Chapter 10 - 27-34

Chapter 27 - The Ace

Her tone was filled with such seductive power that I couldn't resist. Back in my life I didn't have the luxury to feel any girl's warmth.

"What is that look on your face?" Just as I was trying to control my desire, she dared to lean over and place her head just next to my neck. "I said I'm yours. Do you think little of me?"

I had to step away from her fast before I would lose it. "Ahem, it's not what I wanted from you," I had to say something to stop her. But how could she be stopped?

She came again and looked at my eyes with her beautiful pair of enchanting gems. "Do you think I don't know how to please you? I might look young but I had few adventures and fun before. I know how to make you like me…"

Without even realizing it, she was already speaking in my ears. I could feel her warm breaths entrapping my heart and arousing all my desire on fire.

Her two arms found their way towards my lower parts, and it seemed like she wanted to keep going and do more.

"Please, can we stop here?" I hurriedly freed myself from her witching grasp and added in a tone that held a lot of my struggle, "we aren't in a time to play and fool around. Our lives are at stake here."

"And what?" she shrugged as if this was all normal to her, "I have you by my side. You saved me from thousands of monsters and such deadly traps. I'm sure you can stand against anything. I've shat my eyes on you already."

"Keep them for yourself for now," I said before widening the gap between the two of us. This girl… she was dangerous in her own strange ways.

"I want to know why they were after you," I said in a firm tone, putting an end to her little fun here.

"Didn't you hear them? I was once a traitor," she said like it was a known fact.

"I heard, but I wanted to hear more," I said before adding, "I never expected traitors to be able to break free on their own will."

She gave me a deep gaze before she sweetly chuckled. "It's me here who should be astonished by these words of yours. I never heard of you before as a traitor, and it's not possible for anyone else to hear about us."

"That's my business," I slowly said, "and I was the one to save your life, not the other way around."

"Alright alright, don't act this cocky with me," she stopped her eyes over my body for a second before she regained her lewd expression, "I love cocky boys, especially those holding secrets and immense power like you."

"I'm still waiting for your answer," I didn't let her return to that path. C'mon, we are at the early stages of this apocalypse and all she could think about was satisfying her desires?

Let us survive the upcoming ordeals first, then I'd make you regret fooling with me in many ways.

"I was given a chance to hold power beyond anyone's imagination," she started to finally talk seriously here, "who would in his right mind refuse that offer? Although we all thought this was kind of a game or a joke at first. But when we tested our power in the real world, we couldn't help but be shocked with it. Then the apocalypse came and we had strange orders…"

Her face changed to show her pain for the first time. It seemed the quests of the angels weren't well accepted by many. I never heard of any traitors turning their backs to the angels before. This was totally new to me.

"We gathered around thirty of our strongest people and decided to not follow these shitty orders. Killing humans to get coins? That's brutality! We didn't sign up for this kind of sh*t."

She seemed a bit enraged about this. Just thinking about what she said, I had to admit she got a point 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

Not all humans would be asborned in their desire to get stronger. But that was new to me, so I had to know more about this.

"But what makes you special?" this was one of the main dilemmas in my head, "compared to you, I caused more trouble to them."

"Well… This…" she seemed to struggle to answer my question, but I had to get that answer no matter what. Even if she betrayed them, there was no way she would come higher than me in their hit list.

She must have a secret, and I wouldn't stop before listening to it.

"Aimin at you is normal, but the effort, the trap they set, everything they did tells me you are more than just a normal traitor."

"I told you, I'm one of the strongest out there," she said in defense but I didn't buy it.

"Not enough," I shook my head, "there must be another thing. Why are they after you in such a persistent way?"

They came at her sacrificing a hybrid monster, a teleportation array, and almost most of the monster power in the park. That wasn't logic.

The hybrid monster was triggered earlier than expected by me. That could explain part of things here. But when I was fighting them, they never showed any sign of retreat.

Even when I managed to scatter their forces, they used the horn of leadership to regain control over them. It looked like killing her was much more important, far more important than even their lives.

Even if there was a big reward on her head, it shouldn't be enough.

"I… the group of thirty I talked about earlier… We hold a secret…" she finally started to spill her beans out. "We have much stronger humans in the middle of our ranks. We call them aces, and it happened that these aces got to hiding away from their hands. They wanted to know where the aces are, or at least killing all of us to make sure they killed the aces."

"Aces…" I was shocked when I heard these words. It wasn't strange. After all those who established the three human empires back at my time were all called aces.

'Don't tell me those aces were traitors to begin with… Unbelievable! Even the old man and his mentor never knew of this knowledge before!!'

Gradually I started to be sure that whatever the old man told me wasn't everything. It was merely what that strong human gathered through his continuous return in time.

But that wasn't enough! Just this secret alone was enough proof for that.

"So one of the aces you are talking about is hiding in the US?" I asked a question I already knew the answer about.

The life story of each face was like a legend to all humans back at my time. It was natural for me to know everything about them. I even knew where that human was.

"It's not a secret anymore," her complexion suddenly fell before adding, "one of ours got attacked earlier while I was entrapped there. They now know about where the ace is."

"..."

I didn't see that coming. A secret should only be kept to oneself or else it wouldn't be a secret anymore. Just thirty people knowing about it seemed inappropriate.

However I would understand. After all, things seemed to happen so fast and they had to improvise without good planning. But there was something else I noticed from her words.

"Can you talk to each other?"

"We bought a communication item from the market before the apocalypse," she nodded, "our group is scattered all over the world after all. We heard rumors about hitting our world with some sort of weapon to make all the technology we have useless."

"That's what happened," I agreed this was the best course of action here, "but that means your race in California is at risk now."

"Who said he is in California?" she looked weirdly at me before suddenly adding, "he is here, in New York."

"What?!!!" This time my shock was greater. I memorized the life stories of those legendary humans by heart. The ace who established the empire in the US continent was in California.

That was something I was totally sure of!

"The ace is here? Where?" I asked while she seemed a bit hesitant to tell. "C'mon, you said it yourself. They already knew about his location."

"Knowing his location won't help," she slowly said, "after all the ace knew about the weakness of the early quests. Monsters can't appear in water, so he chose a secluded island. He must be safe for now."

'Secluded island in New York…' I was lost in thoughts after hearing her words. The New York I knew and read many records about had only one island that could be considered secluded.

"Don't tell me…" I looked at her and she nodded.

"He is in the statue of liberty, away from any monster reach," she said as if it was about how safe that place was. "Even if other traitors were sent there, they won't be able to come closer as the ace already bought tons of items from the market before even the apocalypse began."

This girl! It wasn't her fault. After all humans were originally pure creatures compared to all the darkness coming at us now.

"Do you have a connection with that ax here in New York?" I asked while now I realized why the two stories about the ace were different.

They were two different aces after all! And I knew the reason behind this.

"Sure, I can send a message anytime," she looked in a strange way to me before adding, "don't tell me you want to go all the way there."

"No, the ace will have to move from there and come to meet us," I firmly said and her face turned ugly the moment I said these words.

"There is no risk for the ace there, why would he leave the place and come here?" she didn't seem to see through my intentions here, so I had to elaborate further.

"That place isn't safe, in fact it's very dangerous during the upcoming hours."

"How come… Don't tell me you have intel we don't have?!" She knew me by now. I wasn't the type to fool around or say anything groundless.

"Monsters can't invade water, and the water monsters won't appear this early," I said in agreement, "but you made a grave mistake underestimating your enemies."

"The angels?" her face and tone told me she got what I was trying to say. "Will they use the same weird trap like they used on me?"

I beg to differ! It seemed that ace here was someone they were terrified from. I now knew why the statue of liberty got attacked and smashed down in early quests of the apocalypse.

"They'll use a far brutal and deadly way to kill the ace," I said it with firm tone as this already happened in my time, "that ace had to move fast, leave as far away from that statue before it's too late."

"But…" Angelica's face told me she had something she didn't tell me about yet.

"But what? Monsters? Traitors? The ace can just come directly to here. The way here isn't that long and if he stuck to the main streets, using his items, he could survive. Then we'll wait for him and protect him properly."

That was the best plan I could come up with. I didn't know about any safer place than here. Plus I was now reconsidering to get my item.

After all these angels seemed to be more tricky than I initially thought. If I faced another hybrid monster, I would never be able to defeat it.

I just got lucky that the hybrid monster back there had a mission to accomplish. If not for the teleportation skill embedded inside it, I would rather be heavily wounded by now or even worse.

"The thing is…" her face kept showing that troubled expression, "the ace doesn't have battle abilities. In fact she was gifted with a sight to see through the future of the surrounding monsters. We call her the monster nemesis. She would never survive this journey alone. Her stats are all locked except for intelligence!"

"That…" So she was a girl after all. But that wasn't the main issue here.

I never heard of something like this before. Stats locked except for a single one… wasn't it like dooming that person no matter what? But if that was the case, then that girl would be dead either she stayed there or left.

What should I do? What could I do?

Chapter 28 - The Golden Quests

This wasn't in my ability at all. I didn't come here to play hero, I only wanted to gain a class and survive just like everyone else.

"Can you help her?" Angelica looked at me in such a soft way, but how could I possibly be of any help here?

My power was limited and I was still classless. I did a trick to limit the intervention of the three angels of this region, but other regions still had angels with enough blessing points to kill me a thousand times.

"If she managed to come here, then I promise her my protection," this was all I could say for now. Sorry, but I knew my limit here.

"But… She will die if she comes here."

"And she will die if she stays there," I shook my head before adding, "there must be a way to leave that island. She can't possibly have isolated herself there without a way out, right?"

From Angelica's expression I could tell I was right.

"She brought a speedboat with her to the island just before the apocalypse hit. But she can't touch the ground here, not without proper protection," Angelica moved closer to me and even dared to grab my hand. She looked me in the eye and all I could see was pure sincerity.

"Can't you go and help her? You are strong and… I can bring all the people I saved here with us to help."

'All the people? That's just a wishful thinking,' I inwardly sighed before releasing my hand from hers, "Sorry but that's a suicidal."

"Sister Ace can't die like that, we need to do something to help her," Angelica's face was very troubled and I could even see a few tears there.

"Sister… Are you two related or something?" I couldn't help but ask.

"She… was my friend for a long time," her face kept blushing in a strange way. Don't tell me… the two of them… no f*cking way!

It wasn't strange to see two of the same sex together in this age and time. But that wasn't my business so I wouldn't butt in it, not when it was so dangerous like that.

"I… promise to do anything you want… even… anything…" her tone seemed slightly shaky. She first acted this horny and now she was pulling the sympathetic card to me.

However I had to admit, she was a beauty even in such a state. She wasn't mine to consider, but how could I say no to such a strong helper?

If I managed to snatch her and bring her to my side with debts like these, then my chances of survival would be higher.

Was there a way to save her friend here?

Angelica kept looking in such silent pleading gaze at me. She was really sincere in her words, but in this world words didn't mean anything.

"Let's do it this way then," I slowly opened my mouth and said, "I have a way to save your friend for now."

"Really?" her face brightened but I had to pour cold water on her excitement.

"Wait until you hear out my offer to the end," I pointed my finger towards her face and stopped her from talking, "I have a way to make her escape the upcoming calamity and bring her halfway through here. But she has to survive for the end of this quest before I can go and pick her."

"That's… great!" she seemed not to refuse this idea, "but… how long will she stay alone here?"

"At least ten hours," I gave her my worst expectation, "give or take two hours from it."

"This…" Angelica seemed to think about something as she clenched both fists, "if you managed to bring her closer to here, then I'll go and bring her here myself."

"Out of option," I shook my head before adding, "you can't step outside here without my permission."

"What?!"

"That's the other part of our contract," I slowly said before adding, "we'll sign a contract bound by the system. You won't be able to do anything without my permission or your life will be the price. From this moment onward, you'll be one of my minions, got it?"

Sorry girl, but I had to be this strict with you. If I wanted to survive this, I couldn't be soft or naive at all.

It wasn't the problem of the hearts only. People wouldn't just backstab you in the back just for fun or temptation. The cruelest method would be by using threats.

Just like I was doing here, using her weak spot to turn her into my side. Others would also do the same to gain more benefits, especially those distasteful angels.

"You want me to be linked… forever with you?" she closed her eyes as if she was about to say no. "Alright, anything just to save her."

So she held such a great place in your heart after all. I felt a little bad but I couldn't show any of this on my face.

I knew in this lifetime, I would do this kind of thing a lot and I wasn't regretting any of it. This was the safest way to survive these dark times, and I would definitely survive!

"Give me your hand," I stretched my arm and she didn't even hesitate to give me hers.

There were many ways to make a contract here, the simplest was by using the system in our souls to bind one.

But I didn't expect to see the next message popping in front of my eyes when I thought about initiating a contract.

[You don't have enough coins to perform this contract. The process is canceled]

"Damn!" I totally forgot that I was broke.

"You don't have enough coins?" she asked as if she got the same message as me, "alright, let me buy a contract from the market then."

"You can't do it while being in the middle of a quest," I was annoyed right now. How could I lose her about finally getting this close?

"Not a problem for me," she suddenly took a reel out. It was an empty yellow piece of animal skin which I could write anything on it by my thoughts. She simply threw it in my direction while I reflexively caught it with a flabbergasted expression on my face.

"This…" the shocking thing was the fact she managed to use her market.

"How can I use it?" she finally smiled and her tense expression faded to regain her previous self, "I have a class after all, so why won't I be able to use the market?"

Gosh! There were people in this world who were really born with silver spoons in their mouths. I couldn't help but feel a little bitter. I lived my entire life dreaming about having a class, and here she got one even in the first quest.

How could this even be called fair?

"Don't give that look as if I'm special," she seemed to notice my thoughts while I started to fill the required fields of the contract, "I have that useless traitor class after all. Despite being shut away from the most basic features it has, I still can increase my stats and use the market as well."

'Oh, so it was this… But…' "Won't this make any traitor have a class as well?" I asked as if this was true, then I was going to face a harder time than I expected.

Comparing someone with and without a class was like comparing earth and heaven. I might have bought the beginner's package to supplement my stats, but that was barely enough.

The class wouldn't only grant more stat points for coins, it also would unlock the greater door of increasing levels and ranks.

Many things were attached to having a class. Or why was I determined to have one my entire life?

"All of the traitors? That's a joke," Angelica chuckled before adding, "only the leaders of them will gain such opportunity before the calamity happens. In this world, we have three hundred and sixty-seven leaders. They lead one region each."

I didn't know that. It was good to have someone from the inside after all.

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

"Here," I threw the reel back, "all it needs is your confirmation."

I already filled the contract. It was one with the most securing conditions I ever heard of. Trying to double cross me would make her end in losing her life.

"Done," she read the contract briefly with her eyes before she agreed to it. The moment she did so the reel turned into fog and dissipated like it wasn't here. "Now tell me how to save her," she demanded in urgency.

However, unlike her thoughts, I asked a totally different question. "Do you know what time it is now?"

"..." Angelica seemed startled by my question before she coldly said, "you can check it in the system, genius!"

"I didn't mean the system clock," I snorted while shaking off my head as if I was disappointed with her.

She looked at me in puzzlement. She knew what I was asking about. In fact it was much easier to follow the time of the system clock. However there was one little problem here.

The early events recorded were timely written according to the old world's time, not the system clock. That meant I had to calculate the time using the new day and night. But I hated math!

"What does this have to do with saving the ace?" she pouted her lips and I could get why she felt this angry.

"Just tell me, it's crucial," I slowly added, "I need to time her escape."

"It's about seven A.m. now," she said after closing her eyes for a brief moment, "tell me how to save her."

"Not now," I firmly shook my head.

"Are you going back on your words? The contract is his sole condition of helping me save my friend!"

"I didn't say I wouldn't," I looked at her in a meaningful way, hoping that she would get my hints, "when the time comes, I'll let you know."

"You…" she seemed about to come and punch me so I had to change the subject as I said:

"So you are the leader of New York?"

She glared at me for a few seconds as if she was considering hitting me and breaching the contract or not. After that her face showed her resignation. Even if she didn't like my current decision, she had nothing to do against it. And over all, the contract was monitored by the system.

"I was," she shook her head, "but now there's someone else supervising over the activities of the traitors here."

Well as long as you started talking, then I had no excuse in not asking for more.

"What's the real goal of the traitors?" This was one of the most basic and most fundamental questions I had in mind regarding them.

"We… They have a list," she paused before her eyes turned serious, "a list of names, many names. There is no continent, not a single country without a long list of names there. They are asked to kill them all before reaching quest five."

'So this is their aim after all,' I thought to myself, 'but why quest five? What's so special about it anyway?'

I already knew the list of quests we'll face in the next ten years. The first ten were really cruel and challenging, with most deaths occurring in them.

But quest five wasn't that special. I didn't recall anything special about any of the first ten quests besides their danger.

"Do you know why they are targeting them?" I knew already but had to fake my ignorance. Perhaps she might say something I didn't know about.

"They said these people holds a great threat to everyone," Angelica seemed to not believe this sh*t either, "but I once heard a rumor… They say after the fifth quest special quests will appear. These people are deemed to be the most likely ones to have them, so the traitors want them cleared out of the picture before that."

I started to gather the cores of the monsters and anything worth of value. After all this battle had thousands of monsters killed plus four alphas. If I managed to gather everything, I would end up striking it rich.

"What kind of quests?" I asked without any care while jumping from one monster corpse to another.

"I don't know the details, but one thing is for sure… They named these quests the golden quests."

The moment I heard her, my hand stiffened and my mind went ablaze. 'The golden quests? No f*cking way! Aren't these the ones the old man asked me to pay attention to before coming here?'

"What's wrong?" Angelica seemed to see something in my face, "do you know about them?"

Chapter 29 - A Disaster

The old man asked me before coming here to look after his race. He said to look for the golden quests.

However I never took his words to heart before. The golden quests were something never heard of before. But now… I couldn't help but be deeply shaken.

'So these quests appear after quest five? What are they? Special quests or hidden ones?' I couldn't pinpoint the answer. After all, no record from my time or a tale from the old man mentioned these quests before.

"Hye, are you ok?" Angelic waved her hand in front of my face, forcing me out of my disturbed thoughts.

"Do you know anything else about these quests?" I asked, trying to gather all the info I could.

"Why do I feel you are the one to answer this question, not me?" Angelica crossed her arms in front of her chest while eyeing me in doubt for a long moment. "Forget it," she realized I wouldn't say anything about these quests, "I told you all I heard. But I never thought they were real."

"Looks like they are," I mysteriously said before adding, "c'mon, help me cut those monsters and gather their items."

"And you want to do that for…?" She seemed ignorant about the privileges of the market.

"We can sell these in the market for coins," I said while getting a monster core and cleaning all other items from its body, "let's do it together. After all, there are thousands of monsters here."

I noticed the look of ecstasy over her face before she moved in agreement and started doing as I did. I didn't see any problem with her sharing this loot. After all, there were so many monsters for me to gather their items.

If I was alone, I would waste many hours doing that. Even the two of us working together took almost four hours before we finally stopped.

"What's time now?" I asked while she knew I didn't mean the system clock.

"It's past eight A.M."

"Good," I started walking away, "tell your friend to get on the speedboat of hers and move ten miles away from the island in the next thirty minutes."

"What is this setting for?" she seemed puzzled, "that means she will go to the depth of the ocean, right?"

"Just tell her that," I didn't explain, "she'll see the chance to survive what's coming at her when it happens."

"Can't you just tell me directly?" she tried to know. I knew what was going to happen and knew the exact time for it. However, since I came and changed a few things here, I wasn't sure about the dirty play of the angels.

I worked my best to cut the three angels dominating this region off their blessing points. However that statue of liberty was an area controlled by another group of angels.

If I told her to move early on, they might change their aim or even totally change the way to deal with her. As far as I know, these angels would use something terrifying to kill her.

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

Such a mighty weapon would need prior preparations, at least half an hour in my estimate. So moving during this short window would mean the angels would rush after her.

But it wasn't that guaranteed. I was just making the best guess out of my current knowledge.

As Angelica felt hopeless from me to answer any of her questions, she resigned and stayed silent for long minutes. I knew she was speaking with her friend now, and I didn't expect her friend to argue like her.

But just before I could hear what her friend's decision was, a strange message popped up in front of my eyes, deeply shocking me.

It wasn't expected! I never expected this at all!

[Warning: 25% of the people you are protecting are killed]

"What the f*ck?!!" I cursed while my whole body stiffened out of rage and shock.

I planned to return to the museum first and help stabilize things there. After all, I was sure that I killed most of the monsters in this region.

If the angels here were pissed off me, they could summon monsters from other regions. However, doing so was now harder than before.

They lacked the necessary blessing points for summoning monsters on their own. And calling other angels for help was just a mere joke.

Things seemed to be stabilized in my eyes, so how did those people die then?

I was totally confident in the ability of my team under the leadership of Isabella to safeguard the people there.

Even if a large group of monsters tried to attack, I doubted they would be able to kill all this number of people without putting up a good fight.

There was something wrong here. Another dirty plot was laid down. My mind stirred up and only one answer appeared.

'They might have used the same way they used to get rid of Angelica.'

It was the only explanation I had. They seemed to put Angelica and other ex-traitors on the top of their hit list. But after my recent performance, it seemed they decided to aim at me for now.

That subquest was nothing but a way to drain the blessing points from the angels. Ironically it started to threaten me now. Failing it would make me lose half of my current stats.

If it was before, I wouldn't have cared about such loss. My current stats were strong enough to ensure my safety. However after what I experienced with Angelica, and now this underhanded move of the angels against me in the subquest, I started to be more wary about the place I wanted to go.

If I wanted to be confident about getting that thing and keep myself alive then I had to not only protect my current stats, but also work on raising them all to the max.

This was the only insurance I currently had.

"What's wrong?" Angelica looked around as if we were targeted again.

"No time to explain, follow me," I hurriedly picked up the pace and started to spring like a loose arrow. My speed was high, much higher than that of Angelica.

"Wait for me," she shouted from behind while the distance between us was getting bigger, "where are we going? Tell me at least?"

"To the great Lawn," I said before my eyes flashed in the cold light, "we have a big fight there."

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 Great Lawn?" Angelica paused for a second before shouting from my back, "go ahead then, I know the way to it."

"Don't dawdle for long, this park isn't safe yet."

She said something I couldn't hear. I was now pushing my limits to arrive there as fast as I could. I got such a bad foreboding in my heart. They were aiming at my stats, and they wouldn't do that unprepared.

[Warning: 35% of the people you are protecting are killed]

"Dammit! They are really killing them fast!" I cursed in rage while my worst fears were happening. The people there were getting killed like they were lining up to be killed.

The distance that was supposed to be crossed in half an hour was crossed in less than five minutes. I felt my stamina getting depleted fast, but I didn't care.

I needed to see with my own eyes what was going on out there. Then I would work to solve it with my abilities.

The Great Lawn open space loomed from the distance. From my current position I could see any monster in the area.

"How can this be…?!" It was against what I expected. If it wasn't only for the next message of the system warning me of the decline of the number of people out there, I would have thought this was some sort of a joke.

[Warning: 40% of the people you are protecting are killed]

Monsters had big bodies and could be seen from far away. I had the night vision skill, so I could easily see through the dim world around me.

But all I could see was the large group of people who seemed quite distressed as if they were fighting against something.

"Is it a stealth class monster?" my mind started to bring more bad scenarios while I was getting closer to the Great Lawn.

However the moment I was less than five hundred meters, I could finally realize what was going on here.

"What the f*ck is happening here?" I shouted in rage while my voice carried heavy killing intent.

It wasn't hyenas, or wolves who were killing people. It wasn't even a hybrid monster like what happened with Angelica.

It was the traitors inside the group pointing their weapons at the throats of everyone else and killing the people without any mercy or hesitation.

All I could see was chaos! People were running everywhere while wails could be heard constantly. The traitors sprung into more than twenty groups, each had two of them. They were chasing against other people who were taken by surprise.

Without the need to ask for anything, I knew the normal people here were powerless from the start. The fight wasn't equal, it was literally a massacre.

But that wasn't all. When I calculated the number of the traitors I couldn't help but feel my heart hit rock bottom.

The traitors initially were counted from the group in the subquest. If I managed to kill them all to save others, then the quest would fail as well.

Their number was more than enough to make the death toll exceed fifty percent without doubt! I watched Isabella leading others to kill the traitors group by group.

No one of them managed to withstand the attack of my team. Especially when the traitors never tried to defend against themselves in the first place. They were all focused on killing people like mad wolves.

I stood in my place motionless while feeling more enraged.. No matter what path I took, I would eventually fail the subquest.

Chapter 30 - Losing The Quest

I stood motionless while my mind kept looking for a solution. Things were getting out of control fast.

[Warning: 45% of the people you are protecting are killed]

There was only five percent remaining before I lost the quest. Frankly speaking I lost it already. No matter what I thought of, I couldn't help but feel slightly powerless in this situation.

How did things come to such an end?

"Fine, you want to challenge me this way… Then I, Hye, will gladly accompany you to the end!" I raised my head and shouted with my loudest voice, a voice that carried a lot of anger and much hatred towards those filthy angels.

Even when I did my best to strangle their hands and make their choices limited, they still bested me here.

But I wasn't that miserable to cry on the corner over such a loss.

"Heed to my orders," as I made up my mind, I instantly turned my attention to everyone, "my team will surround this goddamn place. Anyone trying to escape here kills him. If I'm going to lose this quest, then it's better to kill all the traitors here and make you lose bigger."

Without waiting for anyone to say anything, I started to run fast towards the groups of fighting people. "Those without any relation to those motherf*ckers sit on the ground and don't move. You move, you die."

My tone told everyone that I wasn't joking, and that wasn't the end of it. I took out another sword, the sword I got from Angelica. With two swords in hand I descended over their heads like a tsunami, with a clear killing intention in my eyes.

"Let him try," one of the traitors laughed, "we were promised a revival after executing our job. Just make sure to let him kill us all and he will fail this quest for sure."

I didn't give a heed to this rubbish talk and instantly started hitting those standing with my swords.

Just after a few seconds, everyone realized something was wrong. I didn't hit to kill, but to cripple.

My two swords either hit the elbows, the knees by their sharp edges. And with the other side of my swords, the blunt sides, I started hitting others in the back of their heads.

In less than a minute I managed to subdue at least half of those traitors without killing a single one of them.

"Bastard!" the one who spoke first yelled in rage, "don't stand there like idiots. If we didn't make him lose then we won't have that revival chance again. Kill, kill anyone, kill everyone, even kill yourselves."

"That cold hearted bastard!" I couldn't help but feel the sense of urgeness increase tremendously inside my heart. This was the most vicious thing to do, asking them to even kill themselves? C'mon, who was in his right mind to ask people to do that? And who would follow these shitty orders?

However I better knew this was going to happen. After all, the temptation of having them revived was something no one could resist. What was the problem in dying once and getting yourself revived again?

The main issue here was the number of people going to die before I made them powerless. The first target I sat my eyes upon was that youth.

He looked like the leader of them. He had to die first, or else he would still stir others to keep killing.

However, that bastard didn't plan to fall easily like this. Against my expectations he refrained from facing me up, turned around and started to run.

"I'll kill you!" I followed him while trying to hit anyone standing. Despite that many of the other traitors away from me started to kill people sitting on the ground.

Their numbers weren't high but they were enough to kill enough numbers to make me fail the quest.

[Warning: 50% of the people you are protecting are killed]

[Warning: You failed the subquest. All your stats will be halved as a penalty of failing this subquest]

"Hahaha, you failed… He failed, hahaha!" that bastard started laughing as if won a crucial quest.

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

Despite how bitter I felt in the heart, I didn't feel that much like I was a loser. After all my main stats were all so high, enough to make me survive the main quest without problems.

Besides, who said I was going to lay low and cry bitterly in the corner like a real loser? This was just a setback, and I learnt a valuable lesson during this one.

I should never underestimate my enemies like this ever again! No matter how things looked favorable and under my control, I shouldn't let my guard down until the last second of the main quest.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Just as they were lost in their joy, looking at me with shining eyes and waiting to see my despair, my two swords kept slamming on their bodies fast.

I could feel much strength withdrawn from me in the next few moments. However that didn't make me the weak and powerless person they thought of.

"H… How can this be possible?!!" That youth retreated a couple of steps backwards while seeing me killing my way towards him. As I lost the quest, keeping them alive wasn't an option.

I tried to immobilize them and control the situation. However I knew deep down my heart that this step was too late. The death toll already was so high and my failure odds were much higher.

So when I lost the quest I continued to attack them. Killing them was much easier for me than making them lose their mobility. After all, my strength stat was still high enough to scare anyone here, to come on top of everyone else's strength.

I had twenty points now in my strength stat, making me a monster even after losing my subquest and getting that dirty penalty.

"You…!"

"Clang!"

The youth controlled himself fast when I reached him. He tried to defend against my swords with his but he could only stop one. The second sword was about to hit his neck when I heard a familiar voice shouting from behind.

"Allen!! What the hell are you doing here away from Washington?"

It was Angelica. She took all this time to catch up with me. However her sudden remark made my mind link the dots. "So you are the leader of those bastards? It'll be a gift to kill you," I changed my mind and instead of hitting his neck I hit his elbows then his two knees, forcing him to kneel on the ground.

"Keep him in bait until I return," I said to Angelica who was running towards my direction. Her face was covered with her helmet, but I felt her astonishment and puzzlement.

I didn't give any explanation for now. After all, I still had less than ten traitors to kill. The moment I turned my blades towards them, I noticed they gathered around and formed a strong defensive circle.

"Sara… Hit them hard," I didn't halt my steps while slowly walking towards them. Just before I marched for ten meters, the violent sounds of Isabella's fire skill ranged as ripples appeared in the air around the last group of traitors.

*Woosh!*

The fire danced around them and killed four in just one second. The others got burnt and tried to put down the fire.

However before they could do that, I started to run fast and covered the remaining distance in a few seconds. My two swords flashed right and left, cleaving the heads of those bastards without much trouble.

They tried to resist, tried to use their shields, tried to exchange deadly blows with me. But in the end all their attempts failed and finally the last one fell on the ground while my two swords were plunged into his chest.

I laid over his dead body like a ferocious beast. I was, without doubt, wounded in this subquest with that stupid penalty. However it was a deadly wound luckily.

"Keep him there," I moved my hands to retrieve the swords before I got a sudden and unexpected message.

[You killed one of the enemy, John the traitor. You can claim half of what he had in his inventory]

[You acquired one basic sword]

[You acquired one basic chestplate]

[You acquired twenty monster tier one cores]

.

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

.

[You acquired five thousand coins]

I looked at the long line of messages that appeared while feeling bewilderment. I never thought killing traitors would bring me such results.

Without thinking much I moved my hands and touched a second corpse just inches away from me.

[You killed one of the enemies, Peter the traitor. You can claim half of what he had in his inventory]

[You acquired one basic sword]

.

.

[You acquired four thousand coins]

"This…" I instantly recalled something. When I saved Angelica and formed a contract with her, she kept leaning on the dead bodies of the traitors.

I never thought much about that before. I merely thought she was having her moment of victory and overjoying at her enemies misfortune.

But this…

"Angelica…" my voice came deep and yet it was so domineering to make the body of Angelic tremble in fear. She was eyeing what I was doing. Without the need of me saying anything else, she knew that I realized what was going on.

She collected the trophy from the dead bodies of the traitros back then without telling or showing anything with me. My eyes glared with anger and I didn't speak any more words as I jumped from the dead body of a traitor to another.

Isabella and the team already came to the side of Allen. They surrounded him and the looks on their faces told me they wanted to kill him.

"I… you didn't ask so I didn't mention it," as a child caught on doing something wrong, she came and stood beside me while lowering her head and tone.

"How much did you get?" I coldly asked while finishing collecting my trophy.

"I wasn't the one to kill them, so only got ten percent of their inventory," she didn't directly answer my question. Just hearing her explanatory and seemingly apologetic words didn't make me feel any better.

"I can collect half of their inventory as I'm the one who killed them," I said in a deep tone without lifting my head or stopping what I was doing.

"We… can go back and get your share," she tried to come up with something to make me feel better.

"Do you think their bodies will remain where we left them? Humph, childish thinking of yours," I finished collecting the trophy from the small group I just killed before standing and giving her a chilling gaze.

Just from my gaze alone, her body trembled faintly and she hurriedly lowered her head and looked at the ground.

I recalled all the traitors I killed before coming here. There were fifty of them. When the first quest ended, the dead bodies of monsters and traitors killed vanished in thin air like magic.

It was a known setting of the system to not make the bodies rot and spread diseases like plaque. But I also knew this was a presetting for one hell of a quest, quest five, the fight against zombies and the undead.

The system needed a large number of dead bodies and this was easily provided to it by us.

"Stingy bastards!" Just before I moved towards the rest of the dead traitors, Allen screamed in rage. "I told you to empty your inventories before coming here. Fast, anyone with anything in his inventory must use them now!"

"Not under my watch!" I didn't kill all the traitors yet. Almost half of them were lying wounded on the ground. Just hearing these enraged words from Allen made me realize how lucky I was to meet such stingy humans.

They were traitors, and it made quite sense that they would be acting stingy as well. Just thinking about this made my blood boil. Wouldn't that group I killed to save Angelica have much more wealth than this? Damn! I just missed a great chance thanks to that niggardly move by Angelica.

"Slash!"

"Slash!"

"Slash!"

Luckily most of the wounded traitors weren't so far from my reach. In less than two minutes I killed them all.. But how much would I get from them was the main issue here.

Chapter 31 - My Coins Won't Be Enough

[You acquired five thousand coins]

[You acquired four thousand coins]

[You acquired three thousand coins]

.

.

.

[You acquired one thousand coins]

[You acquired one thousand coins]

[You acquired eight hundred coins]

The early batch I killed gave me a good amount of coins. But those who I killed late managed, somehow, to exhaust the coins they had.

However, even taking one digit coins from them was enough for me, not to mention three digit coins like this.

I kept moving from one traitor to another while Angelica kept following in silence. I didn't say anything to her just to make her feel more guilt. In fact I understood the reason behind what she did. After all, we just got together and I forced her to follow me.

However that didn't mean I would tolerate such actions. This happened in the early quest of the apocalypse. The damage she caused wasn't that significant. But if that happened during any other big quests then I would have to reconsider keeping her on my side, or even alive.

"Not bad," I checked my new balance and couldn't help but grin in satisfaction. The initial number of the people here was around four hundred to five hundred people. After this massacre, only a handful of two hundred remain.

The number of traitors was astonishingly over sixty, not to mention the traitors I killed before leaving this field towards the museum. That meant out of the initial group, almost one fourth was traitors.

That made things clearer in my head. Those angels didn't aim to use monsters to make me fail the quest from the start. But the astonishing thing was the possibility they saw what I did. Even my provocations seemed in their calculations; scary!

"I got it big this time," I looked at the inventory that was now filled with a lot of stuff. The number of gears I got was already enough to arm my group with a full set of armor, two weapons, and additional pieces like helmets, arm guards,... etc.

In addition to that, the monster cores and other monster drops were also a good gain. However I didn't focus too much on this. My inventory already held thousands of these things before.

My biggest gain to remark wasn't only in my terrifying current wealth of over two hundred thousand coins, but in these small bottles which lied inside my inventory in small numbers.

'Hp restoration potion, stamina restoration potion, mana restoration potion… I got it big this time!' I thought to myself while my eyes shone in brilliance.

These potions weren't available yet to purchase from the system, not for me at least. To be able to use such a privilege, one must have a class.

Looking at the small number of each potion made me realize one thing, they all came from someone with a class, from Allen.

Killing Allen might provide me with slightly more potions, but that wasn't the main point here. I turned to Angelica and this time I knew how she benefitted from other traitors.

"I… will hand you what you want," she seemingly felt my threatening gazes and after all this silence she realized I wouldn't let her off with what she got from behind my back. "Just say the item you want and I'll give it to you."

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

"Humph, trying to play smart on me?" I harrumphed while stepping forward towards her. My two swords reappeared again and my intent of killing skyrocketed to be even felt by normal humans.

She couldn't help but retreat a few steps to the back while raising both arms, shakingly, in an attempt to stop me.

"P… Please, I'll do what you want," she said in a shaky tone. After all, she knew how terrifying my stats were.

She must be bewildered by my stats. She didn't know anything about my penalty and I didn't plan on telling her that.

Let her mistake me for the old monster I once was. If she knew I lost half my stats, she might have a bit of hope of getting something in return.

What she offered was merely a trap. She wanted me to ask for things to bring them out. In fact that was the control of the contract we both had over her. But it was also one of the fatal flaws in it.

As long as I didn't ask for anything she had, she wouldn't be punished by the system for hiding it from me. The contract didn't force her to say anything like a slave. After all it was a basic form of contracts and it had its own limitations.

So trying to pull a trick on me and letting me ask for the things I want just to keep other things I didn't know about hidden… Humph, she just underestimated me.

After seeing these potions my mind realized something, people with classes were in the enemy ranks already. So it was obvious they must have things that normal people like me wouldn't.

For example these potions, and it might even reach far dangerous and more rare items like scrolls.

"I'll do anything you ask," she kept shivering while the only visible part of her face from her helmet showed her ashened skin. She was terrified and that might help to remind her to not cross me again.

"Give me everything you got in your inventory," I was ruthless to not ask for the things she got from the traitors. I wanted everything she gathered so far. "Keep the coins and the race detection compass for now."

I sensed her body shivering more when I spoke first, but when I added my last words she seemed more collected.

"So at least you got some consciousness," she said in a relieved tone. Yet I knew she was still feeling bitter over losing everything she worked hard to acquire.

"This is your punishment for crossing me," I said before I got a message about an exchange between the two of us. I couldn't have such a privilege as I didn't have a class. Good thing she had a class to make things easier and more discrete.

"I will think twice before doing something foolish like this again," her tone told me she wasn't sincere at all.

"Next time will be your last," so I had to show more ruthlessness to her, "if you ever did something like this again, I'll simply order you to take your life with your own hands."

"You…" her eyes widened and her body shook again. "Don't go overboard over something worthless like this!"

"Items and coins aren't that useless," I shrugged as if I just didn't promise her death, but what's important is trust. If I can't trust you, then it's better to get rid of you and look for someone else."

"..."

She stayed all silent for a long minute while the transaction between the two of us finished. My inventory got a good boost for now as many items were added.

"I promise to not do it again," this time she said it with some sincerity.

"I hope you stick to your words," I said while starting to check the items she sent to me. With the force of the contract she couldn't hide anything in her inventory away from my reach.

But if she thought this was only my punishment, she would be wrong. I didn't plan to just punish her by taking away all her items, I still had a more vicious move to hammer that lesson deeper in her mind.

As I expected, there was a good addition of potions inside my inventory. Each potion I had before now grew in number to exceed sixty. This was astonishing wealth in my opinion. But it wasn't the best stuff here.

'Wow! There are even stat potions here,' I took one small bottle and examined it closely. It was small to fit the size of my fist, filled with shiny silver liquid that was enough to illuminate some light around.

"You got such nice things and didn't think of using them? How mean!" I looked at her with a grin, an evil grin. My words meant that she wouldn't get such good stuff and I would enjoy them for myself.

"I was busy chasing after you," she looked a bit regretful, "who thought that my kindness and worry were repaid in such a way."

"You have only yourself to blame," I shrugged before storing away the potion, "if you told me about this loot, then you'd have gotten a good portion of it. I'm that stingy with those loyal to me, but very strict with those who aren't."

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

She glared at me in silence while I hoped my words would find a way inside her stubborn mind. I didn't want to lose someone important like her, not to mention she wasn't weak either.

"Gather up everyone," unlike what others expected, I didn't head towards Allen. Instead I gave such an order to make everyone come and stand around me.

It was time to give Angelica her second and most painful punishment.

Unaware of my intentions, everyone of the humans remaining here gathered except for Isabella who kept herself standing beside Allen.

Even Angelica seemed ignorant about my next severe punishment to her.

"Line up," I said in strict words, "One line, all of you."

Since everything turned out to be like this, no one had the boldness to fight me anymore. They weren't stupid. They were just about to lose their lives if not for my timely intervention.

They all stood in one line while Sara came to ask:

"What do you want to do with them?"

"Make my team line in another line first," I said to her in a tone that held coldness like she was my enemy. The look over her face slightly changed before she realized something was wrong.

Without delving into any details, she led others and stood in one short line compared to the other one.

"What about me?" I turned to size up Angelica while anticipating her reaction to my next words.

"Take out your compass," I simply said, "and test every single one here for loyalty."

"What the f*ck…?!!!" she was instantly enraged and flabbergasted by my sudden request. "You can't ask me to do this! No way! Hell no!!"

"What's wrong dear?" I said in a soft tone that didn't carry any sense of affection or sympathy, "if you didn't do it voluntarily, then I might strip you off from the compass and all the gold you have."

She looked at me in glaring eyes that were filled with rage and hatred. "You can't do that! That's simply outrageous!"

"Do you want me to force you to do it then? Or do you prefer the alternative?"

I calmly spoke like there was nothing to negotiate about. She had no one to blame but herself. She dug this hole so deep that she couldn't get out no matter what.

She glared back with red eyes and a shaky body, but she didn't say anything anymore.

"My coins won't be enough," she said in defiance.

"Then I'll let you donate them to me to check by myself then," I didn't take her words to heart as I simply threw this answer in front of her pretty face.

"You…" she shivered out of rage, but she had no way out of this. If she didn't want to do it herself, then I would rather take all the coins she had alongside the compass and do it myself.

I was sure she had an astonishing figure of coins in her possession. I didn't notice this little wealth of hers as I wasn't that crazy about money. I got enough to make me regain my lost stats and even raise the remaining stats to max if I wanted to.

But I needed her. She was someone who got access to the market for now. She could be useful later on. All I was doing was just disciplining her and showing her who was the boss here.

She hesitated for a long time but didn't say anything else. I also remained silent and indifferent. After all, whatever decision she would make here wouldn't make any difference to my plans.

"Then promise me one thing in return," she tried to get out of this deal. But dear, who told you to mess with a lion like me?

"I'm not asking," I coldly said, "if you mistook my words then I can give another order to you if you wanted."

And the real meaning of words was quite clear. I wasn't bargaining or making a deal here sweetie, I was simply giving you two dead ends to choose from.

If you didn't want to willingly get out of this with the least damage, then don't blame me for being merciless.

Chapter 32 - A Fight

"I just want monster cores and other materials to sell to replenish my coins!"

Angelica pouted her lips in dissatisfaction. I felt her bitterness as she had to beg for her own fortune.

"If you consumed the coins and there are no more then I'll give you some," I shrugged, "but when you call for this, I'll order you to give me all your coins. And if I found that you still have even a penny left, then don't blame me."

Her face changed and I knew my guess was right. This girl here was trying to loosen her losses by any way possible. I didn't know if she was the stingy one here or I.

"Let's start," I urged her, "I don't have all night."

"Humph," she was still unsettled but she had to follow my orders after all. The consequences for not listening to me were rather unimaginable.

Just as she passed Sara after confirming her to be an ally, bad news started to kick in.

"How could this be?!!" Angelica turned to me while a youth of my group had a red color result. The look on my face told him there was something wrong, especially when I narrowed my eyes and released my killing intent.

"Wait… boss, something must be wrong… Ahhh!"

Just before he could continue his words, I slashed his throat and released his life away.

"A traitor well hidden in my team? How lovely!" I stood on the side of the powerless corpse while the faces of everyone, including my team, showed their shock.

I never imagined for the angels to infiltrate my core team like this. The team lived with me through the desperate times of the first part of the first quest. How come they would plan so much ahead, even managing to fool me?

Scary! I was fighting a really scary opponent who was planning far ahead than usual.

"Hye, what just happened?" At this moment Sara finally got the courage to speak, "and what's wrong with that compass?"

I asked everyone to bring forth a drop of blood for the test, but I didn't elaborate over the details. It was time for me to explain, and at the same time I didn't lower my guard.

"This is a special gear to detect traitors," I slowly said before pointing my sword at the one I just killed, "and it happens for him to be one."

"This…" the look over Sara's face explained everything. Despite telling her to stand guard, Isabella came all the way to me with an angry look over her face.

"Hye! This can't be right! They are our people, our team. They helped us till now. If they are traitors, then why didn't they help Arnold back then?"

Her words gained the recognition of many around. Some hummed and others nodded. A faint wave of whispers erupted but none had the courage to confront me like this except for these two girls.

"Yeah, Isabella is right. You can't expect me to believe some useless scrap of metal over what we experienced together."

I looked at both without saying anything. I leant over the dead body of this traitor and put my hand over him.

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

If he was an enemy, and I was sure he was, then a message would pop up in front of me.

[You killed one of the enemies, Amir the traitor. You can claim half of what he had in his inventory]

The long list of messages appeared next which proved I was right. "He is a traitor for sure," I calmly stood up before pointing my sword to Isabella and added, "give a drop of your blood now."

"You…" the look over her face was priceless. She never expected me to doubt her. Hell yeah, even if I listened to her legends back from the old man, I had to make sure she wasn't a hidden enemy.

In this world, enemies could mask themselves to be in the veil of the closest friends to oneself.

Luckily I got the compass to uncover that. In fact this was the nature of the system; balance. If there was something disadvantageous to us out here, then there must be another thing that would counter it to achieve balance.

"Here," under my fixed gaze Isabella complied. Yet she was angry and wasn't accepting this.

"Green," on the side, Angelica watched all this unfolding with slight amusement in her eyes. She seemed to be rejoicing in my unfortunate, cold hearted girl!

However no matter how I looked at it, I was the one gaining the most profit here. If these traitors were allowed to flourish under my wing, then the time they would plunge their thorns in my back would be the last day of my life.

"Next," I instantly turned and looked at the next one to take the test. "Give me a drop of your blood or…"

"F*ck you! The angels will prevail!"

Just before I continued my words, that youth seemed to see death knocking at his doorsteps. He took out his sword and shield and tried to attack me.

But I was already on guard. The moment he screamed and exposed his true color I waved my sword and slashed his hand holding the sword. I didn't hurry to kill him as I simply slashed with the second sword at his knees.

He fell on the ground while his hand let go of the sword he had there. "Convinced now?" I calmly said without even turning around to two girls who were just questioning me a moment ago.

"My compass can't be wrong," Angelica said in a bitter tone but I felt some understanding there. She started to see the gravity of the situation. Two out of four of my core team were detected as traitors. How much more would we discover then?

This time she didn't need to spend any coins for this traitor to be exposed. So she had the spirit to show off like this.

"This…" Sara's tone became shaky while I killed that traitor and got away half of what he had inside his inventory.

Just there I noticed the numbers beside my precious potions increase slightly. These bastards! They even got potions to help them survive longer by my side.

How deep will this scheme go then? How more traitors would I find?

"Go back and watch that bastard over there," I said to Isabella before motioning my head to Angelica to follow me to the next one.

"A traitor!"

"A traitor!"

"Another traitor!"

I couldn't believe this! My team was originally eighteen but after the last fight they lost five. And now out of the thirteen, only six remained.

How come they had such a large number inside my own team? I couldn't help but feel very enraged by this result.

As for the six who remained and were trusted were the two girls, Gerry who helped to heal my wounds before, and the two I sat my eyes upon from the start; John and Allen.

In addition to them, the girl who joined my team during the turmoil of the subquest was also there. I was surprised to see the one I suspected to be a traitor to not be one, and those I trusted went to become traitors.

"I should have my own compass from now on," I decided. After all appearances were deceiving and now even actions were also untrustable.

What else should I do but to endure spending my coins over the team I would spend my entire time with?

"Now let's scan you guys," I turned with some bitterness in my heart towards the group of people standing before me. I had to go again in the process of eliminating the traitors.

"That's ridiculous!"

"How can you act this abusive to us? What did we ever do to you?"

"Let's go guys, he can't stop us all from leaving."

Just as I was about to start scanning the long line with Angelica, few started to cause problems. This was expected. After all they all watched what I did with my own team as I showed no mercy even to those who fought side by side with me.

What mercy should I show here exactly? Even if they helped, they did that with ill intentions and I would never allow them to keep their lives no matter what.

*Slash!* *Slash!* *Slash!*

Without the need to say anything, I moved fast and killed anyone daring to get out of the line. After killing almost twenty people without much resistance, I shifted my cold gaze to the rest as I said in domineering attitude:

"I don't care if you are all traitors, I will kill anyone who is proven to be so. Leaving this line means you are one, even if you aren't. Stay put and if you are clean, don't be afraid of anything."

My words didn't help but stir another group to leave. This time they didn't waste their breaths on any words and simply turned around to run.

"Thinking you can outrun me?" I snorted before hurriedly chasing after them.

I wasn't alone this time. Allen, Angelica, Isabella, and even that girl who was called Sherry moved as well. Sara stood behind and used her fire tornado skill to kill a few of them even before I could reach there.

"Ahhh!"

"You are a monster!"

"Don't follow him, he is a brutal tyrant!"

"F*ck you!"

All sorts of shouts and curses were launched at me. While I killed the group of twenty people, I noticed that another group moved away towards the opposite direction.

And this group was much larger in size, approximately reaching up to forty people.

"Damn! How many traitors do they have here?" Isabella cursed while Sara was the first to react with her deadly skill.

"Keep killing them here guys," I said before adding, "Angelica, follow me."

I knew she was the highest one in stats here after me. So her speed would cover up the long distance to those rapidly escaping traitors.

"I'll come as well," Allen moved at high speed, reminding me of his highest stat. He had a high speed stat from the start, but I decided to let him use a sword and act as a swordsman for this stage of the apocalypse.

"Good, you can come," I looked at him for one moment before turning my gaze towards the group up ahead. "Sara, try to obstruct their route of escape," I shouted before thinking about something, "John, make sure to defend her well."

It was well known that magicians were fierce as long as they were safe. She was left behind without any support from any of us now.. If I was one of the traitors, I would leave behind at least one man to take care of her.

Chapter 33 - The Deadly Star Weapon

I didn't run for a minute before I heard fierce sounds of fighting from behind. "They really came for her," I saw three guys fighting against John while Sara pointed her staff towards them. "Yeah, they are dead," I muttered while turning to look forward.

As expected, a big bang occured behind and these guys were dead for good. Fighting against a magician looked easy if you managed to get closer to him/her. However once your cover was blown, then only death awaits you.

Scary class indeed. If not for my hatred towards sitting back and watching the fight from far then I wouldn't say no to such one.

However I knew I was going to be a swordsman, a hidden class awaited me after this fight for sure.

"Split up," I said, "but don't get too isolated."

The enemies were already running for their lives. We could take them from behind thanks to our speed. But trying to fight a cornered enemy wasn't wise. That was why I added my last warning.

*Slash* *Bang* Slash* *Boom*

We worked as a team and took down the runners. Sara helped as well after getting rid of those rats behind. Yet I couldn't be sure if all the rats were gone or there were still a couple remaining hidden.

This fight ended with no surprise at all. We were fewer in numbers but we held the higher morale and the initiative here. Despite their last second struggle, they couldn't stand against my high stats or Angelica's.

"This is going way beyond my paygrade," Angelica joked and I couldn't help but look around to make sure the other fight was done as well.

Isabella handled the other guys smoothly. Now all we have are less than one hundred people sitting on the ground, shaking out of fear and filled with doubts.

"I can't keep doing this alone," I realized the hidden agenda of the angels. Just before the first quest was over, my big team that I was proud to find was reduced to only seven people. As for the initial four hundred people who I got here, only a hundred or less remained.

If this continued, then I'd doubt my ability to continue in this apocalypse much further than quest five.

I was a lone wolf, but I wasn't aiming to be running around with my tail in between my legs. I wanted to be a king, that was the only path available to me to survive this sh*t.

According to the old man's wise words he left in the recording, there was a brilliant and unique way to do it. But I needed a bigger and far stronger team.

I needed to sort out things here and stop losing more of my assets thanks to those bastards.

"We are done here," Angelica said before adding, "we can go back now and continue scanning those people."

I felt her excitement in between the lines. She was happy for one reason, less people meant less expenditure on her part. But right now I have another viewpoint on what we should do.

"Gather up," I said as I motioned to my scattered team members while standing in my place.

I didn't fear the presence of any more traitors. If even those hundred people had more of them, then killing them all wouldn't be an issue.

They were dead meat in my eyes, one way or another. And if a traitor was inside that group right now, then he/she would lose any hope of survival.

From the stern look over their faces I knew my face must have looked serious. After all, I gathered them to mark a new turning point in my grand plan here.

"When we kill a monster, we can salvage its core, various materials, and also its skills," I said before leaning over one dead traitor I just killed before adding, "but when killing traitors and enemies, we can get fifty percent of their inventory, just like that."

I placed my palm over the chest of that dead guy and received the familiar message from the system. "You helped me kill them, so go around and take your shares."

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

Everyone looked at me like they doubted what I just said. The next moment Sara moved towards a group of seven she devastated using her skill during the last fight.

"Gosh! It's working!" her eyes shone brightly before jumping from one dead guy to another. She even laughed in excitement as if this was a Christmas present.

"Go, what are you waiting for?" I waved my hands for them to scatter and get their share of the cake.

Only three remained behind.

"Well… what about me?" John asked while his face showed how bitter he felt. It was expected, after all this young man here was stingy enough to buy himself a shield despite having lots of coins before.

He wasn't alone, Gerry also was standing beside John. The two didn't kill anyone, and that was expected.

One was acting as a tank and the other acted as a healer. They seemed to feel like losers at the moment.

But fighting without a good tank or capable healer was like a death sentence to my team. "You can go and take half of those traitors each," I acted generously before adding after seeing the weird look on their faces, "you can get up to ten percent only. But even so with such large numbers you'll get it big."

"Yeah, Hye is the best," John shouted in a thrilling tone and even tried to come and hug me. Sorry dude, if I was to be hugged by someone then it should be a chick.

"Go, we don't have the whole night here," I sent them around while working to gather my own loot.

Only one person remained, Angelica.

"One moment before you acted so stingy and cold hearted with me and now… I can't believe you are doing this without something in return," she seemed to see through my actions, but she didn't have a clue.

"I'm just trying to help everybody," I simply said while jumping from one dead traitor to another.

"But why?"

"Will you ditch your bodies to others or what? C'mon, we need to scan the remaining humans before moving."

"Moving?" She looked a bit surprised, but I only kept my silence and continued what I was doing.

Yeah, we need to move from here. Thinking that my current team was enough to stand against the next plot of the angels was a mistake. The only way for them to survive was to relocate our current base for now.

As she found no hope in making me talk and reveal my current plans, she reluctantly moved and started gathering her loot.

I needed them to get stronger, and the only way was by gathering more coins. Plus those potions and stat points inside those inventories were a waste to leave untouched.

Right now they couldn't make the best use of the coins, but later on they would. Just when this quest ends, we would have a chance to get support from a higher being.

Despite my hesitation towards this matter, it was still an option for them to decide. If it was up to me, then I would never agree to do it.

But It was a double edged weapon. If they followed my footsteps then gaining power wouldn't be easier especially during the next two quests.

To get stronger someone had to sacrifice something, it was the cruel rule of this life. Nothing was easy or granted, and anything coming cheap for now would mean it would cost us more in the future.

Gathering the loot didn't take more than five minutes. Just as we finished, I stood in front of the scared hundred people and was about to speak when the sky suddenly got bright.

"What is that?"

"Is that a new sun?"

"Is this over?"

Those people… They were so desperate to even see in such a calamity a chance for surviving. I only stood silent while watching the bright red star that suddenly appeared far away from us.

"Do you know what this is for?" Sara came closer and asked.

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

"Is your girl ready?" I didn't answer her but said to Angelica who seemed nervous when she heard my words.

"Don't tell me…"

"Just inform her to be ready," I interrupted her words, "she had less than one minute after all."

My eyes conveyed more meaning that I said in my words. This wasn't a normal star, but a mighty weapon getting charged.

And its goal was nothing but that statue of liberty and the ace friend of her standing there.

I didn't get much hope from that person. After all, what was the benefit in getting high stats in intelligence and high mana but locking up everything else?

If this was the case, then her friend would never be able to survive at all during the upcoming quests. Not on her own at the least.

Angelica started to look busy while her hands kept moving in midair like she was trying to do something.

"She isn't picking up," she hysterically said, "what's the meaning of this?"

"Black out," I simply said before sighing, "you have nothing to do now except to pray."

Angelica's body got stiffened but the next moment a new change occurred. That bright red star at a high distance started to emit thick tongues of red rays that kept dancing around it.

"And from the depth of hope, despair will rain down over those who thought it was a sign from gods," I slowly muttered while recalling a piece of prose that described this terrifying weapon.

*Rumble*

The next moment everything trembled while the air itself vibrated. Everyone looked panicked but I was the only one acting calm here.

I knew this weapon was aiming at the statue of liberty. Only one use of that terrifying guy would cost those angels lots of their blessing points.

*Rumble*

That weapon was now fully charged before its attack landed. It seemed like everything else in this world dimmed in front of its might.

A thick pillar of red light fell over the distance and instantly vanished like it appeared. All the sounds were gone like they were worshiping in awe of this dreadful scene.

Then things started to explode while a big mushroom-like ball of fire rose higher from the distance.

It looked small and insignificant, but I alone knew how devastating this attack was.

"Should we run?" Isabella's face ashened while she shouted from her place beside that traitor on the ground.

"Yeah, that thing looked pretty dangerous," Sara turned to me to see my calm face. I shook and said:

"It's not going to hit us."

"Are you sure?" John was feeling panicked. He just celebrated getting so many coins and cool stuff moments ago. Just dying after gaining such success was something unpleasant to anyone after all.

"Just trust me," I slowly said while constricting my eyes. I knew that attack would hit the statue, bringing forth a mighty wave from the ocean. That was why I asked Angelica to let her girlfriend use her boat and wait ten miles away from this explosion.

But I wasn't sure of the dirty plots of the angels anymore. What if they increased the intensity of that weapon? What if they paid slightly more blessing to make all of us die?

However just as I hesitated, I saw a small line of darkness rising behind the shining ball of fire. It was the small tsunami wave that was gathering up momentum now.

"What… is that?" Angelica pointed towards the direction of the ball and I knew she noticed the deadly wave coming.

"I believe it's the aftermath of that hit," I slowly said before all of sudden a gale of wind hit all of us. It was fast and came out from the direction of the Statue of Liberty, an aftermath of that attack.

"Damn!" The wind blew away many people but all of my team stood their ground firm.

Then loud noises of slash came from the far.. It was the sign that water was now attacking land, drowning anyone closer to the coast at this moment.

Chapter 34 - The Dungeon Key

Things happened so fast afterwards. Roaring sounds echoed while even earth itself kept trembling. The horizon towards that big shining red ball of fire looked awful while the fire kept burning without an end.

I knew it would take a full day at least to die down. As for now, it threw dark red light over the surroundings, making anyone from far see the brutal wave coming fast towards the ground.

'It's not that big,' I thought to myself, 'luckily they didn't change their plans for me.'

I knew I crossed my limits when facing these angels. They must be pissed off right now. But I couldn't be nice and obedient to my enemies, especially when I knew there was no way out of this without putting up a fight.

So even if I was passing over all the red lines here, I didn't regret this. I was planning to keep crossing more lines just to survive.

*Woosh* *Woosh* *Woosh*

The wind kept howling and thundering around us while the world seemed to really come to an end. Just reading about what that attack looked like and seeing it first hand like this was really different.

No matter how brutal the words used to describe this attack, they weren't even close to the truth. This thing… It was really a killer, something I hoped at this moment that I wouldn't have to face its wrath one day.

"It's ending…" Allen said while the wind started to calm down. The earth stopped shaking minutes ago. But I knew this wasn't the end.

The water that invaded the ground would take up to one third of the land between here and the statue of Liberty. After the hit, water wouldn't recede and would stay there.

For now, it was quite safe. After all it didn't sweep only humans but also monsters. Also monsters wouldn't appear in water for now.

But that wouldn't last forever. Water monsters would appear starting from the next quest. So, this might look like a calamity hidden under the veil of a moment of peace.

"Let's get going then," I said while clapping hard with my hands. Everyone was still in shock, and I had to rally them together. "Get back, stand in one line."

Despite everything happening, I kept my eyes around. If a single one of those people tried to sneak his way during this mess then he was playing with his life.

Luckily no one of them were fool enough to do it. Or there might be no traitor after all here.

"What about her?" Angelica finally awakened from the shock as she turned to me, "is she… going to survive this?"

She now realized why I asked her friend to go away on a boat. But that also meant I knew what was going to happen.

She was smart enough not to ask me anything about this. After all she was someone who got some access to part of the angels' plans. So I might have another way to gain such info.

"She is going to be alright," I said before adding, "if she listened to you."

"But…" she pointed at the air in front of her helplessly.

"Just wait for ten minutes, that blackout will be gone by then," I reassured her, "now let's continue what we were doing, alright?"

My team looked at me in a weird way. I could already read their minds, like wondering who was in their right mind to say that someone would survive something deadly like that?

But I didn't say anymore while Angelica kept examining others. In the end we didn't find anyone who was a traitor. Finally a moment of piece of mind for me.

"Alright," I said in a loud tone before adding, "we are going to leave this area for now. Bring him with us."

I motioned my head towards Allen as I intended to make better use of that bastard. I was sure if I killed him, the angles would simply make him resurrect.

Despite this being something costly, they already promised such handsome rewards to other traitors before. It was better to keep that snake under my clutches for now, better than letting him loose.

"Where to?" Sara asked in anticipation. Right now she wasn't the only one with high morale. Everyone in my team was feeling joy inside their hearts from the big gains they got. "Killing more traitors then?" she asked.

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

"Aren't you satisfied with all the coins and items you got?" I grinned while watching her and others. My team was now wielding full gear on their bodies and they looked stronger than before.

"Going back to the museum?" Angelica's face was still covered with the helmet, but I could see her worry from the places exposed to me.

"Yeah," I nodded. This was an easy guess for her after all. "Let's go, it's almost an hour walk with everyone here."

I started to move while others followed. As I scanned everyone and there was no threat here, I finally had a moment of peace to consider what I should do next.

"Gerry," I said while ushering for him to come, "go and check the attributes of everyone. If there is anyone with unique or above attributes make them together in separate groups."

Gerry looked at me in puzzlement. "What are attributes higher than unique?" he asked, and I realized that they didn't know the grades of the attributes yet.

So it was time for a small lesson and little education for them to catch up.

"Attributes are ranked as common in the lowest grade, then rare, special, unique, Immortal, Earth, and heaven."

My words enlightened the eyes of everyone around. My voice was loud for others to hear.

"You sure know what you are doing," Angelica came to my side before adding, "my attribute is heaven grade, then I'm the strongest one here."

I looked at her like I was eyeing a monster. Suddenly a mere thought flashed past my mind.

What if those angels had a way to assess our attributes before the apocalypse? They then worked their dirty hands to snatch as many geniuses away from us as possible by branding them as traitors?

This was such a crazy idea, but pretty much realistic too. There was only way to know if this was true or not; testing common people gathered here.

If they had such good attributes, then my theory was wrong. However if they didn't show much abilities, then I had to admit… we got such a heavy blow from the start, even before the apocalypse even happened.

"What?" Angelica mistook my silence, "don't tell me you also… Do you have a heaven attribute as well?"

I only smiled as I said nothing. Heaven attribute? Humph, I had much higher than that baby.

"Go now," I said to Gerry, "make sure to examine everyone."

"Leave it to me," Gerry seemed a little excited about having something to do at last. I suddenly realized that despite him being a strong pillar in my team, he didn't have any skill to use yet.

I was sure I told everyone about using their life experiences to hone them into skills. But it seemed that young men here didn't have such vast experience of life to use as a healer.

'Then I should tell him about a way to buy healing skills from the market,' I wasn't powerless here. There was a way to get skills, but it would require lots of coins in return.

However, in his condition, I believed he wouldn't disagree. Yet the time wasn't right yet to speak with him about such a thing.

I decided to gather the team once we reached the museum and tell them a few tricks to use later on. After all, I planned to leave and I didn't know what was waiting for me at my destination.

"Do you know what weapon that was?"

Sara seemed still unsettled about what happened. It was normal. After all, it wasn't easy for anyone to see such brutality and not be shaken.

"It's called the city's killer," I slowly explained, "it's a star in the sky that can be used to launch such deadly attacks, strong enough to wipe this whole city from the surface of earth."

My words seemed shocking but it was the truth. It came when the apocalypse started, as part of the other worlds merging with us.

"But… I never heard of such a weapon before," Sara frowned, "is it some highly classified military weapon or something?"

"It's something alien," Angelica said, "it's part of the world colliding with us right now."

She knew a lot, more than I thought. That wasn't a total surprise. After all she was a leader in the traitor camp before so she had to know things not accessible to many.

"Worlds colliding with us… What does this even mean?"

I let the two continue this talk while I resumed thinking about my plans. It was good to have someone knowledgeable in the team. I was going to vanish for a long time and they needed someone to help lead them.

Just in the middle of their speech which attracted the attention of everyone, Angelica suddenly paused for long minute before she yelled in happiness:

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

"She is alive, hahaha, I knew it."

"Stop telling lies, it's bad for your skin," I teased her but she was so happy to bother with my words. She laughed before she moved her hands a little and spoke unheard words as she was in contact with her friend.

She would survive, that was given if she listened to my words from earlier. From the reaction Angelica made, I knew her friend was wise enough to listen to me.

"But…" All of sudden her face stiffened. She removed her helmet and I could see the distress expression she put there.

"What?" I asked while having a clue about what she wanted to say.

"She asks your help for her to come here," she slowly said while she knew all about my decision. We already walked through this point and my stance was clear.

"I won't move out of the central park," I said to confirm my earlier stand.

"I know, but…" Angelica's face showed her struggle. She tried before to convince me and failed so she had zero expectations at the moment. "She has something to give to you in return."

"I won't change my mind over a bunch of potions and stats," I said while shaking my head. If I had time then I might risk going outside to help her, but not now.

I had to go and get that item no matter what.

"Even if it's a dungeon gate?" Angelica suddenly said and the moment I heard her words I couldn't help but feel a faint tremble inside my heart.

"What did you say?" I looked at her and it seemed she didn't expect my reaction to be like this. After a momentary pause her distressed face changed to show some confidence and… little hope.

"She has a dungeon key," she said, "and she is willing to give it to you."

"Are you sure?" I asked while trying to calm my excitement, "what grade is it?"

"Grade?" Angelica seemed not to know the answer so I left her for a few moments to talk to her friend before returning to me, "she says it's copper grade."

"Copper… not bad," I pondered about it. If it was golden grade or above then I would have gone right away to fetch her myself.

But copper grade… It wasn't that bad but not that good either.

"What are dungeons?" Sara asked with anticipation, but I didn't answer her for now.

Dungeons were just like the game dungeons, a place filled with monsters and treasures within. The higher the grade of the dungeons, the richer the rewards.

Aside from any rewards given there, which included monster drops and even gears and potions, there was one major use for the dungeons; leveling up.

Each one in the apocalypse would be granted a system with a basic level of one. To raise one's level is like ascending heaven bare handed. It was an impossible task, but not with a dungeon.

Dungeons had cool down time, but copper dungeons would be available once per week. Higher grade dungeons would have shorter cool down time, like gold dungeons which could be accessed once per two days.

Another earth shattering privilege of the dungeons was that, unlike the apocalypse, dying in there wouldn't really kill anyone. One would only lose one level and drop part of his inventory there. As long as people went inside and were well prepared, clearing dungeons would be an easy task.

But finding a dungeon gate was something hard, even harder than getting a class. I knew it all when it came to dungeons, after all the mighty human figures were like this thanks to the dungeons, partly.

"Tell her this," I controlled my excitement as I had to be realistic. Even if she had such a mighty item now, it wasn't that helpful thanks to its long cool down and low rewards given inside, "I can't help her directly, but I can tell her about a safe place to go for now."

"Safe place?" Angelica seemed startled before giving me that look, a look like I was trying to fool her friend here.

"Just tell her that," I shrugged, "if she doesn't accept my help then forget about it."

Angelica's face stiffened as if she was thinking about bargaining with me. However she didn't know what the dungeon key's value was so she eventually returned it to her friend and passed the offer to her.

As I expected, a drowning person would accept any kind of help, no matter what.

"She says yes," Angelica said sternly, "but she also asks that you promise that place will be safe enough to keep her life intact until you pick her over."

"Fine by me," I knew she would ask for that, "let her buy a contract and fill it before sending it over to you," I said while knowing that her friend must have access to the market as well.

"A contract?" Angelica seemed surprised. Right now she wasn't even qualified to play this game, game of masters, that I was having with her friend here. "Gimme a minute," she said while her friend seemed to comply.

After all, what else could she do in such a situation but follow my words to the letter?