Mixed Personal Collection 2 Chapter 8 11-18

Chapter 11 - I Won't Fall Here

My body ached in every possible way. I didn't recall I had such pain ever in my life!

"Roar!"

"Go to hell," I threw my club at the weak spot of a hyena monster, before turning around and throwing another blow towards another one.

I knew if I kept fighting and didn't get into that room, then more monsters would pour in and block my way inside. So I didn't stop my steps while enduring more pain from the harsh fall.

I swore I must have broken a few ribs at least. Even my shoulder looked like it got a fracture or something. I was bleeding from many places and my clothes were now stained by slowly expanding red spots.

If I had an option, then I would first retreat and try to attend to my wounds. However I couldn't do that and all I was doing was making these wounds open further.

"Go away," I finally managed to clear a path to the door. The moment I reached there I didn't hesitate to enter the room.

The size of the room was small to allow for those giant hyenas to enter. So it worked best to block them for me for the next few minutes.

However they wouldn't just sit idle and accept such an outcome. I knew they would come and hit that room with everything they got. My blood seemed to attract more of their hostility and showed more of their ferocity.

"You…" the moment I stepped in, the face of Arnold changed. He was standing next to the generator trying to figure out what he should do with it. He didn't expect to see me here so soon.

"Surprise," I stepped towards him while adding, "now can you calmly get away from that thing? Surely you don't want to lose your life here."

"F*ck you!" However, against my expectations, my words didn't calm him down. Instead he turned around, raised his wooden club in the air before slamming it over one spot.

"Stop!" I saw where he was hitting and couldn't help but cross the small distance between us. But I was a little late in doing that. His club hit the fragile looking tube that connected the generator with the nearby tanks of gasoline.

"Bang… Bang…" I didn't want to kill him, but he already did unforgivable sin in my eyes. I hit him in the back of his head, and a big gush of blood erupted before the generator started to issue strange sounds.

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

"Click!" like a monster dying, the generator suddenly stopped all of sudden. Then darkness prevailed the entire world with no single light remaining here.

"Dammit!" I grasped my club and tried to touch the generator with my other arm. I could feel the dented places where that jerk's club just hit.

I didn't know how to fix this thing. It was an antique in my eyes. I knew the outer metallic shell wouldn't budge against that wood club in normal cases. However Arnold had his stats risen and his strikes weren't normal at all. The club was smashed under Arnold's strength, telling me more about his stats.

"First things first," I calmed myself down while closing and reopening my eyes several times. I tried to adapt to the sudden darkness while the mighty and thrilling roars of the monsters reverberated all over the world.

I knew we weren't in an utter dark world, there was still light out there. But it was faint, much fainter than the light of the spots here.

"Bang! Bang!"

As I started to adapt fast to the darkness, the brutal sounds of the monsters trying to smash this room began to annoy me.

"I don't even have time to reconnect that," I picked up the torn rubber tube while the gasoline oozing from it soaked my hand and sighed. If I just studied this machine before coming here, I would rather have an idea of what to do to fix it.

However just as I turned around, my eyes fell over something that could be useful.

"I didn't want to kill you," I said to the unconscious Arnold, "after all I got tons of questions to ask you about. But… I can't help it man."

I knew I underestimated those traitors before. They seemed more resourceful and a lot smarter than what I imagined. Having someone as a prisoner from their group would be the best thing I could dream of.

But at this moment, it was either I choose to save his pathetic life and risk losing even mine, or blow his life to pieces and help others survive.

"Another chance will rise eventually," I consoled myself by saying that. After all, this clash tonight shone light about what these traitors were going to do next.

The gasoline stored in this room was inside big suitcase-like tanks. There were around a dozen of them, and without any hesitation I grabbed all I could by one arm while enduring more pain.

"It will be a fun show to watch," I evilly smirked while heading directly towards the semi-smashed door and walls of this room.

"Bang!"

Without any warning, I started to cut my path through the densely packed hyenas, killing any monster standing in my way.

Despite being burdened by the tanks on my back, my right arm kept swaying right and left until I finally got out. Then it was time to start running and evading their deadly attacks.

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

At this moment the hyenas held the advantage against all of us. The light that kept them weakened was gone and they could perfectly see me and my movements.

Despite that I was able to evade all of their attacks using my vast experience in surviving the apocalypse. It wasn't easy, hell no. I was deeply wounded and my bleeding seemed to worsen my power and slightly dulled my senses.

I managed to enter the field at last when another disaster approached.

"Howl!"

"The wolves!" I recognized the unique howling of those wild wolves. They were like the hyenas here, were big monsters with more brutality and viciousness.

Unlike the hyenas, every pack of those wolves had an alpha, one that could be considered a mighty leader. That alpha couldn't be underestimated, and it was the one I should pay more attention towards.

"I won't fall here," I gnashed my teeth before throwing one tank on the ground and started to retreat, "not when I'm so close to winning this quest."

The time passed already was almost three quarters of the hour given to us. So all I needed to do was to survive the next fifteen minutes at any cost.

"Raor!"

"Bang!"

However as I stopped for a moment there, the hyenas finally got a chance to surround me. They formed layers of their big bodies, blocking any path for me to retreat.

"You wanna do it here then? Fine, I think I got far enough already," unlike what the monsters expected, I didn't show any despair or fear.

I viciously smiled before aiming my club at a different spot.

All around were the remains of the useless blockade we used earlier. However at this moment, these crushed pieces were the only way to make me survive this.

"Clang!"

My metallic club met with a metallic piece of what was a bench one day. The clash generated small sparks that would do nothing at normal times. But not right now.

"Burn in hell, bastards!" I loudly shouted while watching the sparks grow into small pieces of fire. Then it started to race time, forming a long and thin thread of dancing fire, heading fast at the direction I just came from.

I didn't leave the room empty handed. Before I left I made sure to open a few tanks and threw them on the ground. As for what I held on my back, one of them was already opened and kept pouring its content everywhere along my steps.

My back was already drenched in gasoline, but it wasn't a problem as I rapidly retreated. If they thought they could take away my light, then I decided to not only bring more light here, but also heat.

Let me see how you would dare to deal with the two most threatening natural elements, bastards.

Chapter 12 - A Mighty Explosion

I didn't even turn to see what was going to happen. My only aim now was to get away as far as possible from the upcoming explosion, or else my body would be caught in it and instead would be burnt by fire.

"Bang!"

"Boom!"

Just as I cleared two hyenas from my way and ran for a few meters, a small explosion occurred. The almost empty tank I left on the ground nearby exploded first.

Its might wasn't that big, however the wave of light and heat it created brought weakness again to those hyenas.

And this was my chance to slip away from them.

I didn't even look behind and kept pushing forward. I could see the obvious hesitation and fear on the faces of those monsters. Yeah, shake in fear, bastards! That's what you got from messing with me.

Just as I crossed twenty meters and was close to what remained of my group, the second explosion hit.

This time it was really massive and violent. The sound it created was like a golam hitting the ground fiercely with its giant fist. But no golam could create such a strong shockwave that threw me off balance. I fell on my face for meters ahead before rolling a couple times.

"Damn! I never thought it would be this violent!"

As I stood up and tried to regain my composure, I couldn't shift my eyes away from that big fire tongue that stretched high in the air. The explosion didn't occur once, but I heard more explosive sounds coming as more tanks got hit by the fire inside.

"I hope you enjoy your fast ride to hell," I snorted at Arnold's fate then carried over the scattered tanks on my back before I turned to check my group, or what was left from it.

"Good," I expected a few people to survive this round. After all, the retaliation of the hyenas would be fierce. However over a dozen youths stood firmly on the ground while almost five or six were on the ground, deeply wounded.

They were forming a small circle that protected those wounded ones. Isabella wasn't in the center but she was fighting in the circle fiercely against those monsters.

"Hye, this way… Hurry!" as the explosion occurred, everyone turned to look at me. The shout of Isabella wasn't needed as I already started running towards the group.

"Sh*t!" However, as I started running, I soon noticed that I seemed to get a new injury from that fall. I was limping. I felt from the severe pain in my ankles and knees that I sprinted some ligaments there.

However, that didn't prevent me from reaching the group. The monsters all around were in a state of shock and fear from that mighty explosion. Those who were near it were caught in the middle of the explosion and were burning and roaring in unimaginable pain.

"Here," as I reached the group, I didn't hurry to get a moment of rest. I knew this wasn't enough to stop the next attack of the monsters, which would be the fiercest in this night.

"What to do with these?" A few youths finally had a chance to take their breaths as monsters seemed to be paralyzed. However they looked at a loss when I threw two tanks I held on my back onto them.

I only managed to carry five tanks from that room. One was used to start this explosion, and now two were in the hands of these youths.

"Spill their content all around," I hurriedly said before pointing around as I added, "try to make the circle wider and make sure to empty the two tanks all in there."

"O… Ok…" the youths' faces shown under the dancing yellow light of the fire told me how surprised they were by my plan.

"Where are you going?" Isabella noticed me turning around after throwing the remaining two tanks in the middle of the group and started to limp my way towards the nearest group of monsters.

"We need to clear a space for them," I firmly said before I started my hunting spree, 'I need to get my own revenge on them… and money.'

The monsters were all in a state of weakness and shock at this moment. So it was also logical to hammer on the iron when it was still hot. I waved my club and regretted not having my stats at the moment, regretted not having my body intact and healthy like before.

I could already hear the angry shouts roaring from my surviving group members. I wasn't the only one being suppressed here, they also held a deep grudge and immense anger against those monsters.

"We are ready," one of the youths who had the task of splashing the gasoline said, "come back now."

"Not yet," I didn't stop. In fact I didn't plan on using that tactic this early. There would be a moment when this setting would be needed, but not now.

I kept moving in the middle of the monsters killing all I could reach. At some point, a mighty roar came from outside as if more hyenas awakened from their shock.

"Just in time," despite that I didn't retreat. The fire that was now burning wildly at that generator's room was the strongest weapon we had right now. And the coolest thing was that these monsters wouldn't be able to do anything to stop it.

So they would come from the opposite direction. These hyenas weren't as smart or cunning like wolves. They would naturally select the safest point away from that threatening fire to come to me.

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

It was their instinct of animal survival, and I already read through their movements beforehand.

I was now standing in the opposite direction of the fire, waiting for the incoming brutal wave to arrive. In the meantime, I kept hitting the monsters all around, while trying to leave a trace of dead bodies between the group and me.

That was intentional. After all, gasoline wouldn't burn on itself. Any fire needed wood to keep itself alive. It just happened that these huge monsters worked as the best wood here.

"Roar!"

As expected, the wave that started to come from that direction was really big. I didn't doubt that this was all that the hyenas had around this field. So crushing them meant winning this quest. Surviving the next minutes meant our win as well.

Finally our odds of winning this quest rose exponentially by what I did. At last I could finally retreat while killing anything that dared to come near me.

However, how could I leave such a meal? I retreated while killing as many monsters as I could.

The more I killed the more that came at me. I only needed one hit, one smash of my good club and the monster would die.

But even if I didn't want to retreat to the group, I finally had to. The monsters that came were really overwhelming in numbers. I killed around thirty of them but I could see over a hundred running my way.

"Should we light that gasoline up now?" one of the youths asked in a nervous tone. Unlike what others expected, I shook my head firmly. "Not now," I said while standing beside Isabella.

She was fighting in a fervent way. She was really something else. Without any prior experience in fighting, this weak looking girl was killing the most monsters in our little group after me.

"Roar!"

The monsters surrounded us in layers so dense that no one could easily see through. I knew they would bring everything they had and come at us in such a domineering way.

But this was all within my calculations.

"Hye… What should we do now?"

At this moment the hyenas surrounded all of us without attacking. The road I came from was literally covered in thick dead bodies, making them more enraged.

But they wanted to invoke fear inside us first, an animal tactic that looked pretty damn old in my eyes.

"Give me your club," without saying much I extended my hand over while the other moved to grab one of the two tanks I left behind.

I didn't throw them there to rot anyway.

"... here…" the look she gave me was priceless. If I asked anyone to do that in such a situation, refusal would be the answer if he didn't know the reasons behind my request.

But she didn't ask or say anything. She was smart enough to know I wasn't doing this for nothing.

"Watch and learn," I moved a few steps outside the tight circle of our group before I shouted, "be ready, when I give you the mark, attack at once."

"..."

All I got back was eerie silence. It was expected. After all, who was in their right mind to ask them something like that? To attack such densely packed brutal and enraged hyenas with such few numbers and no weapons?

However I wasn't simply anyone.

"Glug!"

I instantly opened the lid of the tank and let enough gasoline fall on the ground. "For the sake of those who fell today from us," I said it like I was holding a liquor bottle and emptying it over the honor of the dead soldiers in battle.

My actions made everyone around me more shocked and startled. I could already feel their piercing gazes at my back as if they were wondering if I lost my mind or what!

"Phew!" as I poured enough on the ground in front of me, I threw the tank towards the distance. I wasn't just throwing it, but aiming towards a certain point there, a point I and the team made possible.

"Clang!"

Without any hesitation I grabbed the two clubs and hit them against each other. In just a few strikes, few sparks finally were born. Sparks turned into small fire as it caught the gasoline on the ground before it followed the trail left by the tank I just threw.

"Whoosh!"

The fire first extended fast towards the monsters. They weren't fools by now and instantly tried to move away.

However, that was only the start of their nightmare.

"Sizzle!"

"Ready!" as the fire reached the large pack of dead monster bodies with the tank over them, it finally started to grow larger and become fiercer.

However, that wasn't all.

"Boom!"

A small explosion happened when the fire tongues touched the tank. That pushed many monsters and forced them to fall on their faces on the ground. And then fire started to extend in an arch, following the gasoline my group left before.

"Roar!"

It happened so fast and in the end, the tightly packed angry monsters were cut in the middle by a circle of fire. The sudden appearance of fire alongside the chaos caused by my tank explosion made more hyenas to catch fire.

Things started to become ugly for them, and much easier for me and my group.

"Attack!" without waiting any longer, I simply threw the club back to the all shocked Isabella and started to run towards the trapped monsters.

After all, I waited all this time just to let enough of them enter inside the circle of fire. This way I wasn't only able to block any monster from attacking me and the group in the remaining minutes, but I also trapped a large number of them and decreased their numbers.

"Thud!"

The muffled sounds of the falling dead bodies kept ranging with the fierce sound of the fire eating the flesh of the monsters outside. Painful roars kept coming from out there but I only saw justice in that fate.

They wanted me dead, and I was only repaying their kindness double.

"Don't leave a single bastard alive!"

"Kill them! Kill them!"

"Aaaahhh!"

Many shouts, cries of anger, and even unrecognized roarings came out from the group behind. I could faintly smile as this was the first step in evolving ourselves in the apocalypse.

The first quest was important as it demarcated a clear line between our peaceful life before and our brutal life after the apocalypse.

From this day onward, all of them would be fierce fighters, one with a potential of a good future.

The remaining minutes ended fast without anything new to develop. From the start I knew wolves wouldn't dare to come near here as they feared nothing more than fire.

Since the explosion I caused back at the room, their role here ended before it even began. I was relieved that we didn't have to fight that damn alpha at this stage, not without a system and unlocked stats at least.

Those who left and tried to find sanction at the subways were the most cursed ones. All subways were underground with no possible source of light at all. Even if they tried to run, they were already trapped inside a gigantic underground maze.

"Huff… Huff… Where are they going… Huff… Huff…" Isabella wasn't the only one feeling exhausted here. Everyone else felt the same, me included.

"The quest is finished, I guess," I couldn't help but fall on my knees while my wounds and blood loss finally took over me. I wasn't careless to be absorbed in fighting without any consideration for my body.

After all, I knew what would happen next, so I wasn't afraid of fighting even in such a messy state.

"Damn! You are hurt like hell man!" At last the group started to catch their breaths and be relieved. So they noticed how bad my injuries were.

"Hye… you fool! You didn't even try to stop the bleeding!" I sensed a tinge of anger in Isabella's tone in addition to a ton of worry, but there was no blame there.. I could only smile while waiting for the next step to unfold.

Chapter 13 - Obtaining A System

"Let Gerry attend to you," Isabella showed a stubborn side of her personality as she let one of the youths examine my wounds.

"Don't worry Hye, I'm a medical student. Yes I'm still in the first year but I can control your bleeding at least," that guy told me that but I wasn't really worried about myself at the moment.

However I didn't speak or object again to not arouse any doubts. I knew that my wounds were severe but I also knew what would come in the next few moments.

[Congratulations! You have proven yourself worthy. The first part of the first quest is over and now a system is bound to your soul and genes]

I looked at the screen that appeared in front of me as it appeared in front of everyone. 'That damn gene binding,' I thought to myself while knowing the real apocalypse would start now.

The binding of the system was explained by lots of humans at the beginning to be like any game system. In fact this wasn't a false statement. After all, the nature of the system, its features and quests, all supported this idea.

But the problem here was that gene binding thing. It allowed any human to bypass what he acquired during these days to their upcoming offsprings. This might seem a good help to those born after the apocalypse, but it also doomed many people, like myself.

Those who failed to obtain a class or decent skills and attributes left their upcoming kids and grandkids at disadvantage. It wasn't easy to fix such adversaries later on, as this was all bound to our genes.

And from now on, it was like walking on a land full of mines to any human being.

'They should appear any moment now,' I looked at the dark sky while waiting for their appearance. I knew they should have appeared before the quest started but that was when there was only one quest, not two.

Now we have two parts of this quest, and that made me wait for their appearance now.

"Blink!"

In less than a few seconds after the appearance of this message, a strange phenomenon appeared. The dark sky suddenly shone as if a star was shining all of sudden and descending upon us.

'They are here,' I couldn't stay on the ground when I saw them. In fact this wasn't the first time for me to see them, but I had to admit… They knew how to put on a good show.

In the middle of darkness, a bright white light emanated from a giant body with wings. They were the angels, the guides who were supposed to be the most trusted human allies according to the records. And their deadliest enemies according to the old man.

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

"Poor humans, heavens have listened to your prayers and sympathized with your pains and sufferings," one of the three angels who descended here spoke in a tone that seemed to come from everywhere.

'The three guides,' I recognized them from the first glance. But unlike me, everyone else looked startled and wary of them.

"Who are you?" one of my remaining group members spoke in a shaky tone. It was expected after facing such deadly encounters with monsters never seen on this Earth before.

"It's the time of a great challenge human boy," the same angel spoke again before he pointed to himself and the two behind, "we came here to support and guide you in this long and arduous journey."

Whispers spread in my little group. I knew many people here didn't believe in gods or angels, but they had to change their beliefs if they wanted to survive.

After all, we were bound to deal with these two mythical beings from now on.

"What are you planning to do with us?" Isabella stepped forward before pointing around, "see for yourself how we ended up from being a civilized human race into this mess. See all the deaths around and tell me what are you going to do about that."

Good courageous girl! As expected from the one who aimed to become a president one day. Yet her argument was wrong here.

"We didn't come here to levitate anything away from you," the angel said these true words that I couldn't argue with, "we are here to help you survive these times."

"What is happening here then?" Isabella didn't like that answer but she jumped over this point.

"It's a clash between humans and monsters, a test you have been selected to pass through and prove your worth."

'Liar!' I slowly walked forward while trying to conceal my hatred and anger. This was the first lie given to us here. This wasn't a mere clash or a test, it was a merge between many worlds where strength only mattered.

"Then what shall we do now?" I asked while trying to move things on. I hated those bastards now as everything the old man told me about them was proven to be true.

The records told another story where these guides explained to humans everything related to the apocalypse. But now they lied and didn't tell a single point of truth.

"You are going to have your system activated," the angel looked at me for a brief moment. I suddenly felt weird as this gaze, despite bathed in white light like holy, carried a lot of hatred and bloodlust.

'This is your nature, bastard!' I inwardly cursed but I kept my face as calm as possible.

"Then the second part of this test will start. Succeeding will grant you a great opportunity, a chance to be blessed by one reverend being, a chance to finally acquire strength beyond your imagination."

'Liar!' I shouted in my head while watching that angel spitting out his lies. This was partially true as the reward of the next quest should be an empty slot for gaining blessing.

But it was a trap! If any human ever listened to these lies then he would be doomed to be weak for the rest of his life. Despite knowing all that, I kept it all to myself. After all, my group here seemed hopeful, but I still needed to watch their performance in the next quest.

"Now we don't have much time, you don't have much time," the angel said as if he was urging us to believe the sh*t he just blabbered, "the system will bind to you now. Try to stay alive in the next quest so we can start our real journey from there on."

The angel flicked his fingers before a screen appeared again in front of everyone.

[The system binding is about to start with your genes and soul. Please wait]

The next minute everyone was bathed in bright light that was much weaker in intensity than the light coming from the angels. It was faint white light, the weakest form of any system in this apocalypse.

But this light did the trick and healed all my wounds in one go.

[System binding is complete. Congratulations for acquiring a system]

[Now you can access the system by simply thinking about it]

[You have one hour of rest before the next quest starts]

Frequent messages appeared to all of us. The light that came healed any injuries we had just like it did to me. It was like a reset button was pressed and all of what we suffered was gone. Even fatigue was gone and I felt a gush of strength finally spreading over my body.

'My stats are unlocked at last!'

Even the consumed strength was replenished and fatigue was washed away. It was such a wonderful moment, a moment I waited for since the start of the quest.

This was the reason why I acted so daring and didn't worry about my wounds before. Even if a single human had one breath left in him, he would be totally healed by this light.

"Please have a rest. You have one hour before the start of the next quest. Good luck to you all."

The three angels didn't wait as the next moment the light wrapped around their bodies and they vanished like the way they appeared.

"Damn!" Isabella seemed to be frustrated by all this, "why the hell did they have to leave so soon? I still have tons of questions to ask."

I could relate with her perfectly well. Humans were such curious species and this situation instigated a lot of doubts and questions in each human.

But no matter how hard anyone tried, no answer would be given that would clear any doubt for now. 'They are just a bunch of liars who are trying to curse us,' I closed my eyes and couldn't help but recite the old words of the old man.

I always thought him crazy, but now? I was the crazy one to not attentively listen to every word he said.

"What should we do now?" as those who lied inside our little circle stood up in a healthy state, one of them asked in a loss.

"You are alright?" The others noticed that and for the first time since the apocalypse, good news happened.

I watched the group chatting in joy from this happening and even laughing. It was weird how we could find consolation and joy even in the middle of the darkest moments.

"What should we do?" Isabella was the only one who came and stood beside me, "I trust you. Whatever you'll do, I'll follow," she finally gave me her pledge of loyalty and trust.. A thing that made me smile happily as well.

Chapter 14 - The Memory Beads

I looked up at the sky where those dirty angels were just here. "I think this resembles a VR game. Have you ever played one before?"

Isabella's face flushed out of her embarrassment. Yeah, she was this type of person who hated to be defeated or to be ignorant towards something.

"Don't worry, I believe you'll adapt just fine," I patted her shoulders before adding, "let's check that system they gave us and see what features we have."

"Uhm," she nodded. "How can we activate it?"

I didn't hurry to answer as I closed my eyes and reopened them before waiting for a few seconds. "You just need to think about it and a window will appear to you."

I tried to act normal as if I didn't know how to use the system. I was born with one, so how couldn't I know everything about it?

The moment I said so she started to comply. I left her aside and began the real steps into my long journey here.

'Open system,' like breathing. I thought about this and the next moment the system window appeared in front of me.

[System of human Hye. Status: Activated. grade: 1. Available features: quests, inventory, skills, upgrade, shop, profile, contact]

It was the basic features of any system. My previous system grade was only grade 2, not much of a difference from this one here.

Both were pathetic and weak. However before I thought about any option to open, a new window suddenly popped up in front of me.

[Detecting anomalies at human Hye. adjusting features now. Adjustment is completed]

"What the hell…" I was startled by this message. I never heard of such a thing before.

"Everything is ok?" Isabella seemed to be totally absorbed in checking out her system like it was a new toy for her. She asked me without even turning her eyes away from her window.

"Yeah, just surprised to see all these things here," I lied before I turned to think about the system again. 'Open system.'

[System of human Hye. Status: Activated. Grade: 1 . Available features: quests, inventory, skills, upgrade, shop, profile, contact, memory beads]

It was just like the same old one but there was one addition here. 'Open memory beads,' I thought while my heart was fiercely bouncing in my chest.,

I knew these beads! They were the ones that old man kept insisting for me to have and bring with me each time we met. A screen opened while an image of the beads like the ones I had before appeared in front of my eyes.

[Memory beads: exclusive celestial item. Bound to the soul of human Hye. can't be spied on when using. Can't be lost. Can't be traded The beads can be activated by using coins. There is already a paid in advance single time usage. Do you want to use it now?]

"..."

I was totally shocked by this. It was the same beads that I once acquired from the old man. 'How come they appeared here?!!' I couldn't help but wonder, 'is this a gift for me?'

'Use it,' I instantly thought while walking a few steps away from Isabella. The beads I used before played the recording in a loud tone audible to those around. I hoped its volume wouldn't be too loud.

'Hey Hye, I'm sure by the time you receive this message you've cleared the first part of the first quest. By now you must have realized everything. You've been sent back in time, ninety-nine years to be exact, to live through the apocalypse…'

It was the voice of the crazy old man! I couldn't believe it! Just hearing it made me recall many things of the past, things that seemed to just happen moments ago to me.

Reflexively I turned my head around just to make sure no one noticed his voice. But everyone seemed pretty much absorbed in checking the system options and didn't notice anything.

'Don't worry about anyone hearing me, I made sure these beads are bound with your system. So no one will ever be able to listen to my words, not even those dirty fallen angels, not even those mighty gods watching you from up there.'

His words reassured me before he added, 'I've recorded many things I couldn't tell you about plus the things you already recorded before. They are all in the beads now. Listen to them when you have time to refresh your memory. However I want to stress over one point, a secret most people in my time didn't know about, including you…'

He continued to speak. The more he said, the more shocked I became. "Damn! So this is how they managed to survive so far!!" I couldn't help but mumble to myself before the recording ended.

What the old man told me seemed unbelievable, but so far he never told lies. Even his crazy stuff from that time proved to be right now.

'Open the recording list,' I thought while considering what he left for me during this hour.

[You need to pay one thousand coins to access the list. Please confirm]

'Sh*t!' I couldn't help but drop this idea for now. 'One thousand coins? Just to view the list?! What will it cost me to listen to one recording then? Couple thousands, or even ten thousand coins? That's a sh*t load of coins for me right now!'

I knew one thousand coins weren't that much later on. But now, gaining coins was something hard, just like surviving the quests.

'Open profile,' as the next important thing to view, I decided to see what my current stats were.

[Profile is opened for the first time. Human Hye stats are being assessed. Assessment is complete. You can view the profile now]

It was something I didn't recall again, but it made quite sense. 'Open the profile,' I thought again and this time, the familiar window appeared for the first time since arriving here.

[Name: Hye

Race: Human

Blessing: None

Blessing slots available: Zero

Rank: lvl 1

Titles: The one to break the shadow

Attributes: Time refined physique (celestial grade) - Rebellious soul (god grade)

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

Stats:

Strength: 10 - Intelligence: 10 - Stamina: 10 - Defense: 10 - Speed: 10

Skills: None]

"What the hell is that?!" I noticed the presence of two strange attributes that I never heard before and a weird title.

"Come to think of it… The beads of memory are also a celestial grade. I only know Earth grade is the highest among humans of my time. There are higher ranks than I ever thought…"

"Let's see what this is all about…" I mumbled before thinking about viewing the details of each weird thing I had in my profile.

But the next moment I received strange messages that were just copies of the same text.

[you can't view details on your profile. Your grade isn't sufficient plus a skill you don't have is needed for that]

"Damn!" I clenched my fists before relaxing them the next moment. It wasn't that bad, after all I got things that looked cool in this life.

I never had a good attribute before. After all the attributes weren't things acquired easily.

The basic attributes came from analysis of the human body by the system. During my past life, I didn't enjoy anything remarkable so my attribute was: Hunger for success (common grade)

There were grades for attributes like anything else in this world of apocalypse. However things didn't come cheap and if one wanted to upgrade or obtain something higher, he had to pay for that either with his effort and pain or with coins.

And the latter was the most accepted way in the world of the apocalypse.

Common grade was the lowest, then rare, special, and then unique. After that would come the realm of those freakingly strong and extremely lucky humans who everyone envied; Immortal, Earth, and heaven.

But now I had two strange grades popping up in many things I had here. 'I hope this won't turn out to be bad.' I knew this wasn't possible.

Celestial grade might come above heaven, and god must come above all. I knew everything about the secrets of this apocalypse, and gods were an important piece in here.

'Time for the real deal,' I was just wandering around the bush when it was finally time to face the harsh truth; the market.

The market might seem a normal place, but for me it was the tool I'd use to turn on tables here. But despite having such knowledge and desire, I knew what made the market such a terrifying place.

'Damn! I never thought the prices would start this high!'

I opened the market and there were many things in front of me. Like any market, there were normal goods being sold like weapons and gears, potions and even skills. But the cheap ones were trash and useless and the good ones needed a lot of coins.

I looked up at my current balance and my face turned pale in shame from it. 'Only three thousand and nine hundred coins? Even after killing all of these monsters?'

The reason I didn't hold back even when my body was cracking was for this. Each monster I killed should reward me with coins. In fact the monsters would also have cores, things I didn't want from such lowly ranked monsters before.

"As you acted this stingy with me, it's time to hunt the cores then," but not anymore. I would get my hands on the f*cking five thousand coins to get what I wanted before the next stage started.

Even if it meant I'd have to dig the flesh of such low ranked monsters and sell their souls to the devil, I meant the market, then I'd gladly do it!

Chapter 15 - The Holy Triad

"Hye… What are you doing?"

"How did you get this sword?"

It was crucial to me to get over five thousand coins if I wanted to survive the next quest. In essence, the next part might look like a copy to the first part. We would be asked to survive the assault of monsters.

But the strength of these monsters plus other variables would make it difficult if not impossible to clear this stage by my current strength.

"I'm getting the cores," I said before adding without looking back at the group around me, "and the sword can be got from the market."

"The market?" one of the youth said.

"How did you know about these cores?" Isabella was still sharp in her senses like ever. I couldn't help but stop what I was doing and turned to them.

"This is just the games I told you about," I said before looking at others, "we have a system, skills and stats. So what's strange about finding weapons and gears at the market? Don't tell me…"

I faked my surprise while the gamers here in the group took the bait.

"It's… really like the games I used to play," one of the youths said while others nodded.

"So we shall get gears for free like the games?" a girl said who had short blue hair to her ears except for a group of seven thin bundles that ended with earrings' like things. "We are considered newbies now, right?"

I had to admit she was too optimistic about the apocalypse. "Nothing is for free," I said before adding, "I've bought this sword for one hundred coins."

"Wow! This price already?" John was the one to ask, while Allen threw his metallic club and said: "Finally I'll get a decent weapon."

I didn't speak any further and let them all explore the market. It seemed they didn't touch it mistaking it to be something useless.

After all, no one had an option for coins, so most people at this time would be interested in the market. That was what I read before at the records and it seemed to be true.

"Holly sh*t! The prices are all off the roof!" one girl screamed in panic before John didn't hesitate to buy himself another version of my sword.

"This sword is enough for me," he waved it while others complained:

"We didn't get enough coins to even buy that!"

"Home come?!! Even Isabella, who literally did nothing, had a sword as well!"

I looked around after getting another core and realized the gazes of the other members with few coins. 'Don't hate me, hate the system,' I inwardly laughed before deciding to give them a little help.

"You can get more coins if you got the remnants of the monsters here," I pointed my sword to the tusks, claws, and even the fur and added, "these things can be sold to the market for a fair price."

"That's why you are collecting cores?" Isabella's eyes shone before she added, "I need body armor to better defend myself. However, its price is over three hundred coins!"

"On one condition," my words seemed decisive, "all the cores will be given to me."

"..."

The group that followed me here was initially over forty people. Now all that remained was a handful of nineteen youths. Despite their obvious objection on their faces, no one dared to loudly say anything to me.

It was expected. After all, I was acting as the leader of our little group here.

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

The main source of light only came from the fire still raging around us. At this moment I regretted burning many monsters and used them as wood for the fire.

However I couldn't survive that part without this step. I threw that memory behind my back and started to work to get the cores of the monsters.

The group stood behind me and waited for me to extract ores. Actually it seemed ironic to me about what I was doing right now.

Every time I read about such actions in the records I felt disgusted. The monsters we had after ninety-nine years were much fiercer and more advanced than these useless ones.

Just reading the doings of many survivors as they extracted cores and other parts of the monsters they killed made me despise their pathetic actions.

And now I was just doing the same as them. How ironic this was!

But to reach the five thousand coins goal I had to do anything, that was out of the question.

"How did you know all these things? Are you a prophet?" Isabella kept wondering about this for five minutes before finally asking. The time was against me here, so I kept my hands busy while answering her: "You just needed to play more games to know how things work here."

"..."

My answer wasn't the truth but it was enough to clear all doubts at me. As the minutes passed, my coin balance kept slowly rising.

Each core was sold for twenty coins. That was a daylight steal! At this moment I couldn't help but doubt the intervention of those bastards.

However, no matter what they tried to do, I would reach my goal in the end.

"Wow! I finally got one hundred coins!" That girl with short hair screamed in joy as she jumped in the air a couple of times. Her hair produced a faint sound as her strange earrings kept clanging against each other. "Now I can get that sword."

"I envy you," another youth said before adding in determination, "I only lack twenty coins. I'll reach the one hundred milestone and get that sword."

I felt bad for them. What if they knew how many coins I had? However I noticed something disturbing.

In the absence of an honest guide, humans tended to make many wrong decisions. One of them was just happening in front of my eyes.

If not my survival in the next round would be affected by that mistake, I wouldn't have volunteered to say anything.

"You shouldn't think like that," I finally opened my mouth and stopped that girl from making that mistake, "like games, everyone had his unique stats. Don't copy me and first revise your stats before doing anything."

"What do you mean?" Isabella's face darkened but according to the old man's tales, I knew that sword suited her better than anything else.

"Look at your stats," I said before adding as I extracted another core and threw it carelessly in the air where it vanished, "see what's the highest stat you got. According to that, you can select the best weapon and gear for you."

Before anyone could ask again I added, "anyone who played games before can explain this better. I'm busy right now."

My job to extract cores wasn't that easy. I hate to slice the monster and get its organs out. The cores were placed deeply just next to their spinal cords.

It wasn't just resting calmly there but there was a hollow space dedicated to firmly hold the core. I had to crush these hard bones surrounding it without actually damaging these cores.

In the meantime, those in the group who played the games frequently took the charge of explaining this to the others.

I listened as they said the right things till the end. Actually this mistake seemed trivial at first. However, imagine a healer who could be a perfect support in battles, held a sword and tried to fight monsters head on?

His strength would fail him, and his stamina would deplete fast. In the end he would die and the team would lose such a critical player.

"Wow! I had my highest stats at strength!" Isabella hurriedly examined her stats and was relieved to see that she didn't make a mistake.

But others did.

"Ouch," Allen said in pain, "my highest stat is speed!"

"You shouldn't feel that bad," John bitterly interfered, "my highest stat is defense!"

I heard the two and couldn't help but inwardly smile. 'You two… don't tell me you only had one hundred coins from the quest?' I knew that wasn't true. "Speed can be used better if you have two swords and not one," I started coughing them before adding, "as for defense, you can sell the sword to the market and try to buy a shield instead."

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

"I'll do that," John paused for a second before I was startled by his screaming voice, "What the f*ck! I just bought it for one hundred coins! Why the hell did it sell for only fifty?!"

"What man?!"

"Poor John!"

I controlled my face to not show an expression of ridicule. C'mon man! I was pretty sure you had more than five hundred coins there.

"Screw this," John was enraged by the scam of the system before he bought the only basic shield available. "This will do… I shouldn't have sold that sword! I would have acted like those spartans from legends."

He felt a little regretful but it was the right choice to ditch the sword. John and others forgot that stamina was a vital stat that would be pressured if he held a sword in addition to the shield.

"Excuse me, I have something to ask," that girl with short blue hair suddenly said, "I have a weird thing called attribute. It says I have earth grade mana affection. Any ideas about what this means?"

Just as I heard her words my hands paused and my body stiffened. I couldn't help but turn and get a good look over that girl.

'So Isabella isn't the only special one here,' I suddenly realized this. It seemed humans had great talents who were never mentioned even by the old man's words.

At this point I realized something. The old man only gave me a part of the story based on that man's words. No matter how special and strong that man was, he couldn't possibly have known everyone in the apocalypse.

He must have only paid attention to those shiny stars who managed to survive after long trials. "Tell me what your attributes are," I said to the group while my face looked a bit serious.

I couldn't help it! Even if they started to develop doubt at this point, I needed to know who should receive my full attention and who shouldn't.

"Immortal."

"Unique."

"Earth."

"Unique."

"Me is unique."

All started to state the grades of their attributes. Honestly speaking all of their attributes weren't something I knew before. The attributes were like a vast encyclopedia of weird names that only fit each person.

But it was shocking to me! What the hell was this group? Monsters?!!

I never thought the randomly gathered group had a special grade attribute as their weakest member! At this moment my eyes shone and I decided one thing.

'You are mine,' I hardly prevented myself from drooling at them, 'you are all mine!'

"Listen up," as I made the decision, I had to show them some support now, "if you have an attribute, try to link it with your stats. For example, Sara's attribute can work best as a wizard. Using swords or shields won't show your abilities like having a magic staff or wand," I took that blue haired girl as an example before I continued to talk.

"Gerry has an attribute to support healing. So he should also look for a staff or a wand."

"But I don't know any skills to use," Gerry objected before many nodded in agreement.

That was another naive mistake many humans committed at this time. Actually it wasn't all their fault, after all what came after the upcoming quest would mislead many.

"You didn't need any," I slowly said before adding, "if you know a skill in your life, try to use it."

"How can I be sure about this?" Isabella seemed to notice anomalies in my latest actions. However, if I really wanted to help them, then let them all doubt me instead of just blocking crucial info that would save their lives, my life, later on.

"Just try it," I firmly said before pointing to my sword and added, "but without the suitable gear, enough stat, and good supporting attribute you won't be able to take any step."

The holy triad, the sacred triangle… Many names were called upon the relation between these three things together. Right now I was cutting short at least one month of trials and errors, deaths and suffering for them to learn such important knowledge.

Humans were curious species, but they took a month for the first human to discover the link between these three aspects. For me I already knew this and they had to be grateful for being with me.

And that wasn't only everything I had to say to them here!

Chapter 16 - New Danger Approaches

I knew this wouldn't be enough to get them where I wanted. So I threw another piece that could transform anyone's life from the earliest moments of this apocalypse.

"You can also learn something or two from the monsters we are fighting," I threw this bomb over their heads. Their faces told me beside shock, there was confusion as well.

"Open your market," I slowly said while opening mine as well.

The market was a treasure trove for those who knew how to use it best. Aside from the basic gears and weapons sold, there was a tab in the top with many options there.

"See the packages the system is offering you at the top of the marker interface?" I asked while pointing towards one option and added, "select the additional custom package."

They didn't get it at first. In fact the packages being viewed there were in small icons with smaller font underneath them.

After a few whispers they finally reached there.

"We in," Isabella acted the vice leader of my little group here.

"Look for something called a copy gadget," I said while not selecting it.

It held zero benefit for me. However, for them, it might be a game changer.

"What? It said it costs one hundred coins!" John again complained. That tingly little brat! He got a lot of coins and was afraid to even spend some.

"Just buy it," I said before adding, "it's worth every penny."

Reluctantly he complied. However he was the only one acting this way in the group fortunately. The others instantly bought it even when John was complaining.

A small tattoo appeared in their hands. It was placed in the middle of two transparent plastic-like layers. "What shall we do with them now?" Isabella asked.

"Place it over your body," I said before explaining the way to do that. "Rub it first to generate enough heat for it to stick. Then separate on layer and put the tattoo over the part you want. Then you rub again for a minute before the second layer will be melted out of heat."

"This simple?" Sara, the one with blue hair, said, "it's like the fast tattoos being sold at any shop."

I smiled and didn't say anything until everyone placed their tattoos on their bodies. Sara selected one side of her chest for that, looking sexy for brief moments.

As for Isabella, she selected the back of her hand. The tattoo was in the shape of a snake, looking hideous and dangerous.

However I lived long enough in this apocalypse to realize that appearances didn't matter. In fact things with alluring peaceful looks were usually the deadliest things in the apocalypse.

"Now place your hands, both hands over the monsters around," I said before adding, "select only the monsters who didn't die out of fire and still have most of their limbs intact."

"Then what?" John was still bitter about losing one hundred coins in this way.

"Then think about any attack you wanted to learn," I said, `` what made this useless looking tattoo god-like, "any attack or skill used by these monsters will be passed down to you for free. If you were the one to kill them, then you'll get a higher proficiency in the skill."

"H… How do you know all that?!!" Everyone gazed at me with shock and doubt. I simply turned around and didn't answer while leaning over a new monster.

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

"Hurry up, I won't delay myself for you to learn the skills here," I said in a teasing tone but I wasn't joking. I had less than five minutes here before the new quest began. And I needed to reach that damn five thousand threshold before that.

The team was stupefied until I cleared two monsters out of their cores. Then everyone sprung at one monster and tried to learn a skill.

Unfortunate for them, the monsters here weren't that strong. After all, the main skills they used were few, but they were handy.

For example the night vision skill, it was such a mandatory skill to survive the next part of the quest. Also the strength dash skill they used was beneficial for those with stats high in strength.

But they lacked any good magical skill. That was something I couldn't help them with for now. So I had to stop five members of the team after getting showered with faint white light, with Sara and Gerry on top of the list.

"You won't get anything else from these monsters," I said before adding, "only strength based skills would be there. It won't help you a lot."

"We can buy swords for that," Sars looked reluctant as she already listened to my words and bought herself a short staff.

"It's better to purchase magic skills," I said before adding, "long range magic skills are pretty expensive there. But you can purchase a basic fireball skill for two hundred coins. Also…"

I turned to Gerry as I added, "you can purchase a single person healing skill for three hundred coins."

"This…" Sara's face didn't change as it seemed to get many coins from the last quest. However Gerry and others had such unsightly expressions.

"That's why you don't need to waste any time doing like them," I motioned my head to a group of monsters around, "start salvaging anything useful out of these monsters and sell them for coins."

My words were enlightening to them as they all showed bright expressions before running after the lying dead monsters all around. I cleared more than half of the monsters' cores by now, but the group didn't clear more than one third of the monsters' other items.

"Where are you going?" Unlike others, I saw Sara leaning on one monster and preparing to use the copying tattoo.

"I don't need coins like them," she belatedly said before adding with a chuckle, "I got enough to buy myself a sword and full body armor."

'Crazy!' I couldn't help but feel surprised, 'she must have over one thousand coins from the past quest.'

For me it was nothing, but compared to others I doubted anyone could compete with her. I watched her for a second as she closed her eyes and started to think about the offensive skill she would use.

'A magician using strength skills? That's unheard of even for me!' I shook my head and started to realize I knew nothing about this world.

Humans seemed to have unlimited potential after all. And that made me wonder about what really happened here to end us all in such a lousy situation decades from now.

As I did what I could for them, I returned to salvage the rest of the cores. Just after four minutes passed, I finally reached my goal.

"Phew, five thousand at last," I said in a tired tone out of my stress.

"Five thousand what?" However, my comment attracted the attention of everyone.

"Nothing," I shrugged before hurriedly opening the market. There, just as the place where I told them to buy packages, I selected one without hesitation.

[Do you want to purchase and activate the beginner's package?] the system message appeared and I instantly thought of the answer.

'Bring that damn package to me!'

The next moment my five thousand balance miniscule to only two hundred coins. In fact if anyone opened these packages out of curiosity, he would instantly drop any thought of purchasing them.

The cost of them was really crazy! In addition to that, they only gave one benefit, not more.

[The beginner's package is active. Now you'll gain additional rise in stats after accumulating enough coins. The current exchange rate is one thousand coins for one point of stat]

In fact it might seem crazy to select such a thing, however it wasn't. Coins were the main way of doing things here in the apocalypse.

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

Humans fell into a dilemma at the early stages of this disaster. To get coins one must be strong enough to kill many monsters. After all, killing monsters would bring in coins, gears, and also we can salvage materials from their dead bodies and skills. But to be strong one must increase his stats for that.

And to increase stats one had to spend coins. It was a closed loop where nothing good would come if one acted stingy like John.

'Now it's time for me to get that skill,' I purchased the tattoo with the remaining coins before I hurriedly used it over one corpse I left for that purpose near me. I put the tattoo over the pack of my hand, as I noticed how cool it was.

Also I knew after the upcoming quest, a new trap would be laid for humans to make them lose their ability to get stronger no matter what!

I felt nothing special about it however I knew it would show up its magic when the quest started.

[Quest 1 part 2: Survive the night.

Details: You will face recurrent attacks from monsters during the next twenty-two hours. Stay alive with any means possible.

Rewards: Getting a slot for blessing opened.

Failure: Death]

The quest didn't delay and appeared just after I used my package. One of the main adversaries of the quests with many parts was the fact one couldn't use such a package during it.

The packages would be a game changer for humans. However, according to my understanding, each quest would be designed based on the base levels and strength of humans in the selected area. So quests with parts would be determined before the entire quest would start.

That meant this quest was based on our strength assessed before the first part started. It might look good if we acted to level our strength up the way we did in the one hour break. But I doubted this was the real reason behind this limitation.

"Looking forward to the next quest, that's good."

Just as I was thinking about those bastards, the dark night was lightened by the bright light of the three guides. "I can see you worked a lot to level up your strengths…"

I could notice that despite the warm words he said, that angel in the middle had a serious look at our visible tattoos. He noticed them, but I didn't bother with that.

After all, I believed they didn't leave us alone and kept watching, looking for any strong human to plan to kill later on. Unlucky for you bastard, my entire group could be considered special. And I wouldn't let you harm them no matter what.

"To make things more equal for you, we brought gifts," that angel said while showing such a relieved smile over his face. sh*t! What the hell was he bringing to us? Debuffs or what?

I knew that angel wouldn't be this glad without a reason. And in the next minutes I realized what dirty hole he dug for us for this quest.

"Reinforcements?" Allen muttered while he held a medium sized shield on one arm and a basic sword in the other.

'This is… going to be interesting,' I looked up like others at the various groups of humans walking in haste towards us.

"We decided to gather up all the survivors in the central park here. That will be our limit in helping you out this time," the angel said and I couldn't help but look up at him in disdain.

That bastard! He meant this was the limit he could do to harm us!

"Isabella," I approached her before whispering, "be sure to make everyone stand in one group. Don't scatter around or you'll die."

"..."

Isabella turned to me with a shocked expression over her face. She didn't know but there were hardly any survivors in the central park according to the old records. Even the old man said that not many survived to form a hundred man group.

But those coming at us were in hundreds! I doubted they were brought up from the central park, but from other places around us.

'How many dirty traitors did you bring here this time?' I thought while raising my head towards the central angle. He seemed to notice my gaze as he turned his eyes and I could see an expression of ridicule on his face.

Like he was telling me, 'Now show me how you'll survive this, idiot!'

Chapter 17 - Playing With The Guides

I had to admit, this move from the angels wasn't expected. However I returned the smirk with another, before turning my back to the three angels.

They couldn't touch me, even if they wanted they wouldn't. That was the only protection humans had against those sneaky bastards.

However I couldn't let my guard down either. The number of humans coming was so big that it was easy to handle. Plus I was sure most of them were just innocent humans led by those snakes; the traitors.

Isabella moved in calmness and relayed my message to my team. The biggest threat we would have would be by getting separated from each other.

"Will we fight the monsters the same way as before?" John asked while he seemed to be slightly nervous.

"It won't work," I knew we already blew on the generator but there were still few fields around us we could use. But when considering the incoming humans, this method wouldn't work again.

We didn't need that for now. We had the night vision skill that would serve us best. In my eyes, I saw those incoming humans as cannon fodders, people we had to sacrifice to get unscathed from the upcoming challenge.

And that challenge would be greater and much riskier than the previous one.

"They smell like Arnold," Sara moved to stand by my side while her chest was covered with a plain chestplate armor. It was thin and looked light, but it was strong enough to protect her from a direct clash from those hyenas we met before.

I didn't answer her remark except with a wink. This girl managed to read the situation faster than others. Her comment put the light over this issue, and the next second I noticed the dark faces of all.

"Be ready for my mark, and notify others as well," I whispered to her before turning to everyone around. "Don't be this dejected," I said with a smile, "let me welcome those people first."

The field was still burning till now, but its intensity diminished by the time. However it helped in setting a lighthouse for other humans to come here.

I still held some hope in finding good people there, but I didn't hope for too much actually. I was sure if there was a single person worthy here, he or she would have been killed already by the traitors.

"Wow! This place looked much better than the one we were in!"

"What's the cause of this fire?"

"Look at that! All of them are holding cold age weapons!"

As I walked outside the broken field, I heard these scattered and seemingly excited comments from many directions. We were having around ten groups joining us, each with around twenty to fifty people.

"Welcome," I warmly said in fake hospitality, "I'm glad there are more survivors here."

I was holding my sword and raising it slightly in the air. It was a symbol of preparing for a fight if things went crazy here.

"Wow, you have a nice looking sword!"

""Dude, did you find it in the field or got it from killing monsters?"

"Look there, many monsters are piled here. Wow, we just struggled to kill ten monsters and they seem to kill hundreds!"

I moved my gaze slowly and carefully around those people. They started to gather in front of me while their comments became repetitive.

I didn't come to greet them, I came here to filter out a few traitors before things heated up.

"What the hell do you think by letting all these fire here?" Just as I thought I wouldn't get any, one male suddenly shouted in anger while waving his arms in a theatrical move.

"Yeah, fire will attract monsters! That's stupid!"

"Just see how many monsters you brought to yourselves by doing that?"

"That's right, we didn't face more than ten monsters in the past quest!"

"Let's put this fire down guys, we don't want to get killed by some fools…"

Before the last one ended his words to instigate others, I started to move.

My stats aren't any different than all of them. Even if some had stats higher than me thanks to their attributes, I could counter that with my experience.

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

Plus no one here would expect me to attack them especially when they held the upper hand in numbers like that.

"You…"

"Slash!"

I didn't speak at all and let my sword do all the talking. Luckily for me, most of the people who spoke up in such a way were in the frontlines.

I killed four of them before the rest woke up from the shock and yelled:

"What are you standing idle here for? This is some crazy dude who wants to kill all of us…"

"Slash!"

My sword was faster than his words and the next instant his head was sent flying in the air. He wasn't the only one who had this fate, but everyone who spoke ended up in such a way.

Even the two who thought of running deeply inside the large group of people were caught in a matter of seconds. In less than one minute, I killed ten traitors and cleared some filth off my path.

"What's the meaning of this?" Another dirty one had the courage to challenge me. Without giving him any chance to speak, my sword raced up to his neck and sent his head rolling on the ground.

"Thud!"

As his body fell on the ground, everyone retreated fast. The look of fear was clear on their faces as if they were eyeing a monster.

"This place has one simple rule," I started talking since I started killing, "follow me and you'll have to obey my words. Don't want to listen to me then get the hell out of here."

"This…" many faces paled while others started to look around. I knew this was one of the most dangerous moments in any group.

Humans tend to follow the lead of others at times of confusion and fear. Such negative feelings would lead many to their deaths in the apocalypse.

One of the most important lessons I learnt in it was to take my decisions solo. Leaning on others to make my decision was the biggest mistake anyone would make.

"Make up your mind now," I waved my sword in the air and let the blood on it fly even on a few faces at the front. If those bastards were thinking about using this moment to their advantage, then I would infuse more fear in the humans in front of me.

This was the only way to solve this situation, making them fear me to the degree of deciding to follow my lead. Of course I would then filter them with time and only support those worthy, but at least I would do my part in helping them.

And now I waited for their move.

"We won't leave here," one strong looking man in late twenties moved in steady steps. His face told me he wasn't fazed with all I did, like he didn't care about my threat at all.

"Shall I kill you then?" I calmly asked as if I was asking him for dinner.

"Humph, you don't own this place," he didn't care about me as he turned to face the frightened faces in front of him, "we were given instructions to come here for the next quest. Don't let that maniac force you to leave. The angels tried to help us with their powers and made our numbers increase. We won't drop such benefits because of one crazy man holding a sword."

He then turned and took out a sword as he added, "if he thinks himself special, then I'll beg to differ."

Just as he said those words, a group of twenty people stepped to the front. Strangely enough, they were all looking as strong built as that man and they all held swords.

"If you think you have good strength thanks to the stats you unlocked, then let me show you the power of numbers," he said in such a vicious tone and his words made his identity clearer in my eyes.

No one, and I mean no one, in the early hours of the apocalypse would use the terms of the system in his speech at all! People didn't get to know the value of stats or even how to open the market to purchase weapons.

So they weren't just normal people, they were traitors. And from a simple look at them, I knew they weren't easy to handle.

"Kick his ass!"

"Yeah, we also have strong people with us!"

"Let's all kill him together!"

Unlike what that man expected, I didn't give him any heed and kept focusing on those who were instigating others to join.

If a normal human was in such a situation, he would rather prefer to stay on the side and remain neutral.

Those trying to move the masses were, without any doubt, traitors as well.

"It's a mistake to not pay attention to me," that man's face was quite unpleasant by my actions. He expected me to grow nervous, focus my attention solely on him and the group of traitors behind.

"Sorry to bring you this piece of bad news, but…" I suddenly raised my sword high in the air while adding, "I'm also not alone."

"What…?!!" The shock over his face vanished under the thick clouds of dust that suddenly came from the skill Sara used.

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

"Just in time," the skill she used seemed to bring out fire in a limited scale of ten meters. I knew this skill, it was one of the basic skills for magicians.

"Fire festival level 1? Such a good choice," I commended before moving towards those who weren't hit by the fire.

The fire festival skill would create fire for one minute. The fire would burn even if it hit solid rocks and the surface of the water.

Beyond that, if there were things suitable the fire would start eating at them. However, my delight about this skill was the fact that we didn't need to use any more light sources again.

We could create our own fire. Yeah, we would have our own Prometheus in the group now.

"S… Stay away…"

"M… Monster…"

The traitor surviving the skill retreated while trying to regroup. After all, Sara used her skill beautifully in the center of the group, hitting that dirty leader of theirs first.

However, unlike what they all expected, I didn't stop or turn to face them. I kept walking steadily towards the all shocked faces of the large group behind.

"Boom!"

Two more explosions rang violently and reaped the remaining lives of the traitors. They mistook my group to have one mage, but we actually have four.

'It's good to keep one in hiding for now,' I thought to myself before rapidly picking up the pace and landing just in front of those who spoke earlier.

"Slash!"

I didn't need to use any skill on them. Actually I didn't have any for now. I refrained from learning that useless dash skill of the hyenas as they were useless to me.

In less than one minute, I killed seven traitors from the group and the initial twenty with their leader were gone by fire. The scene of me standing in front of them while my sword drenched in blood and fire burning behind me was really traumatic for most of the people here.

But few still kept their composure as if they weren't that much threatened by my actions.

"Human Hye, explain yourself now!" one of the three angels shouted in rage as if he never expected me to kill all these traitors even before monsters arrived.

"I won't say it again," I raised my voice as if I was answering him, but in fact I wasn't. "Anyone wants to stay here can follow me, or else f*ck off!"

My bold declaration made the place all dead silent. Even those standing with good composure had their faces darken for the first time since coming here.

I already crushed any plans they had for this group on me and my group. And now I was about to gain more followers, those who would totally believe and fear me without any room of doubt.

As for any traitors coming, I wasn't afraid of that anymore. I cleansed the group from much dirt and only a few would be remaining behind.

If they dared to come to my group, they should be better prepared for the worse.

"I say we all join your group," one of those who weren't moved by my threats suddenly opened his mouth and said, "despite us coming from democratic world, we have to do anything now to survive. Even following such a tyrant to do so."

'A tyrant? Nice touch man,' I couldn't help but inwardly sneer while watching the gleam in that man's eyes. 'Let's see how you'll survive my sword with that smile of yours.'

However, before I could move a finger, something popped up in front of me.

[Quest update: under any circumstances no human shall kill another during this quest or else that human will be considered failing it]

'Wow! They really moved faster than I thought,' I turned my gaze to see the evil smirk over the face of the central angle.

He was the one behind this deadly move against me. Now there was no reason for anyone to be scared of me, a checkmate for everything I did so far.

'Do you think I didn't see that coming?' instead of showing the depressed and disappointed look over my face as that bastard expected, I grinned while turning around.

"This place is all yours, we are leaving," my voice was so loud to be heard from miles away while I walked in steady steps away from that field.

From the first moment I didn't plan on staying here for the second part of the quest. I just wanted to increase my odds by removing such hidden pieces of the enemy so close to me.

As for this quest, I didn't select the central park for nothing. There was something hidden here and I was now going to find it.

As for this field, humph… They could have it all and enjoy it for the short remaining period of their lives.

'C'mon... Take the bait.... It's so delicious to let it down like this!' I thought to myself while counting the steps I was taking.

Chapter 18 - The Subquest

I kept walking while not looking back. Despite my urge to have eye contact with that central angel, I refrained from doing so.

I needed to act normal and calm, so that I wouldn't alarm my prey.

"Excuse me," just as I walked to the outside of the field and waited for the response coming from them, the move came from another direction. "Can I join your group?"

I turned and saw a young man who looked normal at first glance. He seemed not to have any special building or aura surrounding him. He was just like a normal youth in a small neighborhood.

"You want to join?" I slowly asked before another youth stepped forward.

"Me too."

"And me as well."

A girl approached my group alongside the other two. I looked at the three with questioning eyes as I didn't know if they were just smart enough to understand staying with me was better than leaving or…

"You said anyone can join your group, right?" the girl added. For some reason I didn't like her. She was full of herself like she was some sort of a celebrity or something.

Standing tall with her slim figure and faint features, she kept moving her fingers across her golden hair like it was a national treasure.

She looked stunning, but beauty had nothing to do in this apocalypse.

"Sure, why not? The more, the merrier," against my instinct I agreed on their request. I could even feel the surprise coming from my own group.

'Sorry, it's just a needed step to reach my goal,' I knew they were suspicious. No one in the new group was trustworthy to be honest.

However…

[Subquest has been issued]

'And here it comes at last…' I tried my best to control my expression and excitement while looking at the details of the new quest.

[Subquest: protect the human group in the field during the upcoming quest has been issued to the human group leader: Hye]

'Oh! He even put my name in red like I'm a criminal or some sort of monster,' I inwardly snorted while the screen flashed again and more details appeared.

[Subquest details: The human group led by human Hye is tasked with protecting the other humans in the field.

Success condition: At least one third of the humans here in the field shall survive at the end.

Failure: half of the stats will be gone forever.

Do you accept this quest or not?]

"This…"

"Hye, did you see this?"

"C'mon! Why all of sudden?!"

My team seemed to feel the dirty hands behind this quest at last. It wasn't that bad to make them realize that our enemies weren't just monsters alone.

Despite all their worry, I was inwardly feeling overjoyed by this. However I still wasn't very satisfied. There was something missing here.

As I turned around, I saw the humans in the field also received the same quest. Despite they had nothing to do in it, it was obvious what the intentions of the one issuing it were.

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

But I didn't care.

"Hahaha! See? Serves you right, bastard!"

"Just like justice from heaven! You are forced to serve us now!"

"I wanted to see how you'll keep that shitty pride of yours again. C'mon, lower your head and kneel asking for our forgiveness."

As expected, there were few remaining traitors among the group of humans here. However I never cared about their comments or acted against them.

"Let's go," without flinching I turned around again and started walking.

"Oh… Sir Hye…" Just as I did the unexpected, the girl who seemed to show off her beauty tried to stop me.

"What do you want?" she even had the courage to move and block my path away. My team moved and surrounded her as if she dared to do anything stupid, they'd make her pay.

The girl seemed a bit nervous before she said: "T… The quest… We can't drop it. Our stats…"

"I didn't force you to join my group," I simply moved past her while brushing her shoulder with mine, "but as long as you are here, you are obliged to follow my words to the letter without questioning them."

"B… But the quest… Will we fail it really?!!" she turned around and tried to stop me with her words alone this time.

And that was the question I was waiting for.

"The quest isn't obligatory for us," I casually said while getting closer to the broken gate of the field, "we can accept or deny it. Let me reject it for now."

"But the penalty for failing it…" one youth shouted as if he was mistaking me for not knowing what I was truly doing.

"The quest failure or success won't be activated unless we accept it," I stopped while giving the three a cold glance, "and now I'm going to reject it. So we won't get any penalty at all."

The quest wasn't mandatory. There was an option to accept or reject it. Normal humans would mistake the quest to be forced and would act upon that. It was something that would trigger the automatic acceptance of the quest.

"I'll reject it now to make you all relieved," I instantly opened the window of that subquest again and touched the rejection button.

My moves were normal and my expression looked like I really didn't give a damn about this quest. I wasn't violating any rules and was just playing the game as it should be played.

'Anytime now, motherf*cker!' However deep inside me I was so nervous about the response of my enemy.

I did all that just to provoke him, to make him take this step which would cost him… A lot!

[Quest decline isn't available for you]

All of sudden the message that came to every single human here changed before another one appeared.

[The guides decided to intervene for the wellbeing of the humans. They paid the needed price of the blessing to enforce this subquest over the leader party Hye]

[The subquest is now active until the end of part two of the first main quest]

[Group leader Hye can't decline the quest]

"D… Damn!" the girl cursed while I noticed that her face was so much nervous unlike the other two around her.

'Is she different?' I couldn't tell and wasn't interested in that. To make the show perfect, one of the three angels in the sky spoke in loud tone:

"Humans… This is the best we can do to help you here. Sometimes strength doesn't mean goodness and kindness. These virtues can't be purchased by strength or coins. Make sure to do your best to survive. See you after the quest."

Yeah, this would be the best finale for this little show of yours. I watched the group behind shouting and even cursing at me just like I was their deadliest enemies and they just scored a victory now.

Pathetic! This scene here proved to me that people were easily fooled! I, a human who came from the future holding the sole spark of hope for them was branded as a traitor.

And traitors among them and enemies like those damn guides were treated like heroes and leaders to idols! Since when this world was so f*cked up like this?

However I maintained the most bitter expression on my face until the three angels left and darkness prevailed.

"Now you can't leave us, hahaha!"

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

"I dare you move away now! Let's see how you'll do when your stats are penalized."

"The angels are really merciful. God bless them and curse you demons."

More and more praising words and curses began to spread in such defiance. Humans were really easy to fool. I watched all this unfolding in front of my eyes before slowly opening my mouth and said in low voice to my team around:

"Open your gazes wide and see for yourselves how twisted and dark this world we live in is."

The team was all nervous. I could relate to their feelings pretty well. They felt like they fell into a deep trap with no way out.

However this all happened according to my will and plan.

"Listen up," I added in such a low tone, "you'll stay here and keep guarding those fools. Don't stress yourselves and don't get scattered. Stay together and Isabella will act as the leader for now."

I threw these words before calmly turning around and leaving.

"W… Where are you going?" Isabella was shocked to see me walking away simply like that. "Won't we come with you?"

"No need," I raised my hand before one of the two youths who joined my group before all this happened said in loud tone:

"Stay where you are! You can't be this damn selfish to leave us all behind and make us fail the ques…"

"Slash!"

Without waiting for him to say anything, my sword swayed fast and decapitated his and his friend's head. The two heads rolled while my sudden speed startled everyone here.

"Hye…" Isabella came to me while looking at the two dead boys on the ground, "why?"

"Traitors," I said in disbelief before giving a last gaze towards the girl who joined them. Till now I haven't made up my mind towards her yet. These two were too obvious to reveal themselves to me so they died first.

"Make sure to watch out for traitors," I said while putting my hand over Isabella's shoulder.

The meaning of my words was obvious. I was warning her not from the sneaky bastards in the large human group but from that girl who joined us at the last moment.

I could understand the reason behind that. After all these angels wanted an eye inside my group. Even if they forced my group to remain behind, analyzing our actions and strength would help to kill us later.

I just tasted how patient and cunning these traitors were in Arnold's case. Arnold didn't make anything suspicious and waited until he saw an opening. Such a traitor was so dangerous to deal with and had to keep our eyes open all the time.

"Didn't you accept the quest?"

"Where are you going now?"

"Loser! Go and curse your entire team with your selfishness."

Many angry shouts came from those fools behind. I didn't owe them any explanation, but I had to clear things here to my team.

From the look of things, the trap I laid wasn't that easy to comprehend after all.

I didn't do all this just for nothing. If I wanted to leave the field I could have done it earlier when the group arrived, or perhaps after killing the traitors.

However there was something I desperately wanted from this park. The central park was just like a few scattered places around the world, hiding some sort of a secret weapon that I needed.

But if I went directly there, I would fall into the trap of my enemies. So I had to take the trouble of laying this trap just to lure them away and make sure no one of them would stop me from getting what I wanted.

But as the angels were gone and they already bit the bait I laid out for them, I had no objection in revealing a small part of what really happened here.

"Don't worry about the quest," I said to my team while my steps never halted or faltered, "the quest is a group task which can be done by any part of us, by even a single person. You just keep yourselves here and do what we did earlier. Use light and fire to fight and weaken the monsters, and keep your eyes open for traitors."

And I kept myself walking away before the darkness outside enveloped me while leaving behind a deadly silent field.

Yeah, that was the simple fault in that subquest. And it wasn't thanks to luck. There was nothing like that in my life. I aimed to trigger hatred from those angels so they would be totally focusing on getting at me.

And at the time they thought they got me for good, I was the one who laughed at the end in their bitter faces.

Chapter 8 - 11-18

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