Chapter 9 – Midnight Party [2]

Among the monsters, he could feel a giant presence. It wasn't normal monsters either.

A creature that was beyond their comprehension was approaching them slowly and steadily. Vale could feel its powerful aura that made him excited. It was like a king had arrived at its castle and looked down on everyone from afar.

The monsters retreated. They were giving ways for their leader.

And finally, it appeared in front of Vale and Kiara.

A giant purple humanoid stood in front of them. Its eyes glowed red, and its skin was pulsating as if something was inside it. It held a giant scythe in its right hand and raised it above its head, preparing for its attack.

"Kiara. Leave this one to me."

"I know." She answered quickly, "I don't want to fight that thing.

"Heh." Vale laughed lightly as he unsheathed his sword again. "It's time for the final battle before midnight."

He lowered his stance and concentrated Qi around him. His sword started to glow white as he raised it above his head, mirroring the monster's pose.

Without saying anything, he knew that the boss would use its strongest attack at him. The Mana on its scythe became more powerful as it roared out at him.

To counter that, he decided to use one of his powerful techniques. Or else, he would get injured even with his crazy status.

A second later, it swung its scythe downward at a speed that was impossible for any normal human to react to. At the same time, he swung his sword down.

"Crazy Demon Sword Style, Thousand Thunder!" He shouted out as a white lightning formed around his sword, turning it into a blurry sword light.

The blurry lightning met the boss' attack halfway. The two attacks collided and exploded with a blastwave that pushed everything backward and created a shockwave that caused the air to crack. The fog that hindered the sight was cleared.

Earth shook and buildings nearby collapsed from the impact of their attack. 

And finally, Vale's sword won out. The boss's scythe was shattered into pieces as its whole body exploded into pieces from Vale's lightning. It traveled far and cleared everything on its path.

It was over in an instant. Half of the boss' body was pulverized, including its sword.

Vale exhaled audibly and dropped his arm after the battle. It was an intense fight and he used his Qi to its limit. Sweat trickled down his forehead as he sheathed his sword again and looked at his Qi bar.

"Well, I should've known that you're not a human." Kiara said as she leaned on her wooden sword, which was slightly cracked from the earlier battle. "Damn, that was intense."

"Hmm, yeah. It was quite intense." He nodded his head in agreement as he surveyed their surroundings. Monsters still had them surrounded and cornered against the Yankee Stadium building. "There's still around half of them left."

"Seriously?! What kind of nightmare is this?" Kiara complained as she rested her head on her wooden sword. She looked like she couldn't fight anymore after using all her strength to hold on against the shockwave from earlier.

"This is a nightmare called the apocalypse." He replied bluntly, "But it's not over yet. Midnight is just a minute or two away. We have to-"

However, he didn't get to finish his sentence as he heard a sound of notification ringing in his ears.

[Scenario 1 is finished.]

A flash of light filled his vision, blinding him temporarily as he felt himself floating in midair. And when he opened his eyes again, he found himself back in his apartment.

"Ah? What the...?"

Everything looked normal as if he hadn't been fighting monsters and trying to survive the apocalypse at all. His computer was still on, his wall wasn't destroyed, and his sword was on the wall where he displayed it.

"Was it a dream?" He looked around and pondered what just happened.

The answer came quickly as white hair fell into his eyes. It wasn't a dream.

[Apocalypse has retreated for now.]

He blinked in surprise as the words rang in his ears again. Then, he quickly grabbed his phone and checked the date and time. It was midnight. He called his status board and it appeared before him.

[Status Board]

Name: Vale Gilstar (Human)

Passion: Vale Gilstar

Level: 100

Attributes:

- Strength: 1000

- Agility: 500

- Intelligence: 700

- Qi: 11

- Abilities: Everything Vale Gilstar Can Do

Personal Skills: [Sword Talent Lvl. MAX], [Swordsmanship Lvl. MAX], [Mirage Lvl. MAX], [Meditation Lvl. MAX], etc.

"Ah, I see."

It wasn't a dream.

Everything was real.

[Earth was saved. Initiating evolution.]

After awakening people's power and apocalypse, now was evolution? Vale thought it was weird. What was happening? Everything looked pretty... disoriented.

[Starting evolution...]

Noise filled the air as the walls around him shook lightly. And then, everything stopped. Colors disappeared, leaving only black and white world. In this world, he could still move. But he noticed that his computer had frozen and the sound disappeared as well.

'The time has stopped?' He realized, 'Just what is happening now? Is this a new scenario? Or is this part of the Earth Evolution?'

[Introducing monsters. Creating habitat...]

[Introducing dungeons. Creating terrains...]

[Landmass isn't sufficient. Enlarging the world. Solution found: A Dungeon connected to Another world.]

Everything happened so fast.

[Deleting system for people who didn't survive apocalypse.]

[Survival rate: 16%]

Hearing that, Vale's heart clenched in his chest. Was this real? Was only 16% of humans on earth survived? It was a low number. Way too low for a humanity of eight billion people.

'Did the majority of us die in the apocalypse?'

If the Earth wasn't saved in the apocalypse, wouldn't it end up… really bad?

However...

[Returning Earth's condition to normal.]

At the same time, colors returned to the world and sound reappeared. Vale heard a loud noise outside his window and quickly went there to look.

Everything looked the same as usual. People were screaming in confusion, but they were all alive. And their houses were still there too.

"Well, well." Vale sighed in relief. "This is a weird turn of event."