The snake Strikes

[Main Quest: The cleansing!] [Task: Most of your original planet has fallen to the zombie race. As your numbers diminish, they only grow. You have been thrust into a losing situation, but there is still time! Save your planet from the zombies before the time of your departure in 1 year.][Comment: This quest will automatically fail if evergreen city falls.]

Rowan thought that was all, but he noticed that time had still not returned to normal. [Urgent Quest:Lesson Over.] [Task: Eliminate or subdue the human forces throughout evergreen city that would like to see you dead] [Failure Cost:Death of Camille.] [Comment:Your healer has been taken but by who? Get to the bottom of it and save her life.] [Reward: Lvl +2]

Rowan's rage billowed from him in waves as the vermillion four winged falcon formed behind him as he walked towards the window. It was no coincidence that the building was surrounded by military vehicles and right at the front of the pack was the mayor and Neal. A little behind them was Peter Smithe, and the same purple haired woman that he had seen before. Rowan slowly turned to Em, who had gotten at least one of the quests that he had received. "Can you help me find her, Em?" She nodded her head. "Ive come to the realization that maybe direct battle isn't my thing… so I created robots! Conversation for another time but I have nanobots that I can send into the city to search. If you can handle that, then I should have an answer shortly.

Rowan nodded his head and walked towards the window. "System, I have a question… Can I gain exp from killing humans?" Rowan waited a moment when the system finally answered. "Host will gain exp from all kills with the system fully active because of redacted." Rowan snorted at the redaction and nodded his head. "So the true purpose of the system while being a guide is to help people grow as quickly as possible, no matter what the case? No being in the world is off limits and taking its life will allow the system to turn it into strength for the user."

Rowan seemed to decide on something as he gently reached out and tapped the window with a single finger wrapped in amethyst mana. The window exploded outward and Rowan walked into the sky and looked down on the close to 200 troops that had been gathered behind the mayor. Rowan walked through the sky like it was steps and as he did, his storm armament slowly transitioned to combat form. Rowan's wings came out of his back and he lightly hovered off of the ground as he stared at the party that had come to greet him while one person had begun to visibly sweat.

Fiona, the only seer in the group, realized that the man before them had become much more terrifying compared to several days ago when they saw him last, and she realized she may have made a grave mistake. She had made her move recently and used a special item to knock out the woman that accompanied Rowan, and delivered her to Tiger; she was going to be bait to lure Rowan out, but right as she was returning to the stadium, the mayor whisked her up into his plan to lay siege to Rowan's tower or so she thought it was the mayor at the time but she was starting to suspect a different player. Someone she was certain that was supposed to stay hidden longer than this.

The mayor seemed to be seething as he stared at Rowan. "How did I know that even that useless couple from Gwyn city would not be able to do you in? Rowan Raid you have the vitality of a cockroach, but that all comes to an end today. Evergreen city was always going to be mine and the only thing that is standing in the way is you Rowan. I will get rid of you and then I will take this city for myself."

"I will be this world's savior. You are nothing more than a side character to my story." Rowan really was speechless at this point. He turned around and looked up at Em standing by the window, who shook her head, an indication that Camille was not here.

"Alright then, listen Mayor Mack, I really don't have time for this apparently and I have no desire to be some type of hero. You want to save this world, then save it. What does any of that have to do with me? Are you such a little person that you are still affected by things that happened before the apocalypse? Are you really just here because I made you look weak in front of your people? This is your last chance. I mean it, I'm done pulling punches, if you were the one who had taken Camille then you wouldn't even be getting all of these words but luckily for you she was not and in this case it will allow me to be nice to you one last time. Let it all go, cut the shit and move out of my way, and I will act like you are just as unimportant as you actually are."

The words seemed to cause him to rationalize the situation until the snake like Peter Smithe whispered something into his ear and all of a sudden, his eyes began to glow green and he screamed back at Rowan. "Then bring it on! Today is the day you die!"

Rowan studied the rest of the crowd and realized that their eyes all had a slight green tint as well. All except one person, the purple-haired woman. The mayor would have already said something if he was the person behind Camille's kidnap, or more so Smithe, who was clearly controlling the man.

"Enough games, Smithe, your trick is up. I should have known that you were the mastermind. The mayor has always been a jackass, but he has never been a murder me jack ass." Rowan remembered upon their first meeting the system had also told him to be wary of the snake, he just had not connected the dots at the time.

Smithe walked forward and his suit began to slowly change from a normal suit into a snake skin robe that hung down enough to cover his eyes. The snake scales were a bright green, just like the glow from the mayor's eyes. Everyone here was one of his puppets. This show was his from the start. Rowan kept his eyes on him as the man walked forward.

"I infiltrated the government years before the apocalypse. I was trained in hypnosis thanks to self study and a psychology degree. Most people called it a joke, but then the apocalypse happened and it spoke directly to my mana usage. It became easy to make such simple people bend to my will. I wanted to wait until I had more of them under my control, but after all this time, they have become nothing more than soldiers ready to listen to my commands.

"They forced me to move my plans up thanks to this madness, you have moved things to the point of no return by killing members of our Zodiac gang so now it's time to make things right, the apocalypse is the time of the Zodiac gang and we will be the rulers of this era." Rowan looked to the other person that was present and still conscious and not a puppet as he stared at Fiona. "So then if this attack is his motive, and he talks this much but did not talk about my friend, who quite literally was headed from the same place you guys came from, then that leaves you. In the end, I guess it just means that the mayoral office and the zodiac gang are really just one entity thanks to your control snake." Rowan looked at her for a second and seemed to see through her as his hyper vision began to pick her apart and analyze her. The feeling made her skin crawl.

"So that's easy, then. I just have to wipe out the Zodiac gang and the people here while keeping you alive." Snake had still been talking this entire time about the zodiac gang being the most optimal route for everyone and how the people of Gwyn city would be the next stepping stone but Rowan was over it at this point but he was also not paying any attention to the man much to his annoyance.

The vermillion falcon formed behind him and let out a raptor call that silenced everything that the snake was ready to say as his killing intent and bloodline suppression were enough to drop most of the normal mana users present to their knees.

"Enough talk, It's really only a matter of time until Em finds her, and this is the second time that you all have attacked me unwarranted and while I don't like the mayor, after a painful lesson I think it will be fine to leave him in control here, but ultimately what this comes down to is whether you are confident enough to survive me trying to kill you while all this happens.

Peter Smithe smiled back at Rowan, "See now Rowan Raid I may not be the gang's second in command but I am its third and the position does come with some perks which include." Smithe snapped his fingers and all the people present formed into neat lines while people that Rowan had not noticed before walked out from behind them in snake skin cloaks and took position at the front of the group.

Each one of them then pulled a dagger from the folds of their cloak and slit both of their wrists while Peter Smithe continued. "It gives me the best resource for my ability, which is human bodies in this case because hypnotism, as it turns out, works even on zombies. They just need a little extra prodding and a short snack. The green cloaked individuals were now standing in puddles of their own blood and behind their hoods Rowan could still see the green glow that indicated that the person was being controlled by Smithe. Whatever gruesome fate was coming, not even his own people wanted to see what was going to happen next, but Rowan got an itchy feeling underneath his skin and looked past the people to see several dust clouds storming towards them.

The cloud broke away and suddenly there was a sickening thud as twelve zombie kings landed in place of his robed civilians, each choosing a different way to eat the snack that was being presented to them. They varied in level from 30 to 40 while Smithe stood ahead of them with no worry. A phantom image of a snake had formed behind him and started to sway, while at the same time the eyes of the zombies were glowing the same green.

"It's easy to track down zombie kings with our network. This was my secret weapon. I was gonna grow these twelve until they could help me take the zodiac gang for myself. Who wants to be a snake when with this power I can become a dragon?"

Rowan, on the other hand, watched as not a single person flinched as their fellow human was eaten by a zombie king in front of them. A being that could wave its hand and turn them into powder. They never even blinked from start to finish. Rowan's eyes finally went deadpan as he connected these events with his new quest.

"You absolute moron, you are the reason that Evergreen city is in danger of falling. There's no way you just found these twelve zombie kings. You made them zombie kings by feeding them system users." Peter Smithe smiled and never said a word. Rowan's accusation had finally gotten him to shut up. It was at this time that Rowan heard this odd sound and behind him, Em came floating down to his side on top of a hoverboard.

"The nanobots have found Camille, I'm going after her!" Rowan whipped to her and his hand shot out to grab her but she flew out of the way with a speed that not even he expected from the hoverboard. "Em you can't go alone you dont know whats out there!" She was already flying off though and one of the zombie kings looked antsy like he wanted to chase so all Rowan was able to do was watch her fly away as she called back "Just made new stuff remember! I'll be fine till you get to us. I slipped a tracker in your pocket!"

She flew into the distance while at the same time a particularly lithe zombie king jumped towards her but Rowan had planned for this as he made a pulling motion with his hand and a storm point that had been so tiny that no one had noticed it formed a string of lightning that Rowan grabbed and yanked downward slamming the zombie into the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.

He held his left hand aloft and Weathervane shot from the building and into his hand. His eyes seemed to take on an amethyst light as he activated berserkers trance and the world emptied as hyper vision turned on weak point detection and it just became him the storm and his enemies. "Fine then Snake, I will end this quickly."