467 I'll Chop An Arm Off Them In Return
"These two? Great! I never felt anything special about any of them anyway."
That jerk! He was too smart to get my real intentions by dealing with these two. Did he want me to lose such a good ally? Damn cold bastard!
"That's not right," I shook my head, "we will have to help them."
"Why are you acting this kind?" The jumper kept faking his misunderstanding. That jerk… I really wanted him to get better but he returned worse than before!
"If I wasn't getting much from them already, I'd say you've a good point here," I glared at him, "but you are well aware of their true value. Don't think I'd let such a benefit slip away like this."
"Ok," the jumper shrugged, "but if they are targeting them, then the benefits we are getting will decrease, right?"
I decided to ignore him. That jerk was just circling around the same thing despite knowing how valuable these two were.
"Tell me, in your race laws, Fang is in the wrong?" I turned my attention fully towards Isac, and he seemed to struggle to give an answer.
"What exactly did he do?"
"He fell for that bastard's trap," the jumper laughed while pointing out at me like I was a joke or something. "He did…" then he started to tell in brief the things Fang did for me when I gave him a warning glance.
Being a jerk was enough, but going overboard and making fun of me was way beyond the red line. If he kept doing this, I'd expose his secret. He got it from my eyes, and so he behaved himself better.
"Damn it Hye! You made him do all that?!!" in the middle of jumper's words, Isac turned to me while shouting in such shock.
"What?" I acted innocent, "he did it on his own accord and will. Besides, he got lots of benefits in return."
"That's… Sigh, things don't go this way in our world. It would be lucky if he got out of this alive."
"You know where he is?" I couldn't help but ask while looking at him in doubt.
"Since you asked about our law, that meant they took him to the paragon trial, right?"
"Well… You can say he is with paragons right now," I didn't know what this trial was named after, but he was indeed getting interrogated by paragons.
"Sigh! It's hopeless then… If he gets there, he won't get out unscathed," Isac shook his head while speaking in such a bitter tone.
"What if his paragon helped?"
"It won't."
"Why are you so sure about it? He might step in and help."
"No way, it was him who sold him out in the first place!"
"What?!!!" It was shocking news indeed. That paragon did that to Fang? That meant he intended to be ill about this.
"It's a paragon trial! Not a single paragon trial in any race I heard of before will commence without the call of a paragon."
"This…" saying it in such words shed light over something else, "are you sure it wasn't another paragon who did it?"
"Only his paragon has the authority to call for such trial," Isac said in firm tone, "it's like he is announcing his inability to control his man. So he is asking the help of all the other paragons, calling them to gather up and meet to discipline this rogue dude."
"Damn!" At this moment I wasn't thinking about Fang, but Wryly. If what Isac said was true, then it meant Wryly was sold out by his paragon.
"Wait a sec… Won't Fang know that his paragon sold him out?" This point puzzled me about Wryly, not Fang actually.
"No, this is a secret between paragons," Yet Isac shook his head before adding, "in other people's eyes, the paragon trial is held based on a major complaint from a mysterious source. But in fact it all came from his paragon."
"O… Ok…" I paused while thinking about Wryly's words again.
That dude… He didn't sell me out, right? He wasn't planning to be a double edged sword, a double agent or something.
Once I thought about it, I recalled his eagerness to warn me about the danger I was facing. If he held such ill intention against me, then he wouldn't have done this.
So Wryly was in the good here. But that didn't mean his paragon was intending anything good. Something fishy was going on here. But what was it? I needed to know the answer for that.
And at this moment, a message came that let me inwardly sigh in regret.
[Fang is already out. He is forced by a contract with his paragons to not speak or deal with you ever again] Wryly sent this message before adding, [He says if you two met up in a battleground later on, you two will be enemies]
So you managed to sever an arm off me… Interesting!
[Double agent!] But who said I'd let you chop it without fighting back?
[Excuse me bro, what do you mean?] Wryly was a kind man, but he was a bit slow on other things.
[Just tell him this and tell him he got to the end of this quest to take a decision about it]
[Ok bro, I'll tell him all that]
"What's wrong?" Isac asked, "is he out?"
"He is," I sighed.
"Alive?!!" He seemed a bit baffled with such an end.
"Yes, why? Is it weird?"
"Very!"
"They made him sign a contract to not deal with me," I shrugged, "perhaps that was his punishment."
"No way! That's not even close!"
"Then… What do you think his punishment should be?" I felt curious about it.
"At least to attack and fight you," Isac said.
"He isn't crazy to do that," I rejected such an opinion.
"They will force him."
"They know he won't survive this. I'm not that weak!"
"You don't get it… They already sentenced him to death!"
"That…" I finally got it. So that was the meaning behind the words he sent through Wryly, to be enemies when we'd meet up again.
"Then… I have to chop an arm off them as well," my eyes shone in the cold light and fierceness that made even the jumper take a single step back.
468 Texas... Here I come!
"Don't tell me you are going to take him as a prisoner!" The jumper missed my point, but Isac didn't.
"You already chopped one arm off them," he pointed at his severed arm.
"Not enough," I clenched my fist, "not even close enough!"
[Ask him about the current locations of all his paragons in this damn continent!]
And in the next moment, I opened the chat with Wryly and told him that.
[But… He didn't respond yet to the first message]
[Just tell him what I said won't happen, and he knows why. But I'll make sure they'll pay a hefty price if they decided to do what they planned]
[Bro… Why speak in riddles!]
[Just tell him that and let him respond fast]
[Ok]
"Are you… Sure?" Isac looked at me in doubt, "you know they aren't going down easily, especially with the entire world being covered with this disaster."
I knew he was attached to his race, thinking how big of a loss this would bring to his race. He wasn't questioning my ability to do it. He knew I could, and he was the sole living proof of that.
"They were the ones to start this war, not me," I shrugged, before turning around and looking at the world down below. "I believe you two shall go down and go to the capital on your own. I… Have something important to do here first before coming back."
"Killing paragons? Why did I start to feel this is becoming a fun sport for you?" the jumper rolled his eyes, and when I glared at him, he added, "if you are going to have fun, why exclude me then?"
"He…" I pointed back at Isac, "needs a guide home."
"F*ck you both!" the jumper blurted out, sat on the floor of my chariot, crossed his arms and closed his eyes, "I won't move away from here to work like that to someone like him!"
"You… You are a jerk like Hye said!"
"Screw off!"
"Screw you!"
"F*ck off!"
"F*ck you!"
Damn! What brought me in the middle of these two crazy bastards?!
"Shut the hell up you two!" I reached the limit of my tolerance, "if you don't move, I can force you to do so!"
"I won't move as well!" but like my words hit a wall, Isac mimicked that jerk and landed on the ground, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes.
Damn fools! I was surrounded by fools!
And at this moment, I got something to save me from these fools.
[He says he knows of three here]
[Three?] As Wryly answered fast this time, I moved to a corner away from these two and added, [Isn't it supposed to be two? I got one and that means only one is left, right?]
[No, he says they sent three through special method to this region]
[They are coming for me? Interesting… So where are they?]
[He says the three are taking base at the Southern West, somewhere near a place called Texas]
Texas? The cowboy land? Sure, that suited their burial grounds perfectly well. [Ok, tell him to try and stall for time] I paused before adding, [Make him buy me as much time as he could. I promise him safe exit in the end]
These bunch of paragons did a great job indeed. Forcing him to sign a contract that would bind him forever as my enemy was a nice move.
My current strength was no secret to anyone. But as Isac said, they stopped caring about him and decided his death with such a move.
So if they were going to kill him, I'd first kill as many of these bastards as possible. As for Fang, he wasn't a problem.
Forcing him to be my enemy? Humph! As if I didn't have a way to force my enemies to be my loyal dogs!
Ok… I now knew what I had to do. I knew where I would go. Only finalising preparation was what was left.
"Are you two sure of your stay here?" I asked, but my question was actually meant for Isac.
The jumper was just like me, a badass bastard in fighting. He didn't care about any race. Damn! I even doubted he even cared about our human race.
But this was different for Isac. he was a Selvator, just recently severed his connection with them. So staying here and watching his people get massacred was something hard without doubt.
"I can handle it," it seemed intelligence ran in all the Selvators genes. He knew what I truly meant, and gave me such a straight answer.
"You have to know… I won't show a speck of mercy towards them. Your friends, your allies, your people… I'll kill all," I slowly said, trying to describe in words what was going to happen.
A bloody damn massacre, one that I wouldn't stop even for days and nights until I got all of them exterminated.
That was the perfect answer for such a challenge. At first they targeted me using some bullshit authority to deprive me of two quests. And now they were targeting my golden boy.
Let's see then how strong these bastards were.
"I… Have to adapt to the new situation I'm in," Isac showed another show of bravery, no less than when he chopped his arm in cold blood. "You do what you have to do, and I… Will adapt to it."
"A cold blooded son of b*tch you are," the jumper said such harsh and rude words, but his eyes held nothing but respect and admiration.
"Cool!" I said, ending this topic, "we will move. Our destination is Texas!"
[By the way, he heard rumours about strange movements from two race paragons as well… Dragons and Hectors] As I was going to do something, Wryly sent this warning to me. [He also says that the area from your lands to Texas is covered in swarms of monsters]
[Send him my thanks, and tell him to wait for the big news] the more of those bastards the better. Thinking that getting help from other paragons was going to scare or stop me? Damn pathetic fools!
469 Going To Kentucky
I knew Fang's net of connections was severed with what happened to him. So he wasn't sure about what was going on, and it was just great for him to get a wimp about the paragons location and current movements.
"What are you going to do?" Isac was curious as he looked in interest. Also the jumper was also feeling the same.
That cold jerk was covering up his face all the time, so it was hard to tell. But through the faint glint in his eyes, I could tell he was also asking the same question to himself.
"I'm going to play them in their own game and beat them," I evilly grinned, opened my profile page and from it I selected the contract icon.
There I found a very large list of names with races beside each name. They were all the people I had a loyalty contract with.
It was arranged per the recently added races. However there was an option to select an entire race, and I didn't hesitate to select from that shorter list the monster race.
As I did that, all the monsters I recently gained were marked. I then selected to give them an order, and it was a simple one.
"Gather up at Kentucky Frankfort," I gave this order while not knowing if these monsters would find this place or not.
But I was sure the system would give them instructions, forcing them to come to that place.
"Kentucky?!" the jumper looked in doubt at me, "are we going south again?"
"Our target is Texas baby, so it's the closest place of my kingdom to there," I closed the profile page, went to the edge of the chariot and watched the monsters down below.
Like they were grabbed by magnet, all the monsters shifted their attention towards a certain direction then ventured with everything they got towards there.
"That…" Isac came to stand by my side with the jumper standing on the other, "you are going to use them?" he pointed down below, while asking in surprise.
"They are already using monsters in this quest to safeguard themselves," I shrugged, "as if monsters can stop me."
"But they are going to have many portals by their side this way," Isac seemed to read through the minds of the other paragons. Of course the one to know you best was your fiercest rival.
Even in the same race, all the paragons here were just candidates to be the ruling paragon of their races.
Their enemies weren't just other paragons of rival races, but also the paragons in the same race. "I'm going to crush anything they have," I firmly said, "so don't worry about that. But… It's the last chance for you to return to the capital."
I didn't even look at him this time, as he had to make this final call on himself without pressure.
"I'll handle it," he said in a strong tone that told me he already accepted such fate, "just make sure to let none live."
"Oh, quite fierce you are…" I turned to look at him and he laughed in a way that suited a girl not a boy.
"They are my rivals. If I was pushed out of the contest, then none shall be there to get the final prize, right?"
"A fierce one, I like you now, hahaha!" The jumper seemed to be amused by what Isac said, making the two of us look in doubt towards him. "What? I just like cold hearted people, that's all," he shrugged, explaining himself by saying that.
"Ok, then we are going to Frankfort," I started controlling my chariot as I headed south west. It wasn't the first time for me to go there, so I knew the way.
Along the journey, all three of us kept watching the movements of the monsters down below. Aside from my monsters, not a single life was presented there.
Even we met cities and towns void of people. Only when we went near Frankfort, we saw a few races trying to sneak into my kingdom.
They were trying to take advantage of the emptiness in all towns and cities here. My forces and Wryly were stationed up north. As for Fang, I was sure that bastard was recalling his troops and focusing them around the far south.
The fate of these races was expected. Any race found was killed at the spot. They didn't even stand a chance, not even with the help of emblems and castles in the towns and cities.
As I reached Frankfort, I found my monsters still flocking from everywhere. Their numbers were in millions, and I expected more than that.
The sky was filled with many flying monsters, looking much fiercer and bigger than before. The aquatic monsters also showed much improvement, leaving the ground monsters behind in such regard.
I knew the ground monsters didn't find much prey to feast on. With most of my monster army bulk being ground monsters, it was hard to satisfy all their needs.
But that was soon going to change.
"Aren't we going to move out now?" After waiting for three hours, the world down below was covered by densely packed monsters.
The sky was already dim, but for some reason it looked dimmer because of the presence of such a number of flying monsters.
I turned Isac and grinned. "We will wait for one more hour then move."
"Aren't these… enough?!!" he seemed baffled by my answer. In his eyes, all the land here was covered by these monsters till the horizon.
In each direction you could see tons of monsters standing idle and doing nothing but waiting… Waiting for me to give the order.
"Just wait a little bit, those at the far north are still coming here," I knew even if the place here looked full, more monsters were still pouring from the north.
I didn't want to just start a small war that would last for a long time. I wanted a decisive battle, one that would let me walk through all the lands to Texas without stopping at all.
470 These Two... Sigh!
To do that, I had to bring all my boys here. I even summoned my soulers, flying monsters, and dragons and let them mix within these monsters.
I wanted a swift battle, so damn fast like lightning. Giving those paragons time would be wrong. They might bring forth a large number of forces, scheme something big, or even turn around and run away.
I didn't have time to keep chasing them, especially when they were gathered like this in one spot.
"What's the plan then?" the jumper asked.
"Can't you see? He will go all the way to Texas like he is riding a dragon!" Isac pointed at the world around.
"You don't know this bastard, he never does things straight like this," but the jumper rolled his eyes before pointing at me, "I bet an arm that he has a scheme and won't just go directly there."
"Come on dude, I can't get an army off you this way," I laughed and he snorted in response.
"As if I'm stupid enough to give you such chance. You got lucky once with me, getting me to sign that damn cursed contract."
"Don't curse my contracts, at least it saved your life."
"Debatable!"
"Humph, such an ungrateful jerk!"
"Such a shameless bastard!"
We two stopped talking and glared at each other.
"Ahem," this moment was interrupted by Isac, "if I don't you better, I'd say you two are lovers having a quarrel all the time."
"Stop it!" We both turned to him and shouted at the same time, making Isac laugh instead of getting fazed by this.
"Ok, ok, let's wait then," he kept laughing, and that made me shake my head helplessly while the jumper went to another corner after giving me a warning glance.
Dude… It was you who always kept getting at me, not the opposite!
In the next hour, I relaxed on my chariot rooftop while the other two did the same. We didn't speak, all rested and closed their eyes.
It seemed these two planned to join me in this war, or the jumper at least. Even if he was trying to act tough and carefree, I knew he was still wounded and hurt from the inside.
It wasn't an easy feat to get rid of such deep scars in the soul. Of course he managed to pull himself together, but that wasn't enough to consider him cured.
So this fight came just in time for him. He would fight, lose himself again and try to release all the pain and hurt he was feeling at his enemies.
I had to keep an eye on him, not let him vanish off my sight like I used to do. If he overexerted himself, or lost control again, I'd step in and save his as*.
Sigh! Soul wounds were the hardest to deal with indeed, especially those so complicated like the one this dude here had.
"It's time," as more than one hour passed, I knew it was time for us to start the big fight.
"Aren't you going to tell us about your plan?" Isac was the one to ask, not the jumper. It seemed that dude revised all the talk we had, and reached a conclusion that I was going to do like the jumper said.
"If I went directly towards them, then there is a big chance for them to run away," I started saying while giving the order through my profile page to all the monsters down below.
And the order was simple… Just follow my chariot and kill anything that stood in their faces.
"That's true indeed," Isac nodded, "only fools will stay still and wait for you to come at them."
"Speaking like he was some sort of a monster," the jumper mockingly laughed.
"Speaking about the one who killed many paragons already," I rolled my eyes while saying this.
"So?" Isac returned the topic back to what he wanted to know.
"I'll circle Texas first," I said while my eyes shone in an evil way, "I will entrap them all inside that big state. The ocean lined the south, so they had nowhere to go but to fight me."
"Told you, he is a scheming son of b*tch!" the jumper pointed at me and Isac nodded as if this was something taken for granted.
"Hey you two, stop it!" I didn't like this, and glared fiercely at the two of them.
"What? I was just giving you a compliment," the jumper raised both hands as if he was innocent.
"I said nothing," and Isac seemed to learn from that dude's shamelessness. Damn! I shouldn't let these two stay together for much longer or else I'd end up having two jerks.
"So you are going to surround Kentucky first… What about that Selvator dog you owned?" The jumper jumped over this point fast as he spoke ill next about Fang.
"He is going to gather up his troops," I closed my eyes over the selection of words he showed when he spoke about Fang. but Isac seemed to get annoyed by this.
"Who are you calling a dog?" Isac turned sharply to the jumper. From his tone, I knew I was going to witness another round of fight between these two.
Saying that me and the jumper looked like lovers? Just look at yourselves bro, you two looked more as lovers.
As these two started fighting again with words and sharp tongues, I moved to a corner and started to watch the lands below.
As my chariot moved, the swarms of monsters down below moved as well. I knew the distance between Kentucky and Texas was vast, with many towns and cities in the middle.
Each city and town from now on would have portals pouring hordes of monsters. If the races there didn't control the situation, then I had to interfere and take control of the situation.
I had many options now. Either I'd go and take the charge of these towns and cities, dominate all the monsters there and force that system higher up to close the portals.
471 Fighting Dragons
Like this I'd end vastly expanding my territory to reach a terrifying area. But that would come at the expense of wasting time. Taking control of each town or city would take at least an hour up to five according to the number of portals there.
Also if there were forces stationed in these towns and cities, I'd take time to get rid of them. Especially if they used their gates to bring forth much force.
Doing this might look great, but in the end I'd be giving those bastards a chance to slip away.
"I shouldn't get greedy," I murmured while deeply contemplating this, "towns and cities won't go anywhere. So I can just come back to them after I exterminate those bastards."
So that left two more options at my table. Either I'd scatter my monsters into teams, move fast to circle Texas from all sides and risk losing much of them during the process.
Or I should let them stick to my chariot and move in one hell of an army until we reach the outskirts of Texas. Then I'd start circling the state with them, leaving few behind to form a grand wall lining the state.
The first had the advantage of time, and the second had the advantage of keeping my forces intact.
"Why shall I bother about these monsters?" as I thought deeply about these two options for ten minutes, I shrugged, "even if I lost most of them, I can still get more from this quest. Also the remaining forces will be much fiercer and more evolved than the current ones. It's a win-win situation indeed."
As I decided that, I started to get busy organising the teams. I made twenty teams, and started giving orders to each one.
Each team had slightly over one million monsters in it. I scattered each team I formed around, sending few to the south, few to the east, and most to the west.
During this, we came in contact with towns and cities with portals. The first dozens we met were void cities and towns, looking like deserted places that turned to a playground of monsters.
It seemed like this was done on intention. Like this, the races formed a buffer zone between them and my kingdom. They wouldn't lose any forces like this, and I had to fight the brutal monsters if I wanted to bypass this region.
However I wasn't fighting with my human forces. I was fighting monsters with their match, and even my monsters showed much more evolution than those monsters down there.
So while I was busy arranging such a grand number into teams, using a batch selection option for me to do that, my boys crushed their way against all foes they met.
I soon realised how wrong I was in my estimation. These monsters here were weak and didn't pose much of a challenge to my boys.
I stole a peek from time to time, to just inwardly sigh. When my monsters evolved in such an imbalanced way regarding the three main types, the ground monsters seemed to grow envious.
They weren't killing, they were directly eating up their enemies in such a brutal and bloody way. They killed and ate at the same time, while I could see hundreds of monsters devouring tens of their foes in a matter of seconds!
It was… Gruesome to watch such a thing. But if that was going to make my boys stronger and fiercer, then it was ok for me.
By the passage of the third hour, the fight broke out much more fiercely than before. The reason for that was obvious. First I already sent ten teams out there, letting the total size of my army dwindle at a rate obvious to naked eye.
Also starting from here, it seemed I reached places controlled by races. This zone was controlled by the fierce Dragon race. And these dudes were an old enemy of mine.
They started summoning many forces through portals, letting my inwardly sigh.
"Portals are good, but don't you know that I can get them?" I rolled my eyes while saying this in disdain.
I moved fast and took control of these annoying gates first. During this time, the forces down below started to show a change than before.
It wasn't common to see lots of anti-air weapons and gears in these forces. But now as my chariot got close to the gates, I got bombarded like it was christmas eve or something.
"Wow! They seem to like you, hahaha!" the jumper game and watch the entire world shine in butterfly sparks of different colours as endless shots kept swarming at my chariot from down below.
It looked amazing to stand in the middle of all this and not get a single hurt. And it was all thanks to my chariot's mighty shield.
"They have brought new weapons just for you," Isac came as well as he sighed, "but it's amazing how you can stand or move in the middle of all this."
"They are just throwing rocks," I shrugged before the jumper explained the value of my shield and even narrated a few past incidents when my shield got truly tested.
"Impressive indeed!" Isac's eyes shone in greed, "from where can I get such a mighty vehicle?"
"It's not for sale," I solemnly said, "and it's one of the kind baby."
"Damn! Then…"
"No, don't even think about it!" Before he could ask to lend my baby over to him, I hurriedly shook my head and firmly refused such a thing.
"Don't even try, he is such a stingy greedy bastard," the jumper from the side showed his rude tongue again.
"Screw off," I turned and gave my back to these two. I was in the middle of a big fight right now, not the time to have such childish play with that jumper.
Even if I lost sight of the world outside, I knew where I was going by using my thread technique. I didn't aim to control anyone, but just used it to expand my sight.
472 I Want... I Want Them...
That made all busy to mind the four curious eyes looking and examining my technique from this close by.
They kept talking to themselves, while I totally made myself deaf to whatever they said.
"This… Is this a cultivation technique?" Isac's voice came first in shock.
"I never saw something like this before…" The jumper paused as he was shocked as well.
"I… never saw something like this either…" The two kept talking like this while they looked closer and tried to see through my technique.
"He used his blood to control it… Weird!" The jumper was the first to notice this.
"Can we do something like this using our blood? Let me try!"
"I'll also try!"
The two got excited about this and went to a corner each and tested their cultivation techniques using their blood.
These two fools… They were just trying to mimic my cultivation technique despite not sharing the same cultivation base.
Of course they'd end up failing! These two just lost their heads while looking at my technique. Damn! What would they do if they saw my other one? Or saw me in real action?
I was just trying to see outside all these messy lights. If I was seriously fighting with my technique, then a more spectacular scene would appear.
Anyway… I had already spotted the nearest gate and without delaying for any longer, I brought my chariot just close to it.
After I closed it, I moved fast around, taking control over the other four portals. This town didn't have any water source, so there was no Hector race.
This fight was going to be much easier from now on. The next target was of course those annoying little weapons scattered down there.
"Come forth," I summoned my deadly weapons next, my fallen gods. Once they appeared, Isac showed an instant interest in them.
"These… Damn! Are they the legendary fallen god race?!!" That dude was so informative. He recognised my fallen gods with a glance.
"They aren't for sharing," before he would think about anything, I had to say this first. "Attack, turn this piece of shit into a scorching piece of land."
My orders landed, and my boys acted.
"Damn fierce! It's much fiercer than what I heard!" Isac started jumping around my boys, watching them release their ultimate attacks with such interest.
As for the jumper, he stood on the side while sighing. Even this dude found this act weird and funny from Isac, who was acting like a little girl at this moment, forgetting about her act.
"Pathetic… I changed my mind, you are a childish person," he jumper said in such disdain, making me chuckle from the side.
But unlike the usual, Isac ignored his remark and kept observing my boys.
In the next few minutes, most of the forces down below got killed and that cut out most of their attacks on me.
The world reappeared again, and then I gave the order for my boys to keep their hands off.
My monsters were killing and eating in fierce and fast momentum, making me decide to leave those few survivors down below for them to handle.
My monsters overrun this town in less than half an hour. When the dust settled, all that remained was my boys and not a single piece of corpse was left behind.
"That's amazing!" but the situation looked much different than the gloomy silence down below, "I want… I want them, please!" he turned to me and started pleading for having a few fallen gods for his own.
"Told you, not for share or sale," but no matter how this dude did, I kept refusing.
"Stop it, or else you'll waste your breath over him," the jumper rolled his eyes from the side, acting as if he was a sane person with vast experience in dealing with me.
"But I want them! It's not fair!" Isac forgot about his show and stomped the ground like a grumpy spoiled girl.
"Isac, no is a no," I gave him a warning glance. It was lucky for him that the jumper was already not seriously following his actions or else that dude would get doubts about that.
"What?" as he got what I meant with that look, he stood straight, acted like a man again. "Will you give me some then?" He gave me a look full of pleas, and I had to look away to not feel gross.
"Let's go," I shouted at my boys down below, "let's disperse over this area, kill everything and come at me."
I was tired and bored of playing this portal hunting game with the Dragons here. Even if it would take slightly longer, the dragon forces would be crushed.
Per my orders, the tide of my monsters rose up, and started eating everything that stood in their path.
As for me, I kept my chariot hovering in the air, slowly circling the area, while taking control of any annoying portals that didn't stop gushing out.
Like this I kept pushing forward through the south part of Kentucky, going through Tennessee, and ending up at Arkansas in just a span of ten hours.
I didn't take part in much of the fights going on and let my boys do the task. After arranging my monsters in twenty teams, I sent ten towards west of Arkansas, to go and surround Texas from the north.
I let five go east and south, to surround Texas from East. In the end I kept only five teams with slightly over seven million monsters to fight down towards Texas.
Three directions, three major armies, this was the plan to surround Texas.
Hopefully those cowards wouldn't have run away by now.
"I want to lead an army!"
Just at this moment, the jumper came and asked what I expected and worried about.
"Not a chance," I firmly declined, but that jerk was so damn fixed at doing this.
"I will jump off then and find my way through this war."
His stand was expected. He was a fierce dude indeed, and a deeply hurt beast at this moment.
"Fine," I faked my struggle to accept, "just go and take control of that monster army. I'll let them follow your orders… but…"
Before he would even move a finger, I added in warning, "you are not allowed to leave the sight of mine under any circumstances. Do that and I'll force you back using the contract and depriving your leadership from your army."
"F*ck you! Do you think I need a babysitter like you to watch over me or what?!!!"
473 Isac's Weird Request
I knew that dealing with that thick headed jerk would give me a headache!
"Dude, either take it or jump off and scram off my sight," I didn't show any tolerance with him.
Indeed I felt sympathy towards him and what he was experiencing, but that didn't mean I'd accept such madness. His
His past actions with his forces were still fresh. He led many young boys and innocent humans to their deaths just because he lost focus.
I wouldn't let him do such a thing ever again.
"Then I'll leave…" he moved, went to the side of the chariot and grabbed the rope. He even leant over the edge and faked his intention to jump.
"Are you going to let him go away like this?" Isac from the side asked. That girl was acting tough from the outside, but she still had a kind heart inside her chest.
"Just wait…" I grinned evilly, "he won't dare to do it!"
She just met this jerk today, but I was with him long enough to read through his actions. He was trying to fake his intention to jump to force me to accept his demand.
Childish… Pretty much childish in my eyes. So I stood silent, crossed my arms, and watched this amusing show till its end.
"Damn you, Hye!" he roared after a long minute of pause. Once he leant over the edge, he stopped as if he didn't imagine me standing idle and doing nothing in response to his show.
"Come here," like a naughty boy, I motioned to him to come closer and leave the rope. And like an obedient kid he moved while lowering his head.
"You don't need me to say it, but I care for you," I said such kind words before turning my face up again to show my fierce side, "however… that doesn't mean I'll pamper you like you are my chick!"
"You…" my words held a much deeper meaning that they showed on the surface.
"I won't let you suffer, or make others suffer because of your actions. So it's best for you to listen to an old friend's advice… Go down there, explode as much as you want, but don't get out of my sight for even one second."
"Why don't you chase after me then?"
"Do you think I'm this carefree to babysit you? Humph! If you were my chick, you'd have gotten a beating by now."
"…"
His eyes glared and even shook when I kept reminding him of his secret. He kept looking at me for a long five minutes, none of us even said a single word during which.
"Fine," like he was forced to give up an arm or something, he said in such an angry and impatient tone, "let me down and give me an army. But let me loose over strong opponents. Don't interfere, do you get it?"
"Granted," the last words of his were said in such a fierce way that showed how high his fighting spirit was.
Under such a fair request, I had no reason to reject.
"Can I…" Isac weirdly said, attracting both of our eyes' glaring gazes, "stand here and watch?" under the pressure of both of us, this girl didn't have the courage to ask to go down there.
Of course we were now fighting Dragons. But soon enough we met up with Selvators. I wouldn't let her down there to face her own race. That would be too much to ask for.
"I just… Have a request…" Just as the two of us watched the jumper go down there and lead the army of monsters towards a nearby town, Isac asked in such a hesitant way.
"You want to fight your own people?" I asked without even sparing her a single glance.
"Of course not," he shook his head fiercely while adding, "I just want… to have the last kill of certain people there."
This time I turned fully to watch him. "What for?" I knew what she wanted to do here. She wanted to kill the paragons of her kin. If she was still a paragon, I'd understand this.
But what was for her to do that?
"That's…" she seemed hesitant. In fact when she was pressured, she would act more like a girl than a boy.
I didn't know who tricked her to believe her act was so solid to be a man. Just staying with her for a few minutes, a blind could tell she was a girl not a boy!
"Tell or you won't get," I was already busy watching that jerk's moves down there using my hawkeye skill. He directly led his monsters to clash fiercely without any tactics against their foes.
Monsters or defending forces… Anyone who stood in his way was killed in such brutality. In my eyes, he wasn't leading an army into a big battle, he was just doing dog fights to his heart's content.
But I had no saying in this. He had experienced so much and he got the chance to vent properly over such worthy to get killed foes.
"I… Will get a chance to become my race's paragon…" and at this moment, Isac gave me such shocking news.
"Is that true?" I turned to her, and couldn't move my eyes away from her chopped arm.
She glanced at it before sighing. "It's the system decision at the end that will make one a paragon or a failure," she slowly explained, "if I manage to slay more paragons, I'll get the recognition of the system."
"Even if…" I didn't continue while my eyes moved again towards her copped arm wound.
It wasn't healed yet, so she wouldn't possibly have forgotten about that.
"The system has its own ways in the apocalypse," she sighed, "you… only as a human you won't get it now."
"All I saw is unfairness from the system," I was honestly and fairly speaking here, "in my eyes, the system is unjust towards my race from the start."
474 They Taught Her Singing And Dancing To Be A Man!!!
"It's just because you are judging its actions from a narrow angle," she was saying such weird words with twisted logic, "just wait for a bit longer… Let's say at quest ten or something. You'll see how the system will act fairly to you and your race."
"Humph, we'll see…"
In fact I knew that wasn't going to happen! I didn't want to expose my little secret to her, but girl… Come on! I was someone who came from the future.
I came ninety-nine years after this point. And I could honestly tell you this… The system was a piece of trash, a racist thing that kept targeting our kin and giving good things for other races!
Was the system going to be fair? Going to make things right? That might be one of the most ridiculously wrong and outrageous claims I'd ever heard before!
"Let me, please," she started to jump, holding my arm, as if she was my girl or something.
"Fine," I had to give in, "I initially planned for my Fang to climb up ranks in your race and replace you. But now… I can only depend on you for that."
"You… Were planning to grow up a paragon?!!!" a shocking tone and look appeared from her when I said that.
"Not only one," I slowly shook my head, "I'm going to nourish as many paragons as I can."
"I… That…" she seemed startled to even speak properly, "I heard from the jumper that you also take care of a Berserker… Are you planning to nourish two paragons?!!"
"Actually? They are three, not two," I also had one extra member in another race that was bound to me. However, that person was left all alone all this time.
I didn't plan to nourish him for now. But after what these paragons did, I started to take this matter more seriously.
"You… Sigh, you can't be a human," she shook her head with such a deep and long sigh, "tell me, do you have a grandmother of Selvators? Dragons? Or Hector?"
"None," I shrugged.
"No way! This… Humans are not like this!"
"Like what?" I laughed and she pursed her lips.
"You are a bastard, just like that jerk said."
"If I'm a bastard, and he is a jerk, then you must be a clown."
"I'll punch you in the face if you don't stop!"
"Punch me in the face? Dude, who told you that you act this good as a boy?" I finally couldn't get it anymore.
"All say that!"
"They… were lying," I sighed, "you do everything in a girlish way."
"Really?" Just looking at him standing in such a curvy way, crossing his arms as if he was holding breasts underneath made me roll my eyes.
"Just look at you in the mirror and you'll know."
"I took lessons for five years to learn how to act as a man, I won't fall for your dirty tricks!"
"Then tell me, how is punching a man in the face threatening to him?" I raised an eyebrow when I noticed how deeply this girl was believing such lies!
"It hurts!" she blurted out and I could only helplessly sigh.
"If you want to hurt a man, then you should be threatened by a kick down there," I pointed down at my groin and she didn't get it.
"Then if you don't shut up, I'll kick you down there!" she said with an evil grin that made me laugh without restraint this time.
This girl… She was really funny!
"Why are you laughing?" she still didn't get it yet, "didn't you tell me to say that?"
"Only girls will threaten boys with such a thing," I continued to laugh, and at this moment her face turned all red from anger.
"I'll kill you if you don't shut up!"
"Little better," despite saying that, I kept laughing, "but not that enough to insult or really threaten me."
"Why? Don't you fear death?"
"Not from people attached to me by contracts."
"Damn! You… You are really a cunning bastard! I hate you!"
"See? Another mistake that boys never do," I shook my index finger in front of her face as if I was teaching her a valuable lesson.
"Then what? Tell me genius, what makes a boy get angry?"
"Threaten his pride," I said, "for example instead of saying: I'll punch you in the face, why not say: I'll slap your face, dumbass!"
"I believe that last word isn't for me, right?"
"Bickering over the little details isn't boys' nature," I sighed, "girl… You have a long way to go if you want to keep doing this. Five years? Damn! What were they teaching you back there? Dancing and singing?"
"How… How did you know?!!"
"…!!!" ok, that was it! I had enough of her, gave her my back, and turned to watch the jumper's actions once more.
"Hey! Hey!" she kept bugging me, and I kept showing her my cold side.
Teaching her dancing and singing for the entire five years? What the hell did those who were caring for her thought? Were they trying to fulfil her wish to be a man in the outer appearance or were they preparing her to get laid and have kids?
Humph! Those Selvators… They weren't as smart as I thought.
[Bro… Bad news… Pretty much bad news…]
At this moment, even Wryly's bad news was much better than the annoying voice of Isac.
[What?]
[That dude… Fang, he told me just now that the paragons are trying to run away]
[Let them try] I harrumphed, [I already this close from tightening up the net]
[No bro, you got it wrong! Fang says they knew about that already. And now they are planning to run away using the ocean]
"Ocean?!" It wasn't time to listen to the pestering words of Isac, "step aside!" I said in a firm and urgent tone, while moving to check the map on the ground of my chariot.
Yes, Texas was lined by a large surface of water at the southern borders. Damn! How could they move through there?
[What did he tell you about their plan? Tell me everything!]
475 The Terrifying Dark Realm Monster
[They are bringing a gigantic aquatic monster to help them cross the water to the southern continent. They are running away, so damn away from you]
Wryly's answer came fast, and I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. [Why not use the help of Hectors? They got a flying island in their hands. Or they aren't allies with them?]
[They are, but Hectors' islands can't stand in the air for long enough to cross waters]
"I see…" I muttered to myself, attracting the attention of Isac.
"What happened?" she stopped nagging my arm as she asked in curiosity. "Did they try to run away?"
"They are trying."
"But you already closed the land on them from all directions, right?"
"They are bringing a gigantic aquatic monster to escape."
"No way! They are bringing him?!!" from the reaction on his face, I could tell she knew what that monster was.
"Tell me more about it," I demanded, but she instead pointed to the direction of the south.
"We need to make it fast and reach there," she hurriedly shouted, "that monster… That dude isn't just a monster, it's a dark realm intelligent monster, one of the kind."
"And?" Her words made me feel more intrigued about facing this monster. A dark realm monster? I already met one and killed it.
"It's not what you have in mind," yet she shook her head, "I've heard about your fight with a dark realm monster before. This one is… Different."
"In what way?"
"Let's speak on the road, we have to hurry," she urged me to move. But the moment I thought about leaving, my eyes moved without control to fall over the far away jumper.
He was fiercely immersed in fighting, bathed in blood of his enemies that even his mask turned red.
[Dude… Can I entrust this place over to you?] I had to make such a decision now. It was either stay here and babysit this jerk and lose the paragons or go after them and get to face a dark realm monster in the process.
Of course I knew what I needed to do. Facing paragons wasn't the main reason behind my current excitement and impatience. I wanted to see that dark realm monster. I wanted to kill it and get its bones.
I needed these bones, desperately needed these. My reserve of the first dark realm monster I killed was almost depleted.
I needed high grade bones, black or red grade or even higher if present.
[What happened? Are you finally deciding to let me loose?]
[I'll unleash you over them. I'll entrust you with the entire region]
[You mean here?]
[I mean the entity of Texas]
[Damn cool! Sure, let these bastard to me]
I was watching him while chatting. That dude never stopped fighting while speaking with me. Not even for a single moment.
Damn jerk! I hope you'd return from this all healed and ready to be sent away without getting me to worry.
[If you faced anything major, just send me a message]
[You'll save this place as well?] He was familiar with my way of doing things. As he was sending this message, I already took out my staff and saved this location.
[I'll try to save few more during my way, but don't get yourself into much trouble]
[Don't worry, leave it to me]
"I hope I'm doing the right thing," I muttered after closing the chat with him.
"He is a grown up man, he can handle himself," Isac was totally oblivious to that dude's past trauma. So her words here didn't count.
He was a big man indeed, one that needed care and attention unfortunately.
"Alright, here we go," before I left, I sent a general order for all monsters to follow that jerk's orders.
Hopefully he wouldn't end up with the same big losses he had at his last battle as a general.
"Tell me more about that monster." As we started moving, I made sure my chariot would flash like a bolt of lightning in the sky.
I controlled it to fly at its highest speed, not sparing any fuel to catch up with those cowards.
"You know dark realms are lost worlds where no life is allowed to be there," Isac started explaining, "they are failed worlds of apocalypse where all races were gone and only monsters prevailed."
"I know that."
"In there, and under rare and not fully understood circumstances, special kinds of monsters will emerge. Monsters of these dark realms are usually brutal and fierce, know nothing but shedding blood and feasting on their enemies."
"Just like these monsters here," I pointed at the ground down below which was flashing fast enough to form long lines.
"They are the rudimentary form of these monsters," Isac nodded in agreement, "but they lack intelligence. Of course those old monsters of ancient dark realms will grow intelligent with time, but not enough to be compared with any race. They can mostly say a few words and do little tricks every now and then."
Her words made me recall that brutal and desperate fight I had with that monster before. Indeed it said a few words, pulled a trick or two, exactly like Isac said.
"Then that monster here… what makes him special?" I returned the talk once more to that monster.
"He… is one of those who experienced evolution," Isac sighed, "in the eyes of my race higher ups, if there was a female of his kin, the two would start up a mighty and terrifying race."
"Really?!!" I raised my eyebrows while watching Isac slowly nod.
"He is terrifying… Simply described as a calamity on any place it would go to."
"But you control it, right?" I asked in doubt. After all, if that dude was so terrifying, then how come he followed their orders?
"We were lucky to get him when he was a baby," Isac explained, "it took roughly one year for it to grow ten folds in size, five years to reach one hundred folds. He said once that he isn't yet fully matured, lacking something that he is looking for."
"Damn! All this and he isn't yet an adult?!!!"
476 Fighting Craziness With The Same!
"He lived for a century so far, and after the fifth year, he stopped growing in size. Only his power kept escalating slowly, also his intelligence showed remarkable progress."
"So… Are you bound with him using a contract?"
"That's the case," she bitterly smiled, "but that contract was written by his baby version at that time. He asked for us to set him loose over the world once in a decade. And each world we sat him loose upon ended up being another dark realm."
"Damn!" I knew what this meant. That monster exterminated all sources of life and killed all races, turning these worlds into monster paradise, fallen dark realms.
"That's why we shouldn't let them bring him here… Damn those bastards! What went into their heads to try and bring him here?!!!" Isac looked pretty much annoyed. And I could understand her reasons.
After all this move was weird, just like what that Hector paragon bastard did when he opened a gate with another universe.
Were they abandoning this world? Or what? Something looked fishy here. This move, according to Isac words, was a death sentence to any world.
What made them take such a step? Were they tired of living? Or thought that I'd catch up with them regardless so they decided to burn everything and take the entire world down with them?
That was the only reason I had, a desperate move that would end up by getting them revenge even if they were dead.
Burning down the temple and bringing its walls and ceiling on top of the heads of everyone… Such a fierce move was indeed crazy, but it was logical at least.
"Are you sure it's the same monster?" I had to ask, "can't it be another one?"
"No way," Isac shook her head in firmness, "there is only such a big monster at our disposal, one that can traverse oceans and seas without getting stopped by any aquatic beast in the process."
"Are you sure?"
"One hundred percent."
"Then… What's about his weakness?" If I was going to face such a nightmare, I had to gather any available information I could get.
"Weakness? Hahaha! That's really funny!" but what I got was such a bitter laugh and mocking words, "Hye, such a monster is a perfect form of anything you can imagine! Our only hope is to stop him from getting here by ruining that damn summoning ceremony before it gets completed."
"O… Ok…" as she answered in such a way, I had to give up knowing anything about it, "how long does that ceremony take?"
"At most five hours," she bitterly said.
"That…" I got the news once Fang told Wryly about it. But I knew time must have passed before Fang knew about it. How long? I… Didn't know for sure.
Not to mention I was crossing the second largest state in the US. That meant I had to take at least three hours to cross it.
So I had less than two hours at most, and most likely I had much less than that.
"So… in other words… We are screwed!"
"Those bunch of crazy bastards… Now I want to kill them with my hands more than ever!" her body trembled when she said that, showing a glimpse of her fierce side at this moment.
"They are just fearing to die on my hands," I shrugged, "so they are doing their best to kill me with them."
"They are killing everyone with them," she shouted at me, "and if they were this crazy, what went wrong in the heads of the higher ups of my race? Damn! Damn! That monster should have been sent to another world where we already lost!"
"Perhaps your higher ups deemed this world as a loss already," I couldn't find any other explanation but this.
"We are… Still in the early stages!"
"We got Hector," I paused before laughing bitterly, "and we got me."
"…"
"Anyway, let's pray that the ceremony isn't over yet," I said while looking at the direction of the ocean, feeling the pressure already weighing down over my heart and soul.
So I was going to fight a bitter battle against such a monster, a losing one in the eyes of Isac. I didn't know that monster, but from what she said, I could say it was a real challenging hard rock in my path.
"Trying to kill me with one big dude? Humph! I won't fall that easily!" As I thought about it for half an hour, I suddenly blurted out my decision before taking my sword out.
"What… What are you doing?!" in front of Isac's eyes, I injured myself and started to form my technique.
*Fwoosh!*
And the next moment I called out a dense amount of my bones.
"I'm going to make my crazy move as well," I gave her a serious look before I planted my bloody left hand into the centre of my technique's circle.
And the next instant, lots of threads moved out and vanished thanks to my chariot's insane speed.
"You…" As I started to crazily release my threads all over the world, Isac exclaimed in shock while watching all this happening around her.
I felt her taking a few bones and examining them. I didn't say anything to stop her. After all, I had no time to spare worrying over such a thing.
"This… This is the first time for me to see such a marvellous thing!" she said while examining more bones. But all of sudden, these bones were surrounded with my energy and turned into dense clumps of light.
"You…"
"Are you done playing?" I said without even turning my face to her. In fact this was the first time for me to put my technique under such immense pressure.
I was releasing all the energy from the bones towards my technique, forming endless threads. But the moment they were formed and left my chariot, I got to feel a strong pressure coming from the large distance they covered.
477 More!
It wasn't their fault, it was my chariot's insane speed that made the threads reach a terrifying length in matters of minutes.
I had to not only keep them intact, I also had to direct them to attack the nearby monsters.
The hardest step was this first step. After taking control of these monsters, then expanding my threads didn't need my control or guidance at all.
I just had to force my energy through them, to make them keep controlling more.
But that was done on such a wide and terrifying vast scale I never did before. In the span of ten minutes, the bones that could satisfy my needs for many hours were depleted.
"More!" like a crazy person I shouted, while bringing much more bones. This time I didn't just bring bones once. As the first batch turned into light bulbs, I summoned another batch of bones and did the same to them.
Then another batch appeared and another. I kept doing this like I had a bottomless pit of bones.
I could feel the shocking gaze from Isac, but there was no time to worry about that. She was just damn lucky to be here at this place and hour, to witness the true horror and craziness of me.
My chariot's speed was maintained at full power. In fact I was sure that I'd end up arriving too late.
So I had to work my best, try to control all the monsters I could before arriving there. To do so, I had to keep releasing threads all over the world, and try my best to maintain the energy consumption balanced and fulfilled.
Bringing forth ten batches of bones and turning them into shining clumps of light made the influx of energy into my body reach an insane amount.
I felt pressure at my dantian and meridians starting from the fifth batch, yet I kept going. I felt immense pain as if my body was stabbed with swords, spears, and needles at the ninth batch.
But I forced myself to endure and summoned the tens before stopping doing this craziness for now.
The entire roof of my chariot turned like a small piece of a dark starry night. It was shining with dense stars, looking like a distant galaxy seen by a telescope.
Luckily I got tons of threads to gush these energy at, reaching a balance in the middle of such pain and torture. I knew if I stopped for even one second, I'd end up losing most of these threads.
I was sure many reached for ten miles by now. And soon they would exceed one hundred miles in length. To keep those intact, I had to maintain gushing out a crazy amount of energy through my technique.
And as I secured this, it was time for the next step… Binding all of these with contracts!
I started a purchase spree once again. With part of my attention being focused on controlling the newly formed and released threads, I could purchase blindly without caring about the grade or the price tag of these contracts.
Anything that was offered at the market was bought in any amount available. I didn't even have the luxury to check the grade, amount, or price, and went to fervently purchase all with my right hand without even sparing a single glance to the market interface.
I was so stressed out right now. I had to keep this up, make new threads, control them to attack the nearby monsters, then let them expand. At some point, I felt like my threads weren't just attacking monsters!
I felt the presence of other races in the mix. But I had no time to differentiate between the two, and worked at forcing all of them to bind a contract with me.
Gaining other races in the mix of monsters wasn't the issue right now. I needed as many monsters as I could get. As for those races, they were just unlucky to stand by the monsters' side when I came at them.
Once the threads took control of a single entity, they would expand further. That relieved me from the toll of controlling them, but as I kept releasing new ones, that toll never ceased.
I kept this up, replacing my bones once they got decreased, buying out contracts in large amounts, releasing threads, controlling them to attack nearby enemies, and then forcing them to sign my contract.
As for writing the conditions of the contracts, well… I had to use the help of Isac at this moment. I didn't even have to check the nature or the price of contracts I bought, not to talk about writing the terms.
"You… Are really insane!" After two hours of doing such a crazy thing at such an insane rate, Isac couldn't help but sigh in a tired way after writing all these contracts.
"Just keep doing it," I hardly managed to say these words while gritting on my teeth.
"You know it's futile, right?"
"…"
"This monster can't be stopped in this way! Lots of people tried before and failed!"
"…"
"Hey! I'm speaking to you!"
"…"
In fact speaking again would risk me losing more threads or losing focus. I had to keep listening in silence to what he said, without even saying anything back even if I wanted to.
Just the pressure… The pain… Everything I was experiencing made me feel numb. If I shifted my attention away from this, I might lose everything! Literally everything!
So no matter how Isac tried, I totally ignored him.
Right now my technique was looking much like a black hole than a cultivation technique. The amount of my black threads coming out from it was simply unimaginable!
It looked like a dense pack of long hair was stretching out from it. And with more added with each passing minute, I knew the scene from outside would look shocking.
"Dammit!" but just half an hour later, I couldn't help but shout in frustration and agony while my chariot stopped moving all of sudden.
Isac's body felt unbalanced, and ended up flying in my direction and slamming together with mine.
Together we fell on the ground, ended up rolling while I had no ounce of strength to even push her body away or stop our rolling.
478 He Is... Here!!!
"Damn! Why the hell did you stop?!!!" she stood up first, with a tinge of redness on her cheeks. I couldn't bring myself to look at her in such a way, especially with that male face she was having.
It… Just looked weird!
But I had no strength to even respond back. I had to lay down there on my back, close my eyes, and slowly regulate the gush of energy in my body.
At some point, I reached a stage I couldn't control anymore. It only took one second to get distracted and lose my focus, one second to lose it all and make my technique forcibly end.
And with it, I even lost control over my chariot while all the pain and exhaustion lashed back at me in such a fierce way.
The energy coming at me was in such a dense amount to scare me. But as I tried to think of a way to release them into my shadow world, I realised something amazing.
My dantian and meridians… They were absorbing the energy in such a way like a pile of sand absorbing water.
They were giving me a torture already, but when the energy got absorbed in such scary rate, I felt like cool water was being poured over these sour places.
I had to say I was enjoying this feeling. It was like getting to rest after a tedious workout session for an entire day. It was refreshing, intoxicating, giving me a tinge of joy in the middle.
It took me an hour to get awake from such a state. And the moment I opened my eyes, I felt like my body was reborn.
I never imagined such a thing would come after such a long time of tension and agony. It didn't just affect my dantian and meridians, but my entire body.
My muscles looked different, as long as my bones. Both started to shine faintly in pale green light. While the energy running through my meridians and dantian turned slightly darker.
It evolved, alongside my meridians and dantian. My dantian swells to triple its original size. As for my meridians, they have thick walls, much thicker than before at least.
During the crazy process I did before, my meridians showed spider web-like cracks. They were the main source of my pain, and I knew they got hurt.
But right now nothing of this remained. My meridians looked intact, healthy, as brand new.
"Finally you opened your eyes! Damn! We already screwed up!!"
Just before I got to know what exactly changed in my body, the annoyed and bitter voice of Isac came to startle me awake from this amazing feeling.
"What happened?" I stood up, but unlike what I knew of my body, it moved in such agility and swiftness, like I was much younger than now.
And my strength also evolved. Just my attempt to stand up made me jump in the air for ten metres, before falling on my feet while feeling a little weird.
"Damn! You got stronger!" Isac said in annoyance, "but it's too late… That monster is here! Don't think you can stand against it. Listen to my advice, let's find a world away from here and escape to."
She said that in rushing breaths, shouting out of her distress in such panic. I gave her a single glance before turning to see the horizon.
Indeed something appeared out there. The dim world from before turned pitch black in that zone. I didn't know why, but I didn't feel any speck of worry or panic like her.
"What are you waiting for? Let's move…" just before she would continue her words, I controlled my chariot and led it towards that pitch black zone.
"Damn you, Hye! You have to move to the other side, away, far away from that damn monster," Isac got a moment of pause when he noticed the direction my chariot was going towards.
It was heading towards the monster, not away from it.
In the next moment, she jumped and grabbed me from the arm. Yet unlike before, she didn't manage to even budge me an inch!
My strength… It evolved much from this chance, way more than I even imagined!
"You…" Isac also noticed the difference. To her I might have felt like touching a mountain and trying desperately to move it.
"I won't run away," I decisively said, "if you want, you can escape if you want."
"You… You got stronger, I admit it… But don't think for a second that this will give you a chance to stand against it!"
Just as she was saying that, a big shadow appeared loaming from a distance. It was like a big mountain peak, and I couldn't get any details of it as it was all black.
The darkness that covered that region came from nothing but that thing. Once I spotted it, I knew it was the monster I was going to fight.
It was… My enemy! The hardest and fiercest one I faced up till now.
"I won't fight it with my bare fists," I calmly said while opening my profile, getting into a certain place.
"Then… What? Are you going to just curse him?"
"That… Is a brilliant idea," her words reminded me of my Libra. "But first, I need to do something… Come to my chariot in the south, come like your death is running after you!"
"What are you doing?!!" Isac looked at me in a weird way, but I didn't explain. What I did was simple. I gained tons of monsters during my crazy two hours and half of work. And it was time for me to reap benefits.
I didn't do that to just secure my kingdom. I did that to fight that bastard and take it down.
This fight… It was going to be epic!
As the monsters were coming from far away places, I had to do another thing.
"This… It's a godly artefact! Damn! Damn! Hye, whose god is supporting you?!!" Isac recognised my Libra once I took it out.
This girl… She was damn lucky to watch me in play using my full strength and toys.
479 [Bonus chapter] You Are My Safest Shelter
"It's someone you won't know," I didn't feel like saying. She was a Selvator, not a human to know the name of Anubis or Sith.
[The soul targeted is weighed to be an enemy to you]
[Curse is going to apply]
[Curse completion… One percent]
[Curse completion… Two percent]
Unlike what I expected, that dude's massive body didn't hinder the speed of my curse.
From the side, Isac stood in awe and looked in curious gazes towards my Libra.
"You only need to have a look at your enemy to use it? No way! Don't tell me it's the tool you have to lower our stat and strength!!"
"You sure know a lot about me," I rolled my eyes while looking at the flashing messages popping in front of my eyes.
"It's not my fault that you are too hard to notice," she said as if it was my fault.
"I can't blame myself for being too hot," I laughed and she rolled her eyes in response. "Now everything is ready, we need to wait."
"Wait for what?" Isac asked, and I simply pointed towards the far away back, where a big cloud of dust could be seen.
"Wait for them," I said, referring to my monsters.
I just gave them the order. And so my monsters started to flock towards my chariot. I didn't know how the system would inform them about my location, but last time they came to me without any problems.
"What do you plan to do?" She stood by my side, standing at the edge of my chariot while looking over the far away behemoth like black mountain.
"I learnt a valuable lesson through the apocalypse so far, do you know what it is?" I said it in such a serious way.
"What?"
"In this world, strong only can be conquered with mightier strength," I slowly said, "this dude over there might look scary and everything. But he has limits. I know that everyone in the universe has limits."
"But… His limits are way above what we can even hope to reach."
"Not in front of me," I turned to look at her before adding, in a neutral tone, not overbearing, nor humble, "I am different, much different than you can even imagine."
"…"
She stood silent by my side, while the earth was trembling under the approaching grand army of monsters.
I waited for half an hour until a big number of monsters came here. They stretched way beyond the reach of my eyes behind my chariot. They all stood in silence, waiting for my next order.
"Last chance to find yourself a good shelter," I said in an honest way while taking out my two glaives.
I knew my strength got evolved and my body got promoted. So I dared to try and take the two out. The light one wasn't a big deal. Only the heavy glaive would cause me problems.
But unlike what I used to feel; both felt light in my hands. I didn't even feel the pressure and the tension holding the heavy glaive caused before.
I… Could I now try that deadly glaive of my chariot? Or was it too early to do that?
Anyway I got the feeling that in this fight, using that dreadful glaive would be a necessity.
So I didn't take it out for now. I left this dude for the big moment, when things were dire to try such a desperate weapon.
Just if I had skills attached to it, it would be great!
"Something tells me the safest sanctuary in this world," she said in response, making me not know if I should laugh or cry.
The safest place was by my side? While I was fighting that scary behemoth first hand? Damn safe shelter this was!
"Ok," but as she made up her mind, I didn't force her away. After all I still didn't lose hope, not even in the slightest.
I faced many foes who were rumoured to be unbeatable. Yet here I was, standing and breathing while all of them were lying cold under dirt.
"Time to see what this dude is all about," I didn't hurry to start my attack using monsters. Instead, I controlled my chariot and moved towards that black mountain peak at the horizon.
My monsters naturally followed, but I intended to stop just at a safe distance away. "Step aside for one sec," as I was travelling fast, I pushed Isac aside, went to the heart of my chariot that appeared out of my will, and started to store lots of my high grade energy crystals there.
One was enough for two billion of my stat points. But I knew in this fight, even hundreds of billion wouldn't be enough. So I took a lot, and under the shocked eyes of Isac, threw them all like they were worthless weed into fire.
"You… You know what you just used?" she couldn't tolerate it anymore. In the next minute she blurted this out while trying to stand between me and that heart of my chariot.
"I told you, step aside and let me finish my work."
"You… Are you out of your goddamn mind? What? Do these things look like nothing in your eyes?!!"
She seemed to know more about my crystals than I did. But it wasn't time to negotiate such a thing.
"I had tons of these, so step aside, please," I tried to not push her aside using my glaive. Yet it seemed my arm holding the heavy glaive trembled faintly to let her get scared.
Like a cat stepped on its tail, she jumped aside, finally giving me space to use my crystals again.
"You… Do you have a dragon grandfather in your family or what?"
"Don't ask," I laughed, "you saw all this and just got stirred up by these bunch of crystals? Here, take these, they are for you."
I really had a lot of such things, so throwing out dozens of them over to her wasn't a big issue.
As she caught them like she was catching a valuable treasure, her face told me how deeply shocked and irritated she was by my actions and words.
480 The Epic Battle - Part 1
"You are just using such strong crystals like they were rubbish," she rolled her eyes as she said in disdain. And I ignored her useless remark.
I didn't care how valuable these crystals were. I only needed to store up as much energy as I could in my chariot.
In the upcoming fight, I got the feeling that sparing anything to do such a simple task would be hard.
Just as I finished doing this for the next five minutes, I finally got to see the final shape of that behemoth up front.
It was… Really massive! I thought it was standing on the ground as it had such towering stature from far.
But when I arrived closer, I got to see the true place of it. It was on water, just like what Fang said before.
"This…" but I had to admit, that thing was really all pitch black. It was so damn hard to tell its outer appearance except if one looked at the world around it.
Even in such a dim world, this behemoth made the world look bright and shiny. The blackness of that behemoth was like a deep night without any moon or stars, a pitch black mountain looming over the water surface.
"It's… Huge!" I said what came to mind when I saw this thing.
"He is just floating on water, you didn't get to see him while standing on all its huge tentacles," Isac said, making me picture something terrifying.
Just from looking at it like that I got how helpless fighting it was. But I didn't let such feelings dwindle inside my soul for so long. I clenched my fists, squeezing my fingers over the cold surface of my two glaives.
"I'm… Going to kill it," I decided, and it felt pointless saying these words. After all, I came here not to play with it, but to kill that bastard.
However, saying these words out loud washed away any feeling of fear and dread inside my heart.
"You are a stupid courage person, you know that?" Isac from the side could only say that while shaking her head.
"Let's see how it will stand against me," I looked at the messages of the system. The curse of my Libra was still half way through completion. After reaching thirty something percent, the speed started to show an obvious decrease.
I didn't know exactly what the distance between me and that behemoth was. But from me to the shore, there were almost a couple of miles left.
"What are you doing?" as I continued my movement forward, Isac from the side blurted out in clear panic.
"I'm going to say hi," I shrugged, taking back my light glaive before taking something out.
"Another artefact?!! Damn Hye!!! How many artefacts do you have?!!!" She was shocked to see the pillar of Hector's race that I took out.
"Just stand on the side and keep watching in silence," I said in a serious tone, without even sparing a glance to her, "things will get a bit hectic from now on."
"…"
She seemed to get fazed by my words and tone. She remained silent, giving me finally the peace I wanted.
I was moving at such a fast speed and doing reckless moves that I knew it would backfire on me. But I had to test this behemoth, I needed to know what it was able to do.
And my way of saying greetings was simple.
*Roar!*
Just as I crossed the shore and flew for half a mile, I heard such a mighty roar. From its intensity, I could tell that the bastard wasn't that far away from me.
"Watch out! He is going to use his scorching land ability attack!" even if I stuck a tape over her mouth, she wouldn't even stop talking! Dammit Isac! Can't you just stay silent for a few minutes?!
But as she warned me, I saw many sparkling golden dots in the dim sky. From seeing these, I recalled the scene of the tens of thousands of the star weapons that I saw when fighting against that alien universe army.
Ok… You started your attack, and it would be fair for me to start mine.
"Thundering might!" The first thing I used wasn't an attack skill, but the defensive skill of my pillar. The pillar broke free from my hand, flew and hovered for hundreds of metres above my chariot before expanding to connect the sky with water.
"Damn!" This fight was on another level than what Isac and other paragons here would imagine. "You are really a monster!"
*Boom!*
The next moment the pillar released its shield that spanned over a very wide area. I stood in the outer region of this shield, which spanned in a circular way to cover a huge stretch of land and a tiny part of the ocean waters.
It seemed the pillar recognised the area covered by my monsters to be under my protection. So it spanned and covered a very vast area that spanned towards the rear horizon.
As my first move appeared, it was time to use another.
"Crushing Wave!"
It was the first time for me to use such a skill. I always used the Thundering Might defensive skill of my pillar. But at this battle, I had to use all the skills I had from my pillar.
The pillar in my hand shook violently, yet this time it didn't break free from my hand. Unlike what I expected, I felt a deep connection with the pillar.
According to the description of the skill, I should have a cone shaped limited wave attack.
[Crushing Wave skill: Pillar of Hector race prime exclusive skill. Can't be linked permanently to you. You can only use it as long as you are still the owner of the pillar.
Skill details: holding the pillar, you can wave it to launch a mighty wave of energy that will attack only a limited space of one hundred metres width and five hundred metres length. You can control the wave with your mind, determining the location of its impact. Once it landed on your target, a mighty explosion will engulf the area of coverage by the skill for five straight minutes. The damage taken can be equal to one thousand eings damage. Can be used once per day]
481 The Epic Battle - Part 2
But for a reason… This skill seemed to connect with my body and looked for an energy to get connected with the pillar.
"This…" a crazy idea flashed through my mind when I felt this connection. The first thing I thought was to let this pillar connect with my dantian.
But that wasn't what I thought about next and made me grin evilly. I had another source of energy, one that I struggled to deal with before.
It was the dark energy I absorbed from a recent fight, one that was on a totally different level than anything I got to see before.
"Get down there!" like a crazy man, I shouted out of the blue, making Isac next to me to jump out of fright.
She asked, but her words seemed like they were coming from a distant place. I was totally focused on establishing a weird connection.
I always shifted things from the outer world and my body towards my shadow world. But at this moment, I tried something different.
I reverted the connection. Instead of my energy passing through my feet to the dark shadow world, I tried to get such energy from there to here.
If I had time, I'd simply enter that world and control things from there. But I got the feeling that going in there right now would make me feel a new challenge, one that I didn't risk to have at this stressful moment.
As the distant dim sky was getting brighter in gloomy and dangerous looking red lights, I started to feel the dark energy coming from my shadow world to my body.
The energy I absorbed was already surrounded with my pale green energy. So when it entered my body, it tried to revolt however I had an easier time controlling it using the energy encompassing it.
I didn't need to circulate this energy or keep it inside my body. Once it came through my feet, I started pushing it fast towards my right hand, the hand holding the pillar.
Luckily it wasn't my left hand, or else my heart would be in danger. The energy passing through the right side of my body turned all this part chaotic. I felt numb there, and if not for the layer of energy surrounding this dark berserk energy, I'd already lost contact and control over it.
But when it reached my right arm, it seemed to link to the pillar energy. Like getting attached to a dark hole, that dark energy gushed fast through my right arm, went through the pillar.
And then the pillar started to buzz in terrifying buzzing sounds.
"Hye! Hye! What are you doing? Don't be so scared!!!"
And as that process was done, all I could hear was the loud cries of the terrified and panicked Isac.
Damn! It was the first time for me to regret something. I regretted letting her here by my side during this fight. She… was a distraction.
Should I kick her as* out of my chariot? Or she would end up dying?
"Shut the hell up!" I could only control my thoughts and say this in a serious warning. My eyes, my full attention was now focused on my pillar.
Even with all the energy coming from the dark shadow realm and passing through my body towards this pillar, it felt like the pillar was a bottomless pit.
It kept sucking energy without showing any sign of stopping.
*Roar!*
As if that mighty monster felt the dark energy I was pouring endlessly towards the pillar, it started to roar and seemingly move.
For a moment, I thought it vibrated. But I couldn't tell thanks to such deep darkness it had.
However the next few moments I knew it really moved! A giant wave of water appeared from all over the ocean in the distance, coming fiercely and moving towards my direction.
At the same time, the red dots in the sky started to grow bigger and clearer. They weren't stars or red beams of light as I thought before.
They were giant, all burning under golden flames. I could tell there were almost tens of thousands of them, racing downwards like they were racing to see which one would reach the ground first.
"Prepare for the impact!" from the side, Isac screamed and even ran towards the edge of my chariot, firmly grabbing it and leaning her body as if she was going to experience a mighty blow.
That girl… Sigh! Can't she see my shield? My chariot's mighty shield and my pillar's great shield? She… Was pathetic!
But she was right about one thing; the impact coming was going to be fierce like nothing else I experienced before. I just hoped my pillar's shield would be sturdy enough to endure this impact.
*Rumble!*
The first meteorite fell at this moment. It came in contact with my big outer shield, crashing and exploding into tiny pieces of burning golden fire.
The fire expanded like a fan, as if it was hugging my shield. And before the expansion of fire would stop, another one hit, and another.
Then the entire world turned into a world of violent rumblings and fire expanding all over my great shield.
*Buzz!*
And at this moment, I felt like the pillar in my hand was answering to a challenge. It moved, rose up, pointed itself like it was a spear towards the monster up front without even letting me do anything.
"Crushing Wave!" This time I said it in a deep and mighty voice that seemed to travel across the world. I didn't know what went wrong with me to have such a voice, but I felt the urge to shout the name of the skill right now.
And once I said it, the world showed a new change.
It felt like I held the fuse and just ignited the doomsday. All these minutes, the dark energy I absorbed from before was gushing and racing towards the pillar.
482 The Epic Battle - Part 3
That was something totally different from what happened when I said the name of the skill once again.
It looked like the pillar went all greedy and sucked fiercer the dark energy. At this moment, I felt like my body turned all numb, and everything inside turned pitch black from that energy.
Then a mighty wave erupted from my pillar. It looked like a massive ray of pale green light that expanded in a blink of an eye to reach that dark monster.
A silent clash occurred, one that told me how fierce and unimaginable this clash was. I saw a flower shaped explosion of pale green light at the edges with dark red light in the middle, and pitch black in the centre from the place of contact between my energy and that behemoth.
That flower started to expand fast, and with it light shone finally on the outer surface of that monster.
"These… Small tentacles?!!!" from her place, Isac exclaimed in deep shock. It seemed this was the first time for her to see the real body of this behemoth.
And seeing such a rare thing made her forget for a moment her fear from the fiery meteorite falling over my shield.
But she would soon return to be terrified when the aftermath of that mighty clash began to reach a level our senses could detect.
*Roar!* *Roar!* *Roar!*
Continuous ear deafening roars came from the direction of the monster. Yet these didn't come from the monster itself, but from the explosion that was fiercely clashing at its body.
And as these roars appeared, an irresistible burst of wind came like many combined tornados hitting together in every direction.
My shield didn't budge when faced with the falling terrifying meteorite, yet it started to obviously vibrate under the assault of such wind.
I could tell now how mighty that explosion was! It was way beyond anything I could imagine or describe. Even words would fail to describe such a phenomenon.
And… It was far from over!
Even when the pillar released such a mighty attack, it still kept sucking the dark energy in my shadow world. As it kept doing this, I knew I could maintain it beyond the five minute time limit.
I could continue this for hours! Damn! Just thinking about this made my heart race!
That was just me facing the aftermath of this clash. Then what about that damn behemoth?
*Roar!*
This time the roar came from the monster, and I could feel little pain and more rage in it.
"Be careful! He will use another ability!" I didn't need Isac to warn me. After all, our first opening moves proved their worth.
Its meteorites that could lit entire ground to shreds were stopped, but my pillar wave attack crushed it and even started to push its colossal body back.
But before I could see what he was going to do, a series of mighty and deadly waves rose up from the ocean. Just the height of these waves were almost on par with the high altitude of my chariot.
I was hovering almost half a mile over the water, and that made these waves look like they would crush anything in their way persistently and without showing any mercy or exception.
However there was an exception! As my shield managed to stand against wind and fire, it was time to stand against water!
"Damn! This fight… I shouldn't be here!" At last Isac got to grasp what I warned her before about.
But girl… It was now too late to realise such a thing.
"Just hang tight and keep silent," I tried to move my pillar and it followed my will, "I can't concentrate when you are nagging and whining like a girl."
"But I'm a girl!" it seemed in front of such a godly battle, she finally decided to drop her act and confess.
Girl… We weren't going to die to confess. And I already knew you were a girl goddammit!
The pillar followed my arm moves, and started to shower that monster in different areas. The skill was supposed to be limited to five hundred metres in length.
However at this moment, it felt like it could reach tens of miles, even more!
As the outer shield of my pillar kept being bombarded by fire, wind, and water, another attack came from that monster at last.
"It's… The Anti Ground ability!!!" this girl never learnt in her early years how to shut up when being told!
"I can see that!" I already saw the ability in action, so I didn't need her remark at this moment.
The attack this time didn't come from the front, but below! It looked like the ocean surface got severed by a mighty sword, extending for miles in length and two miles in width.
Water started to form two gigantic cliffs, as if they were falling from colossal waterfalls. It kept falling to the bottom, expanding to the side, and exposing more depth of it.
I could see many gigantic aquatic monsters down below, all pale in comparison to the mighty behemoth here, all felt like nothing in the face of such terrifying ability.
As the gap expanded and deepened, I could see peaks of mountains coming up from the bottom.
They looked like giant mountains being raised from below and rising up. But in fact I knew this wasn't the case here. This dude wasn't just raising up the ground, he was doing something similar to what my chariot here used to do.
It was separating ground from the bed of the ocean, raising them up through this massive and scary looking gap, and bringing them up to clash against my shield.
So now my shield had to face water, fire, wind, and earth… What a nice collection of abilities that bastard gathered for me here.
Yet even with all that, it couldn't stop my pillar's wave attack from crushing and scorching its body.
Its body was irregular, showing peaks like mountains and deep valleys everywhere. Like a grand land covered up in green grass, its body was covered with small looking tentacles, compared to everything giant around them.