Chapter 1

1. The Return

Year 2027, New Hopeshire, Obsidian empire

'More than anything, I wish I could have a cigarette right now. Has it been a year since I last smoked one? No, it feels like it's been at least 3 years more or less.'

"To think that smoking is all that I can think about right before I die." A chuckle escaped my lips. Even I could tell that these thoughts were ridiculous.

Blood trickled down from my bloody and soaked through my camo gear. I remained calm, such injuries were common afterall involuntarily, I was accustomed to the pain. It was probably the last time he could escape from the hands of Killian Warmonger, that over-calculative androgynous queen, who calls herself a king. and, in this damn apocalypse scenario that didn't allow for a single mistake, it would definitely be my end.

I slowly raised my hand to wipe my forehead with the back of my hand. The scenery around where he was sitting stood out to him.

It was complete hell.

A complete annihilation without a single survivor in sight. My entire party was wiped out in the last raid. I had stopped keeping track of the party death count once it hit the quadruple digits. He had already seen hundreds of his allies die. The names—and even the faces—of those who died near the beginning were faint in his memory. S-rankers tried their best to stop that b*tch, but their attacks were ineffective against the king.[The Demon king is supposed to be a female but refers to herself as a king as demons don't really care about titles related to males and females. Moving on...] The king had hidden as the assistant of s class hero Carlisle Ironcauldron, the warrior nick-named the titan, after his immense strength and power. The king joined his guild, The Cauldron. He collected information about all threats and made countermeasures for each and every single one of them, and with her charms, they were bound to tell their weakness sooner or later.

I shifted my gaze to my right. Next to me was the last zombie that I just killed. I could barely kill 15 before being exhausted, each one was a rank d beast after all, and I was just a C-rank hunter. The condition for rank-up was to kill a monster above your rank to rank up, proving yourself worthy and gain more resources. But my efforts were useless as I only knew how to run away, much to the annoyance of Killian, who knew of my cockroach like ability that allowed me to never die. But seeing the huge army of monsters around me, I knew my escape ability wouldn't come in handy.

"Just die human. Let me complete my mission. If you choose to surrender now, I promise to give you a painless death, regardless of how many soldiers of mine had you killed. You are already a pathetic existence, being a weakling and the only man alive in the past year, your ability is one I truly hate. Gaining luck at the cost of energy and lifespan, truly cockroach worthy." Killian said with disgust. Her tone matched her looks right to the dot. Jade eyes, sleek and slender shoulder, she was sensual at the right spots. Aa curvy hip and most of all, a cold smile and long-legs, sj=he was the woman of my dreams. But who knew that this beauty who was so warm and friendly to everyone regardless of their rank was actually a sadist bitch that loves to see pain more than anything.

Not going to lie, I was tempted to just give up and die. My min was stressed and exhausted, I had to run every day to live, maybe resting 3 or 4 hours a day. Me living this long was only because of my weak a*s ability to exchange luck, at the price of energy or mana, but that too was so low that I can't really affect anything without involving my lifespan, Although I am only 20, I looked 45 or older.

I was completely exhausted. It had been three years since the zombies first appeared. I endured and survived for a long time, but it would all end here. Is there anyone still left alive? Hiding from Killmonger is tough but not impossible. I might have been the very last of humanity.

The final battle between groups, who had been at odds with each other with me having dwindling supplies, and them, the entirety of the earth. It was a battle between our two forces who were quite strong and had survived for a long time.

I ignored the fleeting sense of doom and stared at Killmonger dead in the eye." I am not going to die with mercy. I survived for this long with my sh*t ass ability and you couldn't kill a C-rank hunter. No use of you living, so just come with me." I press my hand on the big red button with the classic 'Do not press' on it and pressed that sh*t. Killian stared and covered herself with her arms protecting her face just for a second before realising nothing happened. She coldly stared at me and released the 'kill' aura. but it didn't matter. I couldn't speak and felt all my bones rattle and break, my organs crushed under the pressure. By god's grace, she stopped after hearing a tick behind her. "Boom b*tch" I finished the sentence as the once-great empire was blown up.

I knew that the subway under them had an atomic bomb as a power source and a shit ton of alchemical powder, which was hidden from the demons and was about to explode as a result of impure mana., and a little fuse to TNT owe to blow up the entire empire.

Author's Pov

For three years he teetered on the line between life and death. Every time he was about to fall over that line, he would claw his way back. If Yama was real, he would have yanked on his beard to pull himself out of the underworld in order to continue to endure the living hell.

And now it's his time to leave.

*

*

*

Just kidding.

It's an odd feeling opening your eyes after you thought you had closed them for the last time. Quinn also had a strange feeling that there was a soft blanket covering his body.

'A blanket?'

Quinn's eyes shot open and he froze as he was met with an unbelievable scene.

"This place is…"

In front of him was a city that he was extremely familiar with, New hopeshire, a city with 3 S-class heroes and a sh*t ton of A-ranks. Built from the remains of New Yorkshire it was the only city to survive a year into the apocalypse after all. It seems as though he had gone back in time and now that he had returned back to this time, he knew what lay in his future. He could have dismissed it as a dream, but he immediately ruled out that possibility. He had decided to put everything on the line and prepare for the apocalypse. It would be a thousand times worse to be unprepared for the apocalypse than to have his life be messed up because the apocalypse didn't come as he predicted.

Quinn excised extraneous thoughts from his head and focused on only one thing.

'In 2 year's time, the world will come to ruin and only I know that the apocalypse is coming.'