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Chapter 1 - Life Without A Class

"The end is coming! The demons, the giants, the wolves, and even those insects are going to kill us all!"

I heard these familiar screams from far while walking slowly towards that crazy man's direction.

The streets were in a mess state, filled with garbage and leftovers from the big party last night. The city, which I lived in, celebrated the ninety-ninth anniversary of the Great Day!

In fact it wasn't a great day, but it was the start of the apocalypse that befell over our lands.

My name is Hye. According to my father my name held the meaning of a bright and intelligent man.

I was indeed smart, but I was no way living a bright life. My life was defined even before I came to this Earth.

Ah, forgot to say that Earth wasn't the same Earth ninety-nine years ago. When the apocalypse hit Earth, it started by merging all continents, breaking all boundaries and adding strange lands to us.

And since that day, more lands were being added to our great Nala, the new Earth we live currently in. With it strange races began to appear like demons, devils, goblins, monsters, and even evolved and intelligent insects.

War was inevitable between us and them. In fact each race began a series of brutal and long wars against other races to dominate Nala. The bad news came in that our weapons couldn't do any damage against these races.

They all used various sorts of magic. And that wasn't exclusive to them alone.

Humans started to delve on the path of magic since the dawn of the apocalypse. According to the old stories written in our records of that time, we had many quests provided by the mighty judges, plus a system. Whoever achieved anything worthy would get a class of his own and power beyond belief.

But many failed to achieve such a thing. I, my father, and my entire family came from a grandfather and a grandmother who both failed their quests.

People like us were called classless people, or the trash in the new world we were living in.

On top of the society people with high classes ruled the human race. We now live in three big kingdoms, each covering a vast land that exceeded the size of the old Earth multiple times.

But this was nothing compared to other races. In fact the war between humans and other races lasted in its fiercest early days to ten years. After that most of the humans were killed and only three kingdoms stood tall till this day.

In other words… We lost that war! The three kingdoms provided a much safer environment to live in. But that wasn't according to what that crazy man was saying.

"The end is coming! Prepare for it! The dark day is coming! We will be all doomed!"

"That man…" I couldn't help but shake off my head and examined the message inside my system.

[ Your daily quest is here! Help the old foreteller in his daily needs and you'll get ten coins]

"Tsk, another boring day," I muttered while clicking to see if I was lucky and got another quest. But like my usual, I only got this unlucky one here.

Systems now became like phones in the ancient age of humans. We all have systems that help to moderate our lives.

For me, and as a classless person, I had no privilege to get high ranked quests. Only trash quests like this one kept popping each morning.

Ten coins seemed like a very small fee for such a task. But it was enough to pay my rent and provide food for myself.

"Oh, it's the bright and intelligent man again," that crazy old man noticed me and stopped what he was shouting at the passerby in this street.

He looked the same as usual, wearing a ragged and tattered old looking black suit that turned gray out of time and continuous cleaning. His white and long hair was disheveled and fell over his shoulders and even reached the middle of his back.

His face was stained with black and blue spots out of his habit to do his proclaimed foretelling experiments using explosive substances. I once was about to get blown to pieces thanks to one of his proclaimed foretelling.

"Don't say that to me, I'm just a normal loser in this kingdom," I came to stand beside him while feeling disgust from the look of his saw-like yellow teeth.

In fact if I saw him from far I would mistake him for being a monster! The only proof he was human came from the system. After all, systems never assigned quests for humans unless they serve other humans.

"Come… Come… I got more stories to tell," he started again! Despite my task was to attend to this crazy man's needs, he only cared about one thing… Telling stories!

At first I was very interested in what he was saying. He kept telling weird tales and stories that seemed like real legends. I was entranced by his foolishness and craziness until one day I discovered what he was telling was pure nonsense!

He kept stressing that he was telling the untold truth of history. But not a single word of what he said was written or even mentioned in any known record to mankind! I searched and even dropped my quests for an entire week to check over his awesome bulls*t!

Eventually I realized he was crazy! The events he kept telling never happened before. Other events occurred. And even the names he made sure for me to memorize weren't even registered in any legendary tales known to human civilization before the apocalypse!

Ji the brave, Luke the mightiest, Anna the wisest, Cher the lioness… and much more of such weird names and nicknames that never existed.

"Come, I have a good tale to tell you today," he hurriedly took me inside his house with such enthusiasm. According to him, he kept issuing the system tasks only to me.

And aside from him, I got no other regular customers to satisfy.

His house was like the difference between earth and heaven compared to his ragged state. It could be described as a big mansion with a wide garden and tall walls.

A palace, a palace with an owner like a beggar like him… How ironic!

I once asked him how could someone like him get such a fancy place to live in. The only answer I got was that he had a very high class, and that provided him with great income even without the need for him to do anything.

I really envied him at that moment and even now! Classes in our world were like college degrees in the old human civilization. I was like a person without a degree. Despite being smart, hard working, knowing a lot of crafts, and willing to do anything with devotion; I wouldn't be able to get anywhere in this world without having a degree, without a class.

Many others weren't as good as me and were living in luxury thanks to their classes. I hated classes more than anything in the world as it turned my life into such hell.

And the most bitter thing was the fact that I didn't cause anything of this to me in the first place! I just inherited such bad luck and came from such a wrong family.

If I had the chance to be reborn under another family with a class, I would be grateful for that! If I had a chance to get a class even if I went to hell itself, I wouldn't flinch back.

It was my life dream, a dream that would possibly not turn true at all.

So many times I imagined myself getting back in time, to the moment when the apocalypse befell humans. I dreamt about fighting for my own right to have a class of my own.

Humans back then mistook things greatly. They thought they were fighting for their survival and didn't care about things like quests or classes. They were wrong! They didn't know that by such careless decisions they doomed all the generations that came after them till the end of time.

Gosh! Every time I thought about this I felt mad! I wished I could have a say in this, I wished I could change my current fate, even by facing death itself.

Chapter 2 - The Orb

"Sit… Sit… Today is a special day," the old man enthusiastically said while leading me to the main hall of this big mansion.

Decorated with many golden and rare ores, statues of men standing tall and expressing their arrogance and domineering never ceased to amaze me every time I came in here.

Everything in that mansion was expensive! And yet here he was, sitting with his ragged clothes and an appearance of a beggar in front of me.

"What makes it so?" I sat while trying to follow his lines.

"You'll know pretty soon," he said in such a warm tone before adding, "tell me, did you remember every tale I told you before?"

C'mon, be serious! Everytime we met he started with such annoying question that made me feel like I was in a school and he was my teacher.

"You know even if I wanted to forget, the memory orbs you gave me never stopped buzzing with your stories even in my sleep."

I took out a group of five small black beads that started to float once taken out from my pocket. These annoying little things never stopped speaking in that old man's voice, retelling everything he said to me like I was a deaf man!

"You'll thank me later for that," the old man mysteriously said with a wide smile over his face and a nodding motion there. He felt happy and content with torturing me like this. However I couldn't refuse his proclaimed gift. After all it was one of the quests he gave me, one that could help me survive here with its five coins daily reward.

"Today I'm feeling happy. So I'll start with answering the most asked question of yours."

"From where did you bring all these… amazing tales?"

I was about to say bullsh*t but I controlled my tongue at the last moment. Last time I said so to him he became so furious and even canceled our meeting.

Even if he had to blabber with his crazy stuff again, I had to sit and listen. Life wasn't that cheap or easy for me, for anyone like me.

"I'll tell you, but stop with that attitude of yours," the old man pulled a long face before changing that with a serious one, "he was my mentor, a great person who rescued my life back when we got massacred like insects by the hands of our greatest enemies. And he has an interesting story to tell, wanna listen?"

"As if I have a choice here," I shrugged while my tone expressed how dull and bored I was.

But the old man seemed not to care about how I felt as he continued:

"I know you are smart despite not having a class of your own. You love to read and research. I also know your life dream is to have a class and have a chance in this shitty life. So tell me, young human boy, who is our common and greatest enemy?"

'Young human boy?' This remark was the first I heard from him. For a second there I mistook him to be someone not human. But when I recalled how crazy he was, I ditched these thoughts aside and calmly answered:

"The demons perhaps? They are the most brutal species who love to feast on our bodies."

"Wrong answer, try again."

What the f*ck?! I never expected my analysis to be wrong! I was about to resist and argue but he raised one finger in a warning for me to not do so.

"Then they must be those monsters, werewolves, vampires, oh wait… Perhaps they are those arrogant and dirty dragons who are drunk in their might and wealth!"

"No," yet he gave me such an answer before adding, "they are the angels."

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

"W… What? No way!" I even stood up from my seat before adding in a loud tone, "they are the ones who guided all of us towards the light! The only ones who really extended their hands to us and helped us when the apocalypse befell upon our heads. They are the guides for god sake!"

"Speaking like someone who lived there and witnessed everything with your own eyes," however the old man's words came to startle me. "Or perhaps you are someone with extensive might and authority to reach beyond the locking doors and get your hands on things that aren't known to the public."

He had a point! But he also didn't provide any evidence on his outrageous claims. "Everyone knows about what they did back in the dark days to help all of us."

"And yet here you are," the old man motioned his head at me, "a classless human boy, intelligent and diligent in what you do, very resourceful and even a strong fighter. Tell me, did you ever question your origins?"

"My origins?" I sat helplessly on the seat while feeling dejected by what he just said.

"You are too smart to figure this out on your own," his attitude was strange today. It was all serious without his usual funny expressions on his face that I used to see, "if you have all of these amazing qualities, if many of the classless humans have such outstanding talents, how come their ancestors failed the days of the apocalypse this bad?"

"..."

Damn! His words found their way deeply inside my mind without any hindrance. I always kept asking myself what my grandfathers did for me to end in such a losing way.

I was a loser, but my spirit, my mind, my talents told me that I wasn't. When I thought about what the old man just said, things became clearer, and strangely weirder in my eyes.

Inheritance was everything! It was a known fact to anyone. Like classes as a mere example of it, whoever had a class in his family would have a chance to inherit it.

If a man and woman with two different classes met, a chance for a new class to be born was there. But if there was a classless one there, then their offspring would be at the risk of having no classes.

And that helped a lot in distancing the community of classes from those without ones. That was one of the reasons why I kept living in such a life without any hope for me or even for my future kids and grandkids.

"It's just a logical sense," the old man slowly said, "if you have such high qualities, then how come your parents didn't? How come your grandparents didn't? I dare to say that many of those classless humans today have great talents. They don't deserve to be treated in such a way. But the question is… How did they all end up like this? How did you end up like this?"

At this point I started to link the dots. I stopped thinking about the reasons I couldn't possibly know and said with a dejected tone, "So this is your argument that our enemies are the same ones who were helping us back then?"

"I'm not saying that without good reasons," the old man agreed, "if so then I dare you to give me a single explanation for you to end up in such a sorrow state."

I couldn't give such a thing. Deep down my soul, I believe I was special. I didn't deserve any of this, that was the sole belief I had, the only thing that kept me living this shitty life.

"But I'm not telling you this to just point at our enemies, but to explain the existence of a terrifying one amongst them," the old man suddenly took out a strange orb.

It was as big as a tennis ball. All red and looked like it had a life of its own inside. I could see swirls of red waves moving around inside that orb in his hand.

"That enemy possessed a terrifying power that enabled everything to reach to such a rockbottom state," the old man threw the orb high in the air as if he was toying with it.

I could tell from just its appearance that it wasn't a common orb. It was one of his precious antiques and treasures that he treated them like they were dirt!

Without realizing it, my eyes kept following that orb up and down while he continued to say:

"That bastard had the ability to rewind time each one hundred years for a hundred times," the old man held the ball in his hand all of sudden before adding, "but he isn't the only one to have such power. Humans were blessed with someone like him."

"Rewind time?!!" I was shocked before adding in a loud tone, "but there is no such ability or skill at all in any class known in our world."

"Do you really think such a rare and unique ability will be exposed to the public?" the old man slowly said while his eyes told me he wasn't bluffing at all. He believed all the sh*t he was saying, like it was the truth.

"Why are you telling me all this?" I asked in a low tone while looking straight into his eyes.

"Told you kid, today is a special day," the old man didn't give me a definite answer before raising this orb to my face as he added, "like it?"

"You are stingy enough to not give me anything you have," I didn't fall for his trick again.

"Hahaha, correct," he laughed like a sly and stingy merchant before taking back his hand, "That mighty human was my mentor. He saved my life and told me a great deal of secrets about what he lived and saw, about what truly happened in his past lives."

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

"Such a wise man," I wasn't feeling well at the moment as he just toyed with me using that orb, "but why being so generous with you?"

"He wanted me to find an heir for him, someone who will be able to do what he didn't."

"Which is?" I was now just following his words and wasn't really interested in knowing anything. If I wanted anything right now then it would be for me to leave this place and have some time with myself.

"That man discovered something, a flaw in the ability of his and that bastard from the proclaimed angels," the old man said before touching the orb like he was treating something precious.

I never saw him care about anything he owned before. This was new to me.

"For this ability to work, there must be someone with such skill in another race. It's like any law of nature, two opposing forces must coexist for any force to exist."

I nodded without any enthusiasm while he kept his talk.

"So that man realized he was the sole reason that the bastard was able to do all these crimes against humans. For other races, they would all forget what they lived through and relive the apocalypse moments from the start before one hundred years pass and then… that bastard will rewind the time."

"But we have that human, right?" I plainly asked, "why didn't that mighty man try to do something against that evildoer?"

"He failed," the old man said, like it was him who failed, not some imaginary figure his craziness just created in his own mind. "He tried his best, one time after another. But for consecutive ninety-nine times he failed. And that was expected."

"Don't you see it's a stereotypical old and boring story?" I couldn't help but express my doubts, "C'mon! I bet you are going to say that the enemy was well prepared and had his sh*t straight, not like your proclaimed hero."

The look I got from the old man told me I pissed him off. Sh*t! I wanted his coins so badly and couldn't risk losing it. "I'm just trying to… see things from all angels here," I hurriedly said while faking my regret and honesty.

"If you say so," he slowly said but I felt he wasn't that forgiving to my earlier words, "as you just said, that damn proclaimed angel had all the support from his clan plus he had many plans prepared. So our hero…"

The old man used the word 'our' and stressed on it to make sure I wasn't objecting again. How could I object when you held the bowl of my rice in your hands, old man?

"Decided to take one risk, a bet if you asked and I can't express how much I respect him for his courage to take such a feat."

"Sure, he is all brave and mighty after all," I again said something I shouldn't. However this time the old man didn't get angry at me or even gave me his usual burning gazes.

Instead he smirked, like something interesting was about to happen.

"Phew!"

Like it was a small rubber ball, the old man flickered his fingers and threw the orb towards me. It happened all of sudden and out of the blue. The moment it hit me, the orb smashed like it was made out of fragile glass!

"What the hell…" As it smashed the red waves swirling restlessly inside were broken free. Without any invitation they started to surround my body, taking over without any resistance.

I stood up and tried to push away these thick wisps of red energy like putting down fire. However the more I tried, the faster it spread.

"What did you do to me?" I shouted in panic at the old man, "I didn't mean anything I said. Please, spare me!" I tried to plead but the old man only calmly stood up as he gave me that kind of a look.

Like everything was beyond salvation!

"With this I have done my part fully and delivered the final gift to the one who deserves it," the old man started to speak in his riddles again.

"Stop being crazy! It's not the time for you to lose your goddamn mind!" I screamed in panic while starting to feel a strange gush of heat invading my body. It was like this energy was made out of fire, and I was like a dry old piece of dead wood.

"Remember this…" despite all my screams and pleas for his help, he calmly walked to stand in front of me as he added, "this a token for gratitude, a debt you'll have to repay to my people, human boy."

"Stop saying nonsense and stop this madness at once!" I shouted in rage but the old man didn't seem to even listen to me.

"I trust you as my mentor trusted me back in the days… Don't forget, you need to help and save my angel clan, the real angels who are facing a great calamity when the apocalypse happens. Find us, help us… Just follow the golden quests whenever they appear and you'll have your chance to repay me this lifetime debt. As for those proclaiming to be the angels… They are just dark fallen angels, the darkest species any universe ever gave birth to. Be sure…"

"Screw you!" I said before my vision was clouded with the red energy that totally overtook my body. I could see his lips moving but no sound ever reached me.. I saw him throwing another thing at me during his unheard words and with this my senses were all switched off and lost my consciousness.

Chapter 3 - Finally Getting A Chance

"Are you alright?"

I felt like someone was shaking my body. In a reflex I slowly opened my eyes while feeling the bright sun blinding me.

"Ouch," I tried to stand to feel the pain assaulting my body.

"Easy there," another voice came, "you just fell all of sudden without warning. Are you alright, pal?"

I turned to see who was speaking in such an old language before I froze.

"What the hell is that?" I was in the middle of a group of high school students, it seemed. But that wasn't the part that shocked me, but that standing tall statue at the distance.

Without feeling myself I pushed them and ran towards the edge of that place where I was stopped by a small cement wall.

"At least say thanks!" I heard this angry shout from behind me but I didn't care at all. I was totally shocked with the grand, faint green statue standing miles away from me.

"This… is the statue of liberty… How the hell is this statue still standing?"

I always admired this statue like other ancient and beautiful buildings and landmarks of the old Earth.

That statue was destroyed! I could swear with my life on the bet that it was. I still had that poster image of that grand statue being flattened with the ground, while its torch was planted in the island there in my small room.

"What are you doing here? Is it your first time in New York?"

I turned to see a girl approximately around my age. She wore a pair of glasses while holding a few books in her hand. She looked kind of a hard worker, just like me.

"Excuse me," I said while feeling this girl could be someone trustworthy to ask, "I feel a little confused here. Can you tell me what day it is today?"

色覚異常かどうかがわかるテストです.丸の中に何の数字が見えますか?TOPSSEEK

"Stop being funny," she laughed in a sweet way as if she considered my question as being a joke, "this is an old way to get to know me, but I'll let it go," she said before adding, "it's the fifth of June, do you also want the year?"

"Yes, please," I didn't know how she took my serious question to be this funny. However, just before she could say anything, I turned my eyes.

For the second time I felt a deep shock in my mind! That wasn't possible! Not possible at all!! The world around was a peaceful looking one, brimming with life and joy, a world that I never saw and only heard of.

And her answer came to confirm what I had in mind.

"It's year two thousand and thirty," she said before laughing, "what are you going to ask me next? The time perhaps?"

"Yes, please," again I looked at her in the same seriousness as before. However she took it as a joke again and laughed. Two shy dimples appeared on her cheeks, exposing her small black dot just below the right corner of her mouth that added more to her beauty.

Before answering me she flipped her long brown hair as if she was showing it to me, "It's two P.M. Is it suitable for a drink?"

I didn't know what to say! Two P.M.!! in the year two thousand and thirty… That couldn't be happening.

"Slap!" without any warning I slapped my face as I thought that old man did some silly trick on me using that red orb.

"Ouch, it hurts," however all I felt was pure pain.

"Hahaha, it's normal as if you just slapped yourself," she laughed before she eyed me with such interest as if I was an alien, "you look like a foreigner. Where did you come from? Are you here for the Expo? The world football cup? Or wait, you look like a high student like me. Does this mean you are here to attend the world student forum?"

I looked at her without knowing what to say. All of these events I heard about before. They were the reason why the US had such a variety of nationalities at the time of the apocalypse.

At the same time it was one of the main reasons why this country was hit with the brutalest attacks ever!

And now I was in the middle of New York, one of the cities that had it hardest around the US itself by the recognition of everyone.

I only had less than two hours till the apocalypse would hit! I couldn't believe it but now I was in such a place and time, just prior to the infamous event that rocked the entire world and wiped out the civilization people in my time heard about its tales.

From that moment of the apocalypse onward, new terms and laws would be applied. 'What the hell did you do to me, old man?' I couldn't help but clench my fists while feeling this wasn't funny, wasn't funny at all.

Who would be in his right mind to relive these dark moments again?

'Wait!' it suddenly hit me, 'if I was here, does that mean…' I turned around while feeling more enthusiasm which came out from god knew where, '... I can now have a class of my own?!!!… I can now change the dark life I lived so far and replace it for something new?!!! Something with a future and hope?!!!'

It was such a ground shaking realization for me, one that I always dreamt to have but never believed it would.

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

"Hey! I'm talking to you," a punch came from that girl all of sudden to jolt me awake.

"That hurts!" I complained while holding my arm, "why did you hit me?"

"You weren't listening," she said as if it was something sacred to be heard when she spoke, "where are you heading? Do you have a group you want to meet? Like your friends perhaps?"

"Yes, friends…" my mind instantly started to stir its wheels before I added, "I should be at the central park in less than two hours. Is it far?"

"The central park… it's not that far," she turned before pointing in a certain direction, "there is a subway we can take that will arrive there in no time."

"Subway!" I was inwardly shocked by this hideous name. According to what I read, subways were the most visited places by humans at the time of the apocalypse. They saw them as safe havens to survive the apocalypse.

It was common sense by this time and age. After all, the subways were strong enough to withstand the natural disasters that would befall the world.

However early in the game, the subways turned from safe havens into slaughter houses! I couldn't be there, not even if it would deliver me faster to the central park.

I didn't know if what that old man did to bring me here would have changed anything in the apocalypse I knew of. I couldn't risk my life like this.

"No, no subway please," I instantly said, "let's… wait a minute, are you coming with me?"

Her face beamed with a bright smile as she said:

"I have to be there for the grand meeting of the students from overseas," she said before adding, "alright, we can walk there. We still have around four hours before the meeting. We can talk and have some fun there until then."

Without taking my opinion she started to walk towards a certain direction. 'This girl… she has a strong personality,' I muttered to myself before she suddenly turned around without any warning, extended her hand as she said:

"Forgot to introduce myself, my name is Isabella Rocher, nice to meet you."

"Hye…" I paused in my words as my mind froze for a brief second there. "No f*cking way!" I couldn't help but exclaim in shock.

"Excuse me?!" she looked at me the same way I used to look at the old man; like I was crazy or something.

"Oh, sorry for that," I apologized while trying to control my inner rumbling thoughts. This name, Isabella Rocher, wasn't passed down in any historical records. However it was one of those names that the old man blabbered about during his crazy talks.

When I gazed closer at her, she looked exactly like what he described to me. She looked like a strong and powerful young girl, with such sharp eyes, pair of famous glasses according to the old man's words.

Even the small nevus on the right corner of her mouth were there! She was like a real embodiment to the old tale that crazy old man told me a couple of years before.

'Wait a second… Don't tell me… He wasn't making all this stuff up! He wasn't crazy!!' I was inwardly shaken while silently walking beside her.

Chapter 4 - I Want To Be A Winner

"So, where did you come from, stranger?"

After a silent walk for ten minutes she suddenly asked me that. During this time, I was totally absorbed in my own world.

In fact I never took what the old man told me before to the heart. I always thought he was lying. However all the things around me proved otherwise.

I didn't know how he did it, but I was teleported back in time, almost ninety-nine years, at the time of the beginning of the apocalypse.

It was such a hard time, where every single human life was challenged with each passing day.

The death toll of the apocalypse approximately exceeded ninety percent of the total population at this time. It wasn't only a severe blow to our civilization where we lost everything we achieved for millennia, but it put the human race at the risk of extinction.

I didn't know if I should be grateful or resentful towards the old man. No one would ever like coming here and living this hell on his own accord. However I now had a chance. It was one of a kind chance to have a class of my own and change my own destiny.

"What tells you that I'm a stranger?" I plainly asked while trying to get my thoughts straight. I tried to recall everything I knew about the apocalypse. But I had one little problem here.

There were two totally different stories about what happened! One that I and everyone in my time lived to hear and believe in, and another that the old man narrated.

Strangely when putting the two against each other, I couldn't help but frown. The main line of events was similar, but the actions and deeds taken by people in such events were drastically different.

One story told how we only cared about our survival and didn't have a chance to do anything else. On the other hand the other told a legendary story of epic battles and fierce resistance accompanied by many heroic actions and victories.

"C'mon, it's not that hard to tell," Isabella said before adding, "your name is weird and your clothes look strange. Not only your Asian features, but also your accent… it looks weird and funny."

I looked up at her and couldn't help but agree on her points. According to the old man she was a quick witted girl, a smart one who had a dream to become a president one day before the apocalypse.

Everything the old man told me about her looks and personality matched up with the young girl beside me. And that made me think about something he told me before sending me here.

Such a girl was destined to do great things in the apocalypse! How come she wasn't mentioned in the official records back in my time?

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

'If you have all of these amazing qualities, if many of the classless humans have such outstanding talents, how come their ancestors failed the days of the apocalypse this bad?'

The voice of the old man rang in my head, giving me a logical answer that I refused to believe before.

"You aren't telling?" she said in a sad tone.

"Tell me about yourself first," I tried to buy myself time to find a suitable and logical answer to her questions. After all, if what the old man said was true, then having this girl by my side was something important for my survival.

"Oh, that's bad of me," she realized she was asking without giving anything about herself first, "I'm from Washington DC, came here to attend the world student forum. I came with my friends of my high school, but they aren't that fun to be with."

"Bullying you?" I asked while trying to recall more info about her. Despite hearing the stories of the old man for endless times thanks to the annoying beads, I didn't truly remember everything.

My mind wasn't interested in hearing such lies, so many things didn't stick there. At this moment I regretted not listening, not taking these stories more seriously or else I would have more info about this girl.

"You can say that about them," she admitted in such a calm tone as if it was nothing, "but it's the last year there. After that I'll move to one of the big colleges, start my real life, and try to achieve my goals."

"Which are?" I tried to kill time by asking logical questions and let her speak instead of me.

"You'd laugh if I told you about them," she seemed hesitant and I couldn't prevent myself from smiling.

"Don't tell me you aim to become this country's president one day," I said while watching her facial expression diligently.

I wanted to know… Wanted to know if what I remembered about her was true or not… Wanted to know if she was truly the girl the old man once told me about or not.

"H… How can you guess that?!" as if I caught her red handed, her face showed a shocked expression. But it was nowhere near my shock.

'It's… Real!' I thought to myself, 'she is… Real!'

"I just said the hardest dream to achieve," as she was the real deal, I didn't give her any reason to doubt me here, "but it's a good dream for such a young girl like you."

"Speaking as if you are an old man yourself," she chuckled and her face beamed with happiness.

She seemed like a lonely girl who was mistreated and misunderstood by her peers. A girl with a great dream that no one believed in.

She was, strangely, like me. I felt like I could really understand her better than anyone she ever met. After all, we two were the same, trying to fight our own battles solo in such a harsh world and against all the odds.

"I just admire your ambition," I felt like giving her positive comments would help in getting her closer to me, "I wish I could have such big dreams as you."

"Then what are your dreams, Hi?" she asked and I couldn't help but correct her: "It's Hye, like Hey, not Hi."

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

"Still a funny name to me," she giggled before adding, "tell me about your dreams, Hye."

I looked up at her bright smile and couldn't help but be lost in thoughts.

All the hardships I lived through so far resurfaced in a flash inside my mind. All the injustice I was dealt with, all the blocks that stood tall in front of my path… Everything I experienced was there in front of my eyes, just like a faint dream I hardly recalled.

"I want… To just survive and thrive in this world," I slowly said.

"I believe you will do just fine," she didn't realize the deep meaning of my words, "oh, we arrived already, time really flew fast."

In front of me I saw the grand and famous central park of this city, the place I selected to be the starting point of my journey.

The place was crowded, just like everything else in New York. Just seeing people walking around, chatting and laughing, having peace in their lives, made me feel jealous.

I came from a world where I had to bow my head to survive, not to raise my eyes or voice or do anything that might enrage any of other races.

I always thought I was living my life before. However, seeing all these people with no death threats in their lives and only worrying about useless things like work and salary made me realize something.

I wasn't living my life before… I was living inside a prison! A grand prison that took away anything that could make life really exist and meaningful. And the most important thing they took from us, from me, was hope.

"Where do you want to go?" she asked after we entered the park, "to the Metropolitan museum of art? That's where the grand meeting will occur."

"We have time till that, right?" I recalled she said we still have a few hours left before that meeting which I knew wouldn't happen. The apocalypse was about to come to the world in less than an hour.

I needed to go somewhere before this happened, and I needed her to be with me at that moment.

"We have…" she looked at her phone before adding, "around three hours left."

"Good," I said, "let's go to the green lawn then."

"Aren't you hungry?" she suddenly asked, "why not pick food on our way there?"

I knew food as people of this world knew of wouldn't exist after the apocalypse. However I always heard legends about the fast food here, especially the burger that I never tasted before.

"Let's have a burger then," I firmly said while she nodded.

"Good choice, I also crave for one right now."

As we walked towards the nearest outlet to sell burgers, I started to finally make up my mind. 'I don't care who is right and wrong, all I want is to have a class of my own and survive this sh*t,' I said to myself, declaring my decision in my mind. 'I want to live not like a loser, but for once in my life… Like a winner, a real winner.'

I clenched my fists while slowly following Isabella's steps.

Chapter 5 - The Apocalypse

"Holy sh*t! This tastes like heaven!!" I was overwhelmed by the sandwich I was eating. It tasted like nothing I ever had in my entire life.

"Don't be silly," Isabella laughed at my reaction, "don't tell me there is no burger from where you came from."

"There is… But it never tastes like this," I gave the first answer that popped up from my mind.

"Then where are you from? You didn't tell me anything about that yet!" she returned again to ask about that.

"I came from far, far away," I said while eating my sandwich, "shouldn't we get back and grab a few more?"

We were already heading towards the great lawn.

"Don't be ridiculous, burgers are always there anytime," she seemed to find my words funny and didn't consider them. However she didn't know that this was the last burger she could have in her life.

"C'mon, just one more, please!" I pleaded and was even ready to beg for her. However she seemed to enjoy my actions and laughed while saying:

"Stop it! I will buy you one more sandwich, so chill out," she paused before adding, "don't forget I'm the one buying!"

When we bought these two sandwiches, I couldn't help but ask her to pay. I came here with nothing at all, and even if I brought with me my little coins from my time, it wouldn't work in this world.

This world was still using these useless papers as a currency. I still didn't get how the people of this time were convinced by such a trick! Papers were worthless, no matter how you looked at it. Gold and other precious metals were noteworthy. Even paintings and statues did have a value in the world after the apocalypse.

But money? They were turned to be mere papers used for burning fire on cold nights or even at the toilet!

As we walked, we met another cart that sold burgers. I really couldn't get filled with these amazing sandwiches! And now I had more reasons to hate the apocalypse, hate coming here in such tight time. Why didn't that old man send me a few days prior? Or even a year? Huh?

"What is the time now?" I asked while seeing the big open space up ahead which was known as the great lawn.

It was looking so peaceful there with many families having their day and enjoying the bright sun. I watched many kids running and playing with their kites, a scene I never saw before in my life.

Kids in my time were burdened with surviving just like adults. Apocalypse never distinguished between big and small, young and old, boy or girl, weak or strong. It was such a brutal and merciless world, a world that stood totally to the opposite of the way of life the people here enjoyed.

"Why are you so interested in time?" It wasn't the first time I asked her about that. I didn't want to lose myself, enjoying these godsent burger sandwiches, while the apocalypse would smash on our heads.

色覚異常かどうかがわかるテストです.丸の中に何の数字が見えますか?TOPSSEEK

Being in the great lawn at the start of the apocalypse was the best place for me. I didn't want to miss it before reaching there.

"It's four P.M.," she said.

"Let's pick up the pace," I stuffed the rest of my precious burger in my mouth and started to walk faster. She seemed startled at first as she didn't move faster until after long moments of pause.

"What's the rush for?" she asked and I couldn't give her the answer to that question yet.

'It's happening at any moment now,' I finally entered the great lawn. I looked around, as if someone who was about to say his farewell to the world here.

"It looks so good to be true," I couldn't help but admit that.

"Why are you acting strange?" she asked but before she could add anymore, the world all around started to change.

The clear and sunny sky started to dim while the ground started shaking. People all over the place stopped what they were doing and raised their heads to the sky.

"What's going on?" Isabella looked frightened, "is it an earthquake?"

Earthquakes didn't cause the sky to dim. I knew what was going on. At least this was one of the things the two different stories in my mind agreed upon.

The sun was going to be swollen by a bigger star that came out of nowhere. According to the old stories and records, the sun vanished in less than a week and things started to be chaotic from that moment on.

Gravity would grow thicker and denser while the day and night as people here knew about would change.

The length of a single day would be elongated by double. Many disasters would befall the planet as it would merge with other worlds in the process.

"Rumble!"

As the sky started to grow darker, a strange and giant shadow loomed up there. 'It's here,' I sucked in a cold breath while watching this epic, hard to describe phenomena.

"Is that… a spaceship?" Isabella tried to give a reason for that strange shadow up there. I didn't correct her. After all, many theories were commonly spread between humans at this point of history.

Aliens, doomsday, the god wrath, world war three, and even ragnarok. All these theories shared bits of the truth, but they never could imagine what was really happening.

"Flash!"

"Flash!"

"Flash!"

'It arrived already!' I looked at the golden screen that flashed in front of my eyes. I couldn't see others, but I was sure it happened to every single human on the planet.

It was the beginning of everything, the first appearance of our soul bound systems.

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

[Congratulations! As a human being you now have a chance to exceed the mortal boundaries and become a mighty figure of your own race. The time of your civilization is over, and now a new experience is waiting for you]

It was the famous introduction message of the system. I already memorized it by heart from the many times I read it.

However when I recalled the words of the old man, comparing what this message said and what happened afterwards made me frown.

This message seemed grand, but it lacked any necessary info. It didn't even state that we were going to merge with other races, or we were at a grand war to prove ourselves worthy. It didn't even mention the start of the apocalypse, leaving humans at such disarray at such critical moment.

Lacking such few and seemingly trivial info at this drastic moment wasn't a small thing. I never thought about it before, however watching the panicked and confused faces of many people around told me this wasn't an easy miss.

According to the old man's side of the story, this was just the beginning of a long list of missing vital and crucial info that wasn't given to humans at the right time.

Knowledge was power, and at this moment I realized how true this ancient saying was.

"Did you… see that?" Isabella pointed at the air while her face looked pale.

"I believe something big is happening," I didn't want to look suspicious. So I acted as if I was one of this age and added, "you have a phone, can you check the news?"

"Yeah," she was jolted awake before she took her phone out. She first gazed up at the sky, then around, before she sucked in a deep breath and started to surf the net.

I knew she would find nothing. The first thing that the apocalypse did was to make sure our entire technology would be useless. And that happened in the first seconds of it.

"What the hell… it isn't responding!!" She was shocked and terrified when the phone looked dead.

"Let me see," I tried to act normal and checked the dead phone. I knew this would happen, as the weapon the apocalypse used was some sort of a worldwide scale electromagnetic pulse.

That meant simply one thing; any technology of this age would be rendered useless. "Is the battery dead?"

"No way, it was over half a minute ago," she was still in shock. So I decided to limit my words for now.

She looked frustrated, a normal reaction for anyone in her situation. I turned around and most of the people around looked the same.

The bright light of the sun was dimmed and now it was hard to see towards the far end of this part of park. However I knew soon everyone would gather around, and that was thanks to the next step of the apocalypse.

[Quest 1 had been issued to you]

[Part 1 of quest 1: Survive for the next hour.

Reward: You'll get acknowledged and will have the system bound to you.

Penalty: Death]

"What the f*ck?!!" I couldn't bring myself to curse out loud when I saw this message.

Chapter 6 - The First Threat

I was totally shocked by this quest! It was a fact that I knew about it beforehand, but I never knew it was made up of parts!

The quest should start with the appearance of them, then a long lecture to explain things here.

However this quest looked different. People around didn't have any info at all regarding what was going on here.

And that was one of the deadliest things anyone could have at such a moment; confusion!

'If so… Then the old man's words are proven to be right once again,' I couldn't help but admit that, 'putting that into consideration, that means what he warned me about is also true.'

I turned my gaze around in vigilance while looking at the faces of the people nearby. They were all shocked by the appearance of that quest, while Isabella mistook my words here.

"What do you think is going on?" she asked while I felt she was closer to me now. I realized at this moment that I was acting strong and unshaken, slightly weird in such a situation.

But my last curse saved me, it freed me from her suspicion radar. "I believe we have to face something during the next hour."

"Survive what exactly?" she asked as if she knew I had some knowledge about what was going on here.

"I dunno," I shrugged, "but let's hope it's not a nuclear war or something."

I knew people of this age were most terrified of these kinds of weapons. However they didn't know that once the apocalypse started, all the places with such weapons were destroyed cleanly without giving it any chance to detonate.

"Don't tell me…" her face paled, "it's world war three!!!"

I didn't answer. At this moment I heard a ruckus coming from all over the place. 'They are gathering up,' I moved my eyes silently while watching everyone getting together and getting closer.

"Listen up everyone," one suddenly spoke in a loud tone, "we are all now confused. But let's not panic. I'm sure the government is doing something about this situation right now."

I looked at this man who had a strong build and some military experience. However I didn't trust him.

After all, I had a warning from the old man, one that I needed to take seriously at the moment.

"What should we do now?"

"Anyone got a signal? My phone is dead!"

色覚異常かどうかがわかるテストです.丸の中に何の数字が見えますか?TOPSSEEK

"What's happening?"

"What are all these weird golden floating messages?"

"Where the hell is the sun?"

Many questions rose up and they seemed logical. But I didn't drop my guard especially when more people began to gather around.

"I have no answer to that," that man honestly said, "but at least we have to move out of here."

'Bingo!' I didn't know why but I felt strange excitement when I heard these words. 'One of them is here… So the old man wasn't lying after all.'

"Where should we go?"

"Home?"

Many nodded in agreement. After all most of them came from places inside New York city.

"Sorry but I don't think it's wise to do that," but that man suddenly said in a loud tone, "who knows what is going on here? Most likely it's a nuclear war or something."

His words caused an instant state of panic around everyone. I felt Isabella's gazes fall on me from the side, as if she was giving me the credit for such a hypothesis.

"I say we go somewhere safe first."

'Here it comes!' I thought to myself while noticing some people acting strange at the moment.

They were standing far away like they were prison guards. When that man said these words, they moved silently amidst the crowd and vanished within them.

At least a few hundred were gathering up here, families with kids, friends from school or college. I looked at all of them while knowing their fate.

Despite that, I had no intention of interfering. It was a lost cause if I did so, plus I had to take care of myself first.

"Where?" a shout came from within the crowd that I was sure came from one of those suspicious people.

"I say the subway tunnels," that man said, "it's the safest place we can hide at during such times."

"That's a good point," one man said.

"I say we go with you," a woman said.

"I agree with what you said," another man said.

It was just a matter of time before many expressed their agreement out loud while everyone else went silent.

"Then let's go," the man who acted like the leader of the group said while starting to move, "we'll hit the first subway station we meet before entering the tunnels there."

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

"Yeah, that's a good point."

"That's the safest place we can hide at the moment."

"Even if a nuclear missile fell here, we'll have a chance this way."

More and more expressed their opinions out loud as if they agreed to do that beforehand. And it wasn't a surprise to see most of the people here moving out after that man.

But I didn't move an inch! I knew everything! That wasn't a safe trip, it was a deadly trap that no one would ever survive from!

According to the old man, and now I totally believed in what he said, some people were contacted prior to the apocalypse.

They were given some privilege and time to test the reality of the offer. They looked like normal humans but in fact they were enjoying something different; a system!

They got their systems activated on one condition; to become traitors to the human kind and work for those dirty species who wanted us dead!

The early days of the apocalypse were the worst per the words of the old man and the official records. Most deaths occurred within these days and they were all explained by the state of confusion and panic by the records.

But according to the old man's words, they were caused mostly by those filthy traitors!

"Aren't we going after them?" Isabella seemed surprised to see me standing motionless with no intention of following them.

"Don't you see it slightly suspicious?" I turned to her as I added, "we have strange things happening now. I know nuclear war is one of the possible reasons for all this, but it's not the only reason here."

"What do you mean?" her gaze was dead serious. I couldn't lose her, not when I met her out of pure luck.

According to the official records, her name wasn't mentioned there at all. That meant she would eventually die, and that wasn't a surprise.

The trap these traitors were leading the people here to wasn't a simple one. Even with all my experience in dealing with monsters and all my knowledge about the apocalypse, I didn't have a chance there.

"I dunno," I shrugged to push away any sense of suspicion about myself, "it's just that man didn't seem trustworthy. Something is fishy about him. It's like he knows what's going on here and has a plan for it."

"No way," she turned to look at the getting far larger group of people, "but he seems reliable to me, like an ex-soldier or someone working for the government."

"I know he looks like that," I acknowledged this, "but in another way he didn't even take the opinions of people here. It's not a normal thing to do."

Her eyes widened and I knew that I got to her at last. I wasn't lying or bluffing. After all these traitors did a simple trick here.

They manipulated the minds of the group with someone looking reliable and a scattered few who declared their support in the open.

It was a mind game that, if not for the old man's warnings from before, I would have fallen in it as well.

"Mentioning this… I find it weird too," she finally took my bait, "that's not a normal way of thinking here. We should use democracy and voting, not just forcing opinions on others."

A good saying coming from someone who wanted to become a president one day. However despite convincing her, I knew things wouldn't easily end up here.

We two weren't the only ones staying behind. Scattered groups of tens of people remained behind with us. I could tell by a single glance they were students and friends from college, people with a natural instinct to doubt and question any form of authority even if it was in such a hidden form.

"Excuse me," as I expected, that man who just led everyone here towards their death came back in less than a few minutes. He targeted the two of us first, mistaking us to be the easiest ones to sell his crap to.. "Aren't you coming with us? Staying with the group is much better than staying here alone."

Chapter 7 - The Traitor

I had to admit, he was bold to come and speak to us this way.

However before I could speak, Isabella jumped in and finally showed evidence of her support to me.

"Who says we should do so?" she crossed her arms before adding in a loud tone, "this is a free country. No one is obliged to do anything against his wish."

"C'mon, you are too young to realize what you are doing," unexpected to me, that man dared to extend his arm and grab Isabella's.

"Hey," I interfered at once before he could catch her arm with my hand. He gave me such a glaring gaze as if he was so enraged by our actions.

"How dare you?!" Isabella was shocked for a second there before she exploded at him, "what gives you the right to touch me? Get the f*ck off my sight now!"

This little conflict attracted the attention of the scattered groups here. What was happening to us was about to happen to them as well. They were smart enough to know that.

I knew they weren't firm believers like me in staying here. If that man tried to persuade them, most of them would comply in the end.

And that was what that traitor did as a mistake, coming to persuade me in the first place.

What that man did and the sharp reaction from Isabella made it easier for the others to make up their minds.

If they had a speck of doubt before towards that man, they did now have a ton!

"Sorry," the man noticed the change in the atmosphere here as everyone moved and gathered around us. "I'm just worried about your safety. You are still young and inexperienced in life."

"F*ck off!" Isabella's sharp answer made others interfere and even pushed the man away.

"You heard the girl, you have no right to force her or anyone on anything!"

"How can someone like you be at this age? God!"

"I can't believe you just fooled everyone to follow you just now. I feel sorry for them!"

More and more comments started to be thrown onto that man's face. 'Serves you right, bastard,' I inwardly sneered while watching him retreat with a complicated look on his face.

2023年の世界で最も売れた自動車トップ20のうち,半数が日本車で,1位の車種は64%の成長を達成しました.TOPSSEEK

I knew why he came back, and it was the same reason behind his future return. However, next time he wouldn't come in peace.

Traitors had quests of their own. The more people they lured into the trap, the more people they killed by this way, the higher their rewards would be. Eventually they would be drunk in doing this until they became one of the greatest evil threats to humans in the apocalypse.

However, that didn't mean I didn't know their weaknesses.

"Let's go," without hesitation I turned around and started to walk towards one direction.

"Wait," just as I moved a couple of steps, a youth shouted, "can we come with you?"

"Yeah, we trust you more than that bastard!"

"Please, it's hard to stay alive when we are divided."

"Yeah, strength is in unity, it's a known fact."

I gazed up at them in silence while feeling sorry. People of this age didn't know how to play this game, they even didn't know the basic rules of it.

One of the many reasons I selected the central park as my top priority was what just happened now.

The first quest was related to survival as the human world would be invaded by herds of monsters. Monsters came from dark and cold worlds so they had their own ways to find their targets here after the sun died down.

The more people gathered around the more monsters that would come to attack them. That was one of the reasons I didn't interfere back when the traitors lured people away.

I needed to decrease the number of people as much as possible. Plus the facts they were speaking about weren't totally correct.

According to the many experiences gathered from those who survived this era, those who stayed with a few groups of people had higher chances to survive than others.

At the early stages of this survival game, staying alone was much better than in a group. But later when people started to unlock their powers and gained strength, they would aim to roam the world on their own.

And that was, once again, wrong! It was ironic but when we were weak we shouldn't stick together and when we gained power we should stay next to each other.

After all, challenges of the later stages of the apocalypse were really frightening. No single human could stand against them depending on his power, no matter how strong he grew to become.

"Please, let them come with us."

It seemed that my hesitation was too obvious to Isabella who gave me such a look. I couldn't bring myself to deny her first request. I wanted her to trust me further and lower her guards. This was the only way to get this fierce fighter later on to stick by the side of a loser like me.

"Alright," I agreed. After all, the first quest wasn't that difficult to clear if you knew the rules and the tricks. And I knew them all.

"Where are we heading now?" The group walked in silence around while Isabella tried to start a discussion with me.

"I heard there are few playgrounds here," I faked my ignorance of what I was really doing, "like baseball and football fields."

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

"Yeah, there are many around here," one youth said, "I once played there with my friends."

"It's not far, only a hundred meters away from here," another said. In fact all of them were around my age, given one or two years up and down.

"Let's go there then," I acted like I was respecting their call and listening to what they just suggested. That would give me some leverage to order them around later on.

"May I ask why?" a girl said in a shy tone. I didn't even turn to see whoever spoke to me, but I expected such a question.

"Did you notice the world around us is getting darker?" I slowly said while not telling them everything at once.

"The sun is off, so it's getting darker," one youth said as if it was a known fact.

"Then why didn't the lights turn on until now?"

All of sudden I sensed the change of the atmosphere to be filled with shock and nervousness. I even heard a few whispers between them while I kept myself all silent.

Such a small and unnoticed detail was the crucial element in determining life and death in this quest. After all, the monsters came from dark and cold worlds, so they weren't accustomed to light at all.

Unlike humans, who were used to walking in light and feared the darkness. So anyone sitting at the subway tunnels, away from any potential source of light, would be in great disadvantage here. They would turn into living stock waiting for slaughter in the eyes of monsters.

Monsters would see them clearly while humans would only see nothing. It would be best described as the massacres of the subways.

"The power grid might be down," one of the kids tried to find a good reason for all of this.

"Then why our phones aren't working?" I asked before adding, "anyone got a laptop? Let's see if it's working or not. We need a source of light to guide us here."

Although we lost precious minutes back when these traitors did their show, I didn't care now for wasting more minutes here. We were almost at a big open playground, a field that seemed to be dedicated for the baseball game.

I was near my target, and I didn't mind making myself more convincing. Who knew, I might find a few hidden gems in the middle of this group after all.

Even if I didn't want them with me at first, now I had to get all the benefits I could from them as long as they were here.

Who told them to follow me in the first place?

"Holy sh*t! It's dead!"

"Mine too!"

"How come… Do you know what happened?"

The group all looked at me and I didn't feel any pressure at all. Their childish gazes were nothing compared to the stinky breaths of a werewolf or the roars of a golam.

Facing these kids was like a breeze to me. "I believe an electromagnetic weapon was used on a wide scale," I said while moving towards a small room just meters away from us.

"Click!" I found it open to my luck. I was ready to crush the door to get in there if needed to.

And when I entered, I found what I was looking for.

Chapter 8 - Getting Ready For Monsters

"Clank!"

The moment I pressed the button, the machine was kicked to life. All of sudden the entire playground was lit and its bright spotlights kicked away the darkness in a blink of an eye.

"Wow! I never thought something like this would be here!!" one of the youths said in awe while others nodded in agreement.

Even Isabella gave me such a deep gaze, like she was wondering how I knew about the presence of such a generator here.

"Back in my place, every playground had one like this in case of emergency," I lied.

"But how come it works and nothing else does?" another one asked, and I was prepared for it.

"This works on gasoline with old tech," I simply explained, "anything advanced with chips embedded won't work."

"Brilliant," Isabella admitted, "I never took you for such one."

"Like whom?" I asked while trying to hide my joy out of her praise.

A loser like me getting praised from such a queen, that was something worthy of celebration indeed.

"Someone who puts his mind before anything else."

I smiled and walked outside the room. Despite doing all this, things weren't safe yet.

"Howl!"

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

"Roar!"

All of sudden the world around started to grow scarier by all the sounds coming from the monsters. 'They finally came,' I muttered to myself before moving my eyes around.

Sacrifices were necessary, something no one could escape from. However what mattered was the end result of any clash for a group like us.

Almost all of those around me looked terrified, all except for three. I sat my gaze upon them, including Isabella.

"Let's get inside," I said while leading them towards the inner space of this field.

"What was that?" one youth asked in fear, "I think there are wolves outside."

"Wolves howl, but I heard roaring as well," a girl said in a pale face while her body kept shaking out of fear.

She wasn't the only one showing such a reaction, and I couldn't help but inwardly sigh. If it was possible, I would rather save all their lives.

After all they proved to have good instincts and minds of their own. However, thinking like that was childish dreams. I knew what type of monsters we were up against, and it wasn't easy to defend against them.

"This might work," again the roars and howls reverberated across the entire world around us while I grabbed a metallic baseball club from the side of the field. "Come, pick what you like… Here is a good variety of weapons."

I didn't leave the three I picked alone as I grabbed three metallic clubs like mine and threw these to them. There weren't so many of these, so I feared they might end up with wooden ones instead.

"Do you know what's coming at us?" one of the youths felt I knew something as I acted with a plan, not on impulse.

I could already feel gazes of doubts at me. "I just heard the howls of wolves and it's natural to look for something to fight them with," I simply said before adding, "if you don't want to be here, then leave. I didn't invite you to come with me in the first place."

I had to hammer this fact inside their minds now so they would stop questioning me at every single step. It was annoying getting watched and asked such questions, especially when I was fighting for my own life.

I didn't allow them in just to threaten my life like that! If they didn't plan to let things go and mind their own sh*t, then it was better to send them away.

"Thanks," Isabella said while the other two came along. They were two males, almost one year older than me. The two looked like athletes, with good and proportionate bodies with no bulging muscles anywhere.

They took the clubs with appreciative eyes.

"Thanks," one of the two said, "my name is John, it's a pleasure to know you."

"Thanks sir for this," another one was more polite than John, "I'm Allen, do you know if we can close this field on us to prevent these wolves from coming here?"

"I'm Hye," I greeted them differently than my earlier harsh attitude. I looked around and thought Allen got a point here. This field seemed too vulnerable for the upcoming battle. Before I could answer him, someone else did.

"Pft, do you all believe that?" one youth suddenly said while he waved the club he held like he was used to playing baseball, "I never heard about wolves in New York."

"Then what are these things running around the place?" a girl asked in fear and doubt, "if not wolves… then what are they?"

Everyone fell into silence while I was the only one knowing what was coming at us. In fact these monsters weren't wolves, but hyenas.

Wolves were too cunning to come at us first, especially with such bright light enveloping us here.

They were a brutal variation of those brutal monsters. They were bigger, almost four meters in length and two meters in height.

They were like elephants in size, but with high mobility, fierce attacks, and bloodthirsty nature. They were really scary, especially for us in such a weak state.

"Let's barricade this field first," I said while trying to get them to work, "I also want someone high up there to watch."

I pointed towards one of the four big spotlight towers here. There were small metallic ladders which were used for the maintenance of these big torches.

"I can do that," one youth volunteered. I silently watched him as he acted smart.

Being high up there would grant him total immunity against any incoming ground danger... Smart one!

'Another good candidate to recruit,' I said to myself while watching everyone trying to find anything to fortify the door and the weak net around.

The field was surrounded with a net made out of ropes like a gigantic version of fisher net. It looked weak, so weak to stop monsters from coming here.

But I never counted on them in the first place. Even those who tried to survive the first quest by hiding inside their apartment's fortified doors ended up dying in the end.

These monsters weren't a joke! A simple claw of them and any steel could crack open in front of their terrifying force. However, here it was different. The light here would act as my main line of defense.

They weren't yet accustomed to living in such a bright world. If they dared to come here, I'd make sure every single one of them would die.

But in return for that, they would kill more of the group. I looked around and all I could see were terrified and shaking youths with zero experience in actual fights.

I hesitated for a second to tell them where these weaknesses were. But in the end I saw it was better to stay silent and wait until the monsters arrive.

After dealing with the first one, I could easily pinpoint their weakness. My reason would be luck.. We humans loved to believe in such an inexistent thing.

Chapter 9 - Fighting Monsters

"Monsters!"

Just before I could plan my next move, a loud scream came from the youth who went up there. His name was Arnold, someone who looked a good candidate to recruit in my eyes.

"What does he mean by that?" Isabella stood beside me with a worried expression all over her pretty face.

She wasn't alone, everyone else had the same look except for me. I turned around and didn't open my mouth to explain anything.

"We'll soon know that," I said before raising my metallic baseball club in the air, "let's face whatever comes from outside and survive this together."

My sudden shout pushed slightly away the fear and confusion in everyone around. I didn't want them to be with me, but as long as they were here then why not use them properly?

"Roar!"

"Roar!"

"Roar!"

As expected, the hyenas moved in large groups and first surrounded the field. The wolves wouldn't dare to come early on, not before testing waters first by these dumb fools.

The hyenas stood tens of meters away from the border of the field, seemingly hesitant about the light.

"What… the hell is that?!!"

"Are there even such giant monsters in the world?"

"Am I dreaming? C'mon someone please shake my body!"

Many exclamations came and it was normal to react this way. The monsters used to play with two different tactics, either frighten their enemies by standing all silent or by rapidly attacking them with indomitable force.

This time I was lucky it was the former, or else people here wouldn't have time to grasp the situation better and get a good hold on their ragged emotions and thoughts.

"Get ready," unlike them I didn't act surprised. Anyway this was a moment of life and death, "stand near the net and try to shield yourselves with the blockades there."

"Can we really be secured by these useless pieces of metal and wood?" Isabella's question was logical, however everyone moved once they heard my words.

"Let's do our best," I said while Isabella ran after me.

"Can our clubs really kill them?"

She pointed back at the giant hyenas. Each one had a thick yellow fur with black spots. Their heads ended with two long and curved tusks, just like ivory tusks of elephants. But I knew for sure these things weren't just for show.

"We have to do our best," I simply said before turning and stopping her from adding more, "don't speak anything negative now. As you can say, we are outnumbered, surrounded, and without any proper ways to defend ourselves against god knows who these guys are. They are barely standing against all these odds."

I tried to act like a leader, fearing about the morale of his troops. She gave me a deep gaze before sighing. I knew she was smart enough to get my point here.

"Listen up," I shouted while standing in the center of the big circle everyone made without concession, "don't fight those monsters on your own accord. Just help each other."

"What if we were outnumbered?" one of the youths shouted in a voice that looked more eager than terrified.

I looked at him and he was Allen, one of the two I sat my gaze upon. 'Good boy,' I praised inside my mind before answering him.

"That's why I'm here with Isabella," I shortly paused before firmly adding, "no matter what comes at you, always be sure that we'll appear to help. Always know there are two coming from your backs so you won't fall here."

"Roar!"

The monsters seemed to not enjoy the atmosphere here. It was normal, after all they found fear more delicious than killing. However my group only showed rising defiance and challenging spirit instead.

Then one after another hyenas started to run towards us.

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

It was delusional to think that the fisher net surrounding the field and those useless benches and wooden barricades would stop these behemoths. However the moment they passed through them all, the monsters suddenly twitched their bodies and seemed like they were struggling with something.

"Hit them now! This is our chance!" I acted like luck was on our side and hurriedly shouted at all of them.

As I managed to jolt them awake, everyone finally had the courage to step forward and hit the monsters with their clubs. I didn't expect much and waited patiently for a window to intervene.

"They seem not to inflict much damage," Isabella who stood by my side said, "but the monsters look like they are struggling."

"I dunno why, but it's good for us anyway," I acted as if I didn't know what was going on while moving my eyes around. "Open your eyes, if any dangerous looking situation happened, instantly alarm me about it," I said while giving this hard to fool girl a task to do.

"Roar!"

Just as expected, the clubs weren't doing any actual damage to the monsters. However they were already in deep pain and these clubs kept annoying them.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

One after another, monsters started to turn around and hit anyone nearby. Their great bodies acted as great weapons even if they were used crudely in such a way.

Taking such a hit wasn't deadly, however more monsters were flooding the place from the outside.

"Hey! Look! Out there… Fast!" It seemed the excitement and pressure of this battle already found their way inside the soul of Isabella. She frantically tapped on my shoulder as if she was punching it while trying to shift my gaze to one direction.

"There…" My eyes shone when I saw three hyenas running towards two fallen youths. They were just thrown away by one berserk hyena they tried to hit together. It was just their bad luck that put them in the path of those three running hyenas.

But it was good luck for me.

"Stay here," without giving her any room to say anything, I moved while holding the club in my hand firmly. I wasn't truly under any pressure here, I knew what I was doing anyway.

But I had to put on a good show.

"Run!" I shouted in a fake nervous tone while the two youths seemed to realize the fate that awaited them, "move away, now!" I ran as I shouted while putting on a very worried expression over my face.

It seemed that my shouts, my actions, my frantic running… All attracted the attention of everyone fighting here. They all turned towards me and I felt their gazes over my body.

'Good, I need you all to pay attention to this,' I inwardly smiled in a calm way like I wasn't heading towards deadly monsters, 'I never tried to explain anything to anyone before, so I hope you'll get it from just watching.'

"Get away now!" however I kept yelling, playing my role perfectly till the end as their savior.

"ِAhhh!"

"Ahhh!"

Two loud and painful screams echoed from the throats of the two poor youths. They were stumbled upon by the big merciless paws of the three hyenas.

The moment they screamed, the hyenas heard them and realized there was a treat they missed. Instantly they stopped and were about to turn to eat the two youths' flesh when I suddenly accelerated.

"Stop your claws, damn barbarics!" my shout was so loud and filled with endless anger. It was all fake, but it was the necessary setting for what was about to come.

Despite not seeing clearly and getting their bodies aching by the light, they could still hear perfectly well. The moment I shouted, the three big heads turned to me while their mouths drooled for the naive meal coming at them.

"Roar!"

They roared and opened their mouths to gnash on my body. They moved their frontal legs as they slowly jumped in the air. Taking a single step for them was equal to three meters crossing for me.

"Hye! Watch out!" I heard the anxious scream from behind. It was Isabella and I was slightly touched by her feeling.

However I was far away from any harm. I shouted to provoke them, divert their attention to me.

As they jumped towards me, I leant on the ground and let my body slide below them. I was driven by my speed and they just made things easier by taking that step.

'Die you weaklings!' I inwardly snorted while pushing my legs against the ground and flew like an arrow upwards. My arm moved and the iron club hit the point I was aiming for.

At the first quest, humans tried everything to kill these monsters. Later on when they acquired systems and upgraded their stats, playing with these hyenas became easier.

Then they all realized the sole point of weakness in these monsters. In fact it was too obvious to not notice it, making everyone feel regret about not noticing it earlier.

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

It was the two long curved tusks just on the side of each monster's neck.

In fact there weren't just two. The structure of these tusks was slightly complicated. There was another pair of small vertical, thorn-like tusks buried inside the thick fur of these hyenas.

Just dealing a direct blow with enough strength to smash an egg shell against the lower part of the hyena's neck was enough to push these thorns inside their flesh.

No resistance was there when I waved my club and hit the first monster where it would kill it. The hit seemed weak, with no one expecting anything from it. However the next moment that monster raised its head to the sky before losing all the signs of life in its body.

"Thud!" it slammed against the ground motionless while its dead body glided for a few meters before stopping.

This scene came as a shock to everyone who was here. Even the monsters here felt the death of their comrades and couldn't help but all stop what they were doing and look around, trying to find where I was.

Such a heavy and deafening silence suddenly prevailed in this chaotic battle. however I didn't stop my club after hitting that first monster. I knew what I was doing and didn't need to even turn around to check on the success of my hit.

So after hitting the first, I moved my arm and hit the second and then the third. I was like holding my club and hitting mosquitos, not giant and scary monsters like these.

"Thud!"

"Thud!"

Two more muffled sounds came and the other two hyenas fell to the ground dead. I faked my shock as I panted to catch up my breath.

'Dammit! Fighting without stats really hurts!'

I just pulled something that my current body couldn't handle it seemed. I forgot that the body I used to have wasn't here anymore. I had no stats yet and that made me feel tired fast.

"Hye!" I could hear the shocked shout from Isabella and I knew the reason. After all I was close, too close from one of the main entrances these monsters created.

The ones inside the field were blinded and tortured by the light. However those remaining outside in the darkness were able to see everything clearly.

I expected them to come in waves at me. However I didn't see my fatigue coming. The next moment I started to run back to the center of the field while my speed greatly decreased.

"Behind you!" Isabella didn't need to scream every time a monster would come at me! It made me look much worse than I was already.

I didn't need to fake anything anymore. I just showed how to kill these monsters and I had no reason to hold back.

I only tried to minimize my physical activity, fearing to add more weariness to my body.

I turned around and jumped to the side while easily evading the incoming bulldozer at my back. The hyena missed me with mere inches, while my club moved fast to slam at the lower part of its neck.

"Thud!"

One more monster fell, but many more were coming. At this point, all the youths surviving here started to act like me, aiming at the weak point of these monsters.

Four came to my aid alongside Isabella who had a relieved expression on her face when the others blocked the monsters. Just seeing her genuine feelings made me slightly embarrassed. I just played you all, and yet you gave me such warm eyes!

"Hit them at the lower part of their necks," I shouted as if I wasn't well aware of what everyone was doing at the moment.

"We know, just get yourself back at once," Isabella grabbed my arm before adding, "can you handle it here?"

"It's much easier now thanks to Hye bro," one of the four said in confidence, however I knew things wouldn't be that easy for them.

Even if I was fighting with no stats and in such a weak body, I still held my long survival instincts and experience with me. Compared to them, I was like a veteran general and they were mere newbie soldiers.

As Isabella moved me towards the central part of the field, I looked around and found what I thought of came true.

Despite aiming at the weak points of the monsters, and even with the weakened state these monsters were in, not all the youths managed to come out of these clashes unscathed.

Some had deep and serious looking wounds caused by the monsters' heavy bodies or their sharp claws. Even a few started to fall cold on the ground, losing their lives.

"We… Can survive this," as I was busy watching the fight, Isabella saw in all this a glimpse of hope for survival. Of course we were going to survive, and it was good she wasn't that shaken by all of our losses.

In fact things were heading much better than I initially thought. I estimated to lose over three quarters of our numbers, but we would end up only losing half.

And not all of them would be dead. That was good as these people would turn out later to be fierce humans after surviving this.

"What is Arnold doing?"

Just as I was watching and observing the fight closely, Isabella's shocked comment attracted my attention to look in a certain direction.

And the moment I saw that youth, who was supposed to be standing on the highest point here, running in the middle of the hyenas without any monster hindering his steps… My heart dropped to the rock bottom.

"No f*cking way!!!" I was really shocked this time when a terrifying scenario popped into my head at that moment.

Chapter 10 - I Have To Stop Him

My body froze for a brief second while many things started to flash fast in my mind. I recalled what the old man warned me about, the group of traitors we met, and now this.

"Dammit!" The next instant my body moved on its own while trying to stop a disaster. "Why the hell is someone like him here?!" This was a question that I instantly got the answer to in the next moment. My mind didn't give me the answer, but the scared tone in Isabella's shaky voice.

"What's going on? Why is he heading towards that room?"

'Yes indeed,' I couldn't help but turn my head and take a fast glance at Isabella.

Arnold was the one I admired before thanks to his quick wits. However it seemed I read him wrong. He didn't volunteer to go up there out of nothing.

That high place secured him a safe spot away from monsters, but it also saved him from the trouble of meddling with us or dealing with the bright light here.

He was a traitor! Just like the group I met before the start of this quest. However a traitor being here, at this time and place seemed weird.

Until I heard her voice. Yes indeed he was here for her! There must have been a reason behind someone as powerful and resourceful as Isabella to not be mentioned in the historical records of my time.

She was killed! Targeted just early on when the stages of the apocalypse were still developing. In fact when I saw it this way, based on what the old man told me about her, it looked like this was the perfect timing to dispose of such a troublesome opponent in the future.

However I didn't see this coming. Not even the thought crossed my mind. And that made me shaken from within. 'Even after coming here with all the knowledge, I still was tricked in such a way,' I honestly admitted the advantage of my enemy over me.

I wasn't the only one here with knowledge, but I was the one limited by my power and resources. While I was struggling to survive and yet to acquire any stat, my enemy had legions of monsters and armies of traitors under his command.

2023年の世界で最も売れた自動車トップ20のうち,半数が日本車で,1位の車種は64%の成長を達成しました.TOPSSEEK

The last words of the old man before he sent me here rang clearly in my head. His last unbelievable story about that enemy with the power to return in time seemed to be true.

However I had to deal with that imminent threat right now. Or else everything I worked so hard to acquire would be puffed in thin air.

I realized from a single glance what that traitor was trying to do. Traitors were humans in their cores, supported with systems and got their stats augmented before the real start of the apocalypse.

They had their own path to walk, unique quests solely crafted for them. I knew he wasn't a simple traitor to be sent to achieve such a mission.

It seemed my intervention came as a surprise to him, toppling up his plans. But he quickly adapted to my actions and saw the sole weakness here; that generator who supported the lights in the field.

Despite being human, they were also subjected to the same weakness like monsters. After all, their bodies and souls got tainted by the dark energy of monsters, turning them into hybrid species that could evolve fast and cause trouble.

But that also meant he couldn't withstand too much of light. As I tried to run as fast as I could, I gazed up at the spot that damn bastard selected back then. He wasn't fooling around and it seemed he got his mind on that plan from the early moments of my intervention.

That small light tower was the closest one to that generator room. I was now delayed by almost half of the field away from him, with many hyenas standing between the two of us.

However that wasn't the main problem here, my poor physical condition was. I couldn't outmatch him in speed even if I tried. He was supported already by the system and got his stats risen, not like myself.

I had to stop him! Also I had to put into consideration what was going to happen if I failed.

And frankly speaking, my odds of success were very low considering everything.

"Listen up…" I suddenly raised my voice while aiming towards the closest hyena to me, "gather around in a small circle, take Isabella as the center and stay together no matter what."

If that damn traitor thought even for one second that his actions would end up killing all of us, I beg to differ.

"Hye!"

'Stop screaming, I know what I'm doing!' Just as I moved directly towards the hyena, it was clear that I didn't aim to kill it.

It was futile to do so. Not only wasting my limited time on these useless monsters, but also a waste of my stamina.

カップルが輸送コンテナを豪華な家に変身,中を見てみようTOPSSEEK

Isabella screamed in panic as if she saw me acting a bit suicidal here. She was partly right, but my suicidal act wasn't about directly confronting this berserk hyena right now. It was what was going to happen next.

"Woosh!"

Just as I got closer to it, I felt danger from this monster. It was a pathetic monster considering my previous standards, but now it was a really terrifying one.

"I'll borrow your help," I wasn't fazed as I slowly avoided its heavy head and bypassed its weak point at the neck. My aim from the start wasn't its weak spot, but its strong and violent moving back legs.

As I reached there, I embraced myself for the impact. However no matter how hard I readied myself, the pain I felt was really immense and severe.

"Tuck!"

Like a cannonball, my body was thrown into the air by a simple touch from that monster's rear legs. I was thrown fast towards one direction, a direction that I desperately wanted to reach.

"Hye!" I faintly heard the screams of Isabella meddling with the intense pain from the hit and the fast air howling around my ears.

"Bang!"

I fell like a dead rock on the side of that room. My body ached and I rolled for a couple of times before forcibly stopping myself.

I still held my club while leaning on it like a cane to stand. I was lucky to land on the place I wanted, conscious despite all my pain and injuries.

But not that lucky after all.

"Raor!"

"Roar!"

"Roar!"

"Dammit! He is even prepared for such a case," I gnashed my teeth while holding my club firmly with both hands. At this critical moment, there was no time to fool around this group of ten hyenas that guarded the front of the generator room.

I needed to carve my way in that damned room by any means, no matter the price I would pay.