Chapter 1144 The Miserable Spearhead
They all went into silence. I watched them exchanging silent gazes between each other without saying anything. I could feel their loss, trouble in understanding what I said, and also fear.
"If there is another way other than this, then I'd have preferred to take it. But this is our only path to survive, and hopefully we can pull it through."
"Then let me lead an expedition to the outer world," Legend was the first to make his stance clear and firm. This kid might be young, but he was brave and smart.
He got what I meant by saying we would go all out. He understood that we were going to invade the other worlds at this moment.
And he volunteered to take part in this.
"Well, I can't promise an easy journey out there. But I hope you know what it means by leading an expedition."
"I got what it takes," his eyes didn't even shift away from me, or even blink, "I want to lead one of the expeditions."
"Me too," the jumper shrugged. But when I glared at him, he said in a weird tone, "what? Don't you believe I have what it takes to lead an expedition?"
"Dude, I'm sick of cleaning up your mess," I rolled my eyes, "you won't lead an expedition, that's final."
"You promised me that!" The jumper seemed to be like a hurt beast, roaring while gnawing his teeth, making his words look quite scary.
But that wouldn't baffle me.
"This is final," I gave an evil smile, "you won't lead any expedition, but that doesn't mean you are dismissed from danger either."
"What does it even mean?" he seemed to frown, and I laughed enjoyably, enjoying such a reaction from him.
"You'll lead an army in one world," I crossed my arms before adding, "and if, and I mean if, you managed to do something worthy, you'll have a chance to level up to lead an expedition."
Of course I wasn't acting partial or being lenient to him. I knew the upcoming war was going to be bloody. Losing army generals was going to be a common thing. And even losing expedition grand generals might happen.
So at some point, I'd need capable people to lead the expeditions losing their grand leaders. He was indeed capable, and to prevent any future mockery from him, I decided to give him such a road map of his future.
But that depended entirely over his overall performance. If he kept doing his sh*t again, ending up killing most of his armies to secure victory, then he wasn't suited to be a grand general at all.
Even if I had large armies, it was stupid to throw their lives in such futile way. As a general, he had to think two steps ahead and secure victory without much losses. And being a grand general meant much more than that.
If he didn't grow and learn from his past mistakes, he was destined to be left behind no matter how talented he was.
"Are we all going to take part there?" the spearhead seemed nervous, and he should be. Looking at this friend made his body quiver.
I wasn't looking at him as a normal general, he was special. I didn't plan to send him to one world, no that would be a waste of his talents.
This dude was destined to suffer the most among everyone, as he was going to be sent to all the worlds to help everyone.
It seemed my face exposed my evil intentions for him, as his body kept shivering and he even took a couple of steps back.
"Why are you looking at me like this?" it seemed he couldn't tolerate my evil and greedy eyes anymore, blurting this out in a shaky tone.
"Like what? I'm just looking at you," I evilly grinned, and the look on my face seemed to drive more fear into him.
"Don't worry," I laughed, "you are going to be totally fine. I will make sure all the expedition leaders pay special attention to you."
"All… Expedition… Wait… What does that even mean?!!" he shouted after stuttering for a moment there in immense shock and deep fear.
But I ignored him.
"I will commence a grand meeting in three days," I turned around and looked at the generals around me. Aside from the jumper, Legend, and spearhead, I didn't know the rest.
"You three are selected to participate in the upcoming expeditions, so select any suitable generals and leaders from the armies here," I stopped my eyes over Legend before adding, "and if there are more suitable candidates to take part in the expeditions as army leaders, generals, or even expedition generals, feel free to bring them with you."
"Oh, you didn't give me the post of the great general of an expedition and yet left me the choice to select a few to take it? Interesting!"
I looked up and down at the shameless jumper and then opened a portal using my staff without responding to his useless comment. My earlier words were clear, and I spoke them to Legend and him alone.
"The rest will be stationed in the region, fortify the defences and never let any zombie slip by. If something bad erupted, just notify Lily and Isac," I said before passing through the portal and appearing back at the capital.
I secured the most threatening zones. Even if I failed to deal with three troublesome locations, the rest was already risk free at the moment.
And now it was time to see if the theory about the zombie dens was right or wrong.
I first talked with Lily and Isac, informing them about my intentions and next plans. I asked them to prepare a group of capable generals to form two teams.
One would lead the first waves and enter the twenty-two worlds, and the other would stay back in wait. They'd act as replacements for the deceased great generals or move out as reinforcements if they were needed to.
Chapter 1145 Loran's Dilemma
At the same time, I made sure to ask Lily to bring forth all the invented weapons and anti-Hescos legions and armoury to here. I set the time for the grand meeting in three days, giving myself and them time to prepare.
They had tons of work to do, I understood that. They had to keep monitoring the endless fights around the kingdom, killing all the zombies and maintaining security.
At the same time, they had to assess and evaluate the performance of the generals and leaders through this disaster. If they found anyone capable, they'd rope him into the upcoming expedition wars.
As for me, I sent a word to Lily to find the zombie leaders and bring them to me. I also informed the two that I'd take the army led by zombies away for now.
If there was more than one army led by zombies, then they had to find replacements for them. I only wanted one army to help in the upcoming crucial quest.
I waited for two hours before a group of zombies appeared first. I looked around and located their leader; Loran.
"Lord, is it time?" Loran seemed like a straight forward zombie. I nodded while saying:
"Few days have already passed in the fifth quest. Although it's not enough to produce low level dens, I found one that's finished and it's a high level one."
I didn't hide anything from him or others, spoke briefly about what happened back at the illusion battle site. The more I spoke, the more they seemed to frown.
"Is there anything wrong?" I knew he promised to deal with the dens using a group of one hundred of his people. But in the end I didn't know if his words could be counted as true or not.
And when I noticed the deep look over their faces, I couldn't help but ask in doubt. If they couldn't help me with this issue, then there was a big risk in this entire disaster.
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I wasn't feeling that much worried about the presence of such high level dens in my territory. I knew there was a way to solve things here using the method he provided before.
I got two high level dens in the kingdom at the moment, one I saw getting created under my nose and the other was already ready when I arrived there.
But I didn't select the one I saw getting created in front of me. After all, that one was giving out scary zombies and would just evolve the more time it kept running.
It was better to conduct the first test upon a much weaker and lower in grade zombie den. But even so, the reaction I got from Loran and others wasn't something I fancied.
They looked as if they were in a deep dilemma, and that seemed to be bad news.
"Well…" Loran's face twisted and that told me he was already facing great difficulty in handling such matter, "I told you before that dealing with the dens required us to awaken a sleeping one of our ancient kin. By using a group of a hundred, we are sure to awaken him and regain control again."
"I know that," I slowly nodded, "then where is the problem?"
"I… Was talking about low grade dens when I mentioned that. The early dens to be created in the apocalypse are the low level ones. But when dealing with much higher grade dens, things are going to be different."
"In what way?" I turned around and looked at the grand number of zombies coming here to gather under Loran's command, "if you wanted to gather more power for more members, then it's easy to do it."
I knew these zombies needed to feast on the blood of monsters. I already sat them loose for a couple of years and let them hunt down endless monsters back at my second Earth world.
Loran once told me before that to pull such a feat, he needed to replenish the exhausted powers of his people. If that was the problem, then sending them back to the second Earth and letting them feast on endless monsters was easy.
I still got my little Qi to help. And if he even wanted, I could simply lead him to the densest parts with zombies like the first den that was created in front of my eyes, or even the many dens completed under the northern gulf.
But as he gave me a weird look, I knew this wasn't the crux of the problem. Not even close!
"Lord, a normal progress of any den will follow the course of nature," Loran didn't instantly quench my curiosity, but he started explaining something first, "the dens are all controlled by our sleeping ancient people. And the dens produced from them start from weak to strong."
I could see the problem now. "So what's different about the high end dens popping up from the start?" This was indeed the problem. And with the look over Loran's face, I knew it was indeed true.
"This meant another force came into play," Loran paused, "and that means when we break the core of the den and awaken our kin, we will find something else beside him."
"Something dangerous?" I asked and he simply nodded, making me frown.
I was already having my hand behind my back dealing with the problems in the kingdom. If I by chance woke up something horrifying, then it would be like burning one's home using one's actions.
But leaving such disaster zones untouched wasn't an option either. "What do you think will appear?" I knew in terms of zombie issues, Loran was the most experienced one about them.
"I can't surely tell," he sincerely shook his head, "but I once heard about an ancient incident when one of our sovereigns tried to bring the speed of the den maturity forward. It's strangely similar to the scene you just described."
I looked Loran directly in the eye, and aside from his genuine shock about this matter, this dude was indeed telling the truth.
Chapter 1146 Listening To Legends And Tales
"And did that elder of yours succeed?" it seemed unnecessary to ask such a question. If he hadn't, then how come these dens matured so fast?
"He didn't," but to my shock, Loran sighed, "and he died in the middle of his attempt. So as far as I know, no one ever dared to copy his doings again."
"This… But there isn't just one den that evolved to such a degree! I know of hundreds of dens right now matured to bring forth high levelled zombies. How can you explain that?"
When I said it, Loran's face twitched. I could see another wave of shock traversing over his face. "I… Can't explain this," he paused, "but if that's true, then the old ancestor did succeed. And that means…"
He didn't need to speak anymore. I could see through what he wanted to say. If his elder was successful and in the end he died, then someone or something must have devised all these lies to cover the theft up.
That tech was stolen, and by some means it was brought all the way to my time and appeared in front of me.
I tried to recall, but I didn't find any record mentioning the presence of high grade dens from the beginning of the fifth quest. All the high dens appeared later on after the passage of long years.
When I thought more about it, I found it quite interesting. The angels were the one linking all these incidents happening here together. And I knew they were treacherous, without any loyalty or code of honour.
So it wasn't impossible for them to side with an enemy. And suddenly I had one person in my mind as the best candidate; that mysterious clone who kept bothering me over and over again.
Dammit! Every single time I clashed with that bastard I was faced with weird things. I fought with that dude many times already, and suffered lots of losses.
Even if I ended up killing the clones sent by him a few times, he still gave me more headache than what the angels ever did.
Sigh! It seemed this fifth quest was going to spin out of my plan. But that didn't mean I was going to back off. If he dared to come at me, then he should prepare his neck as he was going to fail and fall under my hands like it always happened.
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"What do you know about these dens then?" I asked and when his face changed, I added, "even rumours will help."
I knew the official story said that the old man failed and died amidst his failed experiment. So getting to know any information about this from official records was nonsense.
The only way to try and understand anything useful would be through asking about legends and rumours. Perhaps bits of the truth merged with many fictitious stories and elements, ending up forming rumours and legends.
"But rumours and legends can't tell us anything worthy of note," Loran seemed to dislike my idea. I also didn't like it, but what other choice did I have?
"Just tell me what you know," I demanded without blinking, and he sighed before telling me lots of weird stories.
I always thought that humans had the wildest imagination in the entire universe. However after listening to the myriad of legends and tales he told me, I knew zombies were a bit better than us.
He told more than fifty legends and tales, all accompanied by the great deeds of their ancestors and how mighty and heroic they were.
He also gave me many tales about mythical gods who proclaimed to play a role in their race uprising and glory in the past.
I knew all this was just fictional, and none of his mattered. If there were caring gods and heroic people amidst this race, then how come they ended up getting destroyed and forgotten from the entire universe?
However I kept such thoughts to myself, not planning to hurt the feelings of my trusted subordinate.
At first I couldn't get anything useful from the tales he told. The things the rumours and legends spoke about were all crazy and unbelievable.
But gradually a common thing started to appear in front of my eyes. Most of the tales and legends he said were related to a crazy experiment of hastening the development of dens.
If I was told these before, I'd surely take them as some sort of lame joke. But now I knew they were real, or had part of the truth within.
In a few tales, things were described in a more detailed way. If I took them for granted, then the process of accelerating the dens would be really troublesome.
"Like you heard, nothing of this is going to be of use," Loran shrugged and said in a helpless tone. But I didn't show any sign of getting disappointed.
In fact, I saw one den getting created in front of my eyes. And from what he just said, I could see things beyond what he could understand.
"Is there something wrong?" As I kept my silence and didn't show any sign of regret or frustration, Loran grew suspicious.
"These tales are interesting, but they have bits of the truth," my eyes shone and Loran gave me a look filled with shock.
It was indeed shocking when the formal records and trusted intel told some sort of lie, and the untrustworthy legends and rumours told the truth.
If I didn't witness the transformation of the den in front of my eyes, I would have missed that piece of truth hidden within many lies.
The truth I knew was indeed unbelievable, but I had already found it and luckily it was going to help me in the upcoming challenge.
"What did you discover?" Loran asked in eagerness while his body shivered slightly. It seemed such a thing was indeed much more worthy than I ever expected of their race.
Chapter 1147 A Headache
"Listen, and what you'll hear may be crazy but it's the real truth," I paused before adding, "in few of the tales you said, a mention of using high grade life beings as a sacrifice is needed to make the higher dens, right?"
"That's what these stories tell," Loran nodded before he realised something, "but the legends speak about the interference of gods in the process, or else it will fail. Are you telling me we are fighting gods now?"
"No," I shook my head while I recalled that weird presence, the owner of the two giant hands who crushed my shields first and grabbed the body of that zombie towards the grand portal.
In these stories and legends, Loran said that to make a den grow faster, one needed the help of god and a very strong life force from a living being.
Some stories also spoke about the importance of a catalyst, a medium of a higher form of energy that was needed to turn the high life force energy into the den.
I saw what happened back there. The grand being's hands worked to grab that zombie like it was an ant. I knew it couldn't be a god, but he must be someone of the calibre of a sovereign or something close.
As for the medium, the high level energy thing, I couldn't think of anything better than the grand portal itself. It was something of higher level, something that shouldn't appear in this low quest of the apocalypse.
Putting aside the tales and legends, I recalled the facts Loran said. He told me that his sovereign failed and died. But right now I was totally sure that he succeeded.
And if he did, then the process didn't require the presence of a god. Instead, a high end powerhouse like sovereigns could do the trick.
I slowly explained things over to Loran while describing what was prescribed in front of me before when a grand den was formed. His face told me how immense his shock was.
He never expected things to come to this point. But I didn't care about how he felt. I cared most about what I should do to crack that den, and what changes would happen by this process of speeding up the progress of the den.
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"So this is how it's done then," Loran took a deep breath, controlling his shock before adding, "It's a regret we didn't know such a trick back then. Or else, our race won't have perished or reached such a low scale."
I got what he meant. After all, my human race also faced the same unfavourable conditions, ending up facing a similar horrid fate like the zombies.
"We have another problem to think about here," I knew Loran was reminiscing in the past, but I had to think about the future now, "if this is true, then the base of these high grade dens won't only be controlled by your sleeping ancestors."
This was the biggest problem right now, and the most dreadful one. All this time, I was sceptical about the solution provided by Loran. I didn't know if it was true or not, but something inside me kept praying it would turn out to be true.
And when things went dire like this, and these high grade dens appeared, my belief in the genuinity of Loran's claims became stronger.
But things took an ugly turn and these higher grade dens weren't the same dens Loran spoke about before. Even if Loran's theory became useful, it wasn't enough to destroy the dens.
The solution was based upon the trick of waking his people up from their deep slumber. Like this, they'd help us control the dens.
But if there was another being inside the core of the dens, then things wouldn't be as smooth as simply slapping someone on the face to wake them up.
Using Loran's method was going to turn the dens into a grand battlefield. The alien being inside the core of the den wouldn't surrender this easily, and a big fight would erupt.
I could tell without much thinking that the identity of these beings was going to be the real grand zombies. And that meant I was back to square one without any progress at all.
In fact, I'd be having more trouble to deal with as the dens would produce many high end zombies.
There were many uncertainties here. Would things be smooth and easy after waking up the sleeping zombies? Would they be able to control the entire den and the zombies coming out of it? Or would they control it half half? Or in the worst case scenario, they'd fail to control anything?
Would the power and strength of the sealed and sleepy zombies be weakened? Or would it be augmented and boosted by the den core?
I couldn't tell. And I lacked means to kill grand zombies just like the one I met before at the grand portal site.
I thought about testing the water first and went towards the one grand den of that illusion world battlefield and tried cracking it down.
I knew it didn't have a grand zombie inside to work as a base, but if so then how come the den transformed this fast and became this scary?
After getting little info from the legends and tales Loran said, I knew my earlier conjuncture wasn't right. There must be a high grade and scary zombie buried in the core of this den.
Trying to mess with any den was going to make things worse for me. So any attempt to see if this theory worked or not was going to turn into a huge disaster.
Instead of doing this, I should think of ways to kill these zombies then. The colossal zombies were hard to deal with just like the colossal monsters they hailed from.
Back then, I had to squeeze every ounce of strength and use endless armies to crush them. The battles were brutal and bloody, and it took me lots of time and effort to crush a single one of these monsters.
Chapter 1148 Taking Dens Is Impossible!
If the strength of the zombies matched the strength of the original monsters, then I wouldn't have to worry. However the zombies got boosted and their strength scale was modified to match the difficulty of this quest.
Dealing with them was going to be a headache. And I couldn't tell if the angels would keep pushing their defensive shitty weapons to protect these zombies or not.
Also I didn't know if the dens would play a role in helping these zombies. If so, then I wouldn't succeed with my current power and armies.
Throwing armies like ditching away dirt wasn't going to work. My armies were helpless against the grand zombies, and the losses I'd suffer would backfire at me as more strong zombies would emerge.
Honestly speaking, this quest started to be a nightmare for someone like me. What should I do then?
To be honest, I only had limited options in front of me. Either I should deal with this problem from the root, or either I ignore it completely.
Taking down these dens proved to be quite a challenge now. These dens harboured more dangers than I originally thought. Dealing with each one would release a frightening enemy to deal with.
lacking any suitable way to deal with these, I'd end up getting trapped and burdened with long and tiring fights.
I wasn't worried about losses, after all armies were trained to join battles and suffer losses. But doing this would end up making me lose too much.
I didn't have dens as my only threat. I got the Hescos sneakily targeting my kingdom, and the expedition to invade other worlds.
Aside from these, I still had the golden quest which I knew wasn't going to be an easy trip at all.
Once I went to the golden quest, I wouldn't be able to come back and help if things went awry.
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Thinking about this in a different light, I knew the dens were the least problems for me to word. Even if the dens were a source of nuisance for me and my kingdom, I knew I could handle this problem quite well.
Containing these dens wasn't a problem. The giant zombie dens at south and north were trapped by water for now. And the ones coming to shore were still few in number.
The only threatening dens were the two in mainland. And I already took my measures to counter their threats for now.
I might just need to go back and replenish the shields every now and then. Doing so would nullify such a threat and make the dens less scary and troublesome.
So I decided to shift my attention towards the other two problems. The expedition to the north was a must. But first I had to send people to the other worlds and start my counterattack.
Using this, the enemies lurking in the shadow around my kingdom wouldn't be able to stay out anymore. If my thoughts were right, then once I started hitting on their worlds, the Hescos here would be forced to move out.
They planned to stay hidden and wait for the right moment. After all, waiting for longer duration would make the fifth quest difficulty rise to new heights.
Thinking about this made me finally feel a little better. Since the start of the fifth quest, I felt like my hands were all forced.
And that was after all this time of preparations and making many plans in such regard. Thinking about the case if I didn't possess my second Earth, or I didn't plan like this made me feel a little cold all over my back.
Even after all these preparations, and with intense work of endless people and taking more than two years to prepare, things didn't look that good at all.
This fifth quest was more trouble than I expected. Was it a mistake to go all out and contend with Hescos at this time?
For a moment there, I felt little regret. However when I thought about the upcoming easy series of quests after this one, I knew my chance was at the fifth quest. Missing it would mean I'd lose any opportunity to attack the Hescos at all.
"Sigh! I have no other way than walking the road to hell and hope I'd end up winning," I muttered before turning to Loran, "prepare your people and be on stand-by for now."
"Are we going to hit these dens?" Even if he was obviously scared, he was also curious and eager to test these special dens.
"No," I slowly shook my head, "I'll have to do a few things first. I won't touch these dens until it's absolutely necessary."
"I see," Loran paused, "if so, can I lead my people around and kill zombies? We need more men with powers to have higher chances at these dens."
"Sure," I shrugged, "but don't throw yourselves at any dangerous place. Last thing I want to see is to lose a lot of your people."
"I understand," Loran bowed slightly, seemingly taking the wrong impression about my words. He then left and I stood in my place thinking about what I should do.
I felt like a beast getting chased and hunted down, ended up being trapped from all sides with many enemies.
If I got cornered then, what was the use of hesitating? I'd prefer to go all out, face all the enemies trapping and chasing me at once, and crush them once and for all.
It was dangerous and hard, but it wasn't impossible. My mind started to shift and think about my next move.
I had to send all the armies out at once. But to just invade the world without enough power to bring a sense of disaster upon those watching me here wasn't going to work.
"I have to use one of my trump cards then," I thought before I sent a message over to Lily and asked her to send all the weapons modified legions over to the capital.
Chapter 1149 Mines
And then I went directly there, flying with my chariot while thinking about the northern problem of the Hescos.
Dealing with these Hescos needed either warriors with cultivation bases, or my Hescos suits and trained forces to deal with them.
But if I did that, then all of my trump cards would be revealed. It wasn't a good thing actually. And so I decided not to use these hidden trained forces or the specially designed suits and weapons to deal with Hescos.
My warriors would be enough to deal with these Hescos here for the moment.
As for the ones going to the other worlds, they should use all the power they could from the weapons and suits. In these worlds, the situation was going to be totally different.
I was going to invade the Hescos in the worlds they controlled. So it was going to be hard to establish a foothold there and keep it secured and controlled.
As I reached the central zone of the capital, I found my portals linking this world with the second Earth. There I saw lots of forces coming out, seemingly like a dam just got broken and a flood was gushing out.
It was unstoppable, and it gave me a sense of dominance and strength. Why caring about my enemies and their plans when I got such awesome power to aid me in my wars?
Soon enough I found the part that was filled with many weapons. It seemed the research department people once coming out started to deploy their weapons.
They gave me a sense of confidence, but it wasn't needed for them to do that.
"Lord, I'm Garry, and I'm the one leading the research department," a young man came, wearing a tight black and blue suit that looked awesome.
He wasn't any older than me, but from his flickering eyes with light, one was blue and the other was black, I knew he wasn't a human.
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Or more precisely, he wasn't a pure human. That dude gave me the impression of a lion feigning weakness, and lying in wait for his chance to ambush his foes.
He was strong and seemed scary enough to get my approval. And I knew without asking that he was one of the new generations gained from the marriage between a human and another race.
"Where is everyone? Where is old Gan?" I looked around, but none of the five trusted leaders of the research department were here.
"They are leading everyone back home to work and produce more weapons for the lord," Garry said in a humble tone that I didn't buy.
This dude wasn't any less arrogant than the jumper. But he got the temper to know his place in front me, unlike the jumper and spearhead.
Seeing him made me like what old Gan and others did. They brought out such brilliant kids and I was glad they did.
Like this, I could let the weapons modified and invented by the brilliant minds of the research department be fully used without any issue while not negatively affecting the working progress of the entire department.
With the five leaders there, led by old Gan, I was sure more weapons would be produced, and much more would be invented.
This was quite relieving.
"Make your preparations then," I slowly said before adding, "in less than three days, we are going to hit the other worlds with the help of your weapons."
"This fast?" He said it as if he was surprised, but something told me he was quite excited about it. I didn't care about what he truly felt, and instead emphasised over the importance of this task.
Then I asked him to take me around to check over the overall firepower available here. Of course I didn't let him demonstrate anything, as this would turn my kingdom into ruins, killing lots of my people in the process.
I let him show off and explain everything the department developed so far. In the time I took to control the situation here, and during the past few days since the start of the fifth quest, the research department seemed to have more breakthroughs.
I found new big guns and interesting weapons. For example, there was that kind of weapon that could be used as mines implanted under the ground.
The firepower of these mines was something scary according to Garry. He boasted about how strong and deadly these mines were. And the scary thing about them was the ability to recharge themselves almost without the need for anyone to intervene at all.
They got sockets of many high energy crystals and ores that would recharge them once they got triggered and exploded.
According to Garry, the power generated from these mines was enough to take down even Hescos. I didn't totally buy what he sold, but I knew these mines must be scary nonetheless.
If I used these before the start of the zombie outbreak, things would be much easier in facing them. The only drawback according to Garry's words was that once implanted, they had no way to take them out or defuse them.
That meant once used, they would pose equal risk to my enemies and my forces, all the same.
But that was also good news. If we ever faced a hard nut to crack at any of these worlds, then using these mines would be useful.
According to Garry's words, these mines could buy us lots of time. Using this to reinforce the area controlled in any world was the best tactic.
Like this, I wouldn't be bothered with strong armies coming at my forces sent out there. And if these mines could be mass produced, then by the time I'd go towards the golden quest, I could use them to ensure the safety of my vast kingdom and controlled regions of the other worlds.
"How many of these do you have?" I asked in interest, and his bright smile made me know he got enough.
Chapter 1150 Unsettled Eastern Frontier
"Tons of these," he didn't stop smiling, like a little kid happy about a word of praise from his senior, "does lord want to use the mines now?"
"Sure," I got all the hot zones under my control, but this wasn't a permanent solution. With using the mines at these hot zones, the zombies out there weren't going to pose the same danger as before.
"Prepare different teams to teach my forces how to use these mines," I said and he simply nodded before going to his people and I watched him select many before coming back to me.
"Lord, we are ready."
"This soon?" I sized him up and down. I didn't ask him to select people to implant these mines underground. I wanted them to teach my warriors about the way to use these mines.
Using these mines now was a waste. Zombies were scary and they kept coming like endless waves. If I used the mines now, I wouldn't get much benefit to be honest.
But teaching my warriors the proper way to use these, then I could simply use my shielded safe zones and turn them into gigantic warehouses for these scary mines.
Whenever they'd be needed, my warriors could use them as they saw appropriate.
"Lord, I came prepared already for something like this," what he said made me nod in content. He seemed to be a capable guy. But first I had to see him in action, to make sure his claims were all correct and not just overestimating himself.
I opened portals and jumped with them over my scattered safe zones. The moment these couple of thousand people saw the horrifying scenes of zombies coming nonstop at my warriors, to be stopped by my shields, they seemed to grow scared.
I didn't speak or explain much to them. I simply took them around the hot zones, informed my warriors about the new task, before standing on the side and watching them teaching my warriors.
Unlike what I expected, the teaching process didn't last for a long time. Each time, only less than an hour was needed to teach everyone how to use the mines.
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When I heard their explanation many times, I also got the ability to use the mines safely and soundly.
The mines weren't complicated weapons or something. They were big metallic balls, filled with explosive ores and triggering methods that depended on weight.
But to be sensitive to weight, they needed to be activated. I saw the small red button in the centre of these mines, and recalled the explanation Garry's people gave to activate these mines.
Pressing the button wasn't enough, as they needed to spray some sort of unique powder over the surface of the mines to make them sensitive to weight and get triggered easily with light steps.
The process of digging the ground and planting these mines was also something that needed quite the attention. Different types of weird powder needed to be scattered across the different layers of ground after putting the mines there.
I listened and examined the mines before sighing in admiration. The research department did a marvellous job indeed by inventing these little toys.
The tour didn't take more than a day. During this, I made sure to replenish the shields and made sure they were enough to stay there for a long time.
After that, I took everyone back and left them to handle everything. I looked at more of the new weapons invented by my research department, feeling a little sad about not having enough time for the department to make more of these weapons.
I checked with Isac and Lily, and nothing new developed luckily in this quest. The zombies stopped causing problems right now. And most of the kingdom was under total control of my forces.
Aside from the few hot zones I kept in bay, other parts were growing peaceful at last.
Without the risk of zombies attacking everyone from inside, the kingdom situation stabilised at last. But that wasn't the end of the trouble, not even close.
[Aside from our lands, huge amounts of zombies are now heading towards us] Isac sent in worry, [We are trying to stop them. But during the past few days, more and more zombies started to appear no matter how many we killed]
I was lost in thoughts for a moment before realising what the crux of this issue was. [There are dens matured already around us] this was the only possible explanation about such a weird situation.
[This...] Isac paused while Lily sent:
[Shall we send armies out to hunt them down?]
[Hunting down matured dens all over the continent? No, that's too much work with little return. And we won't be able to do it by the way]
I knew what Lily was thinking about. Trying to get rid of the source of the trouble was a good way of thinking. But realistically it was an impossible feat to do.
Even if we sent armies to just clear the dens around, used the zombie race to free the sleeping people inside, things wouldn't be that good in the end.
Such a move would be able to just buy us a few times, little actually. In the end, more zombies would be drawn to here, attacking my people, and wouldn't stop coming no matter what.
And when waiting all this time, my forces might grow dull. I needed to make them sharp and gain experience in dealing with the zombies.
Especially when considering the fact that with more waiting, much stronger zombies would be produced. Such issues had to be met with constant training of my forces, letting them know how to deal with these zombies through constant fighting.
[Then what should we do?] Lily asked, seemingly a little stubborn about leaving the zombie risk without proper handling.
I thought for a moment before I made up my mind, [We will send the free armies in the centre of kingdom outwards, reinforcing the armies at the border]
[It isn't enough]
Chapter 1151 The Desperate Situation Of Selvators
[Surely it isn't] I knew this already, [Also there are new weapons we can make best use of. I'll send these weapons to the western frontline, and make forces there able to have a good card to use when needed]
I was talking about mine. These mines had a great role in defence. And right now they would be useful against such stressful situations.
Of course using them while dealing with the current low grade zombies would be a waste. But after a month or more, the zombies would grow to be scary foes.
Using mines would prove useful more than ever. My only worry was that the amount of these mines might not be enough to cover up all the places required their help at.
So I first went to ask Garry. And what he told me made me realise my worries weren't groundless.
Despite the research department providing Garry with tons of these mines, they weren't even half from enough I needed to fortify the eastern frontier.
Not to mention I also needed these mines to be used in invading other worlds.
"Alright…" I paused, while thinking about how to solve this problem, "it's not a big problem. The eastern frontier doesn't need mines at the moment. They can wait for weeks if they get reinforcements. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't send people there to train them on these mines…"
I knew mines were growing to be hot cakes right now. But the urgent place needed for these to shine was the other worlds we were going to invade. As for the eastern frontier, it wasn't that urgent at all.
The forces there were enough to stand their ground for days or even a week. And when more reinforcements would arrive, they could withstand their ground for much longer.
So it was better to let them wait and not use mines for now. After all, even if I sent part of the mines over, they wouldn't get the chance to use them anytime soon.
I sent messages over to Lily and Isac, informing them about the change in plans. They seemed a bit annoyed and worried, but I assured them that more mines were going to be made in the next two weeks.
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As I promised that, I ordered Garry to fetch someone back to the second Earth world and tell old Gan and others there about this new task. They needed to focus more on making lots of mines, the more the better.
Then I took Garry and his former few thousands to the eastern frontier. This region wasn't that accessible to me as I didn't march through every single part of it.
I had to appear at some places away from the real frontline by hundreds or even thousands of miles. As I did, I had to travel with the few thousands led by Garry. And so I gifted him one of the chariots to use.
This task took almost three days to finish. Each time we arrived at the frontline, I didn't stand idle and started forming a few safe zones around, to make sure things wouldn't grow dire here.
Even if the zombies grew stronger, with these safe zones my forces here were able to handle them. I also filled most of these safe zones with warriors. After all, I got an endless amount of them.
In the meantime, Garry led his people to teach others about the proper use and common tactics the research department developed about the use of these mines.
I watched all this unfolding while getting news from Lily and Isac. what I asked for had already been done. Many capable generals came to my capital, and their respective armies came as well.
As for the central armies, they left a few people behind to just keep order and make sure nothing bad would happen without getting noticed or stopped.
The rest of these armies started their long journey towards the eastern frontier. There were no portal zones linking the midpoints of my kingdom with the eastern borders. So they had to cross such a vast distance on foot.
Aside from all this, Fang contacted me once more. He was facing a great deal of trouble, and almost lost control over the three continents in the south.
This was expected. According to his words, grand and scary zombies appeared from the ocean, came to knock over their forces' doors and started brutal fights with them.
He asked for help, but frankly I got enough on my mind right now to even think about helping him.
[Just abandon these three continents if you can't keep them safe. I'm quite busy right now, and can't even move any army to help]
[What about armies in the south? They can help me, right?]
[Unfortunately they can't. There is a scary zombie standing in watch over the southern waters]
[This…]
[It's futile to resist right now. Sometimes it's better to concede something and gather up strength than acting rashly and risking losing too much]
[Sigh!] I knew he didn't like my words, but I was honest when I advised him.
[How about the regions controlled by you?] I asked, trying to shift the talk over something else.
[We are holding just fine. However we also noticed a few of these weird zombies coming at us from the ocean. Their numbers aren't that great, but this might escalate to something bigger]
When I heard that, I recalled the areas they controlled. The Selvators controlled the southern east lands of my kingdom.
Comparing this place with the spot guarded by that scary turtle zombie, I couldn't help but frown. A bad omen flashed over my mind, making me frown deeper about this.
[Is it a coincidence? Separate incidents or something?] I couldn't help but ask. However his next response shattered this fragile hope of mine.
[No! This kept happening during the past three days. And more and more zombies are coming to attack our lands. It's not a separate attack. It's just the beginning of something bigger]
Chapter 1152 I Promise Not To Kill You!
I already knew that the zombies coming out from the turtle zombie den were special. They could traverse waters and come on land to fight. However when I saw a few of them coming ashore back then, I mistook that I had enough time to prepare for them.
However from what Fang said, these zombies seemed to act cunning and sly. They spanned over a large stretch of land, covering almost the entire southern region.
If they keep increasing their numbers and expanding their reach, then in a matter of a few weeks or months they might be able to endanger my entire kingdom.
Zombies coming at my land from one point held a different level of threat than those coming at my kingdom from every corner.
This was bad. And I never expected this to happen. I was lost in deep thought, trying to find out a solution to stop this plaque from expanding.
Just to show how deadly this was, I just needed to take a peek at what was happening at the western border to know how black the future was.
[So if we don't stop them now, if we don't prepare for the worst to come, we are going to be all killed!] I imagined the all calm and collected Fang to start screaming in immense worry.
Despite the dire situation, it looked really funny.
[Sending reinforcements won't do]
[Then come in person and deal with this mess!]
I wasn't surprised by his weird change of demands. After all, I might be considered much stronger than many armies combined.
[If I have the power and means to kill them, do you think I'd have stayed my hand back?]
[Then what shall we do? You do know that time isn't in our favour]
[Retreat!]
[What?!!!]
This was indeed shocking, but it was the only way I could think of to deal with this troublesome mess. The situation was desperate, and I lacked any means to properly deal with it.
If fighting wasn't an option, and defending wasn't possible, then retreat was the answer.
[Your lands aren't well fortified like mine] but I knew giving such out of the blue order was hard to grasp for Fang and his people. Besides, he had to report this back to his superior and his people as well.
I was acting as their leader and lord, but if they didn't properly understand my intentions and plans to the core, bad things might happen.
Last thing I wanted to see was to lose many good fighters like Selvators. They would also leave behind stronger zombies if they died. And that would make the situation more desperate.
[We have enough defences!]
[Not like the ones I built all over my kingdom] I didn't doubt his words, but compared with my kingdom defences built by the genius Isac, theirs must pale against mine.
[You didn't see ours yet!]
[That's not needed] I paused, [even with my kingdom dense defences, things are terribly bad here]
[You want us to defend your lands and abandon ours?]
[Don't get the wrong idea, my point is even with much defences and endless forces, defending isn't going to work]
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I knew dealing with smart people was quite tiring. They could easily see through many tricks and easily jump over terrible conclusions.
But I wasn't lying or trying to bluff him. Even with my kingdom's defences and armies, we still were going to be crushed.
[Do you imply that you will even retreat inside your lands?] He finally got what I meant.
[That's a loss indeed, but it's a must to have one]
[Why? We have the alternative to fight, search far and wide for these bastards' dens and crash them without risking anything]
[Tsk! Why are you suddenly acting like that warmonger?] I sighed, [Here are things you don't know…]
I started to give him a brief of the grand zombie lying in defence at the southern ocean. At the same time, I told him that I tried to fight and couldn't leave a single scratch over that behemoth's body.
After I explained how futile fighting or adopting his naive plan, he went into silence for a few minutes. I knew he was frustrating, I was too. But there was no other option but this.
[What's your plan then?] Fang asked this after five minutes of silence.
[Going all out, fighting over all fronts]
[Either crush all and live as the only king or end up defeated and lose everything?]
[Smart!] my face cracked and showed a simple smile that surely wasn't anything like it.
[Is there any other option?]
[If so, do you think I won't adapt it before going all crazy?]
[Fine! I'll retreat with all, abandon the southern continents and lands… However after all this is done, I want ten times the lost lands as compensation]
[Ten folds? Why won't you ask for half of my seat then?] I scoffed, [Don't be greedy. The most I can do is give you double]
[Nine times our lost lands then]
[This isn't a bargain! If you want more, join my crusade and accomplish great deeds. This way, you can have even more than ten folds!]
[Agreed! Wait for me until I arrive then]
[Time waits for no one, and I'll start my plan right away]
[Can't you wait for a few days?]
[Not a single day. Just come fast and be ready to join blood fights the moment you'll arrive]
I closed the chat and felt quite amused. This Fang got clues about what I meant earlier. Going all out didn't include fighting zombies only. I thought and recalled that his information network was something praiseworthy.
He must have caught wind with the presence of Hescos here. It would be great if he knew where others were, but at least he'd know about their presence in the northern lands.
The most interesting part was his lack of hesitation to ask for a refund. It looked like he was sure of my victory, despite all the odds.
That was interesting. Why was he this confident about this? Even my close friends weren't!
As I closed the chat with him, I got time to start my big plans.
And as any grand performance required a speech in the start, I selected a name and sent a message over.
[Hey bro, I hope you are still living well]
[Did you think about what I told you earlier?]
[Sure, tell these Hescos next to you this short message: You dared to invade my home, so I'm going to invade yours right away]
The one I contacted with none other than Wryly. I knew about his dire situation right now. The Hescos were indeed unstoppable by any race, not in such early stages of the apocalypse.
So taking control over the Berserkers was indeed an easy feat for them. And it wasn't strange though. Despite Berserkers were famous for their lust for fights, they were nothing compared with the mighty Hescos.
Even dragons and Selvators wouldn't be of match to any of them. I sent this message over so I could stir the still water and even muddy it.
I didn't plan to keep my actions hidden. I wanted them to know so they'd grow restless and decide to come to me here.
If not, then I'd simply bring chaos to their worlds. And they knew I'd do that. Or else, why would they fetch teams here, trying to burn my garden while I was away?
Cleaning this world from their presence was a must. At least those residing in the northern American continent had to be killed.
Wryly went into utter silence after that. And I didn't expect any answer from him to be honest. I just wanted him to deliver a message, and I was sure he was watching forty-eight seven to make sure he wouldn't leak any important news or secrets.
However when I was about to return and meet the expedition generals to set plans and tactics, I got a message from him.
[Don't act ahead of yourself. You are a mere useless human with nothing but a backing from such a cowardly race as the Toranks!]
Once I read these words, I knew this message wasn't sent by Wryly. One of the Hescos must be taking care of threatening me.
But did he think just by using empty threats like this I'd back off? Humph! Childish thinking!
[If you have the power, then come and stop me] I didn't close the chat and waited in amusement for the next message he'd send.
[You take my sincere advice as empty words? Interesting! I'll promise you this, none will kill you. In return, I'll make sure to capture you alive, imprison your soul for tens of thousands of years. Aside from agony and torturing your pathetic soul, I'll show you every single victory we'll have against those pussy-like backers of yours]
[Hahahaha! Empty threats, all you have is just empty threats, hahahaha!]
[We'll see about that! Pretty soon, I promise you!]
Chapter 1153 War Meeting
I knew he'd not send anything anymore after this last one. Of course I knew he was enraged, and I hoped my attitude helped in flaring up the flames in his heart.
If so, then he'd come all the way to me. And I hoped he'd bring all of his friends down as well.
When I arrived back at the central zone of the capital, that Hescos dude didn't message me even once. I knew he was watching my every move, but it didn't seem that exciting to let him off the hook this easily.
Little provocation was needed to get the expected results sometimes.
When I arrived there, the scene that welcomed me was epic!
Grand number of forces took their places in the capital, filling all the defences, towers, and even homes there and extending beyond the reach of my eyes.
Many were normal soldiers, but there were lots of machines and big gun weapons as well. The count of these big weapons was so high to count, and I felt pride in the work of those from the research department.
I saw many chariots waiting for me over the sky of the capital. And the moment I arrived, they all moved towards my direction.
[I'm now preparing myself to invade our worlds] as I waited for them to arrive, I sent this message to Wryly and the Hescos dude standing beside him.
[I dare you to try it!]
[What? Will you tell me that I'll die? Old tricks don't work well on me, hahahaha!]
I closed the chat as I knew he was going to send curses and threats, all empty and useless. I knew he must be watching my every move. But it felt great teasing him like that.
Besides, it wasn't easy to shake the resolve of a general from such a mighty race. It was given how strong and solid his mental power was.
Trying to force someone like him to do something foolish, impulsive, and rash wasn't going to work this smoothly. So more provocation was needed, and I might even consider sharing stories with him about how my forces were crushing and killing his people.
I doubted he would stay his hand away if I told him such things, right?
"You finally decided to come!" The jumper was still rude and arrogant as always. But right now it wasn't the right time to discipline this rogue dude.
I waited for hundreds of faces to arrive. The atmosphere grew far more seriously heavy. Most of these generals were Hectors, and they were familiar with how scary Hescos were.
I knew news about going all out to invade other worlds spread in the ranks of my fighters. It was good, as it would break the ice of their fear towards such a race and further prepare them mentally for the upcoming challenge.
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"I believe you all know why I gathered all of you here, right?" I moved my eyes among them, wondering after the end of all this how many of these faces would still be present around me.
Some would perish, few would rise to fame, and many would stay at their places. Rare people like the jumper and spearhead would find themselves demoted if they performed badly.
"Cut the chase and tell us everything in a whole," the jumper was the only jerk here, courageous enough to speak to me like this.
"Fine! We are going against the mighty Hescos, the number one elites of our universe," I ignored the jumper's attitude, and started explaining, "this may look like suicidal mission, but it took me many years to prepare for this."
"Years?" Many came from the second Earth world and they were familiar with the time difference already. They lived for a long time, but in their eyes months only passed and not many years as I said.
I ignored the ones who exclaimed in surprise and doubt, pointed towards the great number of mechanic armies wielded with my human modified top guns and said:
"Using these useless looking weapons is crucial. These are deadly, and many are built to target Hescos."
"Lord, by all respect, I have to say that taking a bite from these scary folks will end up all dead!" one of the Hector generals finally couldn't take it anymore.
"Yes lord, why should we bother stirring the hornet nest? We have this peaceful and nice world to control and conquer. Why take the risk of doing such a thing?"
"If lord wants, I'll go. But first I need to understand."
More spoke about their opinions, and they were all respectful in their words.
Of course after all this time working for me, they realised what type of lord I was.
I might have gained their allegiance by force before, by crushing their forces and taking control of their lands. I might have even forced them to sign loyalty contracts using my techniques.
But after meddling with my issues for a long time, they came to a realisation that it wasn't that bad to serve me. I wasn't a weak or low ambitious lord. I wasn't weak or content with what I gained so far.
And above all, I had an endless stream of forces lining up and ready to serve me with their lives. This wasn't something anyone could easily acquire.
Even if I was a human, in their eyes I was a tyrant and scary lord without doubt.
And from what they said, they only asked to understand the reasons behind this. They were scared, and they should be. It was normal to fear the number one race in the entire universe.
But at least none of them asked to be relieved from this expedition. They got the balls to stay, and I respected that.
"If we don't do it now, then our future is gloomy and dark," I paused, moving my eyes around before adding, "you all know that Hescos are scary. But few of you know the reason behind this."
"Because of their formidable suits and scary cultivation bases, right?" Legend said it as if this was a given fact.
And I noticed many nodding in agreement, an act that enticed me to shake my head in response.
"That's not true. If they fought against Toranks for example, they'd end up losing in terms of individual strength," I didn't give any room for anyone to object as I added, "I'm a friend of Toranks and an enemy of Hescos, so I'm the best to decide who is stronger than whom."
I wasn't totally sure about it. After all, I didn't see the real Toranks fighting Hescos by my eyes. But from the information I gathered, and the few million prisoners I was gifted, I knew that Toranks were stronger without doubt than Hescos.
If not, then why would Hescos lean to such dirty tricks, using the number of worlds conquered by them to snatch the first race rank in the universe?
If they were confident in their abilities, why didn't they just go and challenge the Toranks head on? They didn't do it, and Toranks were dying to do such a thing but it seemed Hescos were avoiding their provocations.
That only meant one thing; Hescos weren't that stronger than Toranks. But it also meant another thing.
"But we aren't Toranks," one of the Hector generals said, "we aren't even close."
That was indeed the only flaw in my logic and way of thinking in any watcher's eyes. And thanks to that flaw, I was very confident in my chances to win this entire crazy war.
If my generals saw this flaw, then I safely would assume that Hescos also saw it. Even if they acted this harsh towards my threat, bringing more worlds into the apocalypse trial and turning it into a scorching land challenge, they didn't think I was truly that threatening to them.
They only did so thanks to the news that Silverlining jerk spread over to them. They wanted to crush me and send a message over to the entire universe, or more precisely a warning.
They didn't want others to repeat the same craziness I was doing. If not for that, if not for their desire to make an example out of me, I doubted they'd even bother about me at all.
Their lack of understanding of my real power was enough to raise my chances of success by a large margin, even doubling it.
"We aren't Toranks," I slowly nodded, "but don't make the mistake of underestimating us. We are far more dangerous than Toranks."
My words might not give any of them any sense of confidence at all. But when they'd start invading and seeing the mighty Hescos getting crushed under their armies, they'd remember these words and believe in them.
"Right now all you need to do is to arrange yourselves into two groups. Each will be divided further into twenty-two groups. Each group will head towards one world."
Chapter 1154 Getting Ready To Invade Other Worlds
"This simple?" Legend seemed to be surprised by this. I nodded and didn't explain too much except for saying this:
"I'll give each group a large number of reinforcements to help. These are the ones responsible for handling any Hescos. If you didn't meet any at the beginning, then just keep them in reserve. Don't use any unless Hescos appears, not a bit second earlier. Got it?"
My words didn't seem that trustworthy to them. And they looked at each other, seemingly unable to understand what I meant.
I planned to send tens of millions of warriors with each group invading each world. In addition to that, I'd divide the weapons and suits made up by the research department over them equally.
As for the spearhead, he'd stay behind and wait for my further orders.
"But lord... Can you tell us the reason behind all this? We still don't understand why we should head to these scary lions and try our luck with them."
I didn't keep that as a secret. After all, it was something everyone would come to know soon enough.
Once they learnt about the reasons behind my decision, everyone's faces changed and showed an expression of understanding.
It wasn't hard to know why I decided to take such a risky and crazy step. If clashing with Hescos was inevitable, then doing it with slight advantage was much better than doing it when they would be at their best.
At least they were now scattered and didn't merge words together. In addition to the fifth quest, they didn't control their entire worlds yet.
Even the worlds they added, they were still going through tons of quests without any pause or rest. I believed the past month of rest was meant for another newly added world to catch up with the fifth quest.
So even if they were Hescos, they wouldn't be able to control these worlds efficiently. And I hardly believed they were going to be a hard opponent as well.
They were just cannon fodders, worlds added to make up with the needed requirement of the scorching land challenge.
"So hitting them now is the right way to secure our lives and future," I paused, making sure everyone here got what I meant to the letter, "any more questions?"
In the next few minutes, everyone exchanged looks with each other and then nodded to me in understanding.
"Lily and Isac will be responsible for arranging things over," I started distributing tasks, "spearhead will remain behind. The number of generals in each group sent will vary according to the resistance found at each world. And if needed, more generals and armies will be sent."
I knew that the location of our entry point would differ from one world to another. This would be random, totally uncontrolled and unpredictable.
So I expected that in some worlds, my armies would find weak races and would find it easy to control the situation. At others, they would only appear at places ruled by zombies.
The most dangerous situation would be if they appeared in front of a grand zombie territory like the ones I had in my kingdom, or appearing in the middle of a fortified zone of Hescos.
These two might seem scary and dangerous, but I knew the odds of them happening were low. But if either happened, then my forces would need immediate reinforcements.
As for myself, I wouldn't appear except if my forces appeared at a scary zombie den region, or they appeared at a very frightening Hescos region.
The initial target of this invasion was to secure a good stretch of land in every world, control many portals linked to here. If we were lucky enough, then most of my forces would appear at places not well secured.
Expanding my territory at such places would be easy. But if they landed in the middle of hard to control places, like these zombie dens and Hescos forces led by paragons, then they'd need my immediate intervention.
If I had to choose between the two, then facing Hescos led by paragons was much better than facing crazy and scary zombie dens.
I kept thinking about this while watching Lily and Isac giving their orders, dividing up the entire armies and generals into groups. In less than five hours, everyone was already in position.
I saw twenty-two groups standing in huge lines in the areas outside the capital. The entire kingdom was rebuilt into a grand zone of forts and walls, so the armies stretched for vast distances thanks to that.
And beside these groups, another batch of armies and generals stood in wait. Spearhead stood just in the middle, waiting as his army swelled up to be equal to many armies' strength.
I left instructions for Lily and Isac to do so. After all, the spearhead army was going to work as firefighters. If I forgot about the last lousy performance he did, I knew the spearhead wasn't bad, not as bad as the jumper.
So handing him such a large number of forces wasn't going to end up bad. After all, as they'd work as firefighters, I expected a great deal of casualties in their ranks.
I wouldn't hold him accountable for that. However when I recalled how unique and effective his special ability was, I got slight hope in them suffering fewer losses.
"We are ready!"
"It's up to you now."
Lily and Isac came to me and said. I watched them closely and knew they were ready.
And so I nodded, flew with my chariot before the frontline of each group.
"Remember, once stepping there, all you need to do is to kill. Don't ask questions, don't stop to listen to any bullshit, just advance and let your swords and weapons do all the talking."
I moved my eyes while saying these words while holding my horn. Everyone was ready to move, and I started taking the tickets I accepted from the Toranks.
These tickets remain for too long in my possession. I doubted they were buried under heavy layers of dust for all this time. I took out one of them and checked it out.
Chapter 1155 Apocalypse World Access Ticket
[Apocalypse world access ticket: one time use ticket, allowing the user to initiate a one way directional passage to one of the worlds in the apocalypse trial. Using it will allow the user to open a permanent gate. Once opened, anyone can enter, not limited to the user or his forces only. To be used, the user has to pay corresponding price of one hundred million stat points or any source of energy equal to that]
I looked at this description and felt a little happy and frustrated. The fact that these gates were permanent would save me lots of time for sure.
But at the same time, they weren't just exclusive to me and my forces. It was great that I selected the entry point to be in my capital. The capital was the heaviest place defended in my entire kingdom.
For any army to invade their way here to reach these portals was indeed impossible. The only possible scenario for this to happen was for me to die and my kingdom endless forces to get destroyed.
This was indeed impossible.
Another fact that made me a little frustrated was the high price needed for it to get activated. However when I gave it a little thought, I knew it was something expected.
The portals needed to link between two worlds were indeed costly. The amount of energy needed was astronomical. But I never knew about such conditions before.
It was lucky that I already asked Silverlining recently for a huge amount of stat points and energy crystals. Taking a fast peek at my inventory, I knew I got more than enough to activate these portals.
Seeing these stats reminded me of something. I never got the chance to level up my warriors and give them the stats they wanted.
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"I got time for that," I muttered while looking at the grand armies in front of me. "Wait for me here," I didn't explain as I took flight towards a direction, selected an empty zone outside the capital, and started dropping huge amounts of stat points.
Then I summoned millions of my warriors and gave them an order to simply consume the stat points for their level up.
My warriors were strong and elite, but they lacked enough stat points to show up their real strength. I got enough to cover up the needs of a great portion of my warriors.
According to Silverlining, he was going to send me other batches of stat points and energy crystals in the upcoming few days.
I watched the tens of millions of warriors I summoned taking their share of the heaps of stat points and crystals I left on the ground.
"Once done, come and join us over there," I pointed towards the direction where I was going to start the portals to other worlds while summoning more warriors.
When I left, I took out almost one hundred million warriors to feed on stat points and crystals. Then I took my leave towards my waiting armies.
This didn't take longer than five minutes. Once I appeared again in front of everyone, I could see the shock over their faces.
The place I selected to summon my warriors wasn't that far from theirs. So it was easy for them to notice the presence of my warriors. And the numbers I called for seemed to leave a great shock in their souls.
"These are nothing," I understood why they were feeling like this, "just get ready. Once you are inside, you'll get to be part of these warriors."
I wasn't lying. And what they saw was just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, I could send one hundred million warriors to each group if I wanted to. But I just needed to make sure they got filled with stat points.
I held the ticket in my hand before taking out enough energy crystals on the ground. I chose to use the energy crystals and not stat points in activating these tickets.
After all, I needed stat points to make my warriors stronger. And I didn't want to wait for Silverlining to send what we agreed upon. I'd make use of all the stat points to level up as many warriors as I could, then I'd send them all towards the hot worlds.
I looked at the ticket in my hand. It was a dark blue crystal, one that I didn't know how to use. It was the size of my closed fist, seemingly quite heavy for such a small object.
I looked at it and could see white lines of thunder like arcs dancing in the heart of this crystal. As I held it in my hand without knowing what I should do with it, I felt it getting a little hot when I moved it over the amount of energy crystals I just took.
Taking out energy crystals enough to one hundred million stat points in value meant a small hill of different sizes and coloured crystals.
As it showed reaction to the heaps of energy crystals, I didn't hesitate to do two things. First, I dropped a single blood drop over it. And as expected, my blood got absorbed by the crystal.
Everything in this universe got bound using blood. So it wasn't hard to guess this. Then I let the crystal drop over the hill of energy crystals and watched it disappear in the middle of them.
The weight of this ticket crystal was much heavier than the energy crystals. But that wasn't the main reason behind it falling deep in the middle of these energy crystals.
I felt like the ticket absorbed the energy crystals close to it, turning them all into dust. I watched closely while the route which the ticket crystal took turned into a narrow empty tunnel, then this tunnel kept enlarging without stopping.
Without doubt the ticket was absorbing all the energy inside these energy crystals, turning them into dust. In half an hour, the entire batch of energy crystals I left here turned into dust.
Chapter 1156 The One Who Takes The Honour With Action Not Words
I saw the ticket crystal only lying on the ground. But it didn't look like the one I took out from my inventory before.
It wasn't dark blue, it was shining bright in blue light that looked like a tiny star in a dark night sky.
I was about to go down there and pick it up and see what I should do with it. However before I could move a single finger, that little blue shining star flew up into the air.
It looked as if it got shot up with a rocket or something, leaving behind a trail of faint blue shadows like a rocket trail. It rose for almost one mile above the ground, before exploding up there as if it got detonated.
The explosion released long thin blue lines that took a slightly curved course, giving me the impression I was looking at an eye at the sky.
Then all the lines stopped moving, forming a more realistic shadow of an eye in the sky.
This took less than a minute to happen. And the explosion brought by this blue star happened without a single sound.
I felt some sort of connection with it. It was like I could see through it, but couldn't control any of this portal.
It was like I just gained access to a live feed, but I couldn't control this feed at all. It was weird, but it matched what was written in its description.
I couldn't control these tickets, and anyone could use them to go to other worlds without the need of my permission.
I looked at the huge blue eye in the sky. It looked amazingly beautiful. But for the next few minutes, nothing else happened.
"What should I do now?" After ten minutes of no change, I felt like I was missing something. So I took another ticket out and started examining its description.
But there was nothing missing in that description than the one I read before. I got everything needed to activate this portal. And that made me frown.
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I followed the instructions to the letter. Despite the description didn't explain much about the right way to activate this portal aside from the energy requirements, I felt there was something missing.
"Star connecting, dammit!" I took tons of energy crystals, and even stat crystals and points with no avail. The eye in the sky didn't show a single reaction, even when I went up there and threw many energy and stat crystals as if I was throwing rocks.
But the moment I shouted, the eye started to finally change.
The first thing to happen was for the lines forming the shape of this eye to start shining. At the same time, I noticed the entire structure of this eye getting shrunk as if it was getting compressed or something.
"At last!" I didn't know that activating it needed my words, or did it require me to curse it?
It seemed a bit weird to be honest.
The changes took less than a minute to get completed. When done, the grand eye that once took over the sky changed into a small shining bright blue -colored eye that didn't look much bigger than a real star in the distant sky.
Then with a soft rumble, a ray of light descended from it, forming a thick pillar of light that expanded over the ground the more it came closer to it.
When the blue light pillar touched the ground, it expanded enough to cover up a few miles. I knew it was going to be easy to send forces through it, as this pillar of light was the portal linking my world to the other one.
"Who is going to take the honour and be the first to invade a world?" I spoke in a low tone, but I was sure my voice was heard by all the generals of the first batch.
This was indeed an honour, one that would hail in the annals of history of my kingdom and all the humans when I'd win this challenge and bet.
"I want to do it!"
"Let me do it!"
"Stand back! I will be the one doing it!"
Just as many started to shout and ask for taking such honour, a single man moved without saying a single word.
Standing high in the air in my chariot let me see him clearly. He walked at a slow pace, but somehow it looked fast. His back was straightened, his face was covered with a mask, and his hand held a grand heavy sword that he raised high in the air while marching forward.
It was the jumper! That dude might be a jerk, getting all the time on my nerves. But at times like these, he wouldn't even give me or anyone face and just would take what he liked.
He was arrogant, arrogant and selfish enough to not accept letting go of such honour. He moved before anyone else would react, and when others woke up from the awe of his sudden move, he was already in front of the pillar of light.
"To all my soldiers, advance!" he shouted, and in the next moment he didn't even wait for the arrival of his forces, took the next step forward and passed through the portal and vanished.
He left behind a world ushering under utter deafness. His move was bold, decisive, and mind boggling.
When other generals woke up, they realised how daring he was. Everyone asked for permission, but he simply went ahead and took what he wanted with his own strength.
In front of everyone, a large army started to march towards the pillar of light following the steps of their general. As this jumper was punished, the size of his army wasn't as much as a leader of the entire expedition.
"You gave that grand general a good deal of headache," Lily came to me and said, while shaking her head.
"If a grand general can't deal with such offensive dudes, then he isn't suited to lead my expedition," I said without even turning over to Lily.