212 A Kiss To The Wrong Person!!!
Her words were like a crushing thunder bolt that descended over my head.
All this time I thought I was here as an advantage, a bug in the system. I always thought myself lucky enough to be here. Yet what she said added further to my shock and bitterness.
"In addition to that, who said you came here first before that dude? Who knows, he might be the one who actively sought coming here and you came as just a logical result."
Well… Her words held a certain weight of logic indeed. But who would care about that? "I'm here now, and that's all that matters," I said in a tone that carried my self esteem and confidence.
"You don't get it yet," she sighed, "that bastard always does things on a grand scale, planning is his hobby."
"I'm not a loser at least, or that weak to begin with," I shrugged, not letting what she said get into my head, "even if he was the one who caused all this mess, I'll make him regret doing this in the first place."
"Sigh," yet she wasn't convinced by my firm belief, and I wasn't trying to even do that in the first place. I was saying this to myself, defending against any doubt in my confidence.
As for that bastard… What if he brought one or an army with him? If I managed to keep pushing forward like this, then I'd end up winning this fight once and for all.
"I don't care," I added, "even if he has a plan, I'll be the flaw he never expected in his plan. Just look around, I have amassed a force that has never been here before at this moment."
"It's quite remarkable indeed," she said before shaking her head, "but unfortunately it's far from enough. Do you know how we can win this fight?"
"By establishing kingdoms and unifying the world?" I asked and my response seemed to be quite expected as she snorted in return.
"That's wrong! That's what I was trying to make others see and understand all this time and failed!" she bellowed in her way and I couldn't help but look at her and shake my head.
"What?" she asked, "do you think I'm crazy? Have you ever heard about the true battle going on in between our universe and another?"
"I know," I firmly nodded, "I've also killed a Curasee race, one of those traitors who work for that hostile universe. Damn, I also got cursed once with one of their dirty gods!"
"You…" At this moment I realised she knew nothing, nothing at all about me. All she knew was what she saw here, and that I had her power of time travel.
"I have my own channel, established a grand force that's now spreading over the entire area as we speak. I killed two archlords, one of the illusionists and the other was that dragon kid who created all this trouble for you. I have lots of power to back me up, I'm not a pushover!"
"This war isn't one that could be won this way," she shook her head before adding, "do you know that this is my thirty-ninth attempt here? Do you even know that I once unified the entire world and yet I failed?"
"What?!!" It was my time to get shocked. She managed to unify the world? What the hell was she speaking about?
Wait a minute… were I supposed to work towards unifying the world? Wasn't our common enemy trying to take over this world? What the hell was going on here?
"Don't be that shocked, this is the big lie the angels here tried to implant deeply in all of us," she took a deep breath, filled with exhaustion and helplessness.
At this moment, I forgot all about her previous show of power. In front of me, she acted like a real girl, a weak and vulnerable girl who found out the whole world was standing on her shoulders.
The tone she spoke with was filled with tons of helplessness. She wasn't a loser, but someone who long lost his guiding light, felt the entire world was a piece of pitch blackness with no way to see light or find hope again.
She was a lonely, weak and lonely little girl. At this moment I felt true sympathy towards her. How could a single girl stand against such a situation and also have to find a way out, not only for herself, but for her entire race?
The responsibility over her looked grandiose compared to her fragile self. Yet I kept my mouth shut, letting him continue even with such spirit brimmed with desperation and loss.
"I once got the chance to see the real schemes behind the entire apocalypse grander scheme. The ones standing behind this thing are just trying to make us all survive by filtering the weak and giving the promising ones chances to get stronger."
I could partially relate to what she said. After all, I got my knowledge about the true war happening between the two universes from one of those behind the system.
"What they want to do is to merge the scattered worlds into one big new world called the grand Nala," she said before adding, "so after unifying the worlds in this apocalypse, we still have something to do."
"Like what?"
"Have you heard about other apocalypses going on at the same time like us?" she said and I nodded. I knew about this since I went to the Bringold impact.
"Then you can understand this," her face turned all serious before adding, "we are all in a filtering game made up of pyramid-like steps. The first is to crush the other races here and claim this world to ourselves. Then we'll be matched against other ended apocalypses that started with us. We have to keep winning, crushing all the other worlds until we become the sole world conquering them all!"
I was surprised, deeply shocked by what she just said. She came closer to me until I could almost feel her warm breaths over my face as she added:
"We have twenty different apocalypses running here at the same time. So in brief we would fight four times until we reach the final three fighting over the final merged world."
"This…"
"We have to fight, keep fighting and conquer, not just one world but six worlds including ours. That's insane! Do you believe humans are this strong, united, and have enough preparations like other races to fight for all this time against all these foes?"
"What the hell are you doing here so close to my man?"
Just before I could say anything or express my own thoughts and doubts, I heard such earth shattering shout that made me feel the threatening sense of danger.
"Karoline…" I turned and saw my girl take out her two swords before adding in an explosive tone:
"No girl is allowed to seduce my man, not when I'm alive! I dare you to fight!"
"Your man?" That girl looked at me in doubt before looking at our current position. She came close, so close that just a mere push from her back or mine and we would literally hug each other!"
"You got it wrong babe, she isn't…"
"Don't babe me!" she roared at me before pointing her sword at me, "you'll get your share once I'm done with this b*tch!"
"B*tch?!!! How dare you…"
"Stop you two, this is a misunderstanding…"
I tried to move and stand in between the two girls before fire would erupt. But I miscalculated my step, hit her close up leg to lose my balance.
Just at this moment, all I felt was a warm pair of soft and jelly-like things touching my lips! And with that, the entire world turned into death silence.
We… Me and this girl… We just kissed in front of Karoline…
"You… I hate you!!!" Just before I could free myself from this forced kiss, Karoline's voice that shattered my heart rang in my ears. I tried to push myself away from this girl to go and catch up with Karoline, but again I felt strangely soft things underneath my two hands.
"You…" a low roaring voice came from this girl while her azure red eyes glared in a threatening way, "what do you think yourself doing? Taking advantage of me?"
"N… No, I won't dare to do that," even when I said this, my instinct drove me to squeeze softly before pushing myself away. She didn't miss this slight move from me, and I didn't know what I should do now.
"Stop right there," just before I could move a finger, she jumped and stopped in front of my path, "you deserve this as your punishment. I won't move aside until this girl is a thousand miles away!"
"F*ck you!" I instantly roared before controlling my entire chariot. Unluckily Karoline was already out of my chariot, so my plan to trap her inside and go to talk to her failed.
If that failed, then I could just move my chariot after her! I didn't need to go out and run on foot to catch up with her. "Just watch and learn," just that man from the higher ups Yonker used to say to me, I repeated his signature words to this azured eyes girl.
"You… already spoke with the ones behind the system?!!"
"Not now!" It wasn't time to speak about this again. I had to catch up with my girl and correct this misunderstanding with her.
"Wait! Just listen to me!!" I tried to shout when I spotted her just on top of that pit. She was moving better than any agile monster I ever saw! Girl… Just stop and listen please.
"Stay away from me, cheater," she shouted and I could hear her tone shaking with her cries. Just hearing her like that smashed my heart in the most violent way.
"I'm not a cheater!" I tried to defend myself but her next words left me speechless for a while.
"I saw you two standing so close and acting as lovey dovey! You are a bad man Hye! A womaniser! I never expected you to be like this, never! I hate you."
I turned to look at that girl who shrugged and turned her back to me. As she knew she couldn't stop me from catching up with her, she seemed to stand silent and seemingly enjoying this show.
"Just wait," As Karoline didn't listen to my words, I had to stop her from running first and explain everything later on to her.
Just before I could reach my rope to jump off the racing up chariot, she shouted in threatening tone:
"If you dared to come near me, I swear I'll fight you to death! Stay the f*ck out of my life, cheater."
I froze in my place, not knowing what I should do.
"Girls are like cats, once stirred up they won't stop hurting you with their claws. The only way is to let her go to calm down herself. Once she is better, you can go and speak with her."
Just as I was lost, these words came as wise as f*ck. I turned to that girl and couldn't help but take a deep breath.
And with it, I stopped the movement of my chariot. Who was better than a girl to understand the mindset of another? Especially in such a totally alien situation I never faced before?
I didn't do anything wrong at all! That kiss was a mistake, nothing more. I didn't even intend to do anything to this girl! She wasn't my type to begin with, besides she was dangerous, far more dangerous than even my jumper!
Helplessly like that I watched my girl running away until she vanished off my sight. She went all the way outside the city, and vanished in the horizon of ruins.
"Come forth," even if she said to leave her alone, I wouldn't dare to leave her unguarded. I summoned a dozen of my soulers before giving them one simple instruction:
"Protect her with your lives."
They nodded and moved fast with their smoke.
"A true man indeed," that girl said in mockery, "but that's for her. What about what you did with me? How are you going to declare your responsibility towards what you did?"
And with her words, I turned with pure rage, almost this close from going all out and killing this chick.
213 The Deal
"I didn't do anything to you," I said.
"Yes, I can clearly see that," she slowly touched her lips as if it was the first time for her to feel them. Then she crossed her arms in front of her chest, slowly squeezing the two small bulges there without any shyness at all.
"You…" I wanted to curse and shout but couldn't. Her smile and then laugh that followed made me decide to drop this matter as a whole.
"Anyway, let's speak again about what we were talking about before…" I paused when I recalled that moment. Karoline's presence came as a surprise to me.
She seemed to grow anxious after hearing the sounds of the clash between me and this chick. What bad luck!
"Are you planning to change the subject and let me forget about what you did?" she shook her head before adding, "babe, I won't leave your side no matter what."
"Don't babe me!" I instantly bellowed back and she only chuckled, seemingly enjoying this awkward situation with me.
And she laughed.
"Anyway, I wanted to tell you that I already have a plan that will change our chances in such a situation," I said, totally ignoring her teasing and annoying comments.
I always felt freed whenever I sent that jumper far away. Yet at this moment I knew I had one more person I'd pray to send away like that jumper to enjoy my peace of mind.
"A plan? From someone who never knew anything about what was really happening to us here?" she snorted and said in mockery but I wasn't fazed with what she said.
"It doesn't matter what I know and what I don't," I calmly said with confidence, "in any situation, our weaknesses will always be the deciding factor of victory and defeat."
"And you can solve our weaknesses by yourself?" she lightly laughed, "tell me Hye, do you know how to solve the problem of our race's obvious physical weakness? Our lack of support and good preparation before the apocalypse?"
"This isn't the main problem," I shook my head and she snorted in return.
"Yes, these aren't problems at all," she said in mockery, "fighting against other races with the strength and experience difference isn't a problem at all… Yes, I believe you, truly I am."
"It's not the main issue we have," I didn't change my mind by her words.
"I really wanted to know what really is the main problem aside from these," she said in a challenging tone.
"We have one big problem that needs to be solved… The lack of communication," I said, "you must have watched my broadcast before, the one where I explained a few things and tried to spread what I saw as must to know basic intel about the apocalypse to all humans."
She froze for a few seconds, thinking deeply about what I said. Despite the fact that she acted shamelessly and in such an annoying manner, she acted seriously when I said my piece.
"So you are saying that you have a way to solve this problem?" she asked before adding, "and you plan to use this as a main way to teach humans, leading them from far away and trying to make up for our disadvantages here?"
"That's my plan," I said.
"It's a good plan indeed," she nodded, "but you need to gather lots of outstanding humans to be able to really make a difference."
Her face became more serious as she added:
"But we already lack such calibre of people. And that will force us back to the main problems I just mentioned."
"Who said I'll only use humans to solve this problem?" I said with a smile that wasn't like one.
I knew all along that in such a stage of the apocalypse, humans didn't have any outstanding figures. Of course there were many good people fighting and even leading others to survive and fight back, but I needed people special like myself, the jumper, and this chick here.
People like my team members weren't enough. They lacked lots in many fields. Just thinking about how they reacted back when I was fighting that illusionist archlord and how the jumper did was enough proof of how far they were from the standard I was looking for.
And this chick here seemed to share with me what I was thinking about.
"You are planning to use other races? Come on! Who in their right minds would go out of the already set plan to crush us, betray their races and come to help us?"
I looked at her without answering. If I thought about this point in such a way then I wouldn't have done anything at all.
I already worked against other races, planting a deep wedge between their forces. Right now I was toying with the Selvators and Berserkers. At some point I'd keep one closer to me than the other.
That would help to make them more dependable on me over the course of the apocalypse. They wouldn't accept helping humans without having something worthy in return to gain from me for this.
That was my role, the one I played so far in such a good way till now. I had already forced the two races to train my humans in camps, trying to deliver their experience to them.
This wouldn't be compared to the long years of preparations these races had since their young ages for this apocalypse. But at least it would serve to shorten such a gap.
It was a big move in my opinion. Even someone like this chick here couldn't think about doing this. She thought this step was an impossible feat, not someone I already did a long time ago!
And this was only the first step. When I'd finish establishing the broadcast station, I'd start phase two of my plan.
I would try to force teaching humans scattered all around me using the elites of these two races. One race was enough actually, but having two was just a bonus I'd never reject.
"Do you have a way to do that?!!" She looked at me in shock, and I just kept my silence towards this point.
"The main issue isn't about doing this or not, but about if we can really establish a general communication system between humans," I seriously said, "after all this feat is far more impossible than convincing other races to help us."
"This much?!" she seemed to not realise how hard it was, "can't we just try and use the system over and establish this system?"
"It can't be done this way," I shook my head, "I already tried many solutions but I couldn't find any solution but one."
"Then there is a solution already," she sighed, "how come you say this is an impossible feat?"
"Because it's a very, very long quest," I slowly said before adding my own guesses, "and I bet this quest is just related to the big war going between our universe and that hostile one."
"What?!!!" she jumped while shouting in shock, "you can't be serious!"
"I can't say this for sure, but I have my own doubts," I said before adding, "so we need lots and lots of people, and not only anyone."
"We need armies of elites," she said with wide opened eyes, "and even if we got them, we wouldn't be able to survive there! I heard rumours about how brutal these wars are! I just hope you are wrong, really."
"Me too," I shrugged, "but we have to prepare for the worst. Anyway, from now on you are going to serve under me."
"What the f*ck?!!!" she bellowed in rage before adding in explosive words, "you are nothing! How come a loser like you can be my boss? I serve no one! And you better serve under me."
"Bullshit," I shortly laughed, "you are the one who lost against that bastard, not only once but ninety-nine times."
"It's your claims, nothing backing it up."
"My energy that came from you is enough proof."
"Then that proves I'm superior than you," she nodded to herself as if she was agreeing on this nonsense, "after all without me you won't exist, without my powers you won't be here."
"You really have thick skin and an iron cladded face! One who lost ninety-nine times has such ambitions to rule over me… Humph!"
"You…"
"Let me tell you this as a sincere advice," I turned up my face, putting on that businessman face that I used to show to Fang or Wryly, "we met at this point of time when I'm desperate to find special people like yourself. But if you missed this chance, bidded your time long enough for me to find the special people I need, then you won't have this kind of offer again."
"An offer to be a slave to you?" she said it in a way that made me want to punch her in the face.
"I'm not a slave merchant! I'm asking you to fight under my banner and follow my orders."
"It's a slave deal, forget it I won't sell this body for you like this."
This chick… she waved her long hair using both her arms before releasing it again. Did she think I was after her body? Come on! Be serious please!
"I have a better offer then," she said, "why not work together? No strings attached between the two of us."
"What if I have to go into a brutal war and you don't show up?" I said one of the many scenarios that popped up in my mind, "or when time came to go for that insane quest and participate in that big war between the two universes, you suddenly backed down and refused to go?"
"Then we can make a contract between each other," she seemed to be prepared for my objections, "by it I'm obliged to help you in any big wars and fights, ones that can affect the fate of our humankind. In return to that, I retain all the rights to do whatever I want at other times based on my interest."
Frankly it wasn't a bad deal. But I had to show a little refusal in front of her. After bargaining for half an hour, I finally gave in and declared my agreement.
When I revised the contract, I found that her name was Hilary. I signed it before it turned into wisps of light.
"Now you are free to do whatever you want," I tiredly waved my hand to let her vanish from my sight. However, unlike what I expected, she showed a strange gaze as she started looking around.
"It's such a fine piece of war chariot you have here," she said and without any permission, she started to roam and examine each corner of my chariot.
I looked at her before deciding to let her do whatever she wanted. After all, my chariot was acting like a mobile home for everyone in my team. And now she was on my team.
"Come," before she would go to the lower floors, I stopped her as I added, "let's add each other as friends. It's easier to keep in touch this way."
"Cool," the look of question on her face turned into a smile of content before we added each other as friends. After I did that, it was time to look for that foolish jumper.
That dude sucked in the single mission I gave to him. I just gave him one mission, and he failed terribly in it. And that led into a cascade of events, leading to the bitter end of turning my sweetie against me.
The only thing that calmed me a little was the deal I made with Hilary. At least I got what I wanted at the end. I still needed to speak with her in detail about her future plans, her current forces, and how she intended to fight in this version of apocalypse.
Of course I wouldn't accept half assed solutions from her. I had big dreams and currently my forces were astonishingly strong against any enemy no matter what.
But I also realised that I was standing in front of a turning point in my path. My entire advantage would be jeopardised if I didn't make the right decisions from now on.
I only gained such an advantage because it was the early stages of the apocalypse. The other races still didn't get strong enough, and didn't bring in their entire forces.
But when the worlds would merge together, and after a few quests from now, this advantage of mine would be greatly threatened.
Why? You might ask and I'd give you one simple answer; cultivation!
214 I'm From Illinois
Cultivation might seem like a luxurious term to any human, especially at such an early stage as we have now.
Compared to other races, humans had long forgotten the heritage of cultivation. I once read through the records that the heritage of cultivation ceased to exist at some point in ancient human history.
But prior to that, talking about a few thousand years before the time of the apocalypse, it was rumoured that humans knew cultivation in many ancient civilisations across the planet.
Some even linked these with the gods we currently had for the human race. After many attempts to revive this heritage, few people managed to discover a secret way to start long forgotten human cultivation.
But to be honest, the records were void of anything talking about how to cultivate. Also the records of the old man and the stories he told me before were all empty of such info.
Damn! The only possible way to have cultivation was by the direct teachings of the other races. It was something forbidden in their civilisations, something that even I had a great doubt of being able to have.
But who knew, I might end up having something my allied races would pay anything to get.
As for my bones, I didn't try to let others merge with them. I might try this on my teammates first. But I held little hope towards its success.
[Where the hell are you?]
I sent this message to the jumper while leaning on the side of my chariot. I was inside the city, which still was bustling with my forces' activity to repair its walls.
[Still tracking that girl, why?]
[You are an asshole!]
[Do you want to die?]
[That girl… That simple task I gave you… You failed in it!]
[Stop fooling with me, I have no time to waste on such jokes]
[That girl came to me and we just talked, fought, and became allies at the end] I sent a brief of everything that happened, of course missing the awkward kiss moment, [Come and let's talk later]
[Stop joking! That girl is standing half a mile away, surrounded with many scouts of the Berserkers]
[Just let them be, she is fake]
[What?!!]
[Just retreat, I'm waiting you at Albany city]
[Are you sure?]
[Just do what I say, idiot]
[Wait until I find you!]
[She is the one who said this, not me]
[Wait until I find her!]
I closed the chat with him while trying to resist my urge to laugh. At this point, Hilary just appeared from the stairs, with an astonished look over her face.
What? Did she misheard me speaking with that bastard or what?
"You really have a fine piece of art here," she said with sparkling eyes, "if I were you, I'd try to keep this beauty as safe as possible."
"She is my war ride," I shrugged, "nothing can harm her anyway."
"It's tough, but you need to keep an eye on the one you stole from him."
"I didn't steal it!" I glared at her and she gave me a look filled with astonishment before laughing.
"Come on! Everything down there points towards dragons… Don't tell me one crazy greedy dragon gave it to you with no hard feelings."
"That's what happened, don't tell me you were with us that day?"
I faked an innocent look, one that didn't fool her. "Alright big man with secrets, keep them hidden inside your heart."
She turned to look at the city before adding in obvious envy, "you also got such a marvel out of thin air. I'm sure that dragon bastard died out of frustration when you got to his city."
"Don't tell me you don't have yours yet," I showed up at her and she simply harrumphed.
"This city isn't something that can be bought with money. You need to have backing, real backing to have such a marvel."
"I'm enough as a backing," I showed off again and she rolled up her eyes.
"Boys and their big thing…" she intentionally paused, making me mistake her words for something else, "called ego… What? Why are you giving me such a weird look?"
"Nothing," that girl… she did it on purpose! "Tell me more about your forces and territory."
"Oh, trying to know how valuable your new girl is?" she winked and acted in a way that reminded me of Angelica out of nowhere. I looked in serious way to her while she raised both hands in the air, saying in helpless tone:
"I'm all innocent here, after all I wasn't the one to force a kiss or shove my hands over…"
She pointed at her two small bulgings at her chest and that made me cough.
"Girl, do you want me dead or what? I already have a girl," I said while trying to jump over the subject. But she was faster to say:
"As I saw it, your girl didn't trust you at all. You are a lone wolf now."
"I'm a human, not a wolf."
"Don't bark then like one," she chuckled and I was this close to hit her in the face.
"Stop fooling around and just answer the simple question."
"You are dead serious then," she raised her head like a pride feeling proud of her husband or something, "I have a vast territory that takes most of the Illinois state."
"Illinois? That's far from here!" As far as I knew, Illinois was in the centre of a former US country."
"It is," she nodded in confirmation, "but I chased that bastard all the way to here! And now, all his territory is left unguarded, waiting for me to take."
"Are you strong enough to take it?" This was my second question and she snorted.
"Do you think someone like me is weak? I just told you I came all the way from Illinois to here after that bastard."
"I meant your own forces, not just personal strength," I had to know more details about this point, "in fact compared to mine, I doubt any human will have such a force."
215 A Jumper And A Time Traveler
"You are delusional!" I finally managed to stir her arrogant nature, "do you think you were the only one working his as* in this damn apocalypse? My forces are so large to exceed one hundred thousand strong fighters!"
One hundred thousand… Not bad, yet not even close to my own forces that were over three hundred thousands and were increasing as we speak.
"You have a decent force," I said and she shifted her eyes away, acting as if she was saying: I know it already. "But it's still lower than mine."
"You…"
"My forces are way better, far larger than yours," I showed off, "anyway my advice to you is to not hurriedly expand there. You don't control enough to secure everything you'll gain."
"I know what I'm doing."
"Just listen," she was as stubborn as that bastard, the jumper, "if you expand in a haste and without a strong foundation, you'll end up stretching out your forces."
"I can handle any enemy no matter which race it is!"
Damn that arrogance! I looked at her and all I could see was pure challenging eyes, loudly declaring they wouldn't give in to any of my words.
"You hold your own fate within your hands," I wouldn't force her to do what she didn't want. I didn't have such power over her to do that. "But don't run at me later crying, complaining about what happened and regretting not listening to me."
"I won't do that! Never!!" as a lioness she roared and I could only sigh. Right now, this rash and stupidly stubborn version of her told me why she failed to conquer that angel.
"When are you going to return back?" I felt the need to get as far away from her as possible. What if stupidity was contagious? Damn! I already had one stupid fool by my side. Adding one wouldn't help at all.
"I won't," yet she gave me such an unexpected answer. As she waved a few strands of her long hair off her shoulders, she added: "I won't let my man face all these hardships alone."
"I don't need protection," it was my time to roar back as I added, "and I'm not your man!"
"You are as long as I said it," she acted in a weird way, "I never met a man in my life and failed to get him once I made up my mind."
"What?!!"
"What? Did you think you were the first man in my life? Come on! There is a long row before you!"
"F*ck off!"
"Yeah, I like dirty words at bed," she laughed and I didn't know what to do but to think about throwing her off my chariot.
"You b*tch! You dare to call me a fool?!!"
Just at this moment, and for the first time ever, that damn jumper appeared at the perfect moment. He came running like a sheeta, jumping off the stairs while shouting like this.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Hilary, this is my jumper," I introduced the two before retreating a few steps behind and watched the show.
I even took out one piece of meat and one liquor, and started to slowly eat and drink while amusingly watching this fiery clash.
"Oh, so you are that loser who kept trailing me," Hilary laughed and the jumper's eyes behind his mask were this close from going on fire.
"I'll kill you!"
"I dare you to do that!"
"F*cking b*tch!" He did what he threatened to do. The next moment his fist was blocked a few inches away from her face by her fist.
"Don't try to bite something you can't chew," she said in a low tone before a gale of wind appeared. The next moment I noticed her hair shining in bright azure light before a shockwave erupted all of sudden with her body as a centre.
"Damn!" The jumper was thrown like a broken kite in the wind. He fiercely landed on my chariot, stopped only by my great ballistae.
"Don't damage my toys," I said in warning.
"You are shameless! How can you stand idle like this while your girl is getting beaten up?!"
"You aren't my girl!"
"What the f*ck… Where is Karoline?" The jumper jolted on his feet while looking around, "what happened to her?"
"She… Got something wrong and now is trying to cool down," I said but that Hilary laughed shortly before saying:
"Don't listen to him… She just saw us kissing while he…" she moved her hands over her chest as if she didn't know where to place them. That b*tch! Was she trying to frame me as well with that jumper? F*ck!"
"I always knew you were a playboy!" the jumper's tone told me how enraged he was, "since day one when I watched all the beauties on your side I knew it. You are as bad as this b*tch, you two deserve each other!"
"Wait!" I shouted yet that jumper flashed fast, jumped off the chariot.
"What's wrong with that dude?" As I stood there speechless, watching him running as far away from me as possible, that distasteful tone of hers came to really make me mad.
"Go out," I simply waved my hand, and the interface of the chariot came forth. I selected her name and turned her into a hostile and unwanted person here.
The next moment something flashed and the floor of the chariot showed a strange motion. She was kicked off into the air out of the blue while she screamed as she fell to the ground.
"I'll kill you!" she screamed and her threats didn't move me at all. I was used to hearing such empty and useless threats from that jumper.
Damn! First was Karoline and then this jumper… What the hell was wrong with this Hilary?
She was a disaster! Literally disaster walking on the ground!!
[I'm going to bring Karoline back] out of nowhere, this message popped up from the jumper, [Better to have this b*tch gone before I come or else…]
216 The Channel Is Repaired
I was surprised by this sudden message. Don't tell me that dude was finally working for my good.
[I've already kicked her out of my chariot] I sent back while extending my head, watching Hilary bouncing her spear at my chariot to be stopped by my shield.
[Don't let her in until I come back]
As I closed this chat, I decided to go and have a nap. This fight ended in my victory and now I have met the girl I wanted. She wasn't exactly what I expected, slightly crazy in her head, but she was also dependable.
Besides, I got to know a lot of crucial info from her.
As I went downstairs to the second floor where the bedrooms were, I kept thinking about what she said.
It was remarkable for her to once unify the entire world. This was a big feat, something that looked legendary and quite impossible back in my time.
But the upcoming challenges against other worlds with us made this feat not worth much. I never considered this apocalypse as a pyramid shaped test. This changed everything I had in mind about this apocalypse.
I previously thought that by establishing a communication system with humans, leading them to establish strong kingdoms including mine was enough to end this apocalypse in a safe and good way.
But who knew this would mean nothing in the end? I laid my body over the bed while thinking about something.
What if I left the task to unify this world to another race? Berserkers weren't that kind of a territory and kingdom building race, but Selvators were.
I had fine relations with Fang and his backing paragon. But when I thought about the nature of our deals, I found that such a move was risky.
Selvators were a race famed with their pride in their words and honour. But would I risk the fate of everyone over such a thing? Would I risk the fate of mine over this?
Of course not! Things would change if Selvators became the mighty rulers of this world. Even after ninety-nine years of the start of this apocalypse, not a single race managed to unify the world and crush every other race.
So I knew how big such a feat was. Strength was like wine, they could both intoxicate anyone and change his nature. I wouldn't risk my future and everything I was doing for such a risky gamble.
So I had to aim to unify the entire world! Just thinking about making this feat made me feel helpless. It was really remarkable for Hilary to achieve such an impossible feat before.
But as she already did it once, she would definitely be helpful when I'd repeat what she did. Yet thinking about the future battles against other worlds left me hesitant.
"I have to find a way to make everyone cultivate," this was a must, "I also have to start thinking about my cultivation as well."
Up till now, I got absorbed in fighting and didn't have moments of peace to think about my cultivation. I wasn't rushing it for now, after all my current enemies weren't that terrifying to worry me.
But now, things have changed. I had to use every single second to my advantage. Wasting time at such early stages was like throwing away my currently hard earned advantage over other races.
And I wasn't speaking about the races in this apocalypse, but also other races at the other nineteen apocalypses as well.
"I also need intel," this was something I must have, "fighting against mysterious races and worlds without knowing their current situations is a mistake."
The first thing that popped in my mind was to ask lady green nymph about that. Yet when I recalled all the tasks I gave to her and yet to be completed, I refrained from doing so.
At this moment, it was better to wait until she finishes up our uncompleted deals before asking for anything else.
I closed my eyes and this was the last thing I thought about before sleeping. I didn't know how long I slept, but the moment I opened my eyes, I felt really refreshed.
I thought the first thing I'd see was the face of the jumper or Karoline. Yet all I saw was empty air, besides a strange message from the system.
[The repairing process of your channel is complete. You can now start operating your channel again at any moment you want]
"Repairing?!!!" I was surprised to read that. However when I thought about the all silent and calm atmosphere from my channel and gods there, I realised this was the case.
I missed all about my channel thanks to Hilary's sudden arrival. I sighed while getting up from the bed and started to stretch my body.
"I needed a shower," this was something I craved for since coming here. Yet even in this chariot, there was nowhere to have such a thing.
As for my personal needs, well… I always found some place away from others to do it.
I thought about the new city I got here. It was filled with decent buildings. I would go to one of those and have a shower later on.
But now, it was time to check over my channel. Just as I opened my channel's interface, I was met with a weird scene.
Everything in my channel was shut down! Notifications, applications, even shares, likes, and comments were closed. Damn! Just looking at my channel like this scared me.
Don't tell me my channel was shut down and I lost everything! f*ck!
Just as I opened my channel, I was relieved that all the videos were there like before. I heaved a sigh of relief when I also checked on the number of my subscribers.
"So the channel was sealed all this time or just recently?" I didn't know the answer but anyway… Let's just start over my channel again.
And just as I activated everything again, I was drowned by tons and tons of messages and notifications!
217 My Ultras
[Your channel is opened]
[All the stored up messages will be released now]
[A god notices that something is wrong with your channel]
[Growing number of gods are noticing weird things about the channel]
[Many gods are making an uproar]
[The channel is cursed and sealed]
[Many gods are in uproar!]
[A sensation is happening at many other channels]
[Some gods are calling for a move to free up your channel]
.
.
.
[One god decides to go all out and try to send you a message, bypassing that curse]
[He paid a hefty price already to send you a message plus having limited time with you in a private chat]
I stood motionless for a long half an hour while piles upon piles of stored up messages were thrown over my face.
I couldn't manage to read all of them. But from what I read I knew that the gods of my channel were loyal. Once they noticed there was something wrong in my channel, they made a ruckus enough to attract more attention to me.
Even some of them, a small part actually not exceeding one hundred in total, decided to establish a group to support my channel and do anything to save it.
I was touched by this move. They weren't obliged to do anything. Just like most of the gods in my channel, they were supposed to ignore all of this, simply change the channel and go watch others.
But this group decided to go all out and seek anything to support me. Even if the god who came to notify me about the curse didn't come from this group, I was sure he came from the noise they created.
"Thanks," I raised my head and said in an honest tone, "I really am impressed and highly value what you did for me."
[All the gods are notified by your return]
[An uproar is happening]
[Many gods are notified by your return]
[The Hye Ultras group are cheering and making a loud ruckus in the chat]
[Many gods are turning their eyes at your channel]
[The view retention rate is skyrocketing]
[Your channel is suddenly rising in trending in channel list]
[Keep doing the great job]
[One god is shouting: Hye is back!]
[Another is crying: Yeah, he is back!]
[one of the old gods is saying: At last! I was this close to give up all hopes for that]
[A newly joined god before the curse hits your channel says: Damn! I just want to find that damn god who did this to Hye]
[A group of gods are feeling annoyed! They look at the other gods making the noise and say: Shhh! You ultras are making enough noise to make this channel more worth than what it deserves!]
I looked at these messages and couldn't help but feel warm deep inside my heart. It was nice to have such an audience, especially those enthusiastic gods who created my ultras group.
Who said I didn't have any backing? These gods, this group of ultras… all of them were my backing.
Yes it wasn't as strong as the ones having deep heritage running down their families and races, but at least I wasn't out of options here.
[One of the gods asks for the promise you made before the curse]
[Many gods are looking at that god with discontent]
[Others are raising their voices and saying: We need Hye to fulfil his promise and select one of us as his sponsor]
[The gods belonging to your ultras are making a ruckus again]
[A fight is about to occur]
[You are strongly advised to take action immediately or else…]
Those damn shameless gods! Even after they abandoned me and simply changed the channel they dared to ask for this!!
Then let me teach them all a lesson…
"I once promised all of you that I'll select one to be my sponsor god," I raised my head as I added, "but in return for this I asked for something. I also gave all of you a timeline for that, a deadline that all of you failed without any exception."
[All the gods in your channel are dead silent]
[The fight that was about to erupt has stopped. Good work]
[Many gods are exchanging unpleasant gazes, silently complaining about your lack of honour]
"I'm not saying I won't do what I promised," as I hammered over their heads, it was time to give them something, "I got an extra slot that will be added after the end of this ongoing quest. But you don't expect me to just treat those who tried everything to help me with those who didn't."
[Your words left deep impression in many gods]
[Many gods are shouting with their complains]
[These gods are saying: It's not our responsibility to deal with the issues and problems of the streamers!]
[Few gods are threatening to leave your channel]
Let them f*ck off then! It was better to cleanse my channel from dirty weed from time to time.
[The gods belonging to your ultras are shouting in triumph]
[They are celebrating in front of other gods]
[The ones with annoyed expression over their faces are thinking about leaving your channel]
Bastards! At my distressed times you were the first to jump off my ship. If you wanted to leave then f*ck off, I wouldn't regret losing such useless gods.
But those who supported me with everything they had must be treated differently. I cleared my throat before adding:
"So there are two things to be done, the god who sent me a message before and helped me to solve this crisis will have a chance to meet me and speak about the conditions of taking him as a sponsor. Also the ultras group of mine will have the same chance as well. So to my group…"
I intentionally paused before grinning, "Celebrate as hard as you can. Be noisy, go crazy, do whatever you want and I'll support you all the time like you did to me before. Also don't forget to select one representative from you to meet with me. I promise I'll select one of you as my sponsor regardless of anything else."
218 A Fight Between Two Girls
[Your words made an uproar at your channel]
[Many gods are withdrawing]
[More gods are joining thanks to the ruckus your ultras and other gods are making]
[Many gods are asking to join the ultras group]
[All the eyes are now focused over this group]
[Discussion is going between the members of your ultras group]
[More gods are raising their voices, asking to join the ultras group]
.
.
.
I left the channel messages open while ignoring them. After all this was a smart move from these gods. If I decided to select one god from the ultras group, then why not join it?
Of course the gods of my ultras group wouldn't be this naive to simply accept anyone. That would help in further filtering my channel supporters.
If there was really a good and strongly backed group of gods, then my ultras group of gods wouldn't blindly reject them.
Also they wouldn't just accept anyone else. They might even ask for a high price to join their group. It was clear by the last words I said that I highly valued this group.
So forget about this chance, more chances would rise later on. Besides who knew, I might even give more authority to this group. Looking at the future, it was all gains with no loss to join this group of ultras.
Anyway, I left this mess for them to handle. As I went up, I noticed something else.
Sounds of fighting were there! And the weirdest thing came from a spot closer to my chariot.
Who dared to be this daring and come to fight just near my chariot?
As I ran to the edge of my chariot, I was surprised to see who was fighting down there!
"I'll kill you all!"
"F*ck you b*tch! I'll kill you first!"
"Leave this b*tch to me! She stole my man and dared to frame him! I'll kill you!"
"Humph, a cry girl who ran crying doesn't deserve him. Not to mention you are too weak to begin with! What exactly does he see in you? These big things up and below there? Damn! And you are the one calling me b*tch!"
"I'll kill you!"
Loud shouts like these penetrate my ear drums when I reach the edge of my chariot. Just seeing the three of them fighting down there made me want to run as far away as possible from this messy situation.
They were Hilary fighting against the co-team of the jumper and Karoline. I didn't know what happened but it was clear such a fight was going on for a time so far.
All of them had visible damage to their gears and clothes. Even their hair was dishevelled. Karoline had a superficial wound at her shoulder, something that told me the hit that caused that was so brutal.
After all, I made sure to equip my girl with something strong enough to sustain her life!
Even the jumper had a deep scratch over his mask. It seemed that it was so strong to almost cause a hole in that ugly of his.
But the one who looked better was none other than Hilary. Damn! This girl was really a monster, even against my jumper she was able to hold her ground and even cause him trouble.
Not to mention that jumper was fighting alongside Karoline! How strong exactly was this Hilary?
"Oh, the man who caused all this mess is here," just as I wanted to retreat in silence without alarming them, that bastard managed to spot me.
Who else would be but that jumper? Damn! I just wanted to go down there and smash that ugly mask off his face!
"Hye! You have to take responsibility," Hilary once spotted me shouted in such shamelessness. I felt my entire body boil with anger. Damn chick, what responsibility were you talking about? Don't tell me you got pregnant from just one kiss and simple touch!!!
"Hye! Shut that slut's mouth or I'll kill her!" Karoline screamed in rage before the two girls jumped at each other's throat.
Damn! How did things reach such a deep pit?
*Clang!*
The two swords clashed against the spear before the two separated. That bastard retreated, leaving the stage all for the two to clash as much as like.
He gave me a look from his eyes, one that told me he was standing all silent and watching what I'd do in such an awkward situation.
My girl facing such a behemoth meant one end, she would fly back! Karoline rolled up in the air before slamming heavily over the ground, leaving behind a long trail on the ground.
"Stop this madness right now!" Just seeing my girl fall on the ground like this made my heart ache. Without feeling myself I already jumped off the chariot, landing over the back of one of the dragons who were flying around my chariot.
"I already said stop!" as I saw Hilary fixed on following her spear attack with another, I roared in warning and threatening ways.
If she dared to move, then I'd be forced to do the same.
"Humph, be a man then and come down here and take responsibility for what you did to me," that chick bellowed in such shamelessness, one that made my body tremble again out of rage.
"You… I didn't do anything to you!" I shouted in a challenging tone while hitting my dragon with my foot to take me down.
As I descended, Hilary laughed in sarcasm. She raised her fingers and touched her lips in a more daring way.
"What? Do you want me to strip my armour and show off your hand marks over my body?"
This chick… "F*ck you!" I shouted in response while she snorted.
"I'd love to have that with you," this chick really knew no bounds. I didn't know if this was her nature or she was doing this on purpose, acting exactly the way Angelica just to tease Karoline.
"Hye, you have to put an end to this," at such a moment the jumper stepped forward before saying, "let me tell you what I think… You select one of the two to be your girl…"
219 The Bet Between Two Girls Over Me!
"I won't accept that!" Just before that jumper would continue his words, Hilary interrupted him, "even if he was so blind to not select me, I won't give up on him."
"Why the hell are you so fixed on my man?" Karoline was already on her feet and she seemed to know no fear at all.
She walked in a firm way towards Hilary, totally ignoring me.
"He knows why we two should be together," Hilary just said these words and I had a bad foreboding feeling in my heart, "we two already have the same kind of power running in our bodies. We are destined to be together, one way or another we will."
Damn! That's what I feared! This chick was so daring and careless to even threaten to expose our little secret.
Damn chick… don't you know any limits at all or what?
At this moment, I was the focus of all the three pairs of eyes here.
"Is that true?" The first to ask was Karoline. Just from her tone, I felt so bloody damn pain inside my heart.
I never knew that sometimes words might be more painful than swords.
"It's clear what she said is true," that bastard didn't let me have a moment of silence as he jumped in and added, "you don't deserve to be with my Karoline."
"F*ck you," I said instantly at him before turning towards Hilary, "I didn't allow you to live and work with me to cause such troubles in my life. F*ck off!"
"Humph," yet all that my words could do was to drive a smile over Hilary's face, one that told me how confident she was. "I won't let the man who touched me go to someone else."
"As if this is the first time," I said out of my frustration, "you have a long row of exs behind you."
"And you aren't better than me," she didn't show any sign of being insulted, "you gathered lots of girls around you. What? Don't give me such a look, your man here said it himself before."
I glared at the jumper who raised both hands, giving me a helpless impression that drove me crazier.
"I won't let you have my man," and as we were fighting at this moment, Karoline said in a roaring and challenging shout.
"Then let's share him," out of the blue, this chick simply said, "it won't be this insane to share the same man together. What do you think?"
"I…"
"I won't back down," Hilary said with a snort, "and if you decide to be with him, then I'll also stick like glue to the two of you. But if you have problems with sharing him, then you can leave…"
"I won't leave him!" Karoline shouted and I stood speechlessly looking at the two girls. This clash was heading towards a weird turn.
I looked at the jumper to see him backing off. That bastard… I was now sure he was behind this clash, and now he was planning to go back and watch the fun show.
That bastard… I wouldn't reveal your secret now but I would do it soon when the moment was right. I wouldn't let you escape with what you did here unscathed like you imagined.
"Then we will share him."
"He isn't a dress to be shared," Karoline replied in a firm tone. Yet all Hilary did was to laugh in a theatrical and fake way.
"Then perhaps you are afraid…"
"Afraid? Tsk, from what?" Karoline laughed in response. Weird… this conversation was heading into a weird spot.
"From me of course," Hilary crossed her arms before adding, "I can tell you have a better body than me, but girl… didn't your mom tell you that body wasn't everything man would be interested in?"
"You… Shut the hell up!" Karoline shouted while her angelic face turned all red.
"Then let's do this challenge then," I didn't know why I felt such unease from what she was going to say, "during the next year, each one of us will try his best to seduce him. The girl who manages to capture his bed will be his girl."
"You are crazy!" Karoline said before adding, "you don't value love and heart matters."
"They held no value at all," Hilary admitted with a light nod, "after all even if a loving husband stood in front of the sexiest woman in the world, he would cheat his wife no matter what! Hell, he might even leave his wife for her."
"You are a slut!"
"I don't mind any nicknames," Hilary lightly laughed, "in the end I'll be the sole victor and you'll be left in the shade crying on your miserable fate."
"Stop this madness now!" as things reached to such an extent, I had to intervene.
"No, let her be," yet unlike what I expected, Karoline was the one to stop me from speaking. I planned to tell Hilary that I like Karoline, and I don't like her! "I accept her challenge, let's see which will triumph in the end, desire or heart."
"Humph, you are betting over a losing horse girl," Hilary said in limitless confidence, "but I don't care about that. I can promise you this, if you played fair with me, then I might allow you to be with the two of us at the end."
"Screw you," Karoline said in reply and I only stood motionless between the two girls like a statue.
What the hell just happened now? Why did I feel like I was insulted in this deal?
"Bravo… it went very well indeed," just as I was in the middle of my puzzlement and shock, that damn bastard clapped and walked towards us.
"You fought so hard and in the end you ended up giving such a wolf two delicious meals to eat everyday. Damn! Why do I feel so much envy towards you now?"
Despite his words, his tone carried mockery and sarcasm. That bastard… he was making a fool of me!
"F*ck off!" I instantly replied in a harsh tone and attitude.
"What the hell is your problem?" Hilary suddenly turned towards the jumper before adding, "you are giving me wrong messages… What? Are you a men lover or what?"
220 The Quest Is Over
"M… Me?!!!" the jumper paused as he was stupefied. Damn! At this moment I just desperately wanted to see the look over his face to feel more satisfied.
Damn! If I just could remove his mask now, then this scene would be priceless! I wouldn't just let such a precious shot be thrown into my channel. I'd use one of the advertising reels I had and would turn his clip into a universe wide famed clip.
What a regret!
"Since the first moment I met you and I got a bad, a baaaaad feeling about you!" she extended her tone at the second bad word.
I wanted to laugh, but I didn't so I wouldn't let that bastard escape from this trap.
"Stop spouting bullshit!" he roared after a few moments of shocking pause. That dude… Damn! His mask just saved him from another disaster.
"I'm just saying what I'm feeling," Hilary shrugged before giving him a fist, "one day I'll know the truth. My senses never failed me ever, not even once."
"And your snake-like senses told you to target my Hye?" Karoline said in disgust, and Hilary laughed in response.
"It's every sexy girl's nature, ugly girl," she started her war of words early on, "if you are even half of me, you might have known what I'm talking about."
"Slut!"
"Ugly girl!"
"Stop it you two!" I had to interfere to stop this from snowballing again.
"She started it!!"
The two girls said it at the same time, pointing at each other like they were mirror images or something.
I shook my head while feeling I brought more trouble and headache to myself by this deal between the two. As for the jumper, I was sure he was thanking all the lucky shrine gods for giving him this chance to escape the clutches of this chick.
Wait… if the two agreed to be my girls, so didn't that consider that chick… My chick? Or what?
It seemed things wouldn't look that bad for me at all!
"Anyway," I cleared my throat, "we need to keep working over rebuilding the damages underneath the walls. After that we will scatter and go for different paths."
"That's not possible!" Hilary said with a laugh, "I won't let you escape my eyes even for one second."
"This can't be done," I firmly shook my head, "I have to send you two away…"
"See?" Without waiting for me to finish up my words, Hilary turned towards Karoline and pointed at her in mockery, "you made him hate being with us!"
"You…"
"It's not related to her," I had to intervene again. Why did I feel like my role here turned out to be a firefighter or something? "I have a big plan and I need all my top fighters to lead their armies and do certain tasks here."
"I don't have an army," Hilary raised her hand like a girl in a class, "so I won't be able to do my tasks."
"Easy," before Karoline would say anything and pick a fight again with her, I said with a calm smile over my face, "I have lots of forces being trained as we speak. In less than a day, an army will be gathered here for you to lead."
"You…" Hilary's eyes widened as I laughed on her funny response.
What is my chick? Did you think I was fluking when I said my army was much bigger than yours or what?
"Are you going to bring them from the Selvators?" the jumper asked, "as far as I can recall, we brought everything from them."
"You made the Selvators train humans?!!!" This time the shock in Hilary's voice was genuine.
But I ignored her comment.
"Not them, I'll ask Wryly to send the people he is training to here."
"That Berserkers?!" it was time for the jumper to be surprised, "is he also training troops for us?"
"You also made a deal with Berserkers to help us?!!!"
Again I ignored such silly comments from these two. At some point, I felt that jumper got cloned and sent his clone in the form of my chick.
"Just wait for a day here before the forces arrive," I said before turning around and motioning to my girl, Karoline, to come to my side as usual.
Yet the first to react wasn't her but Hilary. Just like a Curasee race forcing himself into anyone's body, she stuck herself to my side while leaving little space for Karoline.
"What?" as Karoline stopped just a few inches away from me, her eyes glared in a dangerous and threatening way.
Damn! Another fight was simply going to happen like this.
"Forget it," I pushed Hilary away. Yet at this brief moment of contact, all I felt was a soft body that made me interested in touching more.
"Ahem," I cleared my throat, driving away such useless thoughts, "I'll go and arrange things. As for you two… Just go and repair the walls. Don't fight, I forbid you from this."
"Sure my man, I'll do anything for your sake," Hilary hurriedly said and Karoline was left silent, only glaring at Hilary in anger.
"What about me?" The jumper stopped me with his question.
"You…"
Just before I could say anything to him, a weird message popped up in front of me and everyone else.
[The second main quest is finally over]
[Please stay put and wait for judging your entire progress in the quest]
What the hell… did a week just pass? I didn't feel it!
When I thought about it, that fight against that illusionist archlord took more time than it needed.
As for the last battle against that dragon archlord… It seemed so flashy but it also took more time as well.
I thought again about my performance in this quest before feeling reassured. I got lots of castles and emblems to even count! I also gained many gates, and also this city.
As for the city I conquered, I doubted I had more than three. After all the cities I conquered gave up for my deal with the two allied races.
221 Ranked Fifth
I didn't regret doing this even now. I gained lots more than what the system would give me. At least just having Hilary on my side didn't cause me any problems to recruit an army for her with just one word.
[Bro, I need half of the camps you are training for me] as the system was taking its time to calculate the end result of my performance. [Please send them to Albany city, the one with big mega gate]
[Sure brother, I'll send the word to those working with them] he sent before adding, [I might take a few hours to gather them before sending them to you. They will take half a day to arrive]
[Thanks bro] I sent before closing the chat and waited for the final result from the system.
As soon as I closed the chat with him, the system finished its calculations and sent me these messages.
[Your score is now ready]
[Your actions in this quest are outstanding!]
[Congratulations! You already conquered three cities at the end of the quest]
[Congratulations! You conquered twenty-three cities throughout the course of the quest]
[Your final evaluation is: Exceptional]
[You have a ranking over the entire world in this quest]
[Congratulations! Your ranking is fifth over the entire world in this quest]
[Your rewards are being calculated]
[Please wait for more instructions]
Fifth? That was something new for me. I never thought there was a ranking over the entire world in these quests.
It was good that the system considered my efforts to claim lots of cities. Even though I gave up on many things, I didn't end up losing my efforts.
"I got such a bad evaluation!! F*ck!!!" Just as I waited, I heard this loud shout and curse just metres beside me.
It was that chick. I looked at her without feeling any sympathy towards her.
"What? Did you run all the way after that dragon while ignoring the quest?" I asked in mockery and she snorted.
"Loser," Karoline laughed at her while the jumper only shook his head.
"I already spread out my forces to get control over many cities," she bellowed back, "but I ended up coming in sixth place! There is some bastard who kicked me out of the top five!!"
I looked at her as I blinked twice before praying the final list of this quest ranking wouldn't come up at all.
"You got screwed up with someone else, hahaha, you deserve that b*tch!" Karoline didn't shut her mouth up. Luckily for me, there was no final list to be displayed.
"You should have not come here. You should have stayed back there," even the jumper spoke.
"Don't worry," yet Hilary said without care, "a list will be provided after the end of the reward assessment. I'll see who is that bastard to get my own place this time and seek my revenge from him."
Damn! Why the hell did I feel this cold at my back? I looked at my chariot… yes, it was wise to move away now and fake my ignorance about any of this.
"Where are you going?"
Damn you jumper! Why the hell did you speak right now?!!
"Are you going to rest?" Karoline asked, and her face turned all red as she said this.
"Oh, resting is the best thing," Hilary jumped at this chance and held my arm, "let's have a rest babe, let's all have a rest together."
"I won't go to rest," I freed my arm from her, "I'm going to have a walk around the city."
"Then I'll come with you," Karoline said and I just wanted to shout at her to shut up.
"I'll come as well," as expected! Hilary wouldn't let Karoline have any moment of peace with me without butting in.
"You three have things to do," I said while starting to walk again, "just go and do whatever you have to do."
"Something is fishy about you," just before I could walk one metre away, that bastard said this, "I bet my mask that you are hiding something."
"Hiding? What the hell man!"
"Yes, he is," Karoline looked at me then at Hilary, "are you two…"
Babe! Not even you!
"I'd love to say we are dating behind your back but I have nothing to do with that," Hilary raised both hands in the air before she jumped in the air, "damn! The final rewards are here. Let me check that bastard who took my place!"
I moved my eyes around like a thief who got busted in theft. I didn't know what this ranking thing was all about.
Yet the next streak of messages just told me the reason why Hilary acted in such a way.
[Your rewards are here]
[You gained one free slot to receive god blessing]
[You gained ten million coins]
[You gained five dark gold gears with stats enough to rival the common black graded items]
[You gained the right to turn any building to one of the special building for free]
[You can check the list of special buildings later on]
[You got the fifth rank over the entire world]
[You are now considered one of the top five, the best candidates to reach paragon of your race at the end of the apocalypse]
[You got a right to participate in the top five tournament one month from now between you and the other four paragon candidates]
[You got the right to select one city from your territory and appoint it as your base]
[Having a base city will allow your forces to gain extra bonus stats whenever they are inside your territory]
[Your forces must be in a linked territory with your base city to gain such boost]
[You gained the right to check the final list of top hundred winners]
[Only top ten can enjoy such treatment]
[You can select anyone and add as a friend if you want]
Just as I read these messages, I heard a blood curdling shout from my side. Damn! That chick must have checked the list and read my name there.
222 The Unfair Punishment
"It was… You!!!" she glared at me in deep shock. Her body trembled violently and I didn't know if she was acting like this out of shock or rage.
"You are mine, mine!" she opened her fist and closed it while giving me such a vicious smile.
Damn! How the hell did I end up with such a girl? Ok chick, if you wanted to challenge me then fine… I'd show you how a true man would honour your beauty and body later on.
Just before I could say anything, another piece of bad news came glaring in front of my eyes.
[You have scored higher than anyone else in your race in this quest]
[Three paragon candidates in this quest paid a price and used their entire reward for implementing a punishment over you]
What the f*ck…?!!! I didn't need to ask about the identity of those races. Of course they would be those damn Dragons, Succubi, and useless Illusionists!
Punishment? I got punished when I got such success in this quest? What logic was in that option? Damn you system, shame on you!
[You and your forces are prohibited from participating in two quests starting from now]
[See you in quest five]
"F*ck you!" I shouted in a weird way, a way that made everyone look at me in doubt and surprise.
"Are you crushing the sky or the suns?" The jumper tried to be funny, but dude… "Just stay the hell away from me at this moment!" I roared at him like a wounded beast.
"Babe… I'm not that mad at you getting this rank from me… After you what are you but my man?"
"Shut up!" I shouted at her before turning around, "go and do what I told you to do. Stop contacting me for now…"
"Hye…" Karoline tried to speak but I gave her a warning gaze to shut her up.
Damn! A punishment for two quests? What the f*ck those higher ups behind the system thought when they created such a thing?
I thought to abandon my share of rewards from this quest to punish them back. But just as I felt the cold breeze of air on top of my flying away chariot, I started to slowly calm down.
"This won't do," I shook my head while feeling more frustrated than before. If I just got a way to pay them back then I might feel a little better. But now? I had no idea about what to do to get my revenge.
Besides, I always thought about paying them back double! Triple! Or more times than that!
"If I did that… Then it will be like burning my own house to kill thieves," I took in a deep breath before slamming my fist against the side of my chariot, "think… Think you stupid… What can I do to turn this around?"
You might ask why I was acting this mad. First of all, I wasn't alone in this! If I was only punished then it wouldn't matter much.
But I got punished with my entire force. So even thinking about sending my forces around to complete the quests wouldn't matter.
The first impact over me and my forces would be the sealing of our stats. We only got chances to upgrade our stats when the quest started.
But now? I had enough stat points for myself and my top elites. But what about the grand army I led? What about the more humans I planned to add to my forces during this time?
Two f*Cking quests!!! Man! That was brutal punishment!
If I thought about laying low and trying to fight monsters during the quest, then my forces wouldn't be able to get anything from these monsters.
As long as there were quests running, anyone could claim monster materials easily. But if we were excluded from the quests… then doing this wouldn't gain us anything in return.
So even trying to push my forces to gather materials and sell them in exchange for buying as many stat points as possible wouldn't do.
The option I thought about was to use my coins and buy stat points for them. But even with my coins, I wouldn't be able to buy even enough stats to cover up the needs of one tenth of my current forces.
So this wouldn't do…
"Just calm down… there must be a way out of this…" I started to slowly regulate my breathing, trying my best to chill out.
Just after half an hour, the first idea flashed in my mind.
"Damn! I totally forgot about that!" I opened my inventory before finding two things lying there.
I felt they got dust over the long period I left them there.
"So I got one solution… But I must think about more options as well," even when I found a way to solve this stat problem, I didn't stop thinking.
"According to the general order of the quests, the next one will be a test from the apocalypse for anyone holding any city…" I muttered to myself before thinking about the current situation in this area.
"The punishment didn't say anything about me sitting around or preventing me from doing anything," this was the first thought that popped up in my mind.
My earlier plan here was built over my extension to the East. the entire land East from here to the ocean must fall within my reach. So what if I couldn't participate in the upcoming quests?
I'd shift my place from a player in the apocalypse into an agent to the apocalypse itself. I'd act as monsters, attacking cities and claiming the lands I needed.
Plus that chick told me that the dragon archlord left behind vast areas of lands unclaimed. It would be a big loss to leave this area untouched like that.
What I feared was the intervention and limitation from the system. For example, the system might prevent me from dominating any castle or emblem, or even taking control of entire cities.
If that happened, then I'd let my allies step in and help me in that. As for the reward for this, hmm… Didn't that dragon archlord leave behind vast territory? Why wouldn't we work together and divide it in between ourselves?
223 My Counterattack
I knew that paragons already assigned the world over their top people. So Wryly and Fang were limited in action in this region. That central region would fall under the jurisdiction of other archlords.
But that didn't mean they couldn't fight in between themselves. I still recalled how Wryly got promoted and became an archlord thanks to his gains from our little deal.
Also Fang once told me that in each race there were many paragons, five, competing over the control over their entire race with all their might.
So it would be natural for these two to work and expand their territories outside their assigned borders. Fang wasn't a problem. That dude was ambitious, not lesser than me.
But Wryly… that dude was all focused on fighting. Without a good fight, he wouldn't be excited to have part in this.
I slightly thought about this situation. Would I lie to Wryly to lure him in? Or should I first work with Fang, gather intel about this region before deciding what to say to Wryly?
In fact lying was a big problem as if we went there and faced no strong foe, Wryly would lose his trust in me. It would be a gamble to just lie. It was better to gather intel first before doing anything else.
As for the fourth quest, it would be a task to expand the territory of each city lord over other cities.
This was a simple brutal fight between the city lords in each region. I wouldn't care about this stage. After all, I'd either go and crush more cities myself, or use the help of my allies and let them control the cities I'd conquer.
As for my share, I'd safely secure it using a contract. But should I aim towards gaining territory or gaining camps?
I had to choose between these two goals. After I thought for another half an hour, I decided to aim for both.
The East region from here would be totally covered by my forces. I wouldn't let that area fall under anyone's control but me.
So I'd aim to gain territory here. As for the central part of the continent, if I gained control over an area adjacent to here then I'd simply claim it.
But if the forces expanded far out of my ability to defend, then it would be better to replace these cities and towns with training camps.
After all these camps would serve me best in the near future. What was the benefit of having vast territory and a small army to defend it?
It was better to have a concentrated base with a strong and grand army, well trained humans who would serve as my strongest sword when the fifth quest kicked in.
That quest would mostly be about a general test of resilience and witts. I had a belief that it would be a mix between monster invasion plus attacks from other city lords and big figures.
It would be an open war, where defence and offence would meet together as a single test for any war lord.
I wouldn't need all my forces to come with me to the central lands. The East mission would come first. After claiming the entire East part of this continent, I'd work second over the important human arsenal weapons upgrade.
That would take a long time, and a hellish amount of resources and intelligent minds. I hoped that by the arrival of the fifth quest, my forces would be partly equipped with our firearm systems, changing the entire course of this war.
But when heading West, I'd rather prefer to take part of my forces. First I'd need forces to keep defending here. Building defensive points, making sure cities were well secured, plus the trials over the upgraded human firearm weapons systems.
In addition to that, I'd need them also for the other mission. I looked again at my inventory while smiling in confidence.
"Trying to punish me so hard to put an end to my clear progress? Humph! You are simply daydreaming."
I opened the friendliest of mine, selected Fang and simply sent to him:
[Are you satisfied with the results of this quest?]
[It's indeed refreshing to have more than what I wanted]
I first started with such a greeting. My relationship with him hasn't been that good lately. So I had to start by reminding him of my worth and value in his current progress.
[Tell me, do you think the next quest will be limited to here?]
[Of course!]
His answer was short, swift, and firm.
[What about playing outside these limiting rules?]
[What do you mean?]
[Where are you now?]
[Not that far from you] he paused before adding, [I heard you got yourself a nice city from the clutches of Dragons and Berserkers. Nice job by the way]
Aha! Even if we have our little differences in the last deal, he was still focused over the big picture.
It seemed what I did to Wryly came to serve his goals. It also was a clear declaration that I didn't totally support those Berserkers over Selvators. I was just simply working for my own good.
[I just did what's best for me] I sent to him before adding, [I want to aim towards the West. That dragon archlord that died left behind a vast area unclaimed. But I lack intel about the other contenders in the area]
[I already heard the two dragon paragons themselves sent envoys to claim this region before the third quest would end]
As expected! But were they the only enemies we would face?
[Archlords?]
[It's yet unclear who will come, but at least the two will be archlords]
[If they are archlords, then we can crush them]
[We?]
[I want to form a coalition army between our three forces and split the spoils together] I didn't hide my thoughts from him. Fang was smart, if he suspected I was doing something from his back he would instantly react differently towards me.
[I heard weird rumours by the way]
Rumours? One thing popped into my mind once I read his message.
224 The Coalition Army
[It's true]
[Then you can't take part in the upcoming fights]
[Who said?]
[Aren't you prevented from taking part in the quests?]
[Dude… Taking part is something, and causing chaos is another]
He paused for a long five minutes, seemingly chatting with his paragon. Fang was smart. He would guess partially what I was seeking here.
[So you want to form this army and go to hit that central region in the West, right?]
[Bingo]
[But what if you can't claim anything there? Won't that end up with great losses for you?]
Expected! He or his paragon or both must have guessed my current plans.
[Contracts exist to solve such issues]
[The same way of payment then?]
[I'll retain my right to claim one fifth of the region we conquer] I sent to him, [According to my choice, anything I select will fall under my control after the end of quest four]
[Twenty percent? Hmm… That leaves eighty percent unclaimed]
[I'll trade these with training camps from the two of you]
[You plan to bring that stinky brat with you?]
[I told you already, I'm aiming to form a coalition army]
[Can't the two of us just do it?]
I thought about it already. It would be possible indeed, yet too risky.
[The damage we'll get will be heavy, besides the gains will surely be lower]
[I understand] he seemed to know how to weigh the risks of this operation, [I'll prepare myself to move out in two days. The next quest will start in seven days, but more players will be there if we delayed to this extent]
[More players?]
[I heard Dragons aren't the only race interested in this empty zone]
[Berserkers are with us]
[Don't group the entire race in one basket. Wryly is just a recently promoted archlord, with no prestige or weigh in the world of archlords of his race]
I got what he wanted to say here. It seemed other archlords of the Berserkers didn't put Wryly in their eyes at all.
[That's also true about Selvators?]
[It's true about any race]
So a big fight was destined to happen. If so then…
[Is it better to be the early forces to be there?]
[What do you mean?]
[You said that the dragon archlords plan to take over this area by the end of quest three, right?]
[It's true]
[Then it's better to let the weaklings fight first, exhaust their forces before we step in]
[Hmm… But this might also be the same plan of these dragons. Don't forget that having castles and emblems will help any defensive forces]
[I know, but we don't have enough forces to contend against them]
[Who said?]
[You] I sent before adding, [You just told me that many forces will be in play in that region. Even in your race, you won't be the only one fighting to dominate there. So that means less forces and lots of enemies]
[I got your point but I recommend against delaying too much]
[Don't worry] I said, [We'll hit there before the third quest starts]
[Five days then?]
[Let's meet by then] I sent before adding, [as for the rest of the cities and regions nearby, we can start taking these by now]
[I see… I'll send a contract over then]
I knew waiting too long would be risky as going too early. I had to time our arrival right. The best would be just before the start of the third quest.
Third quest would set loose lots of monsters in swarms at all cities and towns. If we tried to march through this quest, we would face great trouble fighting those monster herds.
So the best way was to have a safe path made out of cities and towns under our control, linking that central region with here. This would make our forces more secure.
Other races would also know that. So they would rashly try to control that region early on. I wouldn't hurry and let them fight among themselves first, then finally appear with a grand army and divide that region with those dragons.
Then the entire third quest would turn from a fight against monsters into a fight between the two forces of us.
Plus there was also another reason behind my decision; that chick's forces.
Her forces were already in that region. I'd ask her to come and plan the movement of her forces on the map before giving out orders.
They had to control regions closer to my side, so when I arrived, we would work together easily to control more regions.
Of course she wasn't considered part of my forces, yet I never thought about giving the conquered regions to her without a contract.
And from what I knew about her, she wouldn't agree to sign such a contract easily. If she agreed, then she would solve a big issue for me. Trusting these regions to humans was much better than other races.
But if she refused, then I'd only have to trust my share with Selvators and Berserkers by contracts.
As I was lost in my thoughts, the contract came. I read it carefully before signing it. By this, my deal with Fang was done smoothly.
I sent it to Wryly and explained the situation briefly to him. As expected! Once he knew there was a big fight going to happen against monsters and other races, he was excited to jump in.
But the question he asked made me pause my negotiations for him. I had to return to Fang to solve this matter before anything else.
[What about this eighty percent of land? How will we share it between my people and Fang's?] that was what Wryly asked.
From what I knew about Fang, that dude would simply prefer to let things go with a strength rule. The more capable would take more than the other one.
Of course this would make sense, but for Wryly he wouldn't settle on that. As for me, the last thing I'd hoped to see was an internal fight and skirmishes between the forces of my allied coalition army.
I had to solve this problem with an idea that would serve both sides' interests and also mine.