19-26

Chapter 19 - Facing The Wolf Pack

Everything came down to knowledge again. Just when I considered what the old man told me as the truth, I started to lay down this trap.

According to the old man, if coins were the main currency of this world then blessing would be its hard currency and the most precious one.

To gain blessing, one had to do difficult quests and wait for a long time to accumulate enough to make a difference.

I knew the angels were acting like the facilitators, like the organizers of any event. Such a position gave them many privileges that I wouldn't be able to compete against at this early stage of the apocalypse.

So I had to use my brain and act slightly cunning here.

According to the old man's words, the guides came to this world with empty blessing. To make things fair, the angels had no access to any blessing they accumulated before, not until a certain point of this dangerous game.

The system acted as the fair judge here, trying to balance things out. So putting them as my main enemy, and the foremost danger of all against my current plans, I had to undermine their authority by any means possible.

I knew they were coming for me, for my team. So I patiently waited and didn't give any indication of leaving. Despite that field already doing its part here, I didn't show any intention of even looking for another one.

Even when my teammates asked about changing it, I refused with logic to express my resolve to stay there.

All this was to lure these bastards to plan ahead of time based solely on that. And they did. The group of humans mixed with traitors was the best evidence for that.

But it was far from enough for me. I had to force them to consume the little blessing they accumulated during part one of the first quest.

As they were the ones who issued the dark quests of the traitors, they accumulated little amount of blessing during that part of the quest. Despite being little, I was wary of their actions.

Just like what they did to stop me, they could easily use their blessing and issue subquests and even enforce them upon me.

The old man told me in the recording I listened to after the completion of the first part of the quest that the angels acted in zones of dominance. Despite belonging to one camp, they competed fiercely among each other.

So it wasn't possible for any angel other than those three to step in here and act. Even if the three angels realized what I was going to do, no other angel would help as this would be like helping their rivals.

And so I tried to make a situation where I would slip away with my entire team. At the same time I made sure to show off my leadership and showed a part of tyranny that I didn't have for real.

All that made them be fooled by me. They mistook my intentions and issued that subquest which would take a large amount of their blessing.

But it wasn't enough yet.

So I played that little act there to push them deeper into my trap and force them to use the remaining blessing the three of them had. And they did. Just like a magician who tricked his audience using distraction.

As for my main goal, I was now walking with confidence towards it.

I knew my actions would be closely monitored. Getting away from the team in such a manner would enrage these bastards. They wouldn't hesitate to send a lot of monsters to hunt me down, leaving the group back there slightly in a more secured position.

And that was why I wasn't worried about leaving the group behind with traitors.

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

'I can't go directly there,' I thought to myself as I knew the moment my real intentions would be revealed to those angles, they wouldn't stop at anything and might even call for a monster crusade against me.

My target was something I yearned earnestly for my entire life. I would never allow anything to stand between me and that goal.

So my next step was to roam the park aimlessly while killing as many monsters as I could.

The size of monsters summoned here was determined by many factors. The number of humans determined by the system, their overall powers, and the intervention of outer forces like the angels.

As the main event of unlocking the real access of those celebrities in the sky, then the only ones who possibly could intervene and add more monsters here were the angels.

But they couldn't do anything for now, not until the end of the second part of this quest anyway.

So I started my journey in the darkness while looking around. I didn't get close to the area where I wanted desperately to reach first, as I headed east towards the metropolitan museum of art.

As Isabella told me before, many youths from various countries were supposed to have an event there. According to the old records and the old man's words, this place held the largest group of survivors here in the park.

I doubted their strength would be matching my current team, however I didn't want this chance to slip by.

As I nullified the nasty angels for this round, why not add more salt to their wounds then?

'Just wait for me, traitors,' I inwardly snorted, 'I won't be late to catch your lives.'

I didn't know if some good seedlings would be present there to recruit or not. However if a large number of people survived then it meant they must have decent powers among themselves.

In fact the little trick of using the generator was inspired by many humans, but one of them was the group at that museum. Of course they didn't use it in the first round, but they'd use it in the next one perhaps.

If not then I'd tell them how to defend themselves better while hunting traitors on the way.

"Howl!"

But first I needed to clear those annoying wolves which seemed to trail me for a while now.

The museum wasn't that far from the great lawn. And now with the skill to see through the darkness I could easily spot their giant bodies from far.

"Come, what are you waiting for?" as I walked away for enough distance, it was time for me to play fully against them.

Each monster in the apocalypse had some sort of weakness. It was like the system wanted the fight to be balanced from the start. Knowing that weakness would help in facing a large number of enemies like I was now.

However I knew that unlike hyenas, these wolves didn't have a weakness of their bodies, but their souls.

"Howl!"

A one long and mighty howl came from one direction. "Finally you decided to come closer and show yourself to me," I smirked before starting to run towards that direction with my full speed.

My body was well rested now from the fatigue I got from the previous quest. All my injuries were healed when I acquired the system, and they would also heal if I started gaining levels.

But to gain levels I needed to either get a blessing or acquire a class.

I never intended to have a blessing after this quest was over. And finding a class was something equal to a miracle here in this early stage.

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

Classes weren't easily acquired. The main classes would be gained after completing the class quest successfully, a thing that wouldn't happen soon anyway.

But I wasn't helpless here either. I got a plan, and I would make sure to do anything to become a force not to be reckoned with. After all those angels wouldn't just swallow their bitter loss in this round and would come at me with everything they got afterwards.

Only strength would protect me, my own strength.

"Howl!"

However, going in that direction wasn't that easy even for me. The path was blocked fast by tens of wolves who started to howl in fierceness.

"Stay out of my damn way!" I didn't hold back my speed as I simply evaded their known pattern of attack and moved my sword to slash their heads and necks.

Their skulls were so heavy that I could not cleave them smoothly. I didn't flinch as this was expected. After all my stats were just the baseline here and my sword wasn't any special at all.

"Slash!"

However that didn't prevent me from leaving a long trail of dead bodies behind my steps. I wasn't just like any normal human who would be inexperienced to face such brutal monsters.

I was acting calm without a speck of worry while getting closer to my target.

The sole weakness of the wolves was in their alpha. The alpha was their mightiest, and also their leader. Killing the leader would sever the mind link between him and the other wolves of this pack.

Normally a pack of wolves would have from two to five hundred wolves in it. Facing all this power alone or even with a group was a suicide.

The wolves tended to surround their prey, cutting any routes of retreat or reinforcements from him. This way they would slowly wear him down before the alpha moves to kill him.

But this time I wasn't acting the prey. I didn't wait in my place waiting to be hunted. I was the predator, the one coming to that big black alpha and I was going to kill it.

No matter how the alpha perceived my actions, it wouldn't try to retreat or run away. The pride of it would prevent that. Plus if it did that, the other wolves would start acting in disarray for a long time.

It was considered a sign of weakness in this harsh world. The alpha knew I was coming for it, and yet it kept itself standing there without any sign of retreat.

That was my main tactic against wolves. As they had their large numbers scattered around, they thinned their ranks and left their alpha vulnerable to me.

"Got you b*tch!" In less than two minutes I found my way to the alpha. It still had a group of strong looking ten wolves protecting him from the side. But it wouldn't make any difference.

Just like the wolves, this alpha had a weakness as well.

"I challenge you," I calmly raised my sword in its face before adding in a domineering tone, "a weak alpha like you can't be allowed to remain alive."

"Howl!"

I knew it could understand the concept of my words despite not knowing the human tongue. It was the trick of the system, and that howl was the angry response I got for my challenge.

I knew the alpha wouldn't let any challenge bypass without accepting it. That was its sole weakness. No matter how many wolves it still had here, it would turn out to be a solo duel between me and it.

"Let's begin," despite reaching this far, I knew that killing it wouldn't be that easy feat to accomplish.. After all it wasn't the alpha for nothing.

Chapter 20 - Killing The Alpha

I held my sword a bit higher than my head while holding it with both hands. I wasn't a swordsman before but enjoyed watching many sparring and training, fighting for their lives against monsters.

"Come closer…" I held my place while that wolf ran in such fierceness and speed. It seemed angry that its prey challenged its authority and dared to raise a sword against it.

Wolves were slightly bigger than hyenas, but they lacked that annoying fur that defended hyenas bodies. They even had some bare spots without a single hair.

Unlike their low defense, their offense was terrifying. I didn't plan on evading it early on as they were famous for their sharp reflexes and high speed.

So I had to let it come closer to me in a range I would evade, attack, and it wouldn't be able to touch me at all.

"How!"

It underestimated me, and I knew it would. The moment it got into the range I wanted, I slightly pushed my legs to the right before suddenly putting all my weight to stop.

A feigning move, something to trick such a monster and made it realize I wasn't a mere walking like other humans.

My first move made it change its direction, but my second jump to the left after I stopped made its move sluggish.

"Slash!"

With my sword holding all my strength I hit its head and neck a couple times before retreating again. If I didn't, its mighty claws would have taken a good piece of my body.

"Grrr…"

"Now we are talking," I snorted when it gnashed its big teeth and showed how sharp they were. It was mad and in pain right now from the wounds I caused.

But they weren't enough even to let it feel weak, not yet.

"C'mon," I motioned with my sword while trying to taunt it, "I don't have the entire night to waste on such garbage like you."

"Howl!"

It didn't stand still and came fast at me. This time I knew it would be wary of my trick so… I didn't intend to trick it from the start.

As I kicked the ground to the left, it kept heading straight forward like I didn't move. Unlike what he expected, I didn't change my direction again and let my sword do the talking. This time I changed the posture of my sword while holding it like a dagger.

Slashing its body looked cool but it didn't leave deep wounds behind. Using the sword like a dagger made it easier for me to tear its strength and weaken it fast.

Couple more clashes like these and the big wolf with the bony outlining of the lower jaw slammed heavily on the ground. It had many wounds on its body and couldn't even stand now.

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

The black hair which looked like silk was now stained in a big spot of red blood. I inflicted over a dozen deep wounds and double that of superficial slashes. It was already over.

However, just as I got near it, I felt sudden danger.

"How can you come and break the challenge?" I welcomed a group of five wolves which dared to interfere. This was supposed to be a sacred fight between me and that alpha. However these dark creatures seemed to have no code of honor.

"Slash!"

"Stab!"

If even their alpha couldn't stand a chance against me, how could mere wolves do? I moved my arms fast while trying to put up a good show here.

After all, my stamina isn't enough to kill all these monsters head on in a long battle. I needed to insert fear in their souls, so they would hesitate to come at me later on like these fools.

"Thud!"

The five fell on the ground motionless while the other wolves looked at me in a threatening way. I turned my sword around, pointing it towards every wolf here as a warning.

I knew they acted out of fear. It wasn't a surprise, after all I got their alpha and five of their strongest wolves in no time.

"Oh, you want to run?" Just as I turned finally to my prey, I found it limping with a broken leg and leaving behind a long trail of blood. If I let it go, it wouldn't survive this. However I had to kill it here.

My main goal wasn't only to disperse this group of annoying wolves, but also to gather coins. Killing a normal wolf would give me around twenty up to a hundred coins at most.

So to gather two thousand coins I needed to kill around twenty to a hundred wolves. It wasn't an easy feat considering my low stamina right now.

"Time to end this," I ran directly towards that wounded alpha while killing any daring wolf that stood in my path blocking it.

"Splash!"

It only needed one hit from my sword before it finally rested in peace. I turned around while my body was covered in their alpha's blood, looking like a real devil.

"Ahhh!" I screamed like a roar and the next instant every single one of them ran away with their lives.

"Good, I doubt I can fight a hundred of you now," I felt tired and rested over the dead body of that alpha. I looked around and felt little pride in myself. "Yeah, I can be strong if I had a chance to."

I still couldn't believe how a classless one like me ended up having such a chance. I held some doubts about my ability to prove myself. What if I was living in the illusion of being special and I wasn't?

Seeing the dead wolves scattered around and this dead alpha made me feel confident. "No, I can do it!" I muttered to myself while clenching my fist.

"So I got one thousand coins from killing that alpha… Not bad," I checked my profile and was pleased to see my balance exceeding two thousand coins.

[You got enough to obtain one stats thanks to the beginner's pack. Do you want to convert them into stats now?]

"Sure," I didn't hesitate to accept it before one stat point was added to my profile. "Now let's add more coins to my account."

I moved slowly while taking everything these monsters could offer. Cores, claws, even teeth and skin… I took them all and put them to the market to be sold there.

[You put an alpha grade core in the market. You can put it in auction if you desire for more coins. Auctions take one hour to conclude]

"Oh," my eyes shone before I hurriedly agreed. Putting anything in the auction meant that thing was recognized to be valuable. "So killing the alpha won't only give me a good chunk of money, but also this core," I muttered while watching a small window with the description of the core and a timer next to it.

"When I put it there, it was worth five hundred coins. And that auction started with that value. So in the worst case scenario I would gain the same amount with zero losses."

It felt good right now. After all the more coins I gathered the more stats I could collect.

I didn't need to store much coins in this quest. However if that core was sold at double the price, why not turn to a wolf hunter and make more money?

As I extracted the materials without doing much labor I felt my body being better now. The museum wasn't that far away from here, I knew it. But something seemed off at the moment.

"I knew they survived in big numbers there, but I don't know how," I muttered while walking towards the east. The sky was still dim and the lights were almost gone. However I couldn't spot any buildings in the distance.

I thought they might have used a trick of light like myself, but I was wrong. "They should discover it in later quests, but the records didn't tell how they managed to survive the early stages."

I knew there must be a reason. Was everyone there a traitor? That couldn't be possible. After all there was no special human left in that group considering that the old man didn't mention them at all before.

Besides I knew they would die before reaching quest five. So a large group of people who couldn't survive the fifth quest, how could they have survived the earliest four then?

I wasn't worried about myself as I was already stronger than anyone else. As I wanted to cover up for my real goal here, I wasn't objecting to going there and checking on this group.

But just after walking for ten more minutes, I felt a strong killing intent coming from one side. I looked around and found small trees scattered there, but I knew what I felt.

"Someone is watching," it was obvious to be one of the two kinds of monsters dwelling in this quest. But unlike my expectations, I didn't get any attacks at all until I finally saw the museum from far.

In fact I found it not thanks to anything but the large group of hyenas fighting there. Just from a single look over the number of those monsters I could tell that at least a hundred humans were inside, if not more.

"Roar!"

"Clang!"

The sounds of fight started faint before it became stronger the closer I got. I clenched the hilt of my sword while being ready for any sudden fight.

That killing intent kept lingering around my steps. Even after coming this far the monsters trailing me didn't attack.

"Do they want to just track my steps or what?" I felt annoyed about this. I didn't want anyone to follow my steps or hinder my path.

But going directly against such unknown danger. "If you don't want to show yourselves, then I'll lure you out," I started to hasten my steps towards the large number of monsters there.

Hyenas were now a piece of cake to me. However to others they were still frightening monsters. When I got closer, I saw the brutal fight between the monsters and humans, a scene that made me frown.

The museum held a much bigger number of survivors than I initially thought! Around five hundred youths were fighting neck to neck with hyenas and wolves.

"This… How can this even be possible?!" I didn't know how to explain this scene. However it wasn't time to talk right now. "Let's kill these bastards first," I held my sword while the dull edge was used to hit the weakness of these monsters.

Compared to wolves, hyenas were like a walk in the park, literally.

Chapter 21 - The Race Detection Compass

I moved in steady steps while leaving behind a long trail of dead bodies. Unlike the wolves which made me constantly on alert, the hyenas looked more docile. I could expect their movement and evade them smoothly without exhausting my stamina.

My sudden appearance from their back made their lines crumble. If I had enough stamina I would rather kill them from the outside, like peeling an onion.

But against almost two thousand or more, I knew I would end up dead if I did so. I moved in a straight line while the hyenas coming near me were all killed in one hit.

I didn't even put any pressure there, just waved my sword and hit that weakness. Just as I got deeper, I started to notice a few movements of wolves at the front.

"They are coming for me," I narrowed my eyes while knowing that facing hyenas or wolves alone was totally different from facing them together.

"Let's pick the pace then," as they started to move towards me, I simply raised my speed and even left many monsters without hitting them.

My top priority now was to narrow the gap between me and the humans around the museum.

"Howl!"

They caught up to me when there was less than two hundred meters left. "Eager to die I see," I moved my sword and kept my movements changing while trying to cover the remaining distance.

"Roar!"

"Screw you!" Just as I covered one hundred meters, I saw a group of angry hyenas coming directly and blocking my path, adding more distance to reach.

"I can't drag this any longer," my main concern was my stamina. After all ten points there was nothing reassuring.

"Should I do it?" I hesitated while jumping to the side. A fierce claw just brandished near my face and then my sword stabbed its neck in return.

"I'm killing them fast, but they are gathering faster," I started to feel tired. During the past few minutes I kept fighting in the middle of a growing crowd of mixed monsters.

Just as I was about to use my hidden card, I heard a loud shout before a group of twenty youths came through. They all held swords or shields, even few wore armors that protected their bodies from these monsters.

Their appearance just came in time to save me the trouble. "This way," a youth who wore a helmet that covered most of his face said while the others cleared a way to the museum.

Without the need for him to ask, I already started running towards there. The monsters roared and howled in fierceness while I finally took a closer look at how this group of youths fought.

'They don't know how to properly fight at all!' Just seeing them waving their weapons at the thick fur of the hyenas made me frown.

They didn't know how to kill hyenas, and yet they managed to sustain the first quest so far. How was that possible?

The gap they created was getting pressured by more monsters at the moment. I looked around fast and saw the youths forming three lines of defenses and blocking the monsters from trespassing here.

"They won't be able to hold them," I knew this was inevitable. After all, charging with courage was much different than retreating against pressure.

I moved fast and without saying a single word, kept hitting the hyenas at their weak spots.

Seeing me fight so close made them realize what I was doing.

"These monsters… they already have a weakness?!!" the one with the helmet said and this time I managed to clearly hear its voice.

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

She was a girl without a doubt! A girl who acted like being the leader of the people here.

"The lower part of the neck is their deadly spot," I said, which was obvious while clearing five more hyenas and relieving the pressure over the retreating youths, "can you do it?"

"Don't look down on us," the girl's attitude shifted before adding in a very loud tone: "Those big hyenas have weak spots below their necks. Hit there and you'll be able to kill them smoothly."

I already retreated to the inside while panting. My body seemed tired and I needed around two to three minutes of rest before resuming the fight again.

"Who are you?" Just as I was looking at the youths around and trying to see how they survived, the girl came closer and asked in a tone that held a lot of suspicion.

'Smart girl,' I took note of her cautious attitude, "I came from the great lawn."

I pointed to the west while the girl didn't even turn her head away from me.

"I know where it lies, and I didn't ask where you are from."

Her face was mostly covered with this spartan like helmet. But I could see the gleam in her eyes, like she was ready to kill me here if I didn't give a proper answer.

"I'm Hye," I said with a smile as if we are two new friends hanging out for the first time.

"I didn't ask about your name," yet her cold attitude continued.

"You asked who I am," I shrugged as if I didn't care about her threatening gazes. In fact if I was worried over my safety, I wouldn't have ventured alone like this.

"Then let me be straight here, what business do you have with us?" she even raised her sword in my face while the group of twenty from earlier came to surround me as well.

In just a moment, I turned to be their enemy without knowing why.

"Don't give me that look," the girl said in a cold tone, "a youth like you walking alone in the middle of darkness without getting killed by monsters… How can this be possible?"

"I'm strong," I said in a light tone before pointing to my clothes, "and I wasn't actually walking peacefully out there."

"What says this is monster blood?"

"If it's not, then what's this?" I didn't like where this conversation was heading. But I was stalling to recover my stamina and also knew if they were traitors or not, my enemies or not.

"It might be human blood," yet her answer surprised me. I looked at her like I was looking at a crazy person. "What? Will you fake it now?" she said as if she knew it all.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I was honestly trying to know what she meant. It couldn't be what I thought of now, right?

"A human walking in the turf of monsters like he is one of them, covered in human blood and can even see in the darkness. C'mon, you should have worked better to conceal your stinky breaths from me."

No f*cking way! I looked at her with one thought in mind… She knew about the traitors! How come someone here at this point knew about them?

That wasn't possible, unless…

"Don't give me that look, I hate it when you try to deceive my eyes!" she seemed angry but what I was going to say next would make her even angrier.

"How come you know about the traitors?" I brandished my sword and pointed it directly on her face, "are you a traitor or what?"

"Traitor? That's a cool name you have about yourselves," she chuckled as if I just said something funny. However I didn't like her, didn't like the atmosphere, didn't like anything here at all.

"Speak or die…" I didn't care about the fact I was surrounded. After all I had vast experience in battle, not like these newbies here.

"Stop or we'll kill you!" however a shout came from outside this ring. I noticed the hatred directed at me from almost everyone here.

That was weird. No human should know the true identity of traitors this early on unless he was himself a traitor.

But on the other hand, what the people around started to say in defense of this girl made me more confused.

"Angelica is really our hero. She stood alone and protected us from all the monsters."

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

"Without her, we won't be standing here now."

"She even found many human-like monsters and killed them all."

"Don't come near her or else we'll all kill you here."

I looked around while not knowing if there was such an illusion skill or something this early in the apocalypse. In my eyes, these people seemed brainwashed by this girl.

"Can you find traitors?" I looked at her while considering something that we both could work with.

"I'm the one asking questions here, traitor," yet she seemed too stubborn to explain anything. However unlike her, the people around seemed to really like her a lot and started to talk again in her stead.

"She is a real hero, one blessed by the power of the heavens."

"Even her name tells about her essence, an angel with the name Angelica!"

"She has psychic powers, ones that enabled her to fight against all monsters and win."

"She used it to detect those humanoid monsters back then and killed them for us."

'Psychic power… Interesting reason,' I scratched my head while thinking, 'why didn't I think about such a reason before? It would have saved me the trouble.'

"So, traitor, what do you want to say in your last moments?" she acted so arrogant and aggressive, as if she was able to hurt me in the first place.

Pathetic!

"How do you deem me one before testing it out?" I asked as if I didn't give a damn about her threats.

"I'm sure of my guess," she said, "or else how can you explain what you did earlier?"

"My reasons are mine alone," I firmly said, "now test me and let's bring this useless show to an end."

She seemed a bit hesitant. What? Did she really have powers to detect traitors? Don't tell me she did!

"Bring me a drop of your blood," she slowly said before I noticed a strange device in her hand. It was like a compass, something I saw a drawing of before.

'This… it's the race detection gear…' My look to her changed the moment I saw this fist sized compass. 'This gear is worth over ten thousand coins alone! Besides, every time she uses it, she has to pay around two thousand coins. How come someone like her has such wealth? No, it's how in the first place she knew about its existence? Suspicious!'

That compass told me a lot about her. Even I, the one who could get such coins in the past quest if I killed all the monsters alone, didn't put such gear in my mind.

It was a gear used to differentiate between the races. But I knew the terrifying ability of this gear. It wasn't just differentiating races based on their origins, but it could also determine the allegiance one held towards the camps of powers here.

And that explained how she could find out about the traitors. But the main question still remained, how could someone possibly know about such a thing?

"I need a drop of blood voluntarily or I'll behead you and take all the blood I need," she said in a threatening tone. She looked fierce, and at this moment I started to reassess her.

"Here," I extended my arm and cut a small wound in my palm. I looked at her eyes, trying to see through that helmet of hers.

She was the most equipped person here, as if she was afraid of being targeted. Her acquisition of that compass meant that she already planned to have it from the start, even from the beginning.

Was she like me? A person from the future or something?

I let a drop of blood fall over a small hole in the compass. The compass had many names written on the outer circle of it. There were all the known races here, including even the angels.

Just inside the outer circle of names there were three circles with different colors; red, green, and white. Red meant enemy, green meant ally, and white meant neutral.

The compass had movable arms only. The moment my blood fell there, the two arms moved fast in rotation before they finally stopped.

"Human and ally," I said while my comment made her dark face from being wrong to being shocked.

"H… How come you know that?!!" she seemed to not expect me to see through this compass. I shrugged while simply saying:

"I told you, my reasons are mine alone.. Unless you want to share with me yours first."

Chapter 22 - The Terrifying Three Tailed Cat Monster

"Humph, acting arrogant like you can force me to do it," she was the real arrogant and full of suspicion here.

"Then let me ask you this," I deliberately raised my voice before adding, "did you perform this test over yourself as well?"

"You…" her face changed and I could see her redness from within the gaps in her helmet. "No one here can use it but me," she said and I knew she was partially right.

"I can," but I was here, right? "Give it to me and I'll perform the test on you."

"How can a mere kid like you be full of yourself?"

"She can use it because she is the great witch we have. How can you be compared to her?"

"As if you have powers like her."

"I do," as many comments of sarcasm spread around me, I instantly answered in a firm tone, "I also have psychic powers, just like her."

Well, who said you were the only one to use this lie here?

"Let's see then," she said in a strong tone but her hands faintly trembled when she handed over the compass to me. After all this was like handing ten thousand coins to me for free.

I wasn't interested in robbing her, I was interested in her. "Your blood," I asked like she did. She cut her arm with her sword and let her blood fall over the compass.

'Time for truth,' I watched the arms dancing with impatience. The compass would determine the race and then the relation of the person who let his blood in towards the one holding the compass.

In other words, I would know for sure if she was an ally or an enemy. That was the most important question here.

"This…" I watched in daze the arms stopping at human and green color. She snathced the compass hurriedly as she feared I would store it away.

"Why look surprised? Did you expect something else or what?" she said before the compass vanished. "Now the show is over. Return to strengthen the defenses. We will break through in five."

"Break through what?" I asked while my shock didn't vanish yet. I was so sure that she was a traitor, just like she was sure I was.

And both of us turned out to be wrong! I knew I wasn't a traitor, but someone who came from the future.

But what about her? How did she know about the traitors and the way to uncover them? There was a deeper secret she held there, and I wanted to know it, badly wanted to know it.

"Through the monsters of course," she answered before turning around, "inform everyone. I'll take the lead and others will follow."

"This… is just insane," I couldn't help but say. After all, I didn't want to see her end up dying before knowing her secret.

"Monsters will scatter the moment we attack them," she said as if she knew everything here, "don't worry, I did that with the previous attack and it worked."

"You are wrong," I couldn't help but hold her arm to stop her.

"Don't touch me!" yet her glaring eyes told me she didn't see me as a friend yet. Sigh, was I acting rashly here or what?

"These monsters are different," I tried to reason with her, "they aren't the same ones you fought at the first quest."

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

"And you want me to believe your words?" she crossed her arms as if she was challenging me, "there are wolves, I admit they are new species. But like any monster, once they saw us united and acting aggressive they'll yield. Plus their numbers aren't great anyway. Last time I faced off two hundred of them. They scattered after killing more than half."

"Yeah, this is the rule of this game," another youth said, one of the twenty who acted like her personal guards or something, "I'm a pro gamer and I can affirm the truth of this."

I heard many agreeing comments here. These fools! They were in the dark without any night vision skills. And they wanted to leave the museum protection that held off many monsters and protected their rears to clash on with the wolves and hyenas?

C'mon, be serious! You didn't know the weakness of the hyenas until I told you about it. I was feeling this group was strong and special, but their leader was a mad girl.

She seemed like those brutal fighters, who would lose themselves in the fight without using the little thing in their heads called brain.

I turned around and saw the fight still raging wild as before. They were doing great till now. The arrangement of the youths here reminded me of the old battle tactics in the lost human civilizations.

Was she a military soldier or something? For the first time I noticed that this arrangement was good for defense and offense. But going out and breaking this formation would bring disastrous ends.

Was this the reason why this group didn't manage to survive past the fifth quest? Now I could see things clearer. No matter who she was, she wasn't the most suitable person to lead these people right now.

"Where are you going?" she noticed me moving in fast steps towards the side of the museum.

"I'm trying to save your lives, thank me later," I only said while my tone showed how annoyed I was. I couldn't believe how someone like her knowing about the apocalypse and its secrets acted in such careless way.

I couldn't stand idle and walked in haste towards a small building on the side of the museum. I knew there was a generator here nearby the main building of the museum, and I was going to use it.

"What do you want from the guards' dorm?" Unlike her actions and words from before, she accompanied me all the way to the building.

"You know this place well?" I asked without turning to her as I found the door locked.

"My father used to work here years ago," she finally gave me a bit of information, "if you are looking for firearms, I hate to tell you that they won't work."

"We tested them before," a youth of her twenty guards said while I ignored these comments and hit the door with my sword.

"Firearms won't work! They are useless scraps of iron now," another youth said as if he knew everything.

'Why the hell are they acting this arrogant?' I couldn't help but inwardly sigh. This group seemed to lack someone wise. They were all strong and with great potential, but the lack of wisdom would bring demise upon everyone else.

The building was small from the outside, but from the inside it looked big. I started opening the doors one by one while all I found was the sleeping rooms of the guards.

"What are you looking for? Tell me and I can help," at last she realized what I was doing and decided to drop her arrogance.

"I want the generator," I turned to her before adding, "do you know where it is?"

"The big generator? It's all in the back. But why…"

Before she could continue, I heard a strong howl coming from outside. "Damn! They are here!" I turned and started to run deep inside the building towards the direction she pointed towards.

"Who are they?" she tried to keep up with me but without a dark vision skill she couldn't see clearly like me. The deeper we went, the darker the place became.

'Found you!' just as she said, it was at the back of the building. I saw it from the semi-opened room. However the moment I got closer, I could smell a scent I couldn't lose.

I raised my sword and all my body stiffened. I just smelt a scent of blood coming from that room. It was so thick and heavy that was like a room of torture and not a generator.

"What's wrong?" She reached me and seemed to notice my attitude. However one of the guards moved in reflex to push the door open.

"Why stop? Let's go inside…"

"Slash!"

He didn't have the time to complete his words before something flashed fast and cut his head. The fountain of blood its body created made everyone panic, but not me.

I narrowed my eyes while seeing the shadow that moved fast just now. "How come it is here?!" I was inwardly shaken and unconsciously clenched the hilt of the sword firmly while not taking a single step forward.

That room, the generator room, was filled with the dead bodies of the guards. In the middle of this massacre, a big monster with a cat head and three tails ends up with sharp steel like stings.

"Do you know what it is?" Angelica asked while she seemed not to see through the darkness inside like me.

"A predator," I slowly said, "the three tailed cat… something that shouldn't be here this soon."

My plans were now ruined. How come such a fierce monster of tier three to be here? This should be the arena of tier one monsters only.

The faces of the three angels appeared in my head next. 'Those bastards! They must have left it here to attack them from the rear when they move out,' I couldn't help but have a bad feeling about that.

If the angels even did that, spending such a big price to permit for a monster that wasn't supposed to appear until quest three, then did they also leave other monsters around the park.

Don't tell me they also left a monster at the place I wanted to go. That would be bad!

"Is this a monster?" a youth seemed to be late in understanding what was going on here, "how come one be here."

"Angelica…" I slowly said before adding, "retreat, go back and barricade this damn building."

"What about you?" she seemed to feel my intention through my words. I raised my sword in challenge to that monster. "I have to kill it, not, I will kill it," I said in determination.

After all, letting such a disaster behind all of them would lead to their death. And as I was here, why not solve this monster and see if I could go to that place now or I should postpone my plans.

Just thinking about this made my blood boil. I didn't come all this way here to not get what was buried deep there. I had to get it, no matter what I would get.

"Then I'll help," just as I was recalling what I knew about this dangerous monster, she gave such a bold declaration.

"If the esteemed witch is staying behind, we will," the youths all said in unison and I couldn't help but frown.

"This monster is strong," I slowly said, "much stronger than any monster you fought before."

"We killed the hyenas and wolves, we can kill them!" one hotblooded youth said and that told me it would be more headache than I initially thought to convince them.

How come she managed to gather up only fools around her? What was she thinking about?

"Let me break it down for you then," I couldn't let good seedlings be wasted, not in vain, not like this.

"If you wanted to compare the strength of this one here, then you can say it's equal to a pack of five hundred wolves alongside their alpha combined together in one monster. It can see perfectly well in the dark and smell you scents from miles away. Its speed, strength, and defense are on a whole level from anything you can imagine. Not to mention its special skills and those annoying three sharp tails of it. If you try to face it, you'll die."

"But you are going to face it alone," Angelica's body trembled while a youth said from behind, "how can you be so sure of defeating it while doubting us? We aren't weak to your knowledge."

"I'm not sure of my current ability to kill it," I honestly admitted.

"Then come with us," another youth said, "witch, please persuade him."

"H… How…" Angelica's shaky tone came like she was scared of this monster at last. However when she continued, I realized I was wrong. "How can you know such things about it? Who… Just who in the world are you?"

I turned to see her body shaking obviously out of fear. I inwardly sighed. This girl… She was shaking out of fear from me.

"I can't kill it with my current strength…" I said while glaring up at those purple elliptical big eyes of that monster that shone in the dark, "and that's exactly why I should fight it."

"W… Why?" Angelica asked again as if she couldn't believe my words. C'mon, I wasn't that terrifying like that.

"I have to challenge myself," I said while taking the first step towards that room, "I have to challenge all the hardships thrown into my face so I can get stronger. This is the only way to survive these dark times, no, this is my own way to survive."

And I reached the place which was considered as the domain of that monster.

Chapter 23 - Fighting The Hybrid Monster

The moment I reached just a few inches away from the door, I felt an intense killing intent towards me.

"Damn!" I saw a fast move of one tail before I jumped inside to evade it. However, that bastard didn't use the three tails at once. It released the other two at me, forcing me to roll on the ground to evade this fierce attack.

I knew if I got a single hit from one tail then I'd be done for.

"Crack!"

Just the moment I stabilized myself on the inside of this big room, I heard a faint clicking sound coming from my feet. "Egg shell?!!" I touched the ground reflexively to feel the unique surface of an egg shell. I looked around for an instant before jumping off again to avoid the incoming tails.

"Roar!"

It roared as it was insulted by my evasion. However at this moment I wasn't thinking at all about the incoming tails or that mighty roar. That egg shell I just found meant only one thing.

"A monster born from an egg… a hybrid monster for god sake!" I was shocked, and I had all the right to be. After all egg monsters was a term called on the disasters happening after the fifth quest.

Was this the reason why this group never made it alive past quest five?

A hybrid monster was a terrifying being that was born from the mate of two different species of monsters. Monsters regularly act like mammalian animals, holding their offsprings inside their bellies like humans.

But this hybrid monster was different. As it held a greater power than its parents, it had to be incubated in an egg while absorbing mana from the world around.

And such a terrifying monster was just here at the first quest. You gotta be kidding me!

"But if you are a hybrid monster, that means you are in a weakened state right now," I kept jumping around while realizing this. The speed of the monster's attacks was barely on par with mine. This wasn't normal as this monster stats should be at least five folds my current stats.

"Should I use it now?" I considered adding more power to myself but I hesitated. After all that hybrid monster was still a baby and in such a weakened state. Plus the weakness I knew about, I had a chance to kill it here.

"How many coins will you give me then?" I knew these monsters were considered elite grades and even higher. The higher the rank of the monster the more coins I could get.

But I had to kill it first.

"Roar!"

That monster had a big head of a cat with a body covered in blue fur. However I could see a few scattered small scales around his body.

It must have a relation to those scaled monsters, hopefully it wouldn't be a dragon or something terrifying like it.

"Angelica…" as I decided to kill it, and I knew how, I had to ask for the help from those standing outside watching. After all, my current gears wouldn't help at all.

"Anything," Angelica seemed to be much calmer than most of the youths around her. She understood that I needed her help even without asking.

"Any archer at the group," I jumped again and kept my distance away from that hybrid monster, "or any magician with long range attacks."

"..."

However for the next minute all I got was only silence. That monster kept reading and adapting to my moves and started to corner me more effectively than before.

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

That was one of the terrifying aspects of the hybrid monsters; they were sane monsters with enough intelligence to cause headache to anyone.

Especially when the fighting place was in such a narrow space. If we were outside in the open, I could have run around in circles to buy some time.

"Don't tell me she only brought swordsmen with her… What was she thinking?!" I mumbled when I realized from all this silence that she didn't have anyone with such ability in her elite squad.

She must have sent someone to fetch archers and magicians. However the people outside were all weaker than the elite group around her. So they couldn't help me at all.

"If plan A fails, then it's time for plan B," I said to myself while jumping and barely avoiding the three spear-like tails by just a few inches.

If I delayed or stopped for even one second, I would get my head rolling on the ground like that youth from before. Another problem arose, which was my stamina.

I knew I would never compete with that monster in an attrition fight thanks to my low stamina. I had to finish it when I got the chance to.

"A shield," I instantly shifted to plan B, "throw me a shield now!"

"Got it," she instantly answered before I evaded another attack, rolled on the ground before looking at the direction of the door.

"No! Don't enter here!"

Angelica seemed to want to come here and deliver it to me. C'mon, I clearly said throw it to me. However, just before she could stop her advance, she entered the room.

"Damn! Throw it! Now!" just as she did, that hybrid monster turned towards her. It was obvious what it was going to do.

And I had to improvise to distract him. Angelica threw the shield towards me, and it took a nice arch in the air bypassing that big body of the monster.

Then she started to retreat. However she was too late to do so.

"Hey, look over here," I knew Angelica was special, but she wasn't as experienced as me. She would react towards this hybrid monster like what she used to do at the normal monsters we faced so far.

And that wasn't even close enough to make her keep her life intact, not to mention getting out of here unscathed.

I didn't hesitate to put all the force I had in my legs before kicking the ground and jumping high in the air. With one hand I raised my sword in preparation to hit the monster's head. With another I was ready to grab the shield coming fast towards me.

"Roar!"

However, unlike what I knew about the arrogant nature of these hybrid monsters, that monster totally ignored me and started to move fast towards angelica.

It was the first time for it to step outside the room, and needless to say a massacre erupted.

The moment Angelica's team of swordsmen saw that monster coming at them like a giant black shadow from within the room, they moved fast forward to intercept it.

Anyone standing in front of its path was killed with no exception. The three tails acted like a killing machine, and in no time almost half of the group were killed before he grabbed Angelica.

I was hitting its back fiercely with my sword while slamming with all my weight using the shield I took. This monster's main weakness was the fragile defense against blunt objects.

Unlike its superb defense against any sharp weapons, it was so vulnerable to anything without sharp edges. It was against any common sense, and that made such monsters terrifying existences to begin with.

I tried to reach its core as fast as possible, however that body shone brightly in strange blue light.

"Is it using a skill now?" I couldn't believe it was able to use a skill when it was in such a weakened state.

I started to have a bad foreboding. I didn't stop my shield from hitting the monster and I was about to cut through the tough skin. But the brilliance of the light coming from the body of the monster became more intensified while I was doing that.

"Clang!"

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

I could already hear Angelica hitting her sword towards the monster in an attempt to free herself. However no matter what she did, she couldn't even budge that monster.

It was expected. How could she free herself using a sharp sword against that hybrid monster.

"Buzz!"

Just as I finally cracked the skin, I heard a loud buzz that made me feel dizzy.

"No way! A teleportation skill!!!" In front of my eyes, layers of circles made of golden and silver light overlapped over each other.

I recognized this from first glance. That wasn't good! I instantly threw my shield away while shouting with all my might:

"Try to get away from it! Now!"

"I can't!" Angelica screamed in distress and I couldn't feel any better. this whole thing came out of my expectations. Who would believe such high end skill would be used here? And on no one but Angelica?

That meant she was more important, far dangerous than me to those damn angels. Who was she exactly?

I didn't have time to waste. To crush that teleportation skill I needed power I didn't have. So the other option now was for me to kill that hybrid monster before the skill became fully activated.

I stabbed my sword till the hilt inside the gap I created. Then I twisted it with both hands. I used all my strength to move it inside that monster, hoping to reach that core before the skill finished.

"Roar!"

The monster roared in deep pain and that told me I already reached its core. "Die you bastard!" I didn't hesitate to pull the sword out and stab it again. And again. And again. I kept stabbing it for numerous times without realizing what happened.

"Thud!"

The monster fell on the ground, releasing a small storm of dust. I painted while standing beside it. My sword was still in there but there was no sign of Angelica at all.

"Dammit! I was slightly late," I gnashed my teeth while feeling exhausted out of my stress. That fight wasn't one we could win, one I could win. Not with my current state.

"Let me think…" I took deep breaths and calmed down my mind. "She must be someone precious to kill, or else those angels won't spend all this blessing over her."

I now realized why the angels hesitated when they issued me the subquest. They seemed to run low on blessing power, and had to risk losing much more than they could replenish during the upcoming events.

But that didn't make me feel any better. A girl with much potential and many secrets were snatched like this in front of my eyes.

"That monster was a baby," I suddenly saw the dead big corpse of the hybrid monster and realized this. "It won't be able to send her to the designated place. Plus we crashed in here, away from their calculations."

It was obvious they didn't plan on killing her right now. If I didn't bring the group in here, no one would have discovered this monster until the fifth stage.

That meant one thing, the place Angelica was moved to wasn't ready yet. The enemies were now scattered all over the park and even might be outside it.

"If I think it this way…" I raised my body up while pulling the sword out, "then I still have a chance to save her."

Before I go out, I started my work over this dead corpse of the hybrid monster. It was a baby version of the real terrifying hybrid monster, but it still had valuable things.

"I can't use the market for now, but I can store them for later," I took out the three cores of this monster, the sharp tails and claws, plus the few scales over its body. I even went to take a few organs that looked slightly different in contour and also the egg shells didn't escape my reach.

"I still got a handsome reward from killing it," I looked at the message the system sent to me after killing this monster and grinned in satisfaction.

[You killed lord rank tier three hybrid monster: Gorlaf. The monster wasn't fully awakened and was in a weakened state. You got thirty thousand coins]

"That's not bad," I took the shield, the sword Angelica left behind when she was forcibly transported and stored them in my inventory.

"Make sure no one dies here," I said to the remaining seven members of the initial twenty elite guards of Angelica.

"Wait… Where are you going?" one of them finally got the courage to speak.

"Where else? I'll go and save Angelica from their clutches," I said in a firm tone while walking in steady steps towards the outside.. "And this time I'll make sure to hear her full story," I muttered to myself as I stood in the open watching the ongoing fights with determination.

Chapter 24 - A Desperate Fight

"Howl!"

Just a few moments after I reached outside, I heard this loud howl coming from no one but the alpha of the wolves attacking here.

And it wasn't just one, but three more howl's answered from three more alphas.

"They are finally on the move," I clenched my fists before turning to look at the stupefied and scared remaining guards of Angelica. "Don't let anyone step into that room. Keep everyone in defensive positions and try to minimize the casualties."

Without waiting for their response, I started to dart towards the outside. "Get the hell out of my way!" The moment I reached the front, I started hitting any monster blocking my path.

The wolves were on retreat now. Four alphas summoned up their armies and seemed to run towards one direction.

I knew that Angelica was teleported ahead of the planned time, plus this teleportation skill was used by a weakened baby version of the hybrid monster.

That meant she didn't even reach the designated position by the angels. She was safe for now, that was something I was sure of.

But summoning four wolf armies wasn't a joke. Each consisted of hundreds of strong wolves which could smell any human from miles away.

They sent such strong monsters in tracking us down, and at the same time in such great numbers that meant they had to cover a large distance here.

But were they this wary of her strength? Or they wanted to make sure she wouldn't escape?

The more I thought about it the more determination I had to save her. I couldn't let such a mysterious person die, not before I knew everything.

Just as I started following the four armies, it was inevitable for me to get detected.

"Howl!"

"Growl!"

The wolves started to turn around in groups to attack me. However I wasn't planning on fooling around and took out Angelica's sword and started killing those monsters.

"Slash!"

Just one hit from each sword was enough to kill each monster. I aimed from the start at their heads. Despite being overwhelmed with numbers, I knew I couldn't afford to waste time here.

But that made me feel tired fast. Just less than half a mile was crossed and I started to pant. "This won't do… Convert six thousand coins into stat points now."

This was my hidden card. So far I accumulated almost forty thousand coins from all the killing I did. I saved them till now so I could use them like this.

I didn't throw all the coins into stat points. After all, once converted I couldn't undo it. And my coin balance was really tempting to let go in such a way.

I still had more plans after this quest was over.

[You gained three stat points. You are free to allocate them at any stat you want]

"Open profile," I didn't hesitate and added the three points to my stamina. It was previously at ten, but now it has become thirteen.

Such an increase wouldn't only affect my ability to fight longer, but it would also increase the recovery rate of my stamina. I felt more refreshed before I continued hunting those wolves.

As I could see, the four armies dispersed in three directions while one army stayed behind to deal with me. I was alone, but it seemed they didn't want to risk my intervention.

"How can such a moron be an alpha?" as one army stayed behind to delay me, the best way to overcome it was by dethroning its alpha. "I dare you in a challenge."

"Howl!" The alpha was humiliated and as expected it started to run towards me. Other wolves cleared the way and let the two of us compete.

"Slash!"

Using two swords seemed a bit problematic for me at first. But after handling so many wolves, I didn't find it hard anymore.

I knew there was a skill regarding double sword fighting, but it wasn't the time to think about it.

I exchanged blows with that alpha for a dozen times before I realized it was a bit stronger than the one I killed before.

"A higher tier? I can't permit you to delay me any further," I could already see the other groups moving further away from me while converging towards a certain point.

They must have found her. Without any hesitation I instantly added, "convert ten thousand coins into stat points."

[You have five stat points ready to allocate]

"Open profile," I instantly added three points into strength and two points into speed. The moment I did that, I felt more power gushing out from my body while my movement became smoother.

"Die!" I could now easily evade the attacks of that alpha and with my two swords I cracked open its skull.

[You killed tier two alpha monsters. You gained two thousand coins] the system message came but I wasn't that joyful yet.

Those bastards were closing in at Angelica. "Convert ten thousand coins into stats," without any hesitation I started to run while receiving my five stat points.

Just in the previous minutes I converted twenty-six thousand coins into thirteen stat points. This time I added the five points all into strength.

My strength stat which was previously stuck at ten turned now to be eighteen. It was like I doubled my strength this way, and that was for one purpose.

"Bang!"

Just like a train smashing anything standing in its rail, I penetrated the three armies of wolves without even pausing for one second.

Like a bomb exploded here, all the wolves that I faced were thrown in the air, clearing out a wide path in front of me.

I didn't look back to see if they were dead or not. I only focused on moving forward with all my might.

"Howl!"

Two alpha suddenly appeared in front of me, accompanied by dozens of strong looking wolves.

"Looking eager for a party? But I have to disappoint you… Bang! Bang!"

Without stopping even for one second, I kept advancing and met one alpha with one sword which threw it far away in the air.

And the other sword hit one of those guards around and it faced the same fate as its alpha.

They looked like all tier two monsters. But compared to my new strength stat, they looked pathetic. I didn't have to use my sword twice on any of them.

A fight that should be brutal and hard for a human in the first quest of the apocalypse turned into one sided massacre by my overwhelming strength.

"Bang!"

The last wolf was thrown away before I finally got to see what was going on at the front.

"This… There are even traitors here?!!"

The scene in front of me was really shocking! I came here thinking that only wolves would be the problem. But just upfront I saw a group of fifty humans surrounding one girl in the middle while trying to hit her.

I didn't need to use Angelica's compass to know their identities. Humans standing side by side with monsters to kill a human; they were the traitors.

"Good girl!" however it seemed we all underestimate this little girl. Just as they all gathered around her, a form of protective hemi-sphere surrounded Angelica and kept her safe.

"The ball of protection… Another surprising gear," my eyes couldn't mistake this basic form of such defensive gear. It was one time use of defensive gear but it was worth the high price.

The ball of protection once activated, no one could break it unless it had a strength stat double the defensive stat of Angelica.

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

"Considering she bought it from the market, that means she already raised her defensive stat."

"Howl!"

These wolves didn't let me watch this amazing scene in peace and came from the front. I slayed three out of four alphas, taking out three armies of wolves from the equation.

Only one army remained, and that was the one tightly surrounding the ball of protection in an attempt to crack it.

"Bang!"

Just waving my swords around created a scene enough to make myself visible. Despite my earlier fights, the traitors here never thought I would catch up to them so soon.

"Kill him!" one of them pointed at me while the alpha of the wolves even responded to his call. It was strange, I never thought someone of the traitor would have an authority over the wolves.

But that wasn't the issue here. Just seeing all this arrangement from the enemies and the defensive preparations of Angelica made me crave more to get my hands on her.

She must be someone special to attract all this attention. I didn't even get such treatment from the angels yet.

But aside from me and the other person with the ability to rewind time, what possibly could she be?

"Bang!"

Despite being lost in thoughts, I started to hit the wolves coming at me with ease. The gap between our strength stats was immense. Even an alpha wouldn't stand a chance against me.

"Woosh!"

Just as I kept getting closer, a sudden appearance of a protective shield stopped me in track.

"You can't be serious!" Seeing two balls of protection being used in front me like this made my scalp numb.

Each ball of protection cost at least twenty thousand coins in the market. And that was the starting price of the auction. Two people had at least the same amount of coins as me to throw them away on a one time usage item was really unbelievable!

What the hell were these people? Were they the ones who got back from time and not me or what?

I looked at the semi-transparent surface standing between me and those fifty bastards. They were all well equipped, strangely sharing the same helmet Angelica wore before.

I could see their mouths tilting up as if they were confident in killing her and then me.

"Howl!"

"Go the hell," I wasn't in the mood to accommodate those wolves now. Unfortunately the alpha was standing inside that shield, away from my clutches.

"Did you call for reinforcements? Really? Just one man?" one of the traitors pointed at me while his loud voice was clearly audible. "Let's see how he will fare against all the armies around. Kol, use the horn."

"The horn?" I didn't know what that bastard meant but I knew it must be something bad.

A long drawn tone appeared so deep and loud from one traitor. He held a small bronze horn that seemed insignificant.

"The horn of leadership… Damn!" but I couldn't underestimate that horn at all. I instantly turned around and gave my back to the shield.

I wasn't worried much about them hitting me from behind. After all that shield was like a seal, no one could get in or out unless it was smashed.

"Now let's have a nice talk, my sweetie," the traitor who looked like their leader seemed to be confident in the ability of that move to kill me.

And so he turned his attention towards Angelica and I could only listen from outside.

The horn of leadership was a good gear to control scattered monsters. To be used one had to pay a hefty amount of coins each time according to the number of monsters called.

These monsters must be leaderless, and in disarray; just like the state of the three armies here.

And to make things worse, that traitor seemed to spend over a hundred thousand coins just now to summon all the scattered wolves of the three armies towards me.

Now I had to face almost two thousand wolves head on while they would find their way to crush the ball of protection of Angelica.

But would I let them do what they wanted? No f*cking way!

Chapter 25 - Fighting Against All Odds

I knew that my strength was enough to kill anything. But facing such an overwhelming number meant death for me. My stamina would never survive even to kill one quarter of them.

"Convert all the remaining coins into stat points," as things reached this far, I didn't need to hold back anymore.

I couldn't use the market now, but I could gather coins by killing all of them.

[You spent twenty thousand coins to obtain ten stat points to allocate at your profile] the system said and I didn't hesitate to add points first to my stamina.

I placed three more points there, making it a rich sixteen points. The next moment I felt more refreshed while starting to move my arms right and left.

"Bang!"

The wolves were thrown in the air like they were bugs. My strength was enough to make them fear me after a few minutes of fighting. No matter how many they threw at me, none managed to even touch a single hair on my body.

"Howl!"

However just as the animal instinct inside those monsters warned them of me, their alpha howled in obvious rage, forcing them to come again.

"Bang!"

That was pathetic! They had great numbers but in the end that mounted up to nothing.

"Grrr…" the alpha was furious inside the shield but it couldn't do anything. After ten minutes of fighting, the wolves couldn't take a single step forward anymore.

In their eyes I looked like a demon, a monster and they were humans. I watched them for a few more seconds before I turned towards the shield.

The ball of protection was really amazing. During the past ten minutes those inside never stopped trying to smash the shield and break it.

However it seemed to me they didn't know how to crack it open. It wouldn't break no matter how many times you hit it. Either you got enough strength to smash it in one hit or you would never damage it.

The duration for the item would last for at least ten straight hours. I couldn't sit there and waste this time playing with the wolves. I raised my sword and hit the shield before watching it repelled back by the innate force of the ball of protection.

It was expected. After all, my strength stat was only eighteen. If I considered their defense stat to be the basic ten points, then I would need at least my strength to reach twenty.

But from what I knew about those traitors, I was sure their defense stat would be a bit higher.

"Let me rest for now," I didn't hurry to add points to my strength as I had another problem to solve here.

If I managed to crack open that shield, then I would be squeezed between two armies. That wasn't good for me. So I had to get rid of one army by forcing it to scatter.

Even the horn of leadership would never overcome the innate fear of any monster. This was the only way to make sure I would fight those inside with all my power.

I started to resume my fighting against the wolves whenever my stamina was replenished. My current stamina would allow me to constantly fight in ferventic way for ten minutes straight.

After this I had to rest for two minutes before resuming the fighting again.

The wolves seemed to be terrified of me. I had to run towards them and hunt them down. If not for the constant howling of their alpha from inside the shield, they would have long scattered by now.

"Anytime now," I felt their fear piling up to the point that they wouldn't listen to any order given to them, not even by their alpha. I was now resting beside the shield, waiting for my stamina to be refreshed.

"Roar!"

I looked up and there they came. "They surely took their time," I anticipated the angels to summon the stupid hyenas to stop me.

After all hyenas didn't know fear like wolves. They weren't smart and only followed the orders blindly even if it led to their deaths.

But they were easier to handle. At least I wouldn't need to squeeze my power everytime I swung my sword.

"Bang!"

As expected, they didn't make any challenge for me. They only bought some time for the wolves to recover from their fear and gave me more coins from their dead bodies.

"C'mon, send more f*cking monsters to me. I'll be a millionaire in one night thanks to you," I shouted in mockery while taunting my hidden enemies.

My words weren't just for show. I would really gather a considerable amount of coins if this continued. But I didn't really want this pointless fight to go on.

After all the more time I gave to those bastards the more variables appearing in my face. The best option here was to rapidly solve this problem and save Angelica before running back to the museum.

After that I would consider hunting these monsters or go towards my goal.

But one thing was for certain; I had to listen to what Angelica had to say.

"Bang!"

The worst thing about these hyenas was their constant advancement towards me. Unlike wolves they have no leader or feel any fear. So even when I fought for twenty minutes straight, killing hundreds of them, they didn't stop coming at me.

"Convert half the coins into stat points," I had no other option here but to replenish my stamina with points. If this kept going, then my highest stat would be, ironically, my stamina.

[Thirty thousand coins are converted into fifteen stat points to allocate]

I added ten points to the stamina. Now my stamina was freakingly higher, reaching twenty-six points.

That was two and half times the basic stat I was given here.

The next moment I felt refreshed again while the speed of my stamina recovery increased by a good margin. I started to kill the hyenas while trying to watch out for any foolish attempts of the wolves.

"Howl!"

Just after ten more minutes, the alpha finally decided it was time to open the gates of hell on me. I knew if the wolves were given time they would recover from their fear, but that wasn't a big of a problem to me.

After all, how could I get away from that siege of crazy hyenas all around? Plus there was something the alpha even missed here.

No matter how the wolves tried to recover, I already installed fear deep down their souls.

It wasn't a surprise that after a few minutes of combined attack between the two races, the wolves couldn't handle it any longer.

The old fear towards me resurfaced again and they only ran, ran as far away from me as possible. And that just bought me some time to recover and catch my breaths here.

"Now the main bulk of your army is gone, only weak flies remain," I snorted while watching the few hundred hyenas getting in disarray under the brutal escape of the wolves.

And I didn't miss such a chance to walk calmly and kill anything that fell on the ground. Be it a wolf or a hyena, both were killed by the sharp edges of my swords.

Just before the hyenas would recover from this sudden twist in events, I killed almost a hundred of them on the ground without breaking a sweat.

"Roar!"

They felt more anger when they saw me doing all this. "Come, come to papa," I taunted them while holding my ground. This time I was confident in killing all of them in this one round before finally getting freed to rescue Angelica.

"Bang!"

I had to retreat slowly and steadily while killing anything coming at me. It wasn't a surprise that when I reached the shield, there were no more monsters around.

The only monsters remaining were now trapped inside. And it was time to crush that damn shield on their heads.

"How much is the defense stat of the one that used that item?" I asked myself that before adding five points to strength. Now my strength has reached twenty-three, nothing like my stamina stat.

I could easily allocate all the points to strength. However I was experienced enough to know that strength wasn't everything. Speed and agility mattered as well.

If I was faced with someone having a higher speed stat than mine, then what was the value of strength if I couldn't get him and he could hit me back?

"Clang!"

Just as I hit the shield, my sword was repelled again. "So he has over eleven points there… Does he excel in defense or what?"

I moved my eyes around while adding the remaining seven points to the strength. "Convert half of the coins into stat points," and I didn't forget to replenish my storage of stat points as well.

[Forty thousand coins are converted into twenty stat points to allocate]

"So I have forty thousand more… good," I muttered before I looked at my strength stat. Now it reached thirty points, enough to crush this shield if the user had up to fifteen points in defense.

"Clang!"

However, unlike my expectations, my sword was repelled again. "What the f*ck!! Does he add more points to defense or what?"

I already saw five of the fifty traitors inside holding shields. One of them must have these high defense stats. "If he has up to twenty points, then I have to add ten stat points again," I couldn't help but frown as I knew this would be my limit.

[Attention! You already reached the limit of the quest strength] I knew this message would pop in front of my face. After all, as long as I didn't get a class, many things wouldn't be allowed for me to do.

One of them would be to turn myself into a hercules like this. "I hope this will be enough," I prayed while feeling a bit helpless if I failed.

"Crack!"

"Boom!"

However as I hit the shield, it finally cracked open. Luckily that bastard didn't add more points than twenty to his defense.

"How dare you…" one of them screamed in rage while others turned to see me. All this time they had a long and boring one sided conversation with Angelica that could be summed in one sentence: Why did you betray us?

And that one sentence was enough for me to realize the truth of everything about her. She was this special because she was a traitor, before she betrayed them and sided with us.

"Interesting," I evilly grinned before adding, "now it's time for me to kill you all."

Chapter 26 - Victory

"I'll kill you!"

One holding a round medium sized shield jumped at me to stop my steps.

"Humph, in your dreams," but just as he jumped, I also did the same and evaded his body, turned around and hit his waist with my sword.

"Ahh!"

He screamed in pain before another sword hit him in the chest. He was, like everyone here, wearing chestplate armor. But my strength was enough to crack it open and cause a deep wound there.

Then his body flew in the air to fall in a loud thud tens of meters away.

"You are next," I targeted the two shield bearers first. After all, they could pin me in a limited area and allow others to hit me.

"Thud!"

The two didn't stand a chance against me. It seemed that the traitor I killed first was the strongest in defense, the one who used the ball of protection.

"Form lines," but as I killed the two shield bearers, the one acting leader gave this order.

"Damn! Magicians and archers!" I spotted a group of fifteen at the rear holding various shaped staffs and bows. They were now the biggest annoyance for me.

But this isn't everything. Just as I was about to move, I saw many of the traitors at the front taking out shields as well and started to come at me with bloodlust.

"Hit him!" the leader, who was standing in the back among the archers and magicians, shouted, "kill him, if not limit his movements."

"Tsk, this doesn't look good," I estimated this situation and within a blink of an eye, all the records about mighty fights emerged in my mind.

"There is no other way," I stored Angelica's sword away before jumping to the side.

"Boom!"

Violent attacks landed at the spot I was standing at just now. A big dust cloud rose up while around thirty traitors walked through like it was nothing.

"Woosh!"

"Do you think you are the only ones with shields here?" I took a shield first before protecting my body with it.

"Boom!"

It was like being thrown in the middle of a sea of fire. I got all the hits from far and couldn't help but retreat.

I knew my shield wasn't enough to help me here. However I didn't plan on using it to defend myself in this battle.

I just bought a few precious seconds before I was equipped with my main defense in this fight; speed stat.

I allocated the remaining ten points at the speed stat. Now it has reached twenty-three points.

According to what I read, in such a situation where being cornered, speed was the most essential stat here.

But I was far from finished here.

"Convert all the coins I have into stat points!" I didn't hesitate to use what remained of coins to push my speed stat to the limit of this stage.

[Forty thousand coins are converted into twenty stat points to allocate]

"Add them all to the speed stat!" I didn't have time to do it myself so I hurriedly jumped away from the swords and lances coming at my neck from those traitors drawing closer.

"Keep hitting him! Close up and don't let him escape!" the leader kept shouting when he mistook my actions as an attempt to escape.

Who said I was going to retreat? C'mon, after all I did so far? Humph!

I felt my body becoming lighter as my speed stat was filled to the limit.

[Attention! You already reached the limit of the quest strength]

I still had three stat points. I left them for now. I turned to look at those traitors. It seemed that increasing my speed stat didn't affect my speed alone, but it turned them all into some sluggish moving slow bodies like I was seeing a slow motion movie.

"Humph, stay here bastards," I instantly ran towards the distant archers and magicians. But I hit anyone standing beside me, throwing five traitors flying high in the air before slamming fiercely on the ground dead.

"S…t…o…p… H… i… m…" That leader spoke in a stuttered way as if he was a retard or something. I could now see the sparks of skills fired at me like they were flying birds made out of flames.

"Die!" I reached their spot in no time. I stored away my shield and took out the sword again. Using two swords, I started to create the deadliest dance here.

"I won't let you kill them all!" Just as I landed, it seemed that my high speed effect vanished for now. The leader moved with his sword and shield, trying to block my two swords and buying time for his remaining archers and magicians.

"F*ck off!" However, just before he could reach me, I ran towards his back before hitting him with my sword and sending him flying in the air. I experienced a brief lag in the movement of everyone around when I ran then it all vanished when I came to halt.

"Boss!"

"I'll kill you bastard!"

"Run! Run and hit him with skills."

The traitors I left behind in the dirt were running fast towards me and shouting like crazy. I saw the archers and magicians moving away towards all directions.

"Who said you can escape here?" I didn't hesitate to run again. Anyone I targeted was sent to fly without any resistance at all.

They were magicians and archers, people who prioritized intelligence above all. Archers perhaps had higher speed stat than normal people, but they weren't even close to mine.

"Thud!"

The battle changed drastically to look this chaotic. I was running after the terrified archers and magicians while killing anyone I reached.

From behind the melee traitors kept chasing. However they had high strength or defense stats, not much at speed. So they couldn't even get closer to me while I kept hunting down their people.

"Gather here," just as I was acting like a wolf in this pack of sheep, one of the melee traitors shouted. He wanted to gather any remaining magicians and archers behind and form a defensive layer between me and them.

Well, he had a good idea here to be honest. "This won't stop me," I stood in front of the enraged traitors holding swords, shields, spears, and lances while shielding a small group of six archers and magicians behind.

"You won't touch any of us anymore," one of them said in deep rage before adding, "surround the magicians and archers with a group of ten. Others follow me…"

"Don't tell me you forgot about me here?"

Just as he was arranging the lines in such a good way, I heard a voice who didn't speak during the past hour.

"Angelica!!! You damn traitor…"

"Just die!" Angelica suddenly appeared holding a sword and started killing those magicians and archers at the back. I looked up and found that she canceled the ball of protection to come and help.

"Good timing," I evilly grinned before I ran towards the front group. As she was back there, then I had nothing to worry about those rear magicians and archers anymore.

All that left was those melee traitors, with no ability to pose any threat at me at all.

"Thud!"

My two swords acted like grim reapers, sending all they came in contact with in the air dead. Their movements were slow in my eyes while they couldn't even react in time towards my attack and speed.

"Gather around," the traitor who was trying to arrange their lines shouted again, "come together, form a tight circle!"

"Thud!"

They ran to a nearby spot before raising their shields to form a big ball of metal. I killed more than half of their numbers with the help of Angelica before they gathered together like this.

"I never thought I'd survive this," as I stood watching this pathetic attempt of them to survive, Angelica walked slowly and stood by my side.

"And I thought you lost your sword and brought it for you," I motioned towards the sword in her hand before she chuckled.

"I have three other swords, you can keep them if you want."

"Cool," I said before returning to gaze at those idiots, "but that won't pay back even a hairbreadth of what you owe me."

She didn't answer and I knew she was thinking about what I would ask of her. I only wanted answers, and as she was part of those traitors, I had tons of questions to ask her about.

"I'll smash them in one go," I said before adding, "is there anyone worthy to keep alive?"

"They are all trash," she coldly said, "but leave one for me. The one who kept shouting and acting as their leader."

I knew whom she was speaking about and nodded. The next moment I started running before I slammed my sword using almost all my strength in that single hit.

"Brace yourself, we'll survive this together…"

That bastard tried to raise the morale of his remaining force, but he was mistaken. He seemed to underestimate my strength at this moment.

Just one hit, one hit and all the shields that they raised to defend against me overlapping over one another were thrown in the air before my next sword slashed horizontally at their bodies.

In just one attack I deprived them of their defenses and killed over half of them. The remaining traitors shook in fear and tried to retreat but my swords claimed their heads.

Only one was left, the one Angelica asked for.

"He is yours," I didn't move from my spot while feeling Angelica moving in strong steps towards that traitor.

"Damn you Angelica! This isn't over! They'll come and hunt you till you are dead! You can't survive them, you can't survive us."

"Stop talking bullsh*t," Angelica's cold tone came alongside her sword that cut that traitor's head before it rolled away on the ground.

I stood there watching the brutal leftovers of this battle. Angelica turned to me in all silence before she removed her helmet slowly.

'What a goddess you are!' and I was fascinated by her looks from the first sight. Her hair was long, smooth and curling up at its ends. It was red like fire, warm like a sun shining on this earth.

Her eyes were bright red, strange and unique, but I liked them. Her skin was so smooth like a pure jade of the purest crystal.

"Now I'm all yours," she slowly walked to me before she added when she reached just a few inches away from my face, "anything you want, I'll comply. From this moment onward, I'm all yours."

'Holy sh*t!!!'

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