157-171
157 A Formidable Enemy
Of course they were crazy. After all they were my fallen gods!
"I think the angels won't bother us for a good amount of time," I said while turning to Wryly, "so brother Wryly, isn't it time to vent off a few of your fumes over there?"
"Oh, I just…" Wryly seemed to be startled by my sudden words to him. He was totally absorbed into what just happened, and wanted to know more about it.
But starting from here on, everything was my own stuff and secrets. "It's just my two boys here are anxious to go and devastate the enemies, leaving none for you to kill," I gave him a calm smile that wasn't one.
Dude, if you didn't get off my chariot for now, I'd make sure to kick you out myself.
"Alright then, we'll meet after the war is over," he waved his fist in the air before jumping over my chariot like the crazy jumper, "Ooohhhaaa!"
"Ooohhhaaa!"
As usual he shouted his familiar warcry shout and was echoed by his men down below. At this moment I saw the army he brought. "Five thousand… that's not bad Wryly," I turned to watch him vanish inside the ruined city.
And an idea popped up in my mind right now.
Why would I just let him fight only here? I still had another city and more to conquer.
What I didn't expect was such a strong response from my enemy. Unlucky for me, it seemed I would gain nothing from these two cities.
From the look of things, I held little expectations to find any human survivors inside this city or the other one.
So I'd end up with two cities, emptied from any training camps. How bad would that be for me!
"Tell me what benefit our boy here will have," as I pushed Wryly and his men away, I started to ask the more important question here. "Speak in low tone," I warned and the death fallen god nodded as he said in low tone that seemed to be a whisper for him, yet loud enough to be heard by anyone around my chariot.
"He is going to have his soul evolve," he said before adding, "and his energy reserve will be upgraded. He won't need any stat points anymore."
"Will he be in his prime condition?" I asked with much anticipation, yet that fallen god shook his head and let my hopes down.
"That won't happen lord," he said, "he will only have tier two opened for free."
"Damn!" I couldn't help but curse out loud, "if I just knew this would happen… I'd have given him all the stat points to unlock his top tier…"
But it wasn't that bad either for me. As that annoying weapon was taken off the picture, it was time for my forces to expand.
[The star weapon is down] I sent this message to all of my team leaders, [Push with all your might. The angels can't harm you anymore]
[Who took it down?] The first one to answer was the jumper. And like always, that dude was caring about the most important thing.
[Who else?] I sent it back to him. That idiot was asking something clear to any eye. Who else would take that weapon down but me?
"Alright," as I finished sending all the messages and answering the repeated questions of my team members about what happened and what to do from now on, I shifted my attention towards this city. "Bring this damn portal down."
"You dare to interfere in God's business?" Just before my fallen gods would return to the frontlines, I heard such a rumbling voice coming from that gigantic portal. "You are asking to die!"
"Keep pushing forward," as I heard that voice, I had a bad foreboding omen inside my guts. But I didn't ask for a retreat, instead I moved my chariot fast, using the fully activated force of it to reach in less than a minute towards that portal.
As expected, a strange giant hand appeared from the portal, waved around in a crescentic shaped arc, releasing a strange offensive dark blue wave of energy.
The energy moved in a crescentic shape, expanding outwards like it had life of its own. Anything it passed through was killed in a brutal explosive manner.
"Use your shields," as I was just a few seconds away from the frontline, I shouted for my shield warriors to activate their unified defensive skill.
*Rumble!*
The battle escalated after temporary calmness when everyone tried to resist the incoming deadly attack. My warriors, dragons, and two fallen gods tried their best to resist. And they weren't the only ones doing this.
Wryly used some sort of a treasure to form a gigantic bell that shielded most of his forces away from that deadly attack. Fang's Selvators also used some sort of weaker treasures, enough to sustain their lives for long seconds.
And then I arrived.
"Crush it!" against such energy attacks, my energy pulse attack was its counter. Alongside my sturdy shield, I started to not only stop this deadly wave from moving forward, but also started to push it back.
"Use your attacks," I looked over my two fallen gods and without hesitation threw two hills of stat points for them to use, "use them in succession… Let's stop this and shut down that portal together!"
My shout wasn't only directed at my fighters, but for every single one fighting on my side inside this city.
"Ooohhhaaa!"
"Ooohhhaaa!"
The first actual response came not from my fallen gods but from Wryly and his men. That dude was so obsessed with his war cry, merely described as being fanatic with it.
Just as everyone started to push this wave back, I noticed the rapid consumption rate of my stat points stored inside my chariot.
"Damn!" It reminded me of what happened when I faced a god's tears from that race. It seemed that the archlord was supported by someone mighty enough to use such an oppressive attack with a single wave of his hand.
Would he be able to use it again? It would be a damn disaster if he could. The only way to secure this place and claim the victory was through sealing that portal fast.
158 Legendary Grade Material
I wasn't far away from it. I might reach it in less than half a minute. But the issue here was in that wave. The energy kept pushing back but it gave me the impression it could sustain itself against all of us for long minutes.
"Screw it!" Just as I saw that gigantic arm posing outside the gate, I couldn't help it anymore. Just a single wave of it made us face such disadvantages.
Imagine if that crazy bastard sent another wave towards us?
I couldn't let him have his own way here!
"Keep attacking, I'll leave things here to you," as my two fallen gods completely absorbed the hills of stat points I threw over to them, I started to fix my gaze upon the gate itself.
This gate had to be sealed, and there was no one but me who could do it here.
Things reached such a state where I had to risk my life for it. Without further hesitation I pushed my chariot to the front, deeply infiltrating the bulk of the offensive wave.
I depended entirely over my shield to keep me alive. Without it, I wouldn't dare to take a single step forward.
*Sizzle!* *Sizzle!*
It seemed like I was inside a giant piece of ice immersed under hot lava. All over my chariot I could see thick waves of golden vapour coming out from my shield.
Loud sizzling sounds emanated from my shield non-stop. I looked over and could only feel a little in front of those races. Damn! I was fighting all of these all alone and without any backing at all.
Despite feeling a little proud and threatened, I kept pushing forward. My flying speed was greatly diminished, yet I finally reached the side of that gate before that crazy dude on the other side would have the chance to attack.
"A meagre fly is trying to stand in front of me? A mortal standing in front of a god? What a hilarious joke this is!"
"This is the time of apocalypse," I roared while pushing my chariot harder towards the gate, "and here even ants can slay gods!"
"Humph, I warn you this won't be over here…" I saw that dude trying to recall his arm.
Come on! You dared to attack and tried to kill me. And now you want to use some sly mental game to buy yourself time and retreat from here safely… How could I allow you to have that safe and easy exit?
"If you dared to come, then you have to leave that arm behind!" I declared in a roaring shout before I touched the gate and conquered it. "This is my world, coming here holds a hefty price to pay!"
"I'll kill you!" he roared and I only laughed back while watching that portal turning into a dead one, closing fast around his rapidly retreating arm.
"Many told me so and failed, hahaha!" I watched his arm getting cut from slightly over the elbow while an ear deafening wail came from the other side before the gate was shut.
And with it, it seemed like the energy supporting that deadly wave ceased to exist. The wave trembled fiercely and in less than ten seconds it couldn't last against all the offence coming at it.
*Crack!*
It started to consolidate fast, forming a corporeal layer of semi-solid matter. Then cracks appeared all over like an egg shell getting smashed before it finally was destroyed and fell to the ground.
"Grab every single piece of it," just as I used the rope at the deck of my chariot to jump over the ground below, I shouted at my warriors, giving them such order.
That wave seemed special in my eyes. Even when it was crushed, it didn't vanish and stayed in its semi-solid state on the ground.
Such a rare chance to get something way beyond my reach here in the apocalypse was something I wouldn't miss.
Just like it, I also highly eyed that severed gigantic arm that fell like a small mountain over the ground.
This arm size reminded me of that deadly dark realm monster I killed before. Yet when I touched it, all I got was a message telling me I could get two bones from this arm.
Putting my class advancement I got from my visit to the death shrine before, this meant I'd get four bones instead.
"I'll take them," anything would be useful, especially if I risked my life for it. Just as I got the next four messages, I couldn't help but feel a little cold at my back.
Damn! The four bones were all black grade bones. Black grade was higher than dark gold grade and only inferior to the red bones I got from the dark realm monster.
Who was exactly my foe here? Was he someone that terrifying?
For a second there I recalled his last threatening words and couldn't help but inwardly sigh. Why was I acting like a disaster magnet, draggin all kinds of terrifying and deadly enemies to my path?
What was wrong with me?
Just as I claimed the four bones, that piece of arm decayed fast and turned into ash. It seemed this was all I got from this clash, in addition to those deadly wave pieces that my warriors were gathering.
As my warriors worked fast, many pieces started to gather around me. I stored them all but held one for inspection.
[Essence of Illusionist god aura: Legendary grade material. It holds high and pure form of energy that can be used to fuel anything using energy]
"Phew!" I sucked in a cold air of breath, "this dude… was he really a god or what?"
I felt dense sweat perspiration over my forehead and face. I hurriedly wiped them before waving for my fallen god to come.
"See how much energy this piece can give you," I threw this piece to him and added, "consume it and see what benefits you'll get."
"Yes lord," he looked in a puzzled way toward me before he released the same thick gas to consume that piece.
159 Negotiations
I stood on the side watching my death fallen god consuming that part of the solidified wave energy. From the description of the system, I knew this was good stuff indeed.
But how good was it? I was about to find out.
"Roar!"
Just with the passage of five minutes without any changes, the fallen god raised his head to the air and roared in a very terrifying way.
The air he emitted was kinda different than before. It felt heavy even for me to breathe. I had to retreat ten metres back while his body started to shine in black light that had a layer of lustre over it.
"My lord… This… This…" he seemed overwhelmed by the energy he consumed. I nodded for him to stabilise his excitement first and then talk.
"It opened my fourth tier, and that's not all!" He gave me such a pleasant surprise, "I can last for a couple of days now while using at least twenty supreme attacks of mine. That's… awesome!"
"Yes!" I clenched both fists while feeling the urge to scream in happiness. What was my biggest limitation here with these brutal boys? Soul points was one, but stat points was also another weakness here.
I got five hundred million stat points that weren't enough to last these two brutal boys for three days in their full power! And even if I acted slight conservatice with them, giving only ten millions to open their second tier, they could only use their attacks for three times only.
What about now? Those seemingly useless parts left from that enemy of mine were able to support at least twenty attacks of theirs. And I got tons of it! The sheer number alone exceeded the needs of my three boys for one year! One f*Cking year!!
"Give your brother one of these," I said to the dead fallen god, "you'll only depend on these from now on."
"Thanks lord," that greedy fallen god didn't leave without grabbing a few of these shards, enough to count up to ten.
That dude… Come on, I wouldn't act that stingy with all of you!
"Now I look forward to the next meeting with that illusionist!" Instead of feeling threatened by his high power, I looked greedily at him.
In my eyes, every single ounce of his weight was valued more than gold!
[Did you get control over the mega gate?] Just as I finished dealing with this issue, a message came from none but Fang.
[What do you want?] I asked bluntly as I knew what he was after.
[We have a deal!]
[But there are no survivors in this city] I sent back while aiming to get another good deal off this righteous Selvator.
[So?]
[Without having humans to train, how can you fulfil your part of the deal then?] I didn't just stop there as I added, [Plus this city contains only two gates. One belonged already to you and if you got that second one… You'll be able to summon not only your normal forces but elites]
I had to be frank and shameless here. That dude was acting righteous out of his nature. But for me he was trying to chew a bigger chip way above his own right.
[But I didn't ask for that situation to happen!]
[Neither did I] I sent back almost instantly, [Besides I wasn't the only one to fight here. Wryly is also here]
[He is just working underneath an archlord] Fang sent, [He won't ask for the city]
[But I do] if that method didn't work, then I'd ask directly for my rights.
[Aren't we allies? You won't get any benefit from controlling such a mega gate] he tried to find a way without having to pay for it through this. Yet he had to know that I was like a solid rock that wouldn't bend under whatever he threw at it.
[I don't care about that, after all I took down not only that mega gate but also that terrifying weapon high in the sky. You know this weapon was also threatening you as well]
[Thanks for our deal and alliance]
[That's not the point] I didn't shake even when he said that, [I have forces to care for. If I didn't get anything out of this deal, then I'd prefer to have this mega gate for myself then]
That dude knew what I was after from the start, yet he forced me to say it loud and clear. As I clearly said, he went into silence for a long ten minutes.
[I can offer humans from one city you didn't visit] he sent, [Like that we are even]
[Not even close] I didn't accept his low offer, [This city contains a mega gate, something you have to pay an astronomical price to get]
[But you didn't pay anything for it!]
[Let's just end the discussion here then] I sent, [You seem not to care much about this mega gate. See you later then buddy]
[Wait… Just tell me what you want then. Let's discuss about it]
He knew he was the one having the short end of stick here. This mega gate held a lot of advantage for him and his future battles. Besides, the talk here wasn't only about one mega gate.
That dude didn't know it yet, but there was another mega gate waiting at a nearby city. If I was right, then the other archlord of dragons who was aiming towards the two of us must have also opened one of such mega gates.
So this wasn't just a one time deal for me. I had to get the best out of it so I wouldn't get into such useless debate once again.
[I want ten human camps established at ten different cities outside my own reach in return for every single mega gate. Plus I wanted warriors to be paid for each mega gate you take from me… Let's say ten thousand warriors for each gate, what do you think?]
160 Thick Headed Berserker!
[Damn! How many mega gates do you have?] he was smart enough to get my point here, [Last time I checked, you only got one]
[There is another one nearby, so I can get you two]
[Two!!!] he seemed to be shocked as this came out of the blue for him. [If so… Then the number of human camps can be reduced to five instead of ten. Regarding the warriors… I don't have that much under my control]
[How much can you offer then?] that dude was bargaining here. I didn't have anything to lose. After all, anything I'd get here would be considered my win.
[One thousand is good for you?]
[Make it five]
[I can pay mostly two!]
[Three and we won't discuss about this again] I gave him my final offer before adding, [Don't forget, I never bargained about the human camps you'll give for me]
[Sigh… Alright, I'll send a contract over for you to sign] he sent before adding while the contract arrived by the system, [Just note that this deal is regarding the mega gates conquered by you, not just under control of another race]
[I get it] I signed the contract before it turned into specks of golden light, [Now it's active. Prepare your price and then send your people to claim this gate]
[Will you wait here for long?]
[I have to clean my loot] I shrugged before turning off the chat with him. I had a lot to gather from this city. After all, the enemy gathered up lots of forces here and I had a lot of elites to loot their inventory and take bones from.
Besides the ongoing mission for collecting those priceless shreds of energy from all over the city.
"This was a nice battle!"
Just after two hours, Fang didn't message me about his price yet. Just as I was gathering up all the loot I could find from all over the city with the help of my army, Wryly came with his own gang.
"What an army you have here… You are growing stronger like a rocket, bro! I'm happy for you."
That dude was a pure hearted one. I got Fang in my pocket, and now I greedily eye those warmongers with greedier eyes.
After all, my hardest battle wasn't the one against that pathetic archlord. It was against that terrifying dragon archlord.
"What do you have to do next?" I asked while praying over his current plans.
"Nothing much," he shrugged, "I have to keep roaming the world and looking for such interesting battles to fight."
"Without me, you'll miss a lot of action," I threw my bait and like a good boy, he barked instantly at it.
"Really? Do you have another big fight coming up?"
"Two actually," I raised two fingers in the air, "one is just at the corner. If you are interested, you are welcome to hump in."
"This…" he looked at me in slight hesitation. I knew it wasn't that hard to grab that dude into my pocket, not as hard as Fang at least.
"You know this fight here?" I moved my sword around, reminding him of the brutal fight that he called an interesting moment ago, "it was against an archlord of the illusionists."
"Damn me! That's why this fight was that fun then," he laughed as if he was hearing a joke.
"And that dude is just in a nearby city waiting for me to come and kill him," I said while smiling in return for his laughs.
"You aren't joking here, right?" he suddenly turned all serious and I shook my head.
"Since when I was the kind to fool around? He is there, and he is amassing all the forces he could, preparing for a giant battle."
"Damn! Boys, wrap things up… We have an archlord to slaughter," he roared at his army all around before his eyes shone in brutal red light. "When are we going to move out?"
"Hmm… Give me three to five hours," I said before adding when I noticed the look of disappointment over his face, "give that dude a chance to gather all the forces he can muster. After all, with my chariot around, we can go there in less than an hour."
"Not more than three hours then," Wryly said.
"Have another place to fight at?" I asked.
"I have a calling from my archlord," he said, "there is a big set up in the centre of the continent. Some dude is wreaking havoc there."
Just hearing that made me recall what Fang told me before. "Is he a human?" I asked, and from the shock over Wryly's face, I knew I guessed it right.
"Don't take it wrong, bro… I highly value you. This isn't the case against that deadly foe."
"Is he that strong?" I asked and he shook his head.
"It's a girl," he threw a bomb before adding, "a young and alluring young human fighter that made even one of my paragons set his gaze upon her."
"Oh… I never expected that," I murmured while thinking back about the history I knew by heart, 'Will I finally meet one of those legendary figures who helped to establish that grand kingdom in the west of the US?' I thought to myself before talking to Wryly:
"If possible, can you arrange a meeting for me with her?"
"What?" Wryly gave me a weird look, "are you interested in competing with my paragon over her heart and soul?"
That dude! What did he think of me exactly? I wasn't the one walking around with my thing held on my shoulder dude!
"If she is half of what I heard about her then it's a waste to not ally with her," I frankly said, "if she chose your paragon to be her man, then I have no objections to that."
"Oh, a love duel is coming from the horizon… I can see it, bro! I swear I can see it! Ooohhhaaa!" Yet that thick headed Berserker took my words all the way upside down!
Damn!
161 The Silly Competition
"Never mind," it was futile to argue with him, "now you can do whatever you want while I finish my business here."
"Bro, as we are here, why not let me take that big gem under my wing?" he suddenly said. For a second there I didn't know if I should laugh or cry.
"Sorry, but can you beat Fang?" I asked in return and from the change over his face I knew the answer, "this belongs to Fang. he stuck with me since the end of that big battle in the previous city. So he gained access to this gem here before you even thought about it."
"That Fang… He is so fast to act," he shook his head in disappointment.
"Bro," I patted his arm, "just make sure to stay by my side and you'll gain more than what you can imagine."
"We'll see about that," he didn't give me a positive answer, but I was sure he was swayed.
That was all I could do for now. In fact if I had that Berserker offer before speaking with Fang then I'd have agreed instantly over it.
In return for this portal I'd have tied Wryly firmly to my side. But that wasn't something I could change by regretting.
Many opportunities would rise up later on for sure.
My boys and I took roughly four hours until we finally finished. My gains here weren't as big as I anticipated.
Most of the elites here were poor compared to the all rich drags. That was to be expected. But the sheer number of stat points I gained was getting closer to one hundred million points.
My biggest gain was in the area of weapons and gears. My inventory swelled by double solely from these items. But they weren't that high in grade.
The best thing I found was a pale gold grade greatsword that suited my Bulltors. Without any hesitation I took out a large number of higher gears and let all my warriors switch theirs with those.
As for the newly acquired soulers, I made sure to give them daggers to be able to kill whatever enemy they faced. In my eyes, they were very intimidating assassins in any battle.
"We are ready," as Wryly was already standing nearby, he came and said while his face was all darkened.
Just half an hour ago Fang finally contacted me and delivered the deal. The warriors he brought over came through the grand gate after his boys took control over it.
They were all in a race that had the upper half of humans and lower half of tigers. Yet their size was no lesser than Selvators or Bulltors.
Each one of them came with their full armour and gears. Fang wasn't stingy enough to deprive them from everything.
Three thousand Selvagiter consumed a lot of my stat points to raise to level one hundred. Yet with their addition, my army swelled up to be near five thousand.
I finally had enough to call an army serving under my flag. Not to mention the fallen gods that I added three more during this time. Putting aside that all sleeping lightning dude inside my inventory, I had five standing ready to lead my army at the upcoming battle.
I summoned the three all from the lightning fallen god. It created some atmosphere of envy and depression for the other two fallen gods.
But come one… That dude risked his life and achieved something I never heard of before. There was never a case in my previous life that humans or any other race managed to touch those deadly stars in the sky.
And now? I could crush any star weapon once it came to my sight. This was all thanks to that lightning fallen god, and I had to show him my appreciation.
Besides comparing the three fallen gods attacks, then the lightning fallen god supreme attack would come easily on top.
"Let's go," I rose up into my chariot while Wryly led his forces inside. He let his boys take control over the defensive platforms and even some went to have a few minutes of rest before the upcoming battle.
"Are we heading north?" Wryly stood by my side and asked when he noticed the direction my chariot was heading towards.
"We need to cut off any paths of retreat for that bastard," I said while touching my shoulder. In the middle of these four hours, that crazy illusionist tried many times to claim my life and he even was so close to do this in his first attempt.
I was drawn into my victory here, and missed all the threat coming from that bastard. I lowered my guard for a few minutes and without warning I felt a cold blade hitting towards my back.
In the span of a few seconds, I was lucky to escape the deadly attacks three times. It was all thanks to my soulers who were so fast to react. If they didn't, I was sure to lose at least one arm during that attack.
Then he tried for twenty-five times after that, all ended up in failure. I raised my lowered guard after the first attempt, and so he lost any chance of taking my life again.
Wryly witnessed with his own eyes at least ten attacks of these. He even got a few of these attacks. At first he was so annoyed but when I mentioned that this was the true power of our upcoming enemy, he started to laugh and enjoy these attacks instead.
I swore that this dude had something loose inside his mind. He even taunted that illusionist archlord, stating that his Berserker archlord was much stronger than him.
He challenged that dude to try and kill even one of his forces and he would apologise. The end result was something no one ever expected.
"Twenty-six… Hahaha, I rose a rank above you bro," one of his men just threw an axe towards his shadow, killing the twenty-sixth shadow of that illusionist.
The assassination attempts from that illusionist turned into a fun and competitive game for all the Berserkers here. They laughed, had much fun while comparing the number of times they killed these shadows with each other.
Even Wryly started to take note of the list, stating that the top three would end up serving him as his vice no matter what.
162 Conquering Cities
This added more heat to such weird competition. On the side of it I stood in silence, asking myself what I got myself into by adding Wryly and his forces to mine in this fight.
Would I regret it later?
"So we aren't heading towards the city of that bastard?" Wryly asked in doubt and little anger as if I conned him or something.
"What's the problem here?" I shrugged, "the competition is still going on. Adding more time will only add spices to things here."
"Hahaha, yes you are right," he bought my silly reason, "ok boys! You have enough hours of fun before we march towards that funny little dude's lair. Let's see if I'll change the roster of my vices today or not!"
And when I heard these words of his, I couldn't help but roll my eyes in helplessness. Those dudes… They were really nuts!
The first city we'd hit was the middletown city. Followed by it, I'd go to Poughkeepers, Newburgh, before going south again and hitting White plains and lastly Yonker cities.
The biggest of them according to Isabella's words was Yonker city. It was situated just north of New York, and with it I'd close up a tight net around my last target; Hackensack city.
This time I'd make sure my enemy wouldn't have a way to breath from. If that dude tried to escape, I dare him to do so.
"This is the first city," I said before turning towards Wryly, "you have men here?"
"Sure, let me contact them," he said and while he was doing so, I sent a warning message to Fang.
"They are ready," Wryly said, "but whatever gates we conquer, they'll end up in my hands."
This was what I was worried about. Just as expected, the answer that came from Fang was cold as ever.
[It's none of my business] he sent before adding, [You give me total control over the city by the highest number of controlled gates and you get your camp. Other than this, you'll lose your camp in this city]
"Bro," as Fang didn't yield, I had to find a way to make that Berserker yield.
"What?" Wryly seemed a bit aggressive as if he felt what I was going to say.
"How about this… You fight with me and then you get two gates at the end with the one under your control. In return for this, you'll release my human race held in cages in any gate castle or normal castle you conquer."
"Why should I agree to that?" That dude decided to be smart here.
"You can sit back and watch," I shrugged before adding, "or you can jump in and have some warm up before the real fight. I'll strike more cities other than this, so you won't get any losses in this deal."
Wryly seemed on the verge of declining my offer, so I threw in my last chip, "you can just sit here and watch the fight while in the end you'll gain one additional gate castle. But that means you won't get any normal castles or emblems in the city."
"This I can't accept," he said in a firm tone, "alright… We'll do it your way then."
"Good deal," I wanted to pat him on the head and say good boy but feared he would become berserk about this.
Besides he was a giant, and the highest point I could reach was the lower half of his arms!
"Let's go," I summoned everything I had, "go and kill those filthy drags, illusionists, and succubus."
"Even the succubus will be killed?" Wryly gave me a look that worried me.
Dude! Leave your thing behind and only bring your sledgehammers!
"They are our enemies," I said in a decisive tone, "they are helping dragons and illusionists in this war. What? Don't tell me you can trust such a double faced race!"
"I can't say that but…" he was still shaken. Damn! Those succubus really were the deadly weakness of such a mighty race.
"Alright," I didn't want to create any trouble especially now, "let's do it like this… any succubus race you get can be yours. Also if my forces had any surrendering succubi, they'll give them to you. Happy now?"
"Very happy," like a bulldog he nodded and I even doubted he would extend his tongue out and lick my shoes for that deal.
"Arlight, let's get rolling then."
With the absence of the deadly star weapon, the angels here didn't pose any threat at all. In fact they lacked the power to stop us, and as such this city and all the others ended up in my grasp.
For the sake of my deal with Fang, I had to give up all the gates I conquered. So in the end Fang got three, and Wryly got two, and I got my training human camps.
Everyone ended up happy in such a scenario, and now my eyes were fixed upon the grand prize.
"Wryly, you know the upcoming battle involves a mega gate, right?" Before starting to march, and while my forces were scattered all over the Yonker city claiming all the loot they could get, I said to Wryly in a warning tone and gaze.
"Are you sh*tting me? Damn! Why didn't you say that from the beginning?"
"Why?" I shrugged, "this mega gate already belongs to Fang."
"Not again!" this time he roared in defiance, "that greedy bastard! He isn't satisfied with one mega gate and sat his eyes over this one too? Come on bro, you know I'm not an archlord so I don't have the power to turn any gate into one like these. Please give me this one, please."
"But Fang isn't taking it for free," I calmly stated, "he paid a hefty price to get it."
"This…" the face of Wryly fell before one of his vices whispered something in his ears. "Can you give me some time? I need to discuss this with my archlord and paragon."
Finally a big name was added in my deals. Paragons… Yes, it was time for me to interact with one of them.
"Sure," I shrugged, "but you have until we arrive at the city. If by any means you failed to give me a proper price, much higher than that of Fang, then forget about having this city's mega gate then."
163 Wryly Gives Away A Shocking Secret!
"Can't you tell me first about the deal with Fang?" Wryly asked and I explained to him all about the deal with Fang.
He went to a side place and stood there for almost an hour before finally returning back.
"My paragon is very interested in the deal," he said, "so he offers you this: double the amount paid by Fang for every single mega gate you have."
"Double?" I asked, "but you know Fang promised to train my human survivors from five different cities. So your paragon is promising me ten? All will be trained by your people?"
I just had to be sure that dude really understood the deal here. I knew he was honest, but also slightly dumb.
"He says these camps aren't an issue. We have a way to acquire humans without conquering any city."
"How?" Wryly's words piqued my interest. How could they possibly have a way to get humans not from the cities? What? Could humans be grown up like wheat and flowers?
"You didn't ask yourself why our races are gathering up humans in such a way?" Wryly threw such a bomb in my face, a question I totally missed.
Yes, he got a point there. "Why?" I asked as I never cared about the fate of those sent to the other side of the gate.
I might have thought about it once or twice before. All I could find was they needed humans as slaves or something.
"They are sold in big auctions," but Wryly's next words made my blood boil from anger, "we have quests different from yours. Also we have access to things you can never imagine. For example, at any apocalypse happening, there are certain groups of individuals calling themselves impacts. Those are like merchants, or guilds."
"I know the impacts," I said in a cold tone, "are you saying that my race is being sold to them?"
"Not precisely," Wryly shook his head, "before any apocalypse would start, these impacts would get inside information about the races taking part in it. Out of these, they offer the races to high bidders and rich folks who have crazy thoughts like buying an entire race for example."
"And my race is sold to such people?" I couldn't control my body from shaking, "are these people gods?"
"Not necessarily," Wryly shook his head, "those who assign the impacts to buy certain races are different races and gods, mainly those hailing from opposing races or even from races that aren't part of the apocalypse."
"What are they going to do with my people?" I asked, "and this thing happens also for the rest of you?"
"No, we are hailing from already strong races in the universe," Wryly gave such a dark answer, "a real dirty face of this universe, "but yours are just green in this. So your race is the only one under such curse."
"Damn! Damn! F*ck it!!* I shouted out of rage and Wryly could only sigh in response.
"I'm also feeling a little depressed about this. But this gives a lot of benefits to my race and also other races here. The sheer price coming from such trade and deals is simply astronomical."
"Great…" I clenched my fists, "that's simply too great. Alright, so you're telling me that your paragon is going to abandon his share in this wealth in return for the mega gates?"
"He will," Wryly said, "but not abandoning the shares. He can't do that. After all, we have already signed obligatory contracts with these impacts."
"Then…" I felt lost here. If he couldn't get humans through this way, then why Wryly took the trouble and told me all these secrets then?
"He can't break the contract, but he simply can buy humans in bulk from these impacts."
"Buy them? Is that even possible?!" I was shocked to hear that. And he nodded.
"Of course not all the humans delivered to these impacts go towards those crazy folks. Large number of them are being auctioned to various races to work as slaves or even worse…"
Damn me! Before even answering him, I instantly opened a chat window with that b*tch and sent her one simple question.
[Do you trade in my race inside your impact?]
Unlike the previous times, she didn't answer directly. Instead Wryly was so impatient to get my answer.
"So… Are you going to agree on that deal?" he asked and I gave him a glaring glance, one that made that Berserker step backward for a couple steps in response.
"Tell him I do," I said and Wryly's face turned all cheerful and he even jumped and hugged me in his excitement.
"Thanks bro, thanks a lot. I promise you won't feel bad towards this deal with us."
I watched Wryly getting away while my emotions were getting loose. Those damn barbarics! Who do they think they are? Capturing humans and dealing with them like cattle? F*ck them all!
[Did you know about this…] and as I wasn't able to vent my anger and didn't get any answer from that nymph yet, I sent a message to the jumper and told him what I just knew.
Come on! I wouldn't be the only one on the verge of exploding out of rage here! That dude was the only one second to me to have such strong ability. He was the second person here that could be named as the saviour and hero of my human race.
[F*ck them all! Screw those bastards!!!] he started to curse and for a reason, seeing him in such a state made me calm down for a bit.
When I calmed down, I started to rationally think about this mess. We were a losing race indeed in the eyes of other races. We didn't have any backing, not strong or deadly enough to terrify those hungry wolves.
Even in the apocalypse we weren't united! Each race had their own pyramid of hierarchy, but not us.
164 My Unexpected Counter Move
We didn't even have such a strong system inside our ranks before the apocalypse started. At the time every single race was competing to assign a new paragon and take control over this new world, we humans were struggling to survive!
This couldn't continue! I had to do something about that!
For a moment there I was tempted to use the second heroic calling to send a message to all survivors. But what would I say to them?
I lacked the simplest strategy or even a plan to tell them about. In addition to that, there was no other way to contact other humans after I used that heroic calling!
Those races seemed to have their own network of communication. Such a thing was a must in the apocalypse. But I never heard about this before.
Even in my time when there were three kingdoms and three mighty kings and queens, there was no such a thing.
So the first thing I must seek for was to establish such a net. Without it, any plan would fail no matter how perfect it was.
But how could I establish such a thing? For a second there I turned towards the direction of Wryly. I thought about asking him, or even the paragon behind him about this.
Yet I didn't. I stopped myself from turning into a clown here. Who would be in his right mind to give such a secret to his rival in this apocalypse?
We might be considered allies, on the same page temporarily. But later on things would turn uglier.
For example take Fang who has been working with me all the way since the fight at Jersey city… That dude never mentioned to me anything about this.
Didn't he have a chance to do so? Of course he had! In fact I started to doubt the source of humans he brought onto the table for the mega gate deal.
He wouldn't have enough cities under his flag yet. So how come he agreed to give me five camps for each mega gate? He must have thought about the same thing the paragon behind Wryly did.
But unlike Fang, Wryly was pure hearted enough to tell me everything about the source of humans. He could simply have lied to me, just like what Fang did.
Yet I wasn't that made from Fang. We weren't real buddies at all. We were just enemies who happened to share the same goals for this period of time.
And just like Fang lied to me and hid such valuable intel from me, I'd repay his kindness and focus more with the Berserkers.
That mega gate was going to fall in the hands of Wryly and his paragon. And if Fang became dissatisfied, he could find himself a sturdy rock and slam his head over it.
[Who told you about that?]
Just as I made up my mind and controlled my ragged emotions, that lady finally made up her mind as well and returned my message with that question.
[Surprised?] It seemed like she didn't tell me before about this on purpose. Of course she thought highly of the bones I had. Telling me that her impact was dealing with humans was something risky enough to jeopardise our deals.
But who said I wouldn't find a solution even for such a cancerous problem?
On one side, the jumper was still cursing, swearing on his honour that he would go and slay all the races in all the cities he had. And on the other side, that lady answered with small words unlike her nature.
[Indeed. Who told you?]
[What? Is it a secret I shouldn't know about?]
[It's just surprising]
[Drop the act then] I went directly to the real deal, [I want to strike a deal with you]
[Human trading deal I guess?]
[Wrong!] Despite what she guessed was really flashing in mind when I contacted her, I now had a totally different point of view. [Do you know the races who are buying my humans?]
[Sure, but I need to warn you that I can't break my relations with them!]
Of course a money beggar like your impacts wouldn't risk losing such a profit. [I don't want that, I only wanted to buy their races]
[Buy what?!!]
[As they turned my human race into such a trade business, it's only fair to turn theirs into such a trade as well. Can you do it?]
[This…] she paused for long minutes, [How much are we talking about here?]
[You know the currency I use] I turned around as my warriors brought over the last batch of elites from the last battle, [Those races must be sharing in ongoing apocalypses just like here]
[But…]
I didn't even read her message as I instantly sent another one:
[Don't fool with me. The universe is so vast and I know there are dozens of ongoing apocalypses all over the universe. Those races will be somewhere fighting like my race. Like they did, I also want to set up a bounty quest over their heads. Bring me their race as slaves and I'll pay in return with my bones]
This idea just popped up in my mind when I revised what Wryly told me before. He didn't say one or couple of impacts, but many impacts were working in this trade.
Thinking that I'd be able to shut down such trade depending on myself or even the Bringold impact was an illusion. The only way to do it was to have a massive organisation expanding to each corner of the world.
Other than this, what else could I do? Of course taking revenge!
If they asked for such a war with my race, then I'd simply answer it in such an unexpected , brutal and also fair way.
[May I ask what you need them for?]
[The same purposes those races are acquiring my people for] I sent such a vague answer which was in fact a lie.
[How many do you need then?] After a long ten minutes of waiting, she finally conceded.
165 Alert! Alert! Alert!
Of course she would. She was a merchant, sly and dirty but yet a merchant. The god of any merchant was money and profit, and in this deal they were going to profit so much out of it.
At least they were going to trade useless races to them by the invaluable bones of mine.
[All the amount you can provide] I acted like a tycoon.
[We can provide much more than you can imagine!]
[Just do the maths and tell me for each single bone of mine, how many races can I get] I sent to her while ending such useless discussion here.
If she already agreed, then it was useless to keep talking about other matters like this. After all, I still held a grudge towards her for not telling me about this dirty trade.
As for what I was going to do with those races, the answer was simple. What I mostly lacked during this moment of the apocalypse?
Correct, I lacked souls! All the races sent to me would be killed in revenge for what they did to my people. And in return for that, I'd solve another problem that was hindering me from growing my current army to a terrifying scale.
It was a win-win situation for now. Regarding those races, not long time would pass before they would notice what was going on. Of course they would be mad and might try anything to stop this.
But I bet on the impact's professionalism and greed to deliver what they promised. Besides, if the word spread, who would prevent other impacts from jumping in and contacting me to have the same kind of deal?
I was just starting a snowball motion, small yet it was deadly and effective and unstoppable. As for worrying about those bastards doing something to me here, I hardly believed that.
They couldn't come here themselves as they weren't part of this apocalypse. The most they could do was to contact other races here and ask them to try and get rid of me.
Selvators and Berserkers were already in my pocket. I had a deal with an archlord from one side, and a paragon from the other side. As for the other three races, they were already my enemies.
So why should I worry then? Let things escalate and be more fun. Who told them to mess with a race who had someone like me?
[You have five races who are currently participating in apocalypses] she sent after five minutes, [Each ten thousand of them will be in return for a single bone of yours]
[This high price… What for?!!] I was surprised when I read her words. This was something I never expected. My bones, my precious bones could only buy so few souls?
[It's a fair price] she tried to give reasons for such an extravagant price, [Don't forget we'll bring them from routes that aren't yet established. Besides, we will find a way to deliver them to your current apocalypse. After all you still don't own any realm gate under your control]
[Who said so?] I raised an eyebrow when I read the part related to realm gates.
[Oh, do you have a real gate already? Unbelievable!]
[I got one under my control] I didn't boast in front of her. Who knows what she might do with such info later on, [how much will that differ?]
[Double] she decisively sent this answer almost instantly.
[Just this? No more for me? I'm a good client after all]
[I can promise you this… After ten deals we will work over some stable routes to bring you more. But for now I can't give you any higher price than that]
For a moment there I felt like she was toying with me. I almost thought about reneging over this idea, but when I thought again about my real goal here I couldn't help but agree.
[Alright, send me a contract] I said.
[Not now!] she instantly sent, [I still need to find routes to bring enough. But for a start, how many do you need?]
[Let's see… How about fifty bones as a start?] I had a lot of white bones that I didn't need for now.
[This…] she seemed to be surprised by my big opening hand.
[Can't you gather such numbers? Then gather as much as you can and let me know] I would have gotten five hundred thousand souls from this deal. It wasn't such a big number but as a start it was ok.
Five hundred thousand would allow me to summon ten fallen gods. Not to mention this was an addition from outside apocalypses. Adding the death toll here, I'd gain almost the same amount in less than a day.
[I can gather them but will need more time to do so. I just didn't expect you'll need such a number as a start]
[Then gather them and tell me when you are ready] I had to close up with her as there was a strange message that came from Fang at this moment.
[Alert! Alert! Alert!] he only sent me this and I didn't know if he was joking or trolling here.
[What?]
[The illusionists are sending a big army to attack the city with a mega gate] I looked at his message while feeling surprised by such a move.
[How many?] I knew how strong Fang was. But for him to send such a distressing message only meant the number was just beyond his ability to defend the city.
[At least a million] he sent such astronomical numbers, [mostly monsters. But the army contains lots of races. And that's not the only army moving out]
[There are more than one army?!]
[They are heading towards the two cities north to the one with a mega gate] he sent and I instantly looked at the map drawn over my chariot.
So they were trying to clear the west side of Hackensack city. That bastard was trying to slip away by attacking three cities at the same time.
166 Three Armies... Five Expected Battles!
[Alright, can you handle your city?] I pondered before adding, [How much do the other two armies have?]
[At least the same number of army] he sent, [And if I can hold up, would I ask you for help?]
[Then… What will I get from that?] I knew this was a perfect way for that bastard to slip past the tight net I arranged around his neck. I also was desperate to get any souls from any place.
But these were all my own reasons. That Selvator didn't know any of that. So why wouldn't I try to get anything back from him?
[Aren't we allies?]
[And I fulfilled all my responsibilities so far] I wasn't shaken by his old tactic to get away, [Besides I already gave you that mega gate. You should be able to move your forces from your world to here, right?]
[I can't do that on such a scale] he paused for a minute and I remained all silent. [To bring such a force I need to pay a hefty price from blessing points. I can't do that now!]
Even with his covered up plea, I wasn't shaken. Dude, if you wanted my help here, you needed to pay for it.
Of course he didn't know that if he refused I'd step in to help. After all, my enemy was trying to run away and it was a big chance to kill him.
Least he knew that. Or else he would have just remained silent and never spoke again.
[Alright, how much do you want this time?]
[The same price for a mega gate] I sent my answer instantly.
[This…]
[I'm going to save your mega gate from falling. It's easier for me to wait for it to fall and then resell it back to you. So what do you think?]
I didn't mention Wryly and my deal with him. If I did, that dude might take it as a betrayal from me for now.
After saving his as* here, he wouldn't have the ability to ask for more mega gates anytime soon. That would temporarily solve the problem of my deal with Wryly and his paragon.
[Alright, but I won't be able to take more mega gates] just as expected. I grinned when I read that message, in a pure and honest way.
[Sure, I can handle it] I sent before adding, [How long will that army take to come to you?]
[One hour at most]
[I'll come by when they attack]
He didn't know that I saved bookmarks in all the cities I fought in so far. Going from one city to another wasn't a problem.
The problem here lied with Wryly and his forces. I could jump alone, but how would I use him for the best?
"Hey, come here for a sec," in a few minutes, my mind already found a way to best utilise this warmonger dude.
Once he came, I started to narrate what Fang told me. His eyes showed his disappointment the moment I told him that I couldn't bring him with me there.
But once I told him about the role I wanted him to play, it seemed like his eyes had life reignited into them.
"Sure bro, leave them for me," he patted on my shoulders while giving me a bright smile. "But if I need support, I'll ask for you to come."
"Just don't risk something you can't control," I nodded, "I can come here and then go to your aid. So give or take half an hour before I would come to your help. Provided that I won't be entangled in a bigger fight."
"Damn! I just want to come and take part in such big fights!" he waved his big sledgehammer in the air, while giving me a dangerous vibe.
That dude… it seemed his second most weakness besides Succubus' race was his addiction to fighting.
"Alright, be ready to move when I give you the signal," I said before calling back my warriors and then my chariot. We both landed heavily on the ground before he laughed.
"Don't worry bro, I won't let those bastards have their way this time."
I wasn't truly worried about him. I only cared about the big deal I had with him. Plus he was my only contact with that mysterious human in the middle parts of this continent.
I needed her help. After all, I wanted to establish a grand organisation that would lead all humans in this apocalypse. Like the other races, we should face these harsh times united to achieve bigger goals.
I took out my staff before using the bookmark of Poughkeepsie. That illusionist archlord would definitely aim towards that direction.
After all, his attack over the mega gate city of Paterson was a fluke. He knew he was doomed. This fight wasn't about mega gates at all but about his life.
So I would be truly speechless if he went to Paterson city and started a big war there. Besides, Poughkeepsie city was just north of Middletown city.
There were two great armies heading directly towards these two cities. That meant he would feel more secure being there.
Everything pointed to that direction as the main route of his escape. Yet I didn't lower my guard. I simply sent a message for my girl back to Jersey City, asking her to dispatch part of the forces up north and try to form a semi-circular barricade between Hackensack city from one side, Newark, Bloomfield, and Jersey city from another side.
Like this I tightened the net around that dude. Let's see how he would manage to slip between my closing up net.
As from the East, I had it covered by Wryly troops. After all, their task was simple… They just had to go west and attack Hackensack city when the big fights started.
"Now, it's time to summon more fallen gods!" As I reached Poughkeepsie city, I started first to summon five more fallen gods. After all, each fallen god of mine was enough to hold an entire city against any army.
And by this I got ten ready to deploy gods, and this time I summoned two of the other two here and one of the lightning fallen gods.
167 [Bonus chapter] Bad News!
I fed up my newly summoned fallen gods with stat points, and decided to leave behind five of them. I also left half of the Selvagiters warriors I got from Fang, in addition to half of my soulers.
By this I decided to set up most of my elite troops here. I knew that the bastard was trying to escape from this direction. So I planned this to make this city turn into a trap.
I'd push him from south starting from Paterson, then close up his retreat path from Middletown, ending the fight here.
Or that was what I had in mind based on my expectations.
Then I went to Middletown. There I planted Two fallen gods, alongside half of everything I got so far.
"Last stop… Paterson city," I activated my teleport using the staff and the moment I appeared in the damaged city, I saw a big battle going on all over it!
Literally a big number of enemy forces reached the city early on. Monsters were everywhere, led by a few races.
I looked over and saw Fang fighting here by himself. That dude came all the way here without even telling me about it. He was leading a grand force of his, fighting brutally against the crushing numbers of enemies coming from everywhere.
[You didn't me you'll come!] I sent this message while summoning my chariot first. Then I called forth my Gollems, Bulltors, and shield warriors to take the charge of the defensive platforms here.
Activating the fully powered version of my chariot, my girl started to kick asses here without warning.
[You came at last!] he seemed to be pressured despite him looking all fine. [This is just the vanguard unit of the enemy. I believe the main force of the army is about to arrive in the next half an hour]
[Let's get rid of these flies then] I called my three remaining fallen gods and let them go in three different directions. Each one had already consumed five of the essence of the illusionist god aura, enough to sustain for one hundred consecutive uses of their ultimate attacks.
*Rumble!* *Rumble!* *Rumble!*
Fighting against such a weak yet massive number of enemies, exceeding one hundred thousand at least, wasn't a hurdle for my fallen gods.
The three launched their attacks and killed almost twenty thousand in three dense places filled with enemies.
The three I got were of the lightning fallen gods, my strongest fallen god I had so far.
[Damn! Are these yours?!!] Just after the first wave of attacks, Fang sent this message that made me laugh.
[Don't ask for them, they aren't for sale bro] I sent back and he was so affected by their overbearing strength to the point that he dropped his ego this time.
[I want some, I'm willing to pay a rich price for them] I looked over his message and thought back about his contribution with me during the past.
He wasn't a bad fellow, but he wasn't one of my men. He still held his race first on top of my alliance. So even if he proposed something nice, I wouldn't risk giving him such a lethal weapon.
Who knew? A time might come when the two of us would raise blades at each other's throat!
[Sorry pal, they aren't for sale] I sent my decisive refusal and he had nothing to do but to accept what I said for now.
[Let's talk about it later then] yet he didn't totally drop this matter. And he was excused to do so. After all, my fallen gods landed their hammers heavily over the heads of those enemies all over the city, killing a large chunk of them in mere minutes!
Seeing such a scene had its own impact over someone as Fang. but I doubted he would be able to change my mind about this.
Despite my deadly start, and the killing of a large number of enemies at first, the battle extended on for over an hour.
These enemies never retreated as if they weren't fearing death. As they learnt their lessons, they never packed themselves in large numbers.
This made the task of my fallen gods to kill them slightly harder, or to be precise it took longer time than what I expected.
At some point, it was fruitless to waste the deadly attacks of my fallen gods over them. So I simply summoned the rest of my soulers and Selvagiters, and let them loose over the scattered enemies.
"Hold back your attacks," I shouted at the three fallen gods, "just kill them using your spears."
The enemy wasn't that hard to kill using their spears. This would only elongate the battle, yet it would save a lot of energy for later on.
After one hour, the entire city was covered literally in dead bodies. Fang came on board and stood by my side, panting while his silver shining armour was now dimmed by the blood covering it.
"This is weird…" As I looked around, I couldn't help but frown.
"That army didn't come, right?" Fang said in between his ragged breaths and I nodded.
It was supposed for that big army to come here half an hour ago. I didn't feel great about it so I simply called back two of my soulers, one from each city.
"Lord," the soulers bowed while the dense dark fog emanated from them made Fang's eyes change slightly. This dude seemed to take sudden interest in my forces for unknown reasons.
What? Did him acquiring this mega gate change something in his plans? Or might it have raised his expectations and dreams here?
"What happened in your cities?" I asked while I kept feeling uneasy about this.
"Answering lord, there is nothing at all," one of the soulers said while the other added:
"That's also the case in my city. We waited for the enemy to arrive but nothing came to sight so far."
"Weird…" I turned to look at Fang who understood the meaning of my gaze.
168 Elizabeth City
"My spies were all killed strangely before this battle started," he gave me such bad news at this moment. Damn! Why didn't you tell me this a bit earlier?!!
"All of them?" I asked, "you don't have any eyes there at all?"
"Not a single one survived," he shook his head in disappointment, "I don't know how they got them all. But for some reason they suddenly discovered them and killed them while coming here."
"This…" a name suddenly popped up in my mind, something I missed during my calculations…" Damn those angels! They really did something nasty this time!"
Of course it was them! Who else would have the ability to watch all of our movements and report it back to that illusionist archlord?
But it was too late for such regret. I had to change all my plans.
Those angels must have eavesdropped over my entire planning and reported my current arrangement to the enemy.
I spared a fast glance over the map before I knew what was going on here.
That sneaky bastard just sent a force to keep us busy while changing his escape route. The north, east, and west were all covered by my allied forces.
So he had nowhere to go but south. I asked my girl to dispatch forces there. But that was in case that bastard tried to escape there after his defeat.
Right now he was heading there with a terrifying combined force of three million strong fighters. This was a force my boys couldn't handle at all.
"Pack your men," I turned instantly to Fang, "they are heading south right now."
"Why should I do that?" Just before I thought about my next city to jump at, Fang gave me such an unexpected answer.
"What?" I looked up at him and he simply shrugged.
"This is my city, and I'll only defend here," he said plain and clear. Damn that bastard! Wasn't he the one who cried over and pleaded for me to come and save his ass!
"Give me the price we agreed upon then," I pointed at the mega gate before adding, "three thousand Selvagiters, in their peak condition please."
"A… Alright," this time he couldn't refute my request. He walked down, and I watched him walking away towards his mega gate.
That bastard! Alright then… I would use this shameful act of his as an excuse for my deal with Wryly.
[Get ready to move to the city] I sent Wryly this brief message.
[Has the fight occurred yet?]
[He is running south. The angles warned him]
[F*ck those angels!] he cursed and I could only smile while closing the chat with him and opened another one.
[Stop what you are doing and head to north]
I sent this message not only to the jumper, but to the rest of my team as well.
[What happened?]
[What's going on?]
[A big fight?]
[Whom shall I bring with me?]
I got all kinds of questions from everyone, yet the jumper's question was different as usual.
[Where at north exactly? Jersey city?]
That dude didn't waste his time asking about the reason, but asked for the location to gather up. I looked at the map again, made few calculations before sending a message to all:
[The illusionist archlord is leading a grand army of three millions. Bring everything you can, even those humans training in camps. It's time to make them taste blood. We'll gather up at Elizabeth city]
[Alright]
[Cool!]
[I'll be there]
All sent messages of agreement, yet the jumper sent a different one as usual.
[My boys have already tasted blood. Just wait to see how strong they became]
That dude… He never missed a chance to boost up, especially in front of me!
Alright, anyway whatever he got was already mine. If he didn't show such a difference in using his troops, then how come he would be a jumper?
[Babe, go back to New York city and tighten the defences there] as I finished gathering up my scattered forces, I had one last thing left to do.
[Go back? I'm far away from Jersey city by now] she sent me such a surprising message. Something fell deep into my heart when I read her message as I got what she meant.
Yet I sent it to her asking, while hoping that my guess would be wrong.
[Where are you now?]
[With the forces ambushing the incoming enemies… Why?]
Damn! I couldn't feel any good at this moment, [Go back now, go as fast as far as you can]
[What happened?]
I told her a brief summary of what was coming in her direction.
[F*ck! I'll leave now! Where should I go?]
As she was already out in the open, it was futile to send her to Jersey city or New York. [Head to Elizabeth city, we'll gather up there]
[Shouldn't we surround that army in between Jersey, Newark, Bloomfield, and Paterson cities?]
I got what she wanted to say here. In fact I also thought about this first when I looked up at the map.
If only that fool, Fang, told me once I arrived here about his loss of spies, I'd have adopted that plan for sure.
Trapping the enemy inside such an open place and preventing him from gaining foot into any other city would be a good thing for us. Adding to that the dagger attack coming from Wryly at the north, and the imminent fall of Hackensack city with it, then this trap would be really tight.
But I couldn't do that for now. I lost my slim window to do that thanks to the late timing of Fang. information if not given at its right moment would render its value useless regardless of anything else. Just like here.
[Just head to Elizabeth city] I sent over without explaining any of this to her.
[But more cities will fall this way!]
[We will regain them again] I didn't mind losing three cities for now. After I get rid of that army, I'd go back and recapture them.
169 The Battle Begins At Newark City
[Ok] as she complied, I called off my forces from this city alone. I left the rest back at the other cities, not risking for the angels to go and notify that bastard about this.
Who knew… Such a chicken trying to run away for its life might do anything to survive. He might change his course again and make me lose much time for that.
I wanted to leave but I had to wait for Fang to come back with my reinforcements. That bastard took half an hour before coming with the agreed Selvagiters.
Come on dude! Why didn't you take a nap instead?
As I waited for him to come, I ate a few pieces of meat and drank water. I didn't know why but at this moment I was feeling thirty like hell.
"Here," he said while feeling proud and full of himself. Just seeing that dude like that made me want to punch him in the face.
*Fwoosh!* but in return I called back my chariot, letting him fall to the ground without warning.
"What was that for? Huh?!!" He knew I did that on purpose. I totally ignored him while gathering all the tokens of the warriors he brought over and then called them back.
"You deserve this," I only said that before taking out my staff.
After I did so, I started my teleportation under the wrathful glaring red eyes of that dude and headed this time towards Newark city. I had to buy some time for my girl to retreat safely away to Elizabeth city, and also had to see with my own eyes where that bastard was.
The moment I got there, I found a spectacular scene in front of me. Up till the horizon, the land was literally covered with enemies.
Monsters formed the most of this army. "Sh*t! They already surrounded this city!" The situation was simply described as being hopeless.
But who said I would have to worry? Even facing such a colossal army, I didn't doubt the ability of my chariot's shield.
So why would I retreat? I have to start kiting this army and make its advance slowed down for a bit.
"Come forth," seeing this I summoned first my three fallen gods alongside my soulers, Bulltors, and other warriors including the newly acquired Selvagiters.
The city was poorly defended by Selvators. This was expected. After all three gates belonged to them and two belonged to me.
Yet I saw slightly close to thirty thousand humans picking up arms and standing with Selvators around the city. Poor boys, don't lose hope as I was here.
"Go," I pointed towards one random direction as any direction had the same odds of danger, "all forces stay around my chariot. Try to keep up and don't fall behind. We'll charge in as a united force."
It was the only thing I could do here. This city was considered as good as fallen. But I would put up a good fight before retreating back.
With the destruction of the star weapon, I knew there wouldn't be a great danger here. The enemy lacked any gates under his control, so he wouldn't try anything funny.
What that bastard got was just what he showed here around this city. If only that Fang wasn't that thick headed and selfish, I might have gone greedy after a long time of defensive battle.
"Let's go!" As everything was settled and my forces got themselves around my chariot, I started the fight.
The enemy kept standing in silence, trying to win this fight by crushing the morale of the defenders here. After all, who wouldn't lose all hopes when faced with such adversities?
But with my sudden charge, and the shocking start in the form of the deadly attacks coming from my chariot, my ballista, my soulers, and my three fallen gods, things started to change.
That lost hope would be reignited, and the looking dead troops here would turn into a vicious cornered beast. Let them try to kill the troops here, they'd pay a hefty price to achieve that.
*Rumble!* *Boom!* *Bang!*
All kinds of explosions occurred all over my chariot. The first waves standing in front of me didn't last for even ten seconds before a wide gap appeared.
My combination right now was the best I had, but it was enough to tremble the ground under the feet of my enemies. I didn't target a wide scale fight. I wouldn't be able to put up against such insane numbers with the few forces I got here.
"Follow the hero!"
"Fight for your lives!"
"Charge together!"
Just as I stood for a minute while waiting for my troops on the ground to clear the area of any hostile, I heard such shouts coming from many directions in the city.
I turned and saw all the humans here raising up their weapons and running as fast as they could towards my direction.
"Good boys," I had to admit, their courage was something inspiring. They could have just waited behind and watched inside the city. Yet they abandoned safety for now and headed directly towards their enemies.
"That Fang did a good job with my boys," I also had to give that bastard the credit he deserved. This attitude wasn't a natural thing in humans, only taught and acquired from Selvators.
So by this change in the battle, I had to reconsider my tactics here. I aimed to kill as many as I got until the three fallen gods would exhaust their remaining supreme attacks.
Then I'd call all back, use the teleportation staff to get to another city and do the same. Yet by the courage these humans showed to me, how could I respond to them by running away?
"Alright, I'll show you how mighty a human can be," I thought this battle is not a battle to decrease the number of enemy forces. At this point, this battle turned totally into a battle of inspiration, one that would be written in the long standing records of history.
170 A Historical Battle For Humans
"Come forth," as I had enough souls to spend, I summoned one more fallen lightning god besides calling three fallen gods as well from the other cities.
At this point I risked the weakening of defences at other cities just to inspire humans by these historical battles.
"Consume this," and I didn't stop there. I gave each fallen god here five essences, enough to add up one hundred supreme attacks in their arsenal.
"Use your abilities without any reservation," I gave my final orders, "lead the human forces and let them have the last kills. Let them feel pride in fighting this battle, even if they'd end up losing their lives at the end."
This was my final goal here, to inspire humans by this battle and make them feel proud. I didn't miss recording this fight. After all, once I got a chance, I'd surely distribute it to all humans all over the world and let them know how strong humans could be.
"Kill!"
"Don't fall behind!"
"Follow the mighty hero!"
"For our lives!"
"F*ck you monsters!!"
Lots and lots of shouts began to grow clearly when the human forces here gathered around me. I looked at their faces, and I swore I wouldn't forget these looks for the rest of my lives.
They showed no fear, no hesitation, no doubt… They had their hope ignited by my presence. Like fire ignited from dying embers they were, like water held for long behind a dam before its fall and then turned into a mighty tsunami they were!
"Hold your heads high and walk towards your enemies with pride… You are humans, you aren't pushovers or losers! For glory!"
The heat of their excitement seemed to dissipate inside my soul. I raised my two swords high in the air, before releasing the mighty attacks from my chariot.
I started it by elevating a big chunk from the ground high in the air before smashing it down over another place. Lots of enemies were killed this way and I simply kept using this to clear up paths in front of my valiant humans.
My pulse wave attacks landed next and left a lot of enemies powerless, waiting for my forces to slaughter them. The area I cleared before got shrunk while I waited for the humans to gather around.
But now this area expanded by three folds. And it didn't show any signs of stopping anytime soon.
The humans here were pushed beyond their limits. They lost all sense of logic as they just jumped from one monster's throat to another, waving their weapons from a killed enemy to another.
They transformed into bloody wolves, and their enemies showed signs of breaking apart. Even the ground underneath their feet started to tremble from time to time.
That was thanks to the deadly waves of attacks coming from my brave fallen gods. This battle was the perfect set up for three of my elite warriors; fallen gods, especially these lightning maniacs, my soulers, and finally my drags.
In this grand army that showed no end to its numbers, they lacked any aerial monsters. The stage of the apocalypse here didn't provide aerial monsters at all.
But I knew that such an advantage wouldn't last for long. After all, the enemy came from a city that had a mega gate and was led by an archlord.
No matter how weak illusionists were, archlords were mighty and wealthy figures without doubt.
So I gave my orders to my drags to just hover close to the borders of my controlled zone. If anything appeared out of order, I'd instantly intervene and take it down.
As expected… Not long after the passage of the first ten minutes, the enemy ranks started to show signs of change.
Many places started to have their advancement speed halted. I even saw many humans getting killed at the hands of monsters that seemed little familiar in my eyes.
"Hybrid monsters… Alright," I snapped my fingers and summoned back one hundred soulers from other cities. "See those berserk bastards? Take them out and then scan the battle for them. If you spot anyone like them, take them out instantly."
The soulers were actually the best warriors I got to be used in such epic battles. These crazy folks would simply flash between densely packed bodies, needing only one flash to kill one enemy.
Unleashing them here was like releasing lions over a herd of zebras.
I also didn't stand idle. In such a battle I knew any changes from the enemy must be matched and crushed once they appeared on the frontlines.
We had the momentum and the morale was simply off the clouds. Letting these two priceless advantages be wasted was a rookie's fault that I'd never fall into.
"Keep fighting," with time passing here, the fight intensity grew hotter. The initial momentum humans had started to slowly plummet. After all, the forces they were facing seemed endless.
At some point, no matter how many they killed, the enemy's frontline never got to be pushed back.
Only when a group of soulers came to help, a fallen god used his supreme attack at one zone, or my chariot started to create chaos using its ground separation ability then the enemy would be pushed back.
Yet we were holding our grounds perfectly fine. Even when the enemy summoned his aerial forces as I anticipated, they didn't make any difference at all.
They called forth a large group of medium sized flying lizards with sparkling blue feathers. They looked like a retarded group of dragons who simply missed their chance for a grand evolution and ended up in such miserable state.
Yet they came in a large number of a few thousands, drawing closer in one big group.
"Come forth!" In response to that, I simply called forth my entire squad of dragons. And I didn't stop at that.
"Aim your ballista at those bastards," I called upon my Gollems before controlling my chariot and flew directly towards them.
Coupled with my entire grand dragon squad, and using the deadly attacks of my chariot, this group of flying monsters looked dead in my eyes even before clashing with them.
171 Losing Newark City
These flying monsters were so good at attacking with fire and utilising wind to evade the first wave of attacks from my drags.
Yet just before we met, I used my separation ground ability of my chariot, raised a big chunk of earth high to them and smashed it directly in their centre.
This attack couldn't be evaded, especially when I controlled its movement and direction. Just slamming heavily over these lizards ended up dispersing them all over the place.
I killed their momentum in this simple way, and I just didn't stop at this opening move. I controlled the raised piece of earth to circulate around the entire aerial battlefield, preventing any lizard to regroup and sending more far away from the centre.
Then my drugs came. They simply hunted down the dispersed winged lizards and burned them into ash.
"Follow my piece of dirt," I shouted and the drags followed my instructions. I placed that piece of ground at the forefront, while flying behind the rock with my chariot.
As for my dragons, they surrounded me and took every chance to kill any winged lizard.
The battle didn't last over ten minutes. The entire five thousand group of winged lizards ended up scattered into a few hundreds all over the battlefield.
During this fight, the enemy at the ground tried to hunt my drags down using archers and even ballista bolts. Yet I moved fast and shielded all my drags using my chariot shield at some point.
"Retreat!" After killing most of the winged lizards, I gave the order to go back. I left the ground battle for ten minutes yet things weren't that good.
The human losses were staggering fast all over the place. Sheer momentum and morale wasn't enough to support them against such a large number of enemies.
"Fallen gods… Heed my words…" seeing the bitter end coming faster than I expected, I decided to give them another hand, "circulate the frontline and launch all your supreme attacks without reservation."
*Clang!* Clang!* *Clang!*
Even before any of them reacted, I started taking out essences enough to resupply this consumption.
If this was another time and place, I wouldn't do that. But this battle held a great importance for me. I had to elongate it for a few hours, keeping such momentum and reigniting their dying wills here.
This fight had to look great or else I wouldn't be able to use it for later.
Listening to my orders and seeing the shards of essences I got out for them, my fallen gods roared in unison before they started their deadly combined attacks.
What made the frontline crumble was the densely packed enemy lines. They seemed to change their strategy while I wasn't here, moving their lines in waves after waves, consistently assaulting the frontline.
This helped in refilling the gaps created by the attacks of my fallen gods. Soulers and Selvigiters tried their best to control the situation, but this was beyond their abilities.
But right now the combined supreme attacks of my fallen gods stacking one on top of another cleared a large number of enemies in a short time.
This also broke the momentum of the enemy, shifting the balance of this battle back to my brave human fighters.
Like expected, they started to move forward, push the frontline again while filling the gaps faster than their enemies.
And with the help of my soulers and selvigiters, they managed to crush their unstable enemies fast.
"Drags… Go there and burn the densely packed enemies anywhere around the frontline for five hundred metres distance," I turned to my small drag army and gave them the order.
*Roar!* my valiant drags roared and flew directly at the frontline. They flew in one big group, flying fast around the frontline and started spreading death and chaos all over the place.
I looked to the side where my fallen gods were replenishing their exhausted supreme attacks. These fallen gods were really priceless. If I just got enough troops to face such a million forces, I wouldn't have given up this fight.
But things only looked this good for almost an hour. With time exhaustion took a great deal from the human forces here. They started to lose in great numbers again and this time I didn't intervene to stop this.
This fight was destined to be our loss from the start. Instead of defending them again, I started to penetrate deeply inside the enemy ranks.
I regrouped my entire forces around my chariot and started a frenetic killing spree all over the place. I didn't consider retreating until all my fallen gods exhausted their supreme attacks once more.
"Come back," I led them back into the city. The human forces were already gone hours ago. This battle lasted for six straight hours and I killed a good amount of the enemy forces, almost approximating five hundred thousand in the worst cases.
That was thanks to my forces' strength and their outbreak against their enemies with everything they got. Also the human forces did well as I estimated they killed almost over one hundred thousand by their own hands.
Considering their lower numbers and low morale at the start, adding to this mix their true lack of experiencing real battles here, I saw this as a great outcome.
"That Fang… He is a coward to call back his forces like this!" as I returned to the city I knew why the Selvators didn't help in this fight at all.
There wasn't a single one inside the city. If the enemy wanted to swarm and control the city he could, but it seemed my existence and the change I caused to the human forces here made that illusionist archlord shift everything and target me.
He tried to kill me many times during this fight. Yet he failed every single time. I was always raising my guard against him, and even stationed a couple of soulers to help and kill him if his shadow appeared and I was busy fighting.
"Time to visit Elizabeth city then."