21 levels.
[The 'Villain' booster has been upgraded! Keep upgrading to unlock more features]
Strange.
Was twenty-one levels good or bad? I couldn't tell.
I might just have to test it out on some people and ensure that I could make something of it.
"Hey, asshole, what level are you?"
"Um, it says fifteen."
The hero had gone up by a fair amount too, what the heck?
"You didn't even kill many?"
The hero shrugged at my words.
"They all had other people coming at them so I got to drench my hands easy a bit."
"How many?"
"Around 30?"
Hmm, the math would not add up linearly. It seemed just like in a game, the leveling got tougher the stronger one became. I had also received a total of seven skill points and forty-two stat points.
I wanted to know the effect of each of them.
Though we were sitting on the debris of the building we had destroyed, there was no sign of the second scenario starting just yet. I was only being bombarded with messages about this or that much experience which I was going to ignore.
This apocalypse keeper was a system in and of itself, that annoyed me to no end.
Systems were for losers. The first moment I could, I would be sucking it for all its worth and destroying it.
Then.
I could reign easily as the ruler of a ruined world. Maybe my parents or sister could get in my way, but I can kill them if I work a little hard.
"Hehe…" A chuckle escaped me.
Why stop at just one world?
My ambitions were burning.
"What should we do?"
I nodded at the Hero's words and stood up. "Let's go to a safe space and assess ourselves. I am not sure where, but most cities in Ternet should have a bunker."
"We could base ourselves from there, huh? It could be possible to rest for a long time as well."
I nodded.
But the question was…
Would these beings just let us do that?
Almost as if to answer my question, another window popped up in front of my eyes.
[Strongest Dragon God System recommends you do not move]
[Strongest Dragon God System informs you that there has been an anomaly causing the delay]
[The Strongest Dragon God System is not allowed to say these things. It will be penalized]
[Strongest Dragon God System informs you it can tell you more if you choose it]
"Fuck off."
Anomaly, huh?
What could it be other than us?
I guess since it was being safe, the next scenario is going to be something twisted.
And as if on cue, the Apocalypse keeper returned.
But not as a simple window. Instead…
"Beeenggg!" A giant blue slime appeared on the ground before us. From within the giant slime broke out many smaller slimes and all of them started shuffling around and hooking themselves on the different people.
The giant slime itself had its mouth and eyes turned into a simple blushy line. Creating a dissonance with the environment around that left words insufficient to convey.
[Hello humans! Congratulations on clearing the first scenario from the apocalypse.]
"C-cute…"
"Really? It looks stompable to me."
[You must be confused about what is happening. But don't worry, the apocalypse is the fate of all worlds, it is not something that ruins you but helps you! As proof, your population after just the first round has gone from 10 billion]
The slime's eyes opened.
A madder red gaze pierced through us all.
Its mouth widened as jagged teeth revealed themselves bright, saliva and slimy goop sticking through their length.
[Two. Billion. MWAHAHAHAHA!]
"T-two… billion?"
"Eight billion people…. Died?"
The gasps and mutters of everyone around filled our ears.
"V-vincent—"
The hero was about to speak, but.
"HAHAHAHA!" I started laughing too.
The people around me all looked my way. Even the slimes stopped and stared, but I couldn't stop laughing.
"What?" The giant slime spoke. "Did you lose your mind?"
I turned my gaze toward the slime, and it shut up.
It seemed this anomaly was none other than the two of us.
Just like a stupid slime, this one too, was easy to intimidate.
"I have always just found that the number of people roaming in this world is a painful one. The population had to be reduced! I am happy is all."
The slime cackled.
"Do continue," I said.
The slime gulped and then spoke out again.
This time, its words were curt and sharp.
"The first scenario has ended. This is the only region that has killed the boss too, which is very strange. But you can rejoice, for overperforming, we are going to reward you with tougher challenges."
Hm?
"As I said, we're only helping you. You can't grow against easy things, right?"
Heh. Intriguing. It seemed these fuckers wanted a piece of me.
"To start with!!"
The slime cheered.
"Weee!"
"Boiiingg!"
The smaller slimes all screamed in joy.
"It would be a waste for so many dead humans to just go to waste, right? So all eight billion dead are going to be revived. It's sad, the population in this place was lower than the others, but you can adjust!"
I laughed out loud again.
"Vincent!"
"Dpon't blame me, it's super entertaining."
"The second scenario will begin, feel free to approach any of my cuties if you want to buy things. Though I doubt you'd have anything of value! HAHAHA!"
The slime did a three-sixty and hopped up and down.
"Remember, humans! The secret of the next scenario lays in friendship! You can only go so far alone!"
With that, the slime slowly started to disappear.
The small slimes all looked around, and started running away too.
"Woah!" The hero jumped back, but before him, I had already grasped one of the slimes and brought close to me.
"What are you running for, critter? You just want to make things tough by hiding, right?"
The slime shook it's head. But I didn't care.
If it was going to do that, it could hide in my pockets at all times.
I didn't get a chance to look at the slime, though.
[Zombies have been awakened.]
[The Second Scenario will now begin]