trouble for me later on.
As I opened my profile, I found an icon for this building. Opening it delivered a long list of names in front of me.
It was a very detailed list, statint the strength, the age, the race, the experience in apocalypses before this, and their win rate in any fight they participated in.
Damn! It was like a detailed portfolio for them. Yet many were in red colours, few were in silver, and rare were green.
[Sorry, your current level, class level, cultivation level, and apocalypse progress don't match the specific requirement for this mercenary to hire]
I selected a red named one who belonged to the Bulltor race. He was strong enough to be considered a big boss, even much stronger than the dragon archlord I killed before.
But it seemed each one of them already set conditions to be hired. What was that system? I loved it!
After trying this many times over the red names and getting the same answer, I decided to select a silver one.
[This mercenary asks you to send your information to him to check. If he agrees, he will work for you]
What the heck?!! It was now an interview with me instead of with him? Damn!
I found a long list filled with many fields that asked about my current strength, achievements, and everything related to my current progress in the apocalypse. I looked at this list and decided to give it a try.
[Do you want to save these answers for later lists?]
"Do it," it took me roughly ten minutes to fill all these fields. In fact I'd prefer to fight that archlord dragon dude once again instead of doing such a boring task.
It was nice to have such a feature ready for use. Or else I'd directly abandon all the silver dudes thanks to this boring task.
[Do you want to auto fill this list?]
"Yes!"
"Do it!"
"Fill that b*tch over!"
"Indeed!"
As I had such a service, I misused it and started a spree of sending applications for all the silver dudes.
In fact those silver ones weren't that good compared to the red ones. But they were nice. I estimated their strength to be on par with my jumper or even slightly better.
Imagine having an army of jumpers… Damn! That would be cool!
But after I spent an hour sending requests and auto filling the lists, I got no answer from anyone so far. As I got no more silver dudes, I arranged the filter to show only the green ones.
This time I had to see bad performing dudes in front of my eyes. Many had a loss rate close to ninety percent in any task they participated in!
Their strength wasn't better than anyone from my personal team. Should I recruit them?
Comparing these green dudes with the red or even the silver mercenaries made my excitement prior to this to die down.
I couldn't accept half assed dudes just because they were available! If I had to pay, then I'd get the best thing I could have.
So as I had nothing else to do here, I decided to close this interface and go to visit the next building.
This one had big heavy swords hanging all over their surface. I got a guess that came true when I got the system messages.
[You gained control over the Albany city war embodiment building]
[Here you can use coins, stat points, gears, or anything of value to buy rage auras in the form of small potions. Once consumed, anyone of your forces would gain a hellish increase in all his stats, making him far more powerful than before for a single day]
Damn! This was the building Wryly's paragon asked for!
203 Impacts, Alchemy, And Forging!
I looked at the details of that building and couldn't help but understand why that paragon asked for this building specifically.
Such a warmonger race would celebrate with such a boost in fighting using rage aura. I looked at this building before lightly chuckling.
It was indeed a good point to have such a rage aura in fight, but it wasn't that much important in my eyes.
To me, the mercenary building held a lot more importance than this one. Congrats on this building Wryly, I doubted I'd use its potions in the same way you planned to use them.
After getting out the next few buildings rose the aura of healing, regeneration, and one that decreased the aura of fear. Also I found other buildings that could raise the stats with fifty up to one hundred percent using coins and other stuff.
In my eyes, these things were secondary. I had first to acquire a good army before thinking about such aura. Healing and raising stats might be suitable in fierce fights, but such power explosions wouldn't help in the long run.
Humans had this weakness, called adaptation. When they get used to something, this might cause negative effects instead of positive boost.
Take strength stat for example. If my forces got potions to raise their strength stat with half or even double it, they would taste how powerful they became.
Other races might see in this a motivation to get stronger and reach such milestones. But to humans, most would just rely on these potions and might even neglect advancing themselves.
Not to mention they might neglect other stats or aspects they were lacking at the moment, including the vital experience in fighting big wars for example.
Why would they care about such a thing and they would feel themselves invincible at this stage of the apocalypse?
Nah, such a thing would act as a double edged sword in the hands of humans. This might help at this stage, but what about ten quests from now? Twenty? Or fifty?
Their strength addition wouldn't matter that much if they didn't work harder on themselves during this time. I gave my back entirely to these buildings, deciding to even seal them from the reach of the common folks I had.
That left only three buildings in front of me. One had a big circular coin made out of pure golden material and hung on the top of its biggest hall like a tower.
The second was a building that had many axes covering it. The last one had many bottles all over it.
I entered the first one to be welcomed with this message when I controlled its emblem:
[You gained control over the Albany city impact building]
[Here you can use coins, stat points, gears, or anything of value to buy different impacts statues and gain access to these important communities]
[The admission statues you'll buy have to be processed first with the impacts higher ups. If they agree, then you are welcomed to join these impacts. If they refused, then you can wait for one month to try again]
[You can't buy a statue of an impact without gaining access to that impact. Statues are the common currency of any impact, and here you can use your own currencies to exchange for them]
Damn cool! I finally found something worthy to be used in this special area!
[If you want to open an interface in your profile, you need to pay one million coins per month for that]
[Do you want to pay?]
"Of course I do!" without any hesitation I accepted before hurriedly opening the interface.
It was similar to the mercenary building interface. I found a long list that was very much detailed.
Unlike the names of mercenaries and their info, here I found things like: Impact speciality, Impact reputation, Impact current member count, Impact latest biggest achievement, Impact size, Impact quests, and much more of such interesting things.
But it shared the same layout of the mercenary building. There were names of impacts in red, silver, and green. The names in green were so few, much scarcer than what I found back at the mercenary building.
I was surprised to see the Bringold impact I belonged to had its name written in red. Damn! I was lucky then to join it before.
I didn't hurry to join any impact for now. So far the Bringold impact was doing fine with my current needs.
If they fail to satisfy me in the future, then well… I'd spare more bones for other impacts.
The most important reason for me to not select one impact and join it for now was the good relations I had with that green nymph lady.
If I joined other impacts, it would be questionable if I'd have the same relation with one of the higher ups there. It was a risky move for now. Besides I didn't have many bones at the moment to spare over two impacts.
I had many deals running recently with the Bringold impact. Be it the hostile races I asked for to be bought for me, the weapons that looked like that grand machine gun I had in my chariot, the soulers quest, and also the fallen gods deal.
I wouldn't risk dividing up my current limited wealth over two impacts.
As I reached the next building, I already decided to keep that impact building for later use.
I entered the building with many bottles over its surface. Once I controlled its emblem, I got this message:
[You gained control over the Albany city alchemy associations building]
[Here you can use coins, stat points, gears, or anything of value to buy access tokens for any alchemy association in the universe]
[You can also buy out as many association bottles to use as currency there. But you can't buy a bottle of any association before getting accepted first]
[Each token of any alchemy association must be reviewed first by that association higher ups. If they refused, then you'll have to wait for one more month before reapplying again]
[You can pay one million coins to have an interface opened in your profile]
[Do you want to pay that?]
"Pay," I finally found a way to get as many potions as I wanted.
I got potions before from the inventories of all the big names I killed. Yet considering the large number of forces under my banner, this amount paled much in comparison.
In fact these potions didn't play any role at all in my fights. And I hardly believed they'd play any role to me in the future.
My path was different from others. But I wouldn't dare to say such things about my forces.
Even my team members would be in dire need of such a supply of potions.
I also wanted to learn how to make potions for my future plans. After all, the way to develop the antique powder weapon arsenal humans had right now into deadly stuff that could do wonders in the apocalypse required knowledge about alchemy.
Yet such knowledge was known to be so hard to gain access to. I was planning to ask the green nymph lady for help in this matter. But now I had such a building and these long lists of names of alchemy associations under my fingertips.
The lists I opened were filled with many names. Yet compared with the other two lists I surfed through before, this one looked quite shorter.
It also had parts to give details about them. Things like the kind of potions they develop, the type of pills they develop, the current estimate of their reserve pills, the current estimate of their reserve potions, their size, the branches they had in apocalyptic worlds, and even the range of their prices told in three ways: Cheap, fine prices, and expensive.
As for their names, they were also displayed in three colours. I searched for the silver ones and instantly auto filled their documents and sent these for their approval.
I didn't even think about green ones. Without the need to check, I knew these were the rubbish of all the associations out there in the big universe.
If I had a choice, then I'd definitely aim towards the red names. But they blocked any access to them for me. So the silver names were just fine for now.
I needed information, help, and also tips and advice about how to make different potions. After all I needed these to teach many of my forces this craft, hopefully some would grow to be masters or grandmasters in such a difficult field.
As I filled these forms, I walked to the last building here. It was the one with axes all over its surface.
"One for impacts, one for alchemy, then this one must be for forging, right?"
It was a simple thing to guess. The messages that came after taking over this building's emblem proved my guess to be right.
The messages told me the same content of the previous ones. I paid one million coins and started to explore the list of names in concentration.
If I needed alchemy to evolve the current human arsenal, then I'd need much more forging to make this dream come true.
The admission symbol of these forging guilds was a forging hammer with inscription of each guild's symbol over its sides. As for their currencies, they were in the form of fist sized ores, representing the most valuable thing to these blacksmiths.
The names this time had zero green guild in the list. Only less than twenty guilds were in silver with hundreds in red colour.
I auto filled the forms to apply for all the silver guilds, hoping one of them would accept my request or more.
As I needed manuals to teach my boys how to make potions and learn alchemy, I also needed similar manuals to teach them forging.
I'd be only satisfied with that step for now. According to the records I read before about forging and alchemy, they shared one simple phrase that was similar to both rare fields.
"Knowledge can get you only to be a seasoned disciple in each field, but to be a master or higher you truly need guidance from someone higher than this grade," I muttered this phrase while taking a deep breath.
It was a long road, such a long path that would leave anyone else dejected and depressed.
But not me! I'd prefer to try my luck with everything I got, hopefully I'd be able to achieve all my goals and even get some luck and excel as well.
[Have you controlled all the city yet?] As I finished dealing with this central zone, I sent this message to Karoline.
[Almost, give or take an hour]
"An hour…" I muttered before sending to her, [After finishing everything, go outside. First fill all the tunnels we dug with dirt. Then lead everyone to start digging a deep and wide trench around the city]
[Trench?!!] she asked in surprise, [Will we need the same machines again?]
I thought and saw this as a good suggestion. Yet most of these machines were destroyed when that bastard came and crushed over my forces with his.
[I'll buy another batch and leave them at the central region] I sent to her before adding, [I might be busy when you come. So just take the machines and make them start working ASAP]
[Got it!]
This girl was really lovely. She didn't even ask about what I was getting busy at.
I sent over another request to the lady green nymph to get another batch of these tools. She was delighted to get five more bones from me, and I ended up having another one hundred thousand digging machines.
I took them out, just outside the central region. They were eye catchy even from far thanks to their big bodies.
"It's all ready," I rubbed imaginary dirt off my hands, "now it's time for me to check over this disaster."
Of course I didn't forget what I heard when that god contacted me before. The system told me clearly that my channel was sealed.
I first thought that my channel gods were prohibited from talking to me out of fear. The jumper's god even confirmed this before and that jumper wasn't the kind to lie or something.
Putting the info I got from that god that the human war shrine was already gone, things became strangely linked together and made quite sense.
So I got played out! Perfectly played out! Just thinking about this made my blood boil.