《Overpowered Villain Returnee in the Apocalypse - System is for Losers》


 Chapter 1: Overpowered in Another World

    <h4>Chapter 1: Overpowered in Another World</h4>


    "The world is ending."


    A soft voice creaked through the castle of Hrynal, thend of the demons.


    The skies had turned ck and red while ash covered the grounds all around. All the demons remaining gathered at one end and the humans at the other.


    A grand war.


    An epic on a scale no one in the world had ever seen before.


    All of it wasing to an end.


    "Do you think the hero will be able to hold out?" The princess of the Empire asked to the general. The humans all had united under one banner, but thest of their hopes seemed to be on the verge of defeat.


    No.


    ¡ªBOOM!


    ¡ªCRASH!


    The battle taking ce in the skies wasn''t one they could judge.


    "MWAHAHA! MORE! HERO, MORE POWER!"


    The demon king''s screams echoed as he swung his ws. As if the sky itself was about to fall, the simple movement tore a hole into space.


    But the hero wasn''t any pushover.


    "DEMON LORD! I will kill you and make a huge fucking harem!"


    The hero swung his holy sword. A white crack syed over the skies and crashed into the ck one the demon lord had brought.


    "HYAH!"


    The hero screamed and reeled back.


    "Just a little more! Hero!"


    The princess sped her hands together and prayed.


    "You just have to hold on a little more!"


    The demon king uttered augh as he watched the hero tumble through the skies.


    "It was a fun battle, Hero. I haven''t enjoyed a fight since a long time. But it is now time that the humans end."


    The demon king raised his hands.


    A clump of ck formed above his hands. A giant sphere like none other. The ball of massive energy sent a tempest through thends while electricity that could crack space itself whirred around the mass of energy.


    The hero''s mouth fell wide open.


    "How¡­ how could this happen¡­" The hero was left surprised. "Is this it¡­? This power¡­."


    "Goodbye, Hero."


    It was then.


    A single man came in between the two.


    Right in the middle of the battlefield that had been cleared, a young man with ck hair and golden eyes stood, scratching his stomach as he yawned.


    "What is this¡­?" the Demon king spoke.


    "Haha¡­" The heroughed. "I held on¡­ I leave this to you¡ª"


    "Aaahm, guys what the fuck?" the ck-haired man spoke. He stretched his hands above his head and popped his spine. A satisfied gasp left him. "Can you tone it down a bit? I was fucking sleeping."


    "SILENCE!" The demon king raged. The skies trembled and the clouds shook at his scream. "Critter!"


    The demon king swung his arm down, and the giant mass of unbridled energy came crashing down. As if the wrath of the gods had befallen down, no, even the gods wouldn''t be able to handle this strength.


    "Weirdo."


    But the man only flicked his fingers.


    ¡ªBOOOOOOOM!


    And the world trembled.


    In the middle of its path, the mass of demonic energy crashed into the man''s flick¡­ and waspletely shattered.


    "W-what¡­?"


    The demon king mumbled.


    "Not bad though, that was almost like a mosquito."


    The man yawned once more while looking at his fingers strangely. Then, he gazed back up at the demon king.


    "Y-you¡­ WHAT SORCERY DID YOU PULL¡ª"


    "Fuck. Lower it, man!"


    The demon king shut up.


    The mere presence that man exuded. As if he were a tiger and the demon king himself but an ant, as if he were the ocean and the demon king himself but a droplet.


    Fear.


    Pure, unbridled fear encapsted the demon king''s everyst fiber of being. It felt as if every single thread that made up his existence was being unraveled and held in front of that man.


    But.


    A rat would bite when cornered.


    A man would fight when in a bind.


    And a demon¡­


    A demon would rage when looked down on.


    "HHHAAAAH!" The demon king screamed. All his powers surged through the skies. The final final form that he had prepared against the power of friendship and love revealed itself as his strength rose to points that they had never before.


    The entire world was in his palm.


    Just once. He only had to clench his fists once and everything would be over.


    And yet.


    And yet that man.


    YAWNED.


    THAT MAN YAWNED.


    His powers increased further and further, all of them condensed in his hands as he shot toward the man, his moves ready to kill.


    The ground trembled.


    The people tipped over.


    The skies cried, the earth shook, the gods bit their lips.


    "Damn it."


    Before his hands could touch him. The demon lord stopped. His strength was still his own. Yet, instinctively, he stopped.


    "What did I tell you about keeping it down?"


    The ck-haired man swung his hand.


    A head fell to the ground.


    The demon king was gone.


    Forever.

 Chapter 2: Overpowered鈥檚 Origins

    <h4>Chapter 2: Overpowered''s Origins</h4>


    I was just a normal sixteen-year-old kid. Normal like all of you, really.


    The type that bullies all handed rows of cash to? Yup. Me.


    The type that most adults avoided? Yup me too.


    The type that police first went to and asked if you have been beating any thugs up all this time? Me. Totally me.


    See? I was just as normal as all of you, like, the picture of a normal person.


    Normal friends that sold drugs, normal family involved with organized crime, normal school where all the children of the elite went, everything about me was normal.


    I had a friend though, the very opposite of normal. Ah, what did those fat fucks call him? Right.


    Chad.


    Well, imagine my surprise when I was suddenly in another world, and together with this friend of mine at that.


    We were summoned to some ce called the Lemogras Empire that had united humanity under a collective banner and told to fight this demon king guy.


    At first, they told us about all the things that we needed to do and the many kinds of blessings the gods that had brought us here had given us. We were called the heroes, well, my friend was for the most part and I was just a tag-along.


    Moreover, we got to learn things more easier than others. And we barely aged one year in five.


    I didn''t like it, but I slurped it all up and within the next three years we were ready to fight this demon king guy?


    The time to get revenge on the fucker because of whom I had toe all the way to this new world was here, but that guy just showed up and died like a fucking mosquito.


    "Aah, but all''s well that ends well."


    The words of the princess of the Lemograss empire filled the air. The clinks of sses of wine, the sounds of violins and cellos, the dances of the brave warriors and nobles that had participated in the grand battle, all of it made for the backdrop of the grandest party humanity had ever seen.


    "What is well?" I asked, slightly pissed.


    At my words, everyone in this ce shut up.


    The music stopped. The dances stopped. And everything else also stopped.


    As if she were a criminal and the spotlight was ced straight on her, the princess started trembling. Behind the room, the assortment of kings and emperors from all over the human continent also trembled.


    "T-that¡­ even though¡­ the demon king attacked when you were sleeping, Lord Hero was able¡­ to hold on¡­"


    "Hold on?" I chuckled.


    Everyone shivered once more, including my friend sitting over there.


    "That guy was probably just ying around." I looked at my friend. "Weren''t you?"


    My friend nodded.


    "HAHAHA!" Iughed and leaned back in my chair.


    As Iughed, every single other person in this roomughed too.


    Insufferable idiots.


    Though none of it mattered anymore.


    Finally.


    The demon fly was dead and the humans were at peace once more.


    Those gods were either going to send us back, or they were going to die.


    And as if my words were heard, the Oracle in the room started glowing bright and the descent of the goddess began. Everyone got to their knees as the projection of the goddess took to the grand chamber.


    Everyone, except me.


    The goddess saw me and started cackling.


    "Ahaha! My splendid hero, you have achieved a grand victory¡ª"


    "¡ªHey hero, talk to her."


    My friend, the actual hero, stood up at once and bowed again toward the goddess.


    "I am honored to¡ª"


    "Yap yap yap. Enough, send us back."


    "Send you back¡­ yes¡­"


    The goddess lowered her head.


    Her lips curled into a wide smile.


    "Actually, goddess!" My friend, the hero, suddenly spoke out loud.


    "What is it, child?" The goddess asked.


    "I would not like to go back."


    "The fuck?" I asked, tilting my head.


    The hero lowered his own and trembled in fear. As he should be, what bullshit was this guy saying?


    Three years. We had spent three years in this world.


    Not for this bullshit.


    "I have people that I have toe love here¡­"


    At least fourdies said ''hero¡­'' at the same time.


    "And this world will need someone to protect it too, right?"


    The goddess smiled at the hero.


    "Your friend has already conveyed his dissatisfaction with that, Hero."


    "Eh?"


    "I am sorry, no can do. I don''t want to die."


    What was she on about now?


    Her smile suddenly turned into a grin.


    "I''ll send you back now. Please stand here."


    The Hero tried to resist, but the goddess pulled him along anyway.


    A fanfare rang as the goddess'' light deepened.


    I felt something odd. She wasughing.


    Well, I guess seeing that your big bad world ender was no better than a fly, I wouldugh too.


    The goddess'' glow brightened to a peak.


    The Hero''s cries loudened to a crescendo.


    My joy rose to the skies.


    It was time¡­ to go back home.


    Goodbye, shitty otherworld.


    Goodbye, weakling trash assholes.


    I had enough of having my sleep interrupted and being told that I couldn''t whack someone just because they were some kind of duke or king or whatever. We all knew that I would sleep anyway and p anyway.


    "Goodbye, you guys," the goddess said. "It was the absolute worst experience being with you in my millennia serving as a goddess. The worst."


    "HAH!?"


    I couldn''t voice my annoyance before the light increased.


    And swallowed me whole.


    ***


    I woke up to a sense of lethargy I hadn''t felt in over three years.


    My eyes fluttered open, the cracks running through the asphalt greeting me a good morning.


    Over my legs was the crying hero.


    "That bitch¡­ she didn''t just take my harem, but also my powers¡­"


    Oh, so that''s what the lethargy was. I was a normal human once more.


    With my head pressed, I sat up.


    The many buildings around filled with cracks were lovable as always¡­.


    Cracks?


    The skies were ashen, the horizon aze. And over the roads, moved a hound the size of a mountain.


    [Ding!]


    A blue window floated in front of my eyes.


    [Wee to thend of Earth]


    [Earth has entered the state of apocalypse]


    [Creating character profile¡­]


    [1%¡­]


    [69%¡­.]


    [99%¡­]


    [Character Profile Created]


    [Wee to the Earth''s Apocalypse - Scenario 1 is currently in progress]


    [Congrattions, you have been chosen by the Strongest Dragon God system, would you like to ept?]


    "HELL. NO!"

 Chapter 3: Apocalypse Scenario 1

    <h4>Chapter 3: Apocalypse Scenario 1</h4>


    The skies had turned ashy and the ground had turned pale, a strange mist wafted through the air as dozens of buildings all around were crushed to the ground.


    Still on my leg was the hero, and still blocking my sight was the blue window.


    [Please choose the Strongest Dragon God System]


    I red at the window.


    [Sorry]


    And it disappeared.


    It seemed that even if my strength from the other world was gone, this wasn''t.


    Still, I was just a normal guy, so why in the world did I have to be involved with some random world end situation?


    "Uhuh¡­ Jane¡­ Antinaxius¡­"


    I kicked the man sleeping on my leg.


    "Who?"


    "My wife¡­"


    "You married a cockroach, hero?"


    "That''s a person''s name, Vincent!¡ª"


    This fucker talked back to me?


    I kicked his face and pushed him off as I stood up. After dusting my clothes, I ignored the hero underneath my feet and looked around.


    The strange mist was firing up.


    My eyes swerved around the ce andnded on a few tiny eyeballs afloat in the air.


    Suddenly, another window popped in front of me.


    [The constetion ''A hundred and one nights'' looks at you with great interest]


    [The constetion ''The tortoise and the hare'' is curious about the sudden neers]


    Alright. I didn''t want this.


    "Block."


    [The constetion messages have been blocked]


    Wow, that worked?


    I kicked the hero''s head.


    "Stand up."


    It was getting tougher to breathe by the moment. I could tell that something was up.


    Was it this scenario thing?


    "Hey, give us some information on the scenario at least."


    [The Strongest Dragon System can tell you all¡ª]


    "No."


    That window closed and another opened.


    This seemed simr, but I guess it wasn''t a system since it wasn''t parasitic. It seemed more like an information window, a moderator for the scenarios.


    [Earth-Scenario 1]


    [Time Remaining: 9 hours 34 minutes¡­]


    [Objective: Kill at least one mutated monster within the time limit. The mist of all ends will constantly eat at your mind. Avoid it at a safe spot.]


    [Sess Reward: Item (Rarity Grade depends on monster), 5 Stat Points, 100 Cash Points]


    [Failure Penalty: Death]


    It seemed the hero had picked up enough skills from our stupid kidnapping to check these things himself.


    "H-hey¡­ Vincent?"


    "What?"


    "I-It¡­ It says only 9 hours are left."


    I nodded at the Hero, Rfan''s words.


    9 it was. Plenty.


    "W-what do we do!? We''re back to being goddamn normal humans again! How can we kill some mutated beast like this?"


    I thought about his words.


    A simple mutated beast on something called scenario one, hinting clearly at more scenarios. We had people called constetions watching over us from god knows where.


    "The chances of a monster being as strong as a simple goblin aren''t low."


    One that even normal humans could kill.


    "You''re right¡­" the hero muttered at my words, his breathing calmed as he stood up. "Let''s get to a safe ce first, away from this mist. Then we''ll kill something and get this done with."


    "Yes, indeed," I nodded. My lips curled into a grin as I pointed at the giant hound prowling about in the distance. "We''ll go kill that thing."


    "Oh, goddess. Please, please take me back!"


    Goddess? Apocalypse? Scenario?


    For taking away my powers, the first one was going to be pped.


    For ruining my normal earth, the second one was going to be destroyed.


    And.


    For just being annoying, the third one was going to be killed.


    I was back on Earth after three years.


    And I¡­


    Needed to set it straight.

 Chapter 4: Encounter in the Safe Zone

    <h4>Chapter 4: Encounter in the Safe Zone</h4>


    The Hero and I made our way through the many burning and ashen streets as we dashed toward the safe point disyed on the map. Even though the Apocalypse Keeper, which was probably not its name but what I was going to call it anyway, wasn''t a system, it still was a little bitch that gave us all this.


    "Vincent! There!"


    The hero pointed at a dead body on the sidewalk. Behind that burning and mauled body was the broken ss entrance to a thirteen-story building.


    We dashed toward the sidewalks, jumping over the cracks in the roads. A light pole had fallen in front of the gate, but we could easily slide under it.


    As soon as we entered the building.


    [Ding! Safe spot found]


    [Detox in process¡­. Complete!]


    I stretched my hands behind my back and looked around. It seemed we were in some office building of sorts as the remains of once avish reception room filled my sight.


    Couches were torn apart, desks broken, windows crushed.


    The passageways leading to the stairs and the elevator block were dyed crimson with blood while a few bodiesy here and there as well.


    "This is horrible," the hero muttered.


    "Totally, I doubt they have anything edible left."


    "No, I didn''t mean¡ª"


    "Right, let''s just raid their coffee machine."


    The hero was stupid.


    I walked through the passageways. A few sticky corpses were on the ground, but I stepped over them all and ran to the staircase.


    The tilted building had the head of another one breaking into the staircase.


    With a cautious gait, the hero and I tread our way through the stairs and slowly went further up. On the third floor seemed to be the cublicles and the working part of the office, where we were likely to find some food that wasn''t destroyed.


    "Vincent, do you think our bodies have grown shorter?"


    "And weaker."


    The hero clenched his fists behind me, his muscles were long gone, what did he expect?


    The red emergency lights flickered as the doors off their hinges creaked. The smell of the dead people merged strongly with the air.


    "Tsk, tsk, so gnarly," the hero said. Both of us were rather ustomed to this, so we didn''t care.


    Soon, I found a security guard with a pipe driven through his head, and his bloodied hand gun on the ground.


    "Neat!" I said as I picked up the handgun and checked for the bullets. I had been shooting like a normal school child since I was a kid. After checking the gun, I moved over the gored guard and checked his pockets and shirt.


    "Robbery?"


    "I am just looking for cigarettes."


    "You shouldn''t steal¡­"


    "Is he gonna smoke through the hole in his head, you fuckwit?"


    The hero bit his lips and looked away, tears in his eyes.


    Though not on him, but I found some cigarettes on another dead one''s body. This guy had a hole in his stomach which was a tad too wide to smoke through.


    Loaded once more, I held the handgun in hand, pocketed the cigs, and made my way through the aisles and the cubicles before finding the office kitchen.


    The mordernist ce was now rife with blood and a mess of items. Many cabs were dragged open and many sachets were fallen on the ground.


    I pulled open the cabs on top, some snack bars and a few sachets of coffee, perfect. The machine wouldn''t be working without electric, but we''d manage.


    "Someone had a donut day," the hero said, looking at a box on the counter. "It''s filled with mold, about fifteen days? Fuck they''re half eaten as well."


    "Could be longer. Ignore that, take whatever you can eat."


    I checked the marks on the sachets for the manufacture and expiration date.


    The manufacturing was¡­


    2025.


    Two years after we had been summoned to another world.


    Our location was already clear with everything written in English, this was the same country as before, Te, but to think two years had gone by.


    It was then.


    A rattle sounded from the cab below.


    Half eaten.


    Bloodied kitchen.


    A mess.


    A smile spread on my face as I slowly grabbed the handle of the rattling cab.


    "Surprise, surprise,"


    The cab swung open.


    And inside, was a stout old man, quaking in fear.

 Chapter 5: Secrets of the Scenario

    <h4>Chapter 5: Secrets of the Scenario</h4>


    And inside, was a stout old man, quaking in fear.


    "Why hello there," I said, pointing the gun at him.


    "H-holy fuck? Is that a person!? Hey hey, are you alright¡ª?"


    I turned around and pointed the gun at the hero.


    "Shut up," I said, and shut up he did. He was not naive enough to trust the first person he saw now. For all we knew, this guy could have caused all the bloodshed here.


    "I am not¡­ I am not¡­ I¡­ please, please help me! It just started! It just started so suddenly!"


    I raised the gun ahead and drove it into his mouth.


    "I didn''t ask."


    Tears streaming down his face, the man raised his hands.


    "Now. How do I heat some water here? I am going to kill for a coffee and a smoke."


    The man''s eyes widened in surprise.


    He slowly pointed at the counter behind us, a single orange pipe running down the wall. I moved the gun out of his mouth and pumped my brows.


    "G-gas pipe¡­ building in this district¡­ are old¡­"


    "Stove?"


    "U-up there!"


    Got it. Other than the induction, there was also a gas stove here. Interesting.


    The hero checked the cab for the stove and brought it down. The setup into the pipeline wasn''t usually that tough, and the gas flowing out was pretty low as well, I was no gas master, but the risk seemed low.


    There was little that I believed this fucker could tell me. So I asked the only question on my mind.


    "When did this all start?"


    The man lowered his gaze¡­


    "I-I don''t even remember¡­ it''s all so haz¡ª"


    The gun was shoved again.


    "Twenty days! About twenty days!"


    Hm.


    I see.


    There was still stuff that I was curious about. But I didn''t think it was without risk.


    [The Strongest Dragon God System rmends against what you''re nning]


    [The Strongest Dragon God System insists you''re better than that]


    That was true.


    I didn''t have to take the risk myself, I was better than that.


    The Apocalypse Keeper being very simr to something straight out of a game was quite disconcerting. The existence of things like penalties and bonuses made me hesitant to do anything.


    It was best to be wary.


    "Hey, hero,e here."


    "Just call me by name¡­"


    The hero, Rfan, walked over to me at my call.


    "Here," I said, handing him the gun.


    "What?"


    "Shoot him."


    [The Strongest Dragon God System did not mean that!!]


    Fuck off.


    "V-vincent? Are you crazy¡­?"


    The man started squealing.


    Rfan''s hands trembled.


    Why?


    Why was he being so disobedient? I couldn''t understand.


    "Do I¡­ Need to beat sense into you again, Rfan?"


    The hero shivered.


    The stout man whimpered.


    I didn''t care.


    Slowly, I stood up and sped my hands around the hero''s chin.


    I guided my hand over his own and turned off the safety of the gun.


    "ce your finger on the trigger."


    "V-vincent¡­"


    "Do it."


    I was very curious. I needed to know what would happen.


    "Pull the trigger. Shoot him."


    Rfan bit his lips.


    His finger curled.


    "N-no¡­ nono nononono AHK¡ª"


    ¡ªBANG!


    Brains spilled out all inside the cab.


    Rfan sunk down, his breathing heavy.


    "Fuck¡­ man¡­"


    "What does it say? Did you get a window pop up?"


    Rfan sighed and nodded.


    "Scenario 1, requirements fulfilled."


    "AHAHA! I knew it!"


    People too.


    Were mutated beings.


    In this world where animals were rare and we had barely run into any monsters, how were people to fulfill this requirement? How were people to entertain?


    By dying. Of course.


    "Funny, coffee?" I was in a good mood, so I could make it.


    "Yes¡­ please¡­"

 Chapter 6: Perfect Duo

    <h4>Chapter 6: Perfect Duo</h4>


    With coffee in our hands and cigarettes on our lips, the Hero and I went over and up to the roof of the building we were in.


    The ashen skies were littered with tints of red as the sight of raging mes from all around the ce filled our eyes. The buildings copsed, the roads burned, people were ughtered, monsters roamed.


    And at the center of the city, howling at the petty lives lost under its arms, teasing all that had dared to hope standing against it, was the enormous hound monster.


    "Neat visuals," I said, sipping on the coffee. It made for a good sight.


    It seemed some kind of barrier was in ce around the designated safe zones since not a trace of the mist wafted in here. Strangely enough, the eyeballs that I had seen earlier were unable to approach as well.


    Well, that didn''t matter.


    How¡­


    How should I take it down?


    Before anything, while I had a general idea of how my body was doing, getting visuals was going to be good. I was also curious about this ce.


    [The Strongest Dragon God System says it can show you all the stats and path to bing the primordial dragon god.]


    "Why don''t you fuck off? Block block."


    [The Strongest Dragon God System will be back]


    Blocking didn''t work here, huh?


    "Um, status window?"


    "You''re checking your stats?" the hero asked. "Say Attribute Window."


    "Attribute window."


    [Opening Character Attribute Window]


    [Name: Vincent !#@#@$]


    [Age: 18]


    [Level: 1]


    [Title: -]


    [Sponsor: -]


    [Skills:


    Personal Skills:Returner (Lv 1)


    Your stats and skills from another world are gone, but knowledge remains.


    Unique Skills:


    Viin (Lv 1)


    No one is as vile as you. For every evil deed performed, whether it is foiled or sessful, you get a 5x Experience Booster. 10x Stat boost against the Hero.


    ]


    [Stigma:


    -


    ]


    [Stats:


    Strength - 15


    Agility - 15


    Constitution: 19


    Magic Power: 21


    * The limit of human body at 15 has been removed. Please try your hardest to level up.


    ** Average Olympic Athelete has a stat of 10. Please attribute stat points wisely


    ]


    "Hmm," I crossed my arms.


    Viin, huh? Not bad. Not bad at all, I quite liked that, Unique skill. I didn''t know about being vile, maybe if I burnt down a hundred people or so? It was worth a shot, especially since it didn''t matter if I failed.


    This gave me more insight into how I can possibly go ahead and take down that hound. My stats were already at the human limit anyway, so it wasn''t a loss.


    "Hero, show me yours."


    "Right."


    The hero flicked his hand and his blue stat window turned toward me.


    [Opening Character Attribute Window]


    [Name: Rfan !#@#@$]


    [Age: 18]


    [Level: 1]


    [Title: -]


    [Sponsor: -]


    [Skills:


    Personal Skills:


    Returner (Lv 1)


    Your stats and skills from another world are gone, but knowledge remains.


    Unique Skills:


    Hero (Lv 1)


    A true hero holds justice in his heart, and rationality in his actions. You are an example of a righteous yet realistic man. For every good deed performed, whether it is foiled or sessful, you get a 5x Experience Booster. 10x Stat Boost against the Viin.


    ]


    [Stigma:


    -


    ]


    [Stats:


    Strength - 9


    Agility - 19


    Constitution: 7


    Magic Power: 15


    * The limit of human body at 15 has been removed. Please try your hardest to level up.


    ** Average Olympic Athelete has a stat of 10. Please attribute stat points wisely


    ]


    "Hero? Here too?"


    "What is yours?" Rfan asked and I dly showed him my status window.


    "V-vi-viin¡­"


    A chuckle left my lips.


    "We''re the perfect duo! In this world too!"


    Rfan trembled and stepped back.


    "We can help each other grow, spam things over and over!"


    "Y-you''re right¡­"


    Rfan understood too.


    "And when pushes to shove, we can also use each other as our trump cards."


    Rfan''s eyes widened.


    "W-we can survive this apocalypse¡­"


    "Survive?! Crazy idiot! We can take over the world! We can go back and smack that bitch and trash the bastards who ruined our home!"


    "The whole world!? The goddess?"


    "YES!" I nodded and turned around.


    A n had made itself in my mind.


    A perfect, perfect n.


    "And it starts with killing that hound."


    [Earth Scenario 1 - Time Remaining: 4 Hours 39 Minutes]

 Chapter 7: Only Losers Grind

    <h4>Chapter 7: Only Losers Grind</h4>


    "I have an idea," the hero posed. "How about we start killing the other mosnters we can find, level up and grind some skills before taking on the hound?"


    Right then, a window popped up inf ront of my eyes.


    [Strongest Dragon God System ims it can give you skills the moment you ept]


    "Hah!" I scoffeed.


    Were these idiots blind? Did no one see the magic power stat in the status window?


    "Hear well, hero. To get skills, only losers need to grind," I said. "Or use a system."


    Wit my eyes closed, I sensed my entire bdy in search for the deposit of the magicl power. Inside my heart, near my veins, a blue reservoiry.


    This was the store ofg magical energy waiting to be utilized.


    I started pumping it through my body. Quick at first, I made the magic start rushing through my body in circuits and pathways.


    Sweat dripped from my forehead, but I had already done this once in the old world and had even bettered their method. Just seeing things once was enough for most normal people, and I was a viin!


    Of course, a single mistake could have blown my body up, but again, who made mistakes?


    Right.


    Losers.


    The magi circuit was built hassle free and my mana started flowing through my body. As if the sernse of lethargy and disonance was starting to flow away, more energy filled my heart.


    [Impossible feat! You have created a new magic cirction technique]


    [Magic Power stat +2 Permanently]


    [Skill: Vincent Lemograss Cirction (Lv. 1) has been created]


    Perfect.


    With the magic power now moving into my body, I could use it to supplement my other stats and also open the gateway to utilize skills.


    Learning all of this in the other world was a surprising boon for us.


    [The Strongest Dragon God System expresses¡ª]


    "Dismiss."


    I ignored the stupid dragon not system''s words and turned toward Rfan.


    "Alright, your turn."


    "I¡­ I really can''t¡­"


    I knew he would say this.


    A lot of talent was wasted on this guy. Even though the world knew him as a chad, I knew more than well enough that he was just a wimp. Like, who couldn''t do this? No one.


    "Turn around, I''ll guide you through it."


    "Really? Then fine!"


    The viin then ced his hand on the hero''s back and told him to close his eyes.


    "Follow me closely or you''ll ending up blowing apart."


    "No problems. I think I''ll manage."


    "Wimp."


    What was with that I think?


    I shook my head and closed my eyes. My mana flowed out the reservoir and the circuits and started invading his.


    The mana moved through his body, trailing the path for his own to start operating. The hero faithfully followed mine with his own, burning the circuits into his body. His constitution was low and the process must have been painful, yet he didn''t bat an eye.


    And after about fifteen minutes.


    [Ding! You have learned a Legendary Grade cirction technique]


    [Skill: Vincent Lemograss Cirction (Lv. 1) has been created]


    "L-legendary grade?"


    The hero muttered.


    It seemed the grades weren''t that different in this world from the other one.


    Ranging from Common, Rare, Unique, Epic, Legendary, Quasi-Mythic and Mythic, most techniques and items were divided in ranks.


    "Alright, now that you''re done go and find some matches."


    "Matches?" The hero asked.


    I opened the map of the ce and smiled at him.


    The next safe zone was in this district too.


    "I know how to take down the hound."

 Chapter 8: Hound Hunt [Bonus Chapter]

    <h4>Chapter 8: Hound Hunt [Bonus Chapter]</h4>


    The hero and I separated.


    Fifteen minutes of immunity and then about two hours ofsting in the mist. That was our current limit, but just a single hour was enough to make us fall to a near death state.


    I slowly crawled out of the alleys and the debris as I looked ahead. Cigarette still stuck in between my lips, I looked at the giant hound not that far away.


    Right.


    I was going to take down the hound.


    I reached the remains of the building and picked up a stone first. The small b of debris rounded out from the fall weighed about five hundred grams, just perfect for the show.


    Slowly, I pulled my hand back.


    My body pivoted.


    My muscles stretched.


    In a single go, I sent the stone flying.


    "Wuf!"


    A whimper sounded out as the stone hit the hound the size of a five-story building.


    Slowly, it turned around.


    ck eyes gleamed at me like the night itself, the fur of red fluttering into the crimson burns of the city, with nails like spears and teeth like swords, the hound turned back, and growled.


    "GRAAAH!"


    Its scream resounded all over the city as its heavy breathing fell near me.


    I took in a puff of the smoke with one hand and scratched inside my ears with the other. It was a tad too loud for my taste.


    The hound had locked on to me. It raised its paws and took a step ahead.


    The ground quaked.


    "GRAAAAAA!"


    And with another scream, it ran.


    The hound hunt had begun.


    I grinned and immediately turned around, dashing away from the pile of debris and down the streets. Therge hound followed right behind.


    The map of the ce was open in front of my eyes.


    Idiots. They had practically given us the way to defeat this giant boss.


    The Earth trembled as the hound followed right behind me. Maybe the hero could, but I was going to have a slightly hard time outrunning this hound.


    I jumped over a broken sign. A car was in my way. With both my hands on its deck, I vaulted above it.


    No sign of slowing down, no sign of stopping.


    But the hound was too fearsome an enemy.


    It was almost caught up.


    "GRAAA!"


    The hound screamed as if announcing my end. Even if it had the wits of a brick, one had to admire the chutzpah.


    I rolled ahead and dived into a narrow alley between the buildings.


    "GRRRR!" The hound screamed and dived face-first into the buildings, crushing its head.


    Turning back, I stuck my tongue out at the hound and teased it.


    "Come and get some, little shit!"


    The hound screamed once more and followed me through the alley, breaking the buildings in the way with its own body.


    It was soon going to be killed.


    ***


    I stood alone in the center of a building with ss walls and a broken interior.


    This ce, the next and thergest safe zone from the mist was in the same line as the other one before. The pipings were old and in need of renewal.


    "You''re fast," Vincent had said. "So go and open the main gas valves on every floor. Make it so that it would burn!"


    "Haha¡­" I chucked to myself.


    I guess I was never going to be free from that viin.


    But, I too wanted to survive. And to get my home back, and to make a fucking harem.


    "Let''s do this."


    And so, I ran.

 Chapter 9: Hound Chase [Bonus Chapter]

    <h4>Chapter 9: Hound Chase [Bonus Chapter]</h4>


    The map of the apocalypse area was open wide in front of my eyes. Almost yawning, I continued smoking the cigarette as I hopped from alley to alley with the hound following me.


    Was the being chasing after my ass dangerous? Sure was.


    Was it also a fucking weak mutt? Sure as hell was.


    The map showed the many different safe spots on the way to the end where I had sent Rfan to. He would handle it well enough for the mutt to die inside, but I did think I should be giving him some time.


    "GRAA!"


    The mut screamed, it was still just the first scenario and all the situations were clear as day.


    The way I saw it, any normal person could clear this scenario by killing the hound that growls out so loud.


    I had thought it would be fast but¡­


    "Woop."


    I jumped out of a thin alley and got to the main road again. Just two more turns around the block and I would be in front of Rfan again, but¡­


    But¡­


    [Viin: For every evil deed, you get a 5x experience booster]


    Just how useful was this experience? And what kind of booster was I going to get? I really really wanted to know.


    In the end, I sighed and pivoted on my feet.


    "Come here stupid mutt!" My scream resounded in the air, and the mutt growled.


    About 10 minutes¡­ I could probably make my cigarette hold on for ten minutes. It seemed like a stretch, but it was possible.


    My target was the other safe zones. I could manage.


    With the mutt in tow, I started running toward the other safe zones in our path. Not over them, but around them.


    The mutt followed.


    Its body bumped against the barriers ced around the safe zone as it hit the buildings all around them, bringing many to fall near them but it all was blcoked by the barrier again, keeping the safe zone safe in the truest sense of the word.


    Time was starting to run out. I jumped into the nearest safe zone, just around the barrier easily passing through it.


    [Detox in process¡­]


    The mutt was right behind, I couldn''t let it stop or lose sight. I ran along the barrier of the safe zone while the mutt followed, grinding its head against every bit.


    [Ding! Detoxplete]


    Perfect.


    I jumped over a fence and got back on the main streets. As I hopped, I twisted my body mid-air and threw another stone at the now injured mutt.


    "Come here, you little bitch!"


    My constituiton was beyond human limit like a normal person. Of course I had just barely scratched the barrel that held my stamina.


    "GRAAAAARAAA!"


    The useless mutt could only bark.


    Without blinking an eye, I bit the almost finished cigarette I rushed through the streets at max speed in the race against time.


    I wanted to see just how much 15 points in agility could get me.


    And it did get me.


    At the speed almost twice more than that of an olympic runner, I passed through the streets by jumping over the cars and debris alike.


    The mutt followed, crushing whatever I had avoided.


    The safe zone in the map continued blinking.


    And atst, I was in frotn of thest safe spot. The sight of Rfan waving his hands from afar was clear.


    He was¡­


    He was still in the building.


    "What the fuck dude! Get out of there!!"


    I needed the hero for the trump card!!


    Rfan said something in turn, but I couldn''t hear.


    The mutt growled.


    I quickly changed my direction and hopped away¡­


    "GRAAA!"


    ¡­ And the mutt crashed into the barrier.


    As I stayed outside the barrier my eyes fell toward the hero.


    The gas leak had filled the entirety of the barrier inside.


    The mutt growled as it looked at me, standing right next to the building.


    It seemed I had little choice.


    Taking onest puff of the cigarette, I tossed it inside the barrier.


    ¡ªBOOOOOOM!

 Chapter 10: Trump Card

    <h4>Chapter 10: Trump Card</h4>


    The cigarette rolled and flipped through the air. The extreme gas leak had filled every spot till the barrier''s extension.


    Just beforeing here to the old building, we had done the same thing.


    Though the gas wasn''t enough, the moment a safe zone was not safe from the inside, it was immediately reced. It was made clear with an explosion.


    Simr to the one that was about to happen now.


    Though the mutt stood right in front of me, I cared not.


    My eyes were on the hero, and the hero''s eyes were on me.


    As if time had slowed down, we could see the cigarette slowly near the barrier.


    ''Attack me,'' I mouthed the words, and the hero''s eyes turned into sharp des.


    There was a trump card we held. A reason that made the two of us a perfect pair that went beyond our opposing attributes.


    Hidden in thest line of the skill definition.


    [Viin: 10x Stat boost against the Hero.]


    [Hero: 10x Stat boost against the Viin.]


    As long as our attacks were directed toward each other and only as long as they were directed toward each other.


    All our stats were multiplied by ten.


    The human limit was at fifteen.


    The hero''s agility stat was 19¡­


    With the buff¡­


    "HYAAA!"


    The hero''s screams rang. Our heightened stats had made the world slow down.


    A level that should exist yet in this scenario was achieved.


    A cloud burst, and a sonic boom resounded, with all his strength, the hero kicked off the building and came rushing straight toward me.


    His figure curved from the sheer speed.


    The cigarette went inside the barrier.


    A spark of me started to spread.


    Head first, the hero came out of the barrier and straight toward me.


    ¡ªBOOOOOOOM!


    The explosion that swallowed up the entire safe zone rang as the cigarette showed its prowess, the hero immediatelynded and smacked into my body.


    [Constitution: 190]


    The hero smacked into me but barely damaged let on. He wrapped his hands around me and started to run again in a straight drive.


    The barrier dissipated.


    An explosion swallowed up the entire safe zone and the building crumbled into bits as it fell right where we were standing.


    Time seemed toe back to normal as the hero''s charge ended. All it took was the blink of an eye before we were much further away from the safe zone.


    "GRRRRRRAAA!"


    The hound''s screams echoed in the air as the explosion swallowed it up, and then, the debris fell straight on it.


    Sighs left us.


    The hero fell on his butt and heaved breath after breath.


    Explosion after explosion rang as the hound was slowly buried within the building. Only when it was all done did I start walking back to the spot.


    A single iron pipe entered my sight as the burning debris was filled with dust and ash. I picked it up and climbed up the still aze debris.


    My eyes were on the small part of the hound still sticking out.


    As I got above it, I covered my mouth from the smoke and looked down.


    "Wuu¡­" the hound whimpered.


    "Super bonus, here Ie."


    I swung my hand down.


    And drove the iron pipe into the hound''s head. Its blood spurted out, but it didn''t die. I pulled it out again and drove it in again.


    The hound''s painful groans continued as its blood soaked my feet, but I still kept at it.


    And then.


    [Impossible feat has been achieved. You have killed the boss of the first scenario]


    [Adding first kill bonus]


    [Adding Scenario boss bonus]


    [Adding impossible feat bonus]


    [Your reward will be given at the end of the scenario]


    Heh.


    But the messages didn''t end.


    [Congrattions. The source of the poison mist has been defeated in the first scenario]


    "Oh?"


    [Congrattions. The safe zones will now be removed]


    As if in sync, all the marks of the safe zones on the minimap disappeared.


    Followed by¡­


    ¡ªCRAAAASH!!


    ¡ªBANGGG!


    [Vile evil has surfaced!]


    I had made the hound drop all the buildings around on the barriers of the safe zones.


    [You have caused the death of 34 humans]


    [Adding mutated being kill bonus]


    [Adding vile evil multiplier]


    [Your reward will be handed out at the end of the scenario]


    "Oops."

 Chapter 11: Final Push for Experience [Bonus Chapter]

    <h4>Chapter 11: Final Push for Experience [Bonus Chapter]</h4>


    Nearing the debris was the same old hero, owpletely tired and covered in dust.


    I slowly hopped up the small mountain of debris that the falling building had formed and ealked over to the hero.


    "Hey, I got a booster for getting rid of the mist¡­"


    "Yup, I got one too, don''t worry."


    The hero tilted his head.


    "What did you do?"


    "Dropped some buildings on the safe zones. I thought it would only happen an hourter, but the safe zones disappeared too soon."


    Oh.


    That meant another thing.


    I licked my lips.


    "Rfan, do you remember any ces the safe zones were in?"


    The hero looked at the map and nodded.


    "I guess?"


    Perfect.


    "If the monsters are still roaming around, with the safe zones gone they must have now opened their gates to apletely new and fresh banquet."


    "HAH!" Rfan scoffed. "Fine, but don''t go around killing anyone."


    This fucker.


    I red at him.


    "S-sorry¡­ I meant do whatever you want¡­"


    Good.


    Don''t tell me what to do.


    "Don''t hit any safe zones around this spot. Pick up a service hammer or something."


    My eyes fell on the scenario tab floating around.


    [Time Remaining: 1 hour 15 minutes 23 seconds¡­]


    "Meet me here in an hour."


    Now, to test what exactly was keeping my rewards away.


    With the iron pipe clenched in my hands, I leaned forward and dashed away. The hero took the east and I took the west, the southpletely destroyed by my vile evil. Lol.


    I kept rushing through the streets. My eyes scanning for every possible sight of a monster and people.


    And not long after, I found more hounds and almost panther like beings walking around.


    Their teeth shone under the light of the ashen skies and their red eyes filled with killing intent would have sent shiver down anyone''s spine, but to me they just looked cute at best.


    With them found, I immediately changed my route and climbed atop a car, from the hood to the top. Another leap and my hands clinged onto a window above one of the monsters.


    I kicked off and in a single dive drove the iron pipe into the head of one hound.


    "KRIEEE!"


    It screamed as I got back on my feet and pulled out my weapon.


    The other monsters around looked at me and screamed. Distance from safe zone was about three minutes if I had the map right in my head.


    The hounds and panthers followed and I set off again.


    One safe zone was a dud.


    As I made my way through the turns and picked up a few more monsters, I saw people stepping out of a building from another safe zone.


    Three men and two women.


    "H-help!!" I screamed. "Help please!!!"


    The people turned their eyes, and saw the few monsters following behind me.


    They talked around with each other. Seemed they were hesitant.


    "Help please! I drove them away from my sister! If not me then please help her!!"


    The emotional pushing worked as I lied as easy as I could breathe.


    All five of them went back inside the safe zone and held the door open.


    "Quick! Get inside!!"


    I sped up and hopped inside the door. The monsters followed, but before they could do anything, the three guys closed the door and mmed it shut with the bodies.


    The two women helped me inside and screamed.


    "Are you injured?! We''ll have to run from here¡ª"


    "Not really, we won''t."


    I kicked one''s knee. It broke immediately and she fell on the ground. Then, I pped the other''s face and moved over to the idiots blocking the door.


    "W-what in the world!?"


    "FUCK! He''s an enemy!!"


    One of them punched me.


    A thwack rang as his hand touched my chest.


    "What? Was that supposed to tickle or something?"


    The man screamed, his fingers swollen.


    I held in a sigh and sweep kicked the other two across their chest. Their grip on the door broke.


    Slowly, I hopped back as the door tore open and in came the monsters.


    Their eyes, on the ones on the ground.


    [Vile Evil has surfaced - You have fed a person to monsters]


    [Vile Evil has surfaced - You have fed a person to monsters]


    [Vile Evil has surfaced - You have fed a person to monsters]


    [Vile Evil has surfaced - You have fed a person to monsters]


    [Vile Evil has surfaced - You have fed a person to monsters]


    [5x Experience Booster will be applied]


    [Reward can only be given at the end of the scenario]


    I guess there was little to do.


    Other than rinse and repeat, of course.


    [The Strongest Dragon God System suggests you cease this evil right away]


    Shut up loser system.


    After I get rid of this apocalypse keeper, I aming for your ass too.

 Chapter 12: End of Scenario 1

    <h4>Chapter 12: End of Scenario 1</h4>


    The hour passed and I returned to the spot where the Hero and I were to meet. It was a fun little excursion that piled me about 20 more kills on top of the thirty-two. With the hounds and the big bad mutt as well, I had roughly 59 kills on my hand.


    It wasn''t bad. The hero came over too, not too far behind him but still fairly far away I could see about 12 people standing behind him far into the debris.


    [Time Remaining: 7 minutes 12 seconds¡­]


    "You''rete," I said.


    The hero immediately prostrated in front of me.


    "I beg your forgiveness."


    "Forgiven. Weirdo."


    This stupid guy was quick to bow. Where was the fun in that?


    The body of the hound was still below us, the small mes of the explosion on the verge of dying out.


    The ashen skies with tints of red had strangely started to clear out and things seemed much brighter now that the mist that was blocking everything was gonepletely from the scene.


    What remained was to wait for the scenario to end.


    "Those the people you saved?" I asked the hero.


    "Yeah. I don''t think they''ll be useful for you though, we should just let them go."


    "Sure."


    Rfan sighed at my words.


    My eyes remained on the timer.


    Should I rake in more kills? Rfan had brought me live targets.


    But¡­


    It was natural that the second scenario would start at the end of the first. In that case, I needed meat shields and experiment puppets. There was nothing better than those guys for that purpose.


    I was stillrgely lost at what exactly this apocalypse thing was, but it didn''t take a genius to know that I wouldn''t have to be so confused for a long time.


    There were many dots to connect.


    From the fact that eyeballs and constetions were trying to observe us to the apocalypse keeper itself and the cryptic yet funny tasks, it had rolled out. If I added the Strongest Cringe Loser system then there were many clues for me.


    All of this was entertainment. Orchestrated entertainment, maybe working toward some goal.


    But that didn''t change the fact that someone out there was making a smug face while looking at me.


    And god change my name if I don''t slug that fucker.


    The time was ticking.


    "It''s here¡­" the hero muttered.


    The time¡­


    [0 Minutes 2 seconds¡­]


    ¡ª[Ding]!


    A loud sound rang.


    Followed by.


    ¡ª[Ding]![Ding]![Ding]![Ding]![Ding]!


    Dozens more.


    Everyone who was alive got the same notification at the same time.


    [Congrattions, the Earth Scenario 1 hase to an end]


    {The rewards will now be handed out. Please remember, each level gives you 2 stat points and every three levels gives you 1 skill point]


    [Calcting¡­.]


    [Congrattions!]


    I blinked.


    And in the next moment, all my senses were flooded.


    [You have leveled up!]


    [You have leveled up!]


    [You have leveled up!]


    [You have leveled up!]


    [You have leveled up!]


    [You have leveled up!]


    [You have leveled up!]


    .


    .


    .


    .


    .


    .


    A total of¡­


    [Level: 21]

 Chapter 13: Apocalypse Manager [Bonus Chapter]

    <h4>Chapter 13: Apocalypse Manager [Bonus Chapter]</h4>


    21 levels.


    [The ''Viin'' booster has been upgraded! Keep upgrading to unlock more features]


    Strange.


    Was twenty-one levels good or bad? I couldn''t tell.


    I might just have to test it out on some people and ensure that I could make something of it.


    "Hey, asshole, what level are you?"


    "Um, it says fifteen."


    The hero had gone up by a fair amount too, what the heck?


    "You didn''t even kill many?"


    The hero shrugged at my words.


    "They all had other peopleing at them so I got to drench my hands easy a bit."


    "How many?"


    "Around 30?"


    Hmm, the math would not add up linearly. It seemed just like in a game, the leveling got tougher the stronger one became. I had also received a total of seven skill points and forty-two stat points.


    I wanted to know the effect of each of them.


    Though we were sitting on the debris of the building we had destroyed, there was no sign of the second scenario starting just yet. I was only being bombarded with messages about this or that much experience which I was going to ignore.


    This apocalypse keeper was a system in and of itself, that annoyed me to no end.


    Systems were for losers. The first moment I could, I would be sucking it for all its worth and destroying it.


    Then.


    I could reign easily as the ruler of a ruined world. Maybe my parents or sister could get in my way, but I can kill them if I work a little hard.


    "Hehe¡­" A chuckle escaped me.


    Why stop at just one world?


    My ambitions were burning.


    "What should we do?"


    I nodded at the Hero''s words and stood up. "Let''s go to a safe space and assess ourselves. I am not sure where, but most cities in Te should have a bunker."


    "We could base ourselves from there, huh? It could be possible to rest for a long time as well."


    I nodded.


    But the question was¡­


    Would these beings just let us do that?


    Almost as if to answer my question, another window popped up in front of my eyes.


    [Strongest Dragon God System rmends you do not move]


    [Strongest Dragon God System informs you that there has been an anomaly causing the dy]


    [The Strongest Dragon God System is not allowed to say these things. It will be penalized]


    [Strongest Dragon God System informs you it can tell you more if you choose it]


    "Fuck off."


    Anomaly, huh?


    What could it be other than us?


    I guess since it was being safe, the next scenario is going to be something twisted.


    And as if on cue, the Apocalypse keeper returned.


    But not as a simple window. Instead¡­


    "Beeenggg!" A giant blue slime appeared on the ground before us. From within the giant slime broke out many smaller slimes and all of them started shuffling around and hooking themselves on the different people.


    The giant slime itself had its mouth and eyes turned into a simple blushy line. Creating a dissonance with the environment around that left words insufficient to convey.


    [Hello humans! Congrattions on clearing the first scenario from the apocalypse.]


    "C-cute¡­"


    "Really? It looks stompable to me."


    [You must be confused about what is happening. But don''t worry, the apocalypse is the fate of all worlds, it is not something that ruins you but helps you! As proof, your poption after just the first round has gone from 10 billion]


    The slime''s eyes opened.


    A madder red gaze pierced through us all.


    Its mouth widened as jagged teeth revealed themselves bright, saliva and slimy goop sticking through their length.


    [Two. Billion. MWAHAHAHAHA!]


    "T-two¡­ billion?"


    "Eight billion people¡­. Died?"


    The gasps and mutters of everyone around filled our ears.


    "V-vincent¡ª"


    The hero was about to speak, but.


    "HAHAHAHA!" I startedughing too.


    The people around me all looked my way. Even the slimes stopped and stared, but I couldn''t stopughing.


    "What?" The giant slime spoke. "Did you lose your mind?"


    I turned my gaze toward the slime, and it shut up.


    It seemed this anomaly was none other than the two of us.


    Just like a stupid slime, this one too, was easy to intimidate.


    "I have always just found that the number of people roaming in this world is a painful one. The poption had to be reduced! I am happy is all."


    The slime cackled.


    "Do continue," I said.


    The slime gulped and then spoke out again.


    This time, its words were curt and sharp.


    "The first scenario has ended. This is the only region that has killed the boss too, which is very strange. But you can rejoice, for overperforming, we are going to reward you with tougher challenges."


    Hm?


    "As I said, we''re only helping you. You can''t grow against easy things, right?"


    Heh. Intriguing. It seemed these fuckers wanted a piece of me.


    "To start with!!"


    The slime cheered.


    "Weee!"


    "Boiiingg!"


    The smaller slimes all screamed in joy.


    "It would be a waste for so many dead humans to just go to waste, right? So all eight billion dead are going to be revived. It''s sad, the poption in this ce was lower than the others, but you can adjust!"


    Iughed out loud again.


    "Vincent!"


    "Dpon''t me me, it''s super entertaining."


    "The second scenario will begin, feel free to approach any of my cuties if you want to buy things. Though I doubt you''d have anything of value! HAHAHA!"


    The slime did a three-sixty and hopped up and down.


    "Remember, humans! The secret of the next scenarioys in friendship! You can only go so far alone!"


    With that, the slime slowly started to disappear.


    The small slimes all looked around, and started running away too.


    "Woah!" The hero jumped back, but before him, I had already grasped one of the slimes and brought close to me.


    "What are you running for, critter? You just want to make things tough by hiding, right?"


    The slime shook it''s head. But I didn''t care.


    If it was going to do that, it could hide in my pockets at all times.


    I didn''t get a chance to look at the slime, though.


    [Zombies have been awakened.]


    [The Second Scenario will now begin]

 Chapter 14: Scenario 2

    <h4>Chapter 14: Scenario 2</h4>


    [The Second Scenario will now begin]


    [Scenario 2 - What fun are weaklings?]


    [Condition 1: Form a Party]


    [Condition 2: ?????]


    [Condition 3: ?????]


    [Condition 4: ?????]


    [Condition 5: ?????]


    I quickly tapped around on the blue windows.


    "Attribute Window."


    The attributes opened up. Next to my name was a small plus button that I had seen before.


    As I tapped on it, the option to create a party appeared. It showed me a small map of all the people around in an eyeshot, including the critters currently hiding away from the debris.


    Screams and res had started once more as the many dead came back to life, but that mattered little to me. I had things to do here.


    Well, of course, I was not interested in the slightest bit with the other bastards here. I quickly tapped on the marker that showed the hero next to me.


    "Oh, I got an invite."


    "This feels less like a system and more like a game interface, huh?" I muttered.


    The hero quickly epted the invite with a grin and asked. "What differentiates them?"


    I crossed my arms, the slime still wriggling in my grasp.


    A ding rang in front of me as the notification of the hero joining my party popped up.


    [The Strongest Dragon System says Lot]


    What? What was this about? Did it mean there was a lot that set them apart and couldn''t make a proper sentence because of the penalty?


    The Hero was correct. There was little that separated them.


    "That means both will die."


    Being a normal person, I thought of forming some long-term goals now and then to have some fun in life. Normal people like me all lead boring days after all. I had established three of them for now. Take over the world, kill the system and the apocalypse keeper, and find and beat the living shit out of that goddess.


    My eyes changed toward the notification window again.


    [Condition 1: Form a Party (2/5)]


    [Condition 2: Find a hideout!]


    Two on five? Did I need five people in a damned party? That fucking sucked, I already had the hero who barely crossed the trash mark.


    "Party map."


    The small tab opened and a map along with the list of the party members showed itself.


    "Hey, Vincent," the Hero called. I looked to my side and found that a bunch of the zombies had started gathering around the people he had saved.


    "You already got the experience, who cares about losers?"


    "I should help¡­"


    "Sit tight, we have more important matters to concern ourselves with."


    Help.


    Stupid.


    Getting a hideout was good, but I wanted to try something before that.


    Since it was telling us to find a safe spot this was obviously going to be a scenario that wouldst for a while like thest one. In that case, the buying and selling part was probably going to be important.


    I looked at the map.


    And there it was, the small slime''s mark ovepping with mine.


    Since the map showed Rfan''s location with a special party member marker, I was sure it would do the same for this guy. If I could send it an invitation¡­


    The slime squirmed and shook.


    I looked it in the eye.


    [Invitation has been rejected]


    "HAH!"


    "Vincent, you alright? I should really¡­"


    I ignored the idiot with me and tightened my hold on the slime.


    "ept it."


    [Invitation has been rejected]


    The slime shook its head. Tears falling out of its small eyes.


    "You little."


    I clenced it tighter.


    Then, I mmed it on the ground and stomped it with my foot.


    "ept it or I crush you and find the next."


    [Invitation has been rejected]


    The slime shook its head again, almost as if it wasughing.


    This idiot, did it think I didn''t know about how malleable slimes were? Excuse me, but I had literally just fucking returned from another world.


    [Vincent Lemograss Cirction (Lv 1) has activated]


    The slime suddenly froze.


    The ''magic power'' in my body gathered at my foot.


    "One. Final. Chance."


    I sent the invitation.


    The slime quaked.


    I pressed my foot further down.


    And finally.


    [Invitation has been epted. Dimensional Slime (Lv. 45) has joined your party]


    Level what?


    This bitch?


    "Oh, we got a new member¡­" Rfan muttered. "Hey, we should go look into that bunker and take more people with us¡ª"


    I stood up and stretched my hands.


    "No baggage. Let''s go, I''d like to sleep a little."

 Chapter 15: How to Travel in the Apocalypse [Bonus Chapter]

    <h4>Chapter 15: How to Travel in the Apocalypse [Bonus Chapter]</h4>


    I got off the debris, picked up the slime and shoved it in my pockets, next to the cigarettes.


    "Let''s go to those bunkers I told you. I remember my dad once talked about one in Central Darma."


    Te was arge country, but it was still pretty young. My dad wanted to show the government who''s boss and had attacked most of their bunkers, but this one was slightly special even by his standards since it was simple yet loaded.


    We hopped over the ground, the red tint of the skies was slowly fading away, but not gone.


    While the burning never stopped, night would being soon. Sleeping in an undead infestednd didn''t click well with me.


    "Hey Vincent, we really should help them, they''ll all die."


    Oh right. The people he had brought along were currently being eaten up by the zombies.


    "It could serve as goodbat practice too¡ª"


    "Practice? You think I''d have gotten rusty enough in a day to need practice against weaklings?"


    I sighed and reached down, grabbing another small stone.


    I bounced the stone a couple times in my hands, the Hero watching.


    "You are helping?"


    "Yes, helping my curiousity."


    Once I started to wonder about something, it became really difficult to calm down without answering it.


    I twisted my hand, pulled back my limbs, and shot the stone straight ahead.


    "WOAH!" Rfan screamed. The stone, unperturbed, went straight into the head of one of the people trying to fight back against the zombies.


    It wasn''t strrong enough to pierce through, but more than strong enough to smash his skull inside.


    The man dropped dead almost immediately, the dent in his head big.


    The others screamed and attracted the zombies'' attention, all the better for me.


    "What are you doing?!"


    I raised my hand and shut Rfan up.


    A minute.


    Then two.


    "I guess not everyone that dies bes a zombie."


    "Oh, cool think to check." Rfan nodded. See? I knew he wasn''t an idiot after being with me in that other world.


    His disposition may be of a hero, but a hero that wasn''t realisitc was just a burden. Save yourself so you can save others.


    Of course, ignoring the rest alive wasn''t very heroic, but I couldn''t give two flying rat fucks about it.


    Dead? Skill issue.


    I started walking away and Rfan followed. The slime tried to mess around in my pockets, but a simple p would shut it up. What was it level forty five for anyway?


    Time was running out, we first had to get to Darma and do that as fast as we could.


    After carefully moving and avoiding as many hordes as we could, the Hero and I found ourselves looking down at a police station.


    About thirteen zombies were around the ce. Not a number we couldn''t take on.


    "Hey, should I use the stat points?"


    "No."


    I shut him off instantly.


    "Keep it saved, we''ll look into it at the bunker."


    I turned back to the police station once more and licked my lips. Parked outside were three Marley Sportsters modded to fit the cops.


    Inside, were likely to be filled with guns and grenades.


    "Let''s go steal this bike first."


    Rfan smiled.


    "I am in."

 Chapter 16: Zombie Fighting (1)

    <h4>Chapter 16: Zombie Fighting (1)</h4>


    Wait here. I had told the hero as I went into the offense, ready to face off against the police zombies below.


    Exactly one was in a raid costume and the rest were dressed like normal cops. I could look into the slimes'' store for more weapons or whatever I would need but for now, I had to y it differently.


    I couldn''t rely on that thing for the same reason that I didn''t want to use the stat or skill points or whatever. In any case, losers had to worry about things.


    People like me, all normal folks? We made do with the things we had.


    With the pistol I had stolen from the dead security guard, I hopped down the alleyways and walked toward the cops. There was little thought in my head other than killing them right away,


    And kill them right away I would.


    I tapped a stone.


    The zombies heard and turned around.


    With my smile wide, I beckoned them over.


    "Come along."


    "GRAAA!!!"


    A zombie screamed as it raised its hands and came right toward me. The zombie ran with a deep gash in its chest and ran toward me, it was already being taken down by maggots.


    Ew.


    The zombie jumped and swiped its ws. I knocked its chest with a thrust kick and its spine broke right there. In that same sweep, I turned my foot and smacked its head to the ground with the back of my heels.


    "Grah!"


    The zombie didn''t get a chance to continue squealing as I stomped on its head, crushing it in a go.


    Another zombie hade straight up. It swiped. I leaned back and pulled open the magazine.


    It swiped again, I dodged again.


    "Hm, about four bullets?"


    And I had thirteen zombies, ah, twelve now. Five of which were inside the station.


    The zombie tried to w me again. This time, I drove ahead and shoved the gun''s nozzle into its mouth.


    I grabbed its arm and twisted it back around the joint, breaking it in two as I pushed it along.


    The mana from the cirction technique surged through me,


    The zombie still in hand, I eyed another one and angled the first one straight around it. It tried to raise its other hand.


    ¡ªBANG!


    A ssh of blood spilled as the bullet shot through the head of the first, and then the next zombie in line. At the same time, it hit the pole with the signboard next to the station and bent it to the side.


    The zombies all were now focused on me.


    "Go time."

 Chapter 17: Zombie Fighting (2)

    <h4>Chapter 17: Zombie Fighting (2)</h4>


    "Go time."


    I sprinted ahead, the first zombieing over was met with a punch.


    Another jumped at me from the ground. I immediately hopped and stepped on its head. In a single leap, I jumped on the head of the swat guy and kicked off once more.


    My feet dived into the bent sign board as I held its top with my hand.


    "There we go."


    ¡ªCLANG! CLANG!


    The sign board bent and the pole broke in half. I slid off, kicked it up, and held it in my hand.


    "GRAAA!"


    The zombies came howling at me, in a go, I swung the top end into through the head of the first. Like a china dish, its head frisbee''d off into the wall and it fell limp on the ground.


    Two more were hacked the same way when the signboard got stuck into the head of the third.


    My legs pivoted and I dragged the weight of the body along.


    Three were left outside, excluding the corpse on hand.


    I ran again and switched my grip on the pole. As I twisted on my feet, the signboard was now behind me and I held the broken half like a javelin.


    "Raid guy, catch this."


    My feet dashed through, dragging the corpse along.


    Raid guy tried to stop me, but the sharp end of the pole went straight through its stomach. Then, I pulled it along and rushed toward the next.


    The pole came out of the other side and stabbed into the next as well. And then, the third.


    I pinned them against the wall, and held the gun on top of raid guy''s face.


    "Share a bit, alright?"


    A bang resounded as the bullet shot through all three of them this time.


    The three zombies spasmed. And then fell limp.


    I left the pole behind and dusted my hand.


    Man, killing seven of them at once was too easy.


    I then kicked open the door of the station.


    Two bullets left.


    A bunch of them came toward me, and I shot the ceiling fan on the top.


    It fell right on the heads of the zombies and pinned two of them.


    One came up. I grabbed its head and used it like a bowling ball as I struck the head of the next. The third was kicked away as I kept smashing the heads of the other two into each other.


    A gnarl of bones, blood, veins and gray matter gathered together and the zombies copsed.


    I wasn''t done, though. I switched my grip from the missing half head to its hands and tossed the zombie into the third. It crashed into it while I walked over and found the fire axe.


    Perfect.


    The ss smashed in a single punch and the axe was in my hand. I grazed it to check its sharpness and ran ahead at the zombies that had managed to stand up, all three of them.


    The axe first choppped the head of one, I pushed its body back and then beheaded the second.


    With my gun, I shot at the third.


    And all the zombies in the police station were gone.


    I stepped out and dusted my clothes.


    "Hey! How long did it take?"


    "Um, 2 minutes 58 seconds!"


    Well.


    Not bad.


    We had the keys now so nothing sucked.

 Chapter 18: Central Darma, Ternet

    <h4>Chapter 18: Central Darma, Te</h4>


    "Did you get the bag?"


    The hero nodded at my words and raised the bag toward me. Filled to the brim with grenades, that was a bag more important for us than the bag with rations.


    Explosion took precedence over food, everyone knew that.


    I grabbed the keys to the Sportster and stepped out of the police station. I had found a long trench coat inside and had taken it over my ck shirt. There were also cool ck gloves that I also snatched.


    With the axe strapped to my back, I also ced two handguns in a holster along with a knife and hooked them on my belt. I didn''t need big guns or anything of the sort, just this much was enough.


    The hero on the other hand had taken a gray coat and had strapped around an AK-47 and a hammer. I let him handle the bag of grenades while I hooked the others filled with rations and magazines.


    I checked the keys on a couple of the bikes, and it finally turned on thest one.


    A single kick and the engine revved to a start.


    "Haha! There we go!"


    More zombies wereing around at the noise, and so were more of the hounds from the previous scenario.


    As things stood, probably all over the world, mutated monsters were out at war against the rising zombies. As things further stood, by some great luck and a sacrifice of all our noses, the bodies all seemed to be rotting and being attacked by the crows.


    "Hey hey Vincent, look here."


    Out stepped Rfan, in his hands two big helmets and in his other hand a much smaller, palm-sized helmet that was made out of a bent piece of steel and styrofoam broken from other helmets. Instead of the straps he had used small ribbons.


    "It''s perfect for Joe, right?"


    "We''re not calling the slime Joe."


    "How about Neon Kaiser Darkest Abarreth Shadow Johannesburg?"


    The slime popped out of my pocket and nodded.


    "Add a Mackenzie the Third."


    "Um, Neon Kaiser Darkest Mackenzie Abarreth Shadow Johannesburg the Third?"


    Neat.


    The slime nodded too.


    The hero walked over and handed me a helmet which I ced in front of me for now. He put his own on. The slime had decided to get out of my pocket and climb on my back, if it fell I would fucking find it and kill it.


    Unfortunately, Rfan was an idiot who didn''t have to escape from cops at the age of nine, and by extension, never knew how to ride a bike. I still didn''t get why people called him the best.


    With the two losers in tow, I turned the elerator.


    "Let''s go!"


    "Pipip!"


    The sportster whirred. The fuel bar went to the max, and off we set!


    "Woohoo!"


    The breeze streaked through my hair as I made my way through the road. With the whirring of the bike as our signal, a few normal people came peeking out of the debris but we sped past all of them.


    "Say, do you not think we should be adding the stats?" Rfan asked again.


    I had the map open right in front of me as I drove out of the narrower paths.


    "Not yet, let''s fucking sleep first."


    The bunker would likely be crowded, but I was not going to the ce alone.


    "Revv it faster! The hounds are catching us."


    Yup.


    I turned the road to the highways. Though the noise attracted the zombies and hounds alike, I was only going fast enough to keep the hounds following.


    The breeze continued as we dashed through the broken highways for hours straight. The cars that had riddled the ce all were on the opposite end leading away from the cities, though not a lot had a chance to even get here.


    The vrooms continued for hours.


    Every time it seemed the hounds were losing track of us, I made Rfan fire a shot.


    As the gray skies turnedpletely ck, the headlights and the burningnds in the distance were the only light source.


    And we had about¡­


    A hundred hounds following us.


    And then.


    In the outskirts of Central Darma, Te, we dropped out of the highway and entered the spacious posh blocks where the most important figures of the city resided.


    "This?"


    "Yes this!"


    The hounds on my tail, I turned the bike toward the widest tower in the area where a group of dozens of zombies had gathered.


    The bike went straight toward them.


    The zombies turned to face us.


    "AAAH! We''ll crash!"


    "Throw the grenade!!"


    The hero reached into the bag and pulled out the pin.


    And then, toward the walls of the tower that hid the bunker beneath.


    The grenade burst, we jumped out of the bike, Neo Mack 3 on my back, and rolled on the ground.


    The bike crashed into the zombies and the hounds pounced right after.


    "HAHA! Get inside!"


    Before anything else could catch us, we dived into the hole we had created and dashed through the building.

 Chapter 19: Good First Day

    <h4>Chapter 19: Good First Day</h4>


    The inside of the building was pretty neat., the zombies and the hounds outside engaged in great battle as the hero and I rolled through the lobby. Neo Mack 3 was alright too.


    Some of the stupid monsters would try to follow in through the hole we had left, but I had little to worry about since others would just drag them back out.


    "Gorey as hell¡­" the hero muttered as he stood up and dusted himself.


    It was gory as hell. I liked it a lot. I almost wanted to pop some popcorn, get a seat and watch this battle like a toddler seeing a 4D movie for the first time.


    Sticking to it seemed difficult for now though. It was almost a whole twenty-four hours since I had slept. Just a single coffee and cigarette wasn''t enough to make up for it.


    "Alright, look for the store room," I told Rfan and the two of us set off from the lobby of the tower. The posh really live well. Thankfully, they were also likely to be few in number so we didn''t have to worry much about


    Rfan and I strutted through the surprisingly empty passageways. Neo Mack 3 seemed to have gotten quickly used to us after being shown some kindness, I could probably use the hero for more such psyops.


    Through the lines of red carpets and many antique paintings, under the chandeliers and the Paris stered ceilings, we found the door to the tiny store room that could barely hold enough brooms.


    "Here?"


    "Yeah, my old man wanted me to give it a go so I know most about this ce."


    Bunkers were neat since they didn''t change, as they were never used. The mechanism on a hundred-year-old bunker was likely to remain the same even if someone was maintaining it, the urgency to fix just never hit in some circumstances.


    "How do we get there?"


    "Simple."


    I reached up and pulled out the CFL from its socket. Then, I turned the switch up. On the socket appeared a very, very small hole only big enough for a matchstick or splinter to fit in. I broke said splinter off from a broom and pushed it into the hole.


    "Get in here."


    Rfan looked around and stepped inside the store room that was cramped with just me alone. Barely wide enough to fit our shoulders, we closed the ce''s door, and in the next moment¡ª


    ¡ªWHIRRR


    The ground started moving down.


    "This is like a government base¡­"


    "It''s cunning. It limits entry and exit, so my dad was unable to bring in the big guns and had to fight before he could enter the bunker."


    Our luggage was just us, what we could strap to ourselves, and our bags. There wasn''t anything to worry about.


    "What happens if there''s no electric?"


    "It uses a special sr battery. There''s no need for electricity."


    The ground continued moving for a while beforeing to a stop.


    "This is not sustainable, huh?" Asked Rfan.


    He was correct.


    Chances were, the next scenario would ban ces like this. Even if not, just in case the building fell, we could be trapped here.


    In that sense, it was a very stupid bunker. But making something to hold special meetings in and run from nukes and terrorists through didn''t need to worry about broken buildings.


    Nukes would not leave anything above, and terrorists would eventually be caught and the ce dug up. The apocalypse was likely the only scenario where it was a problem.


    The lift finally came to a stop.


    A small, small door was in front of us. Even smaller than the one outside, this only let a single person pass through.


    "No face detect or anything?" Rfan asked.


    "There is, a fingerprint."


    "How do we pass through it¡ª"


    ¡ªBANG


    I shot the hinges of the door thrice each. The door weakened then and I topped it off by burying the axe into the center of the frame.


    Fingerprints? Locks? Well, those won''t work if I break it from the middle.


    It might be a little too strong for normal guns.


    [Vincent-Lemograss Cirction Technique has leveled up!]


    With magic, that mattered little.


    The door broke and I stepped inside.


    An enormous room with white walls, floors, and lights set off.


    "W-w-what!?"


    "Who are you¡­"


    And inside the ce. Were other people.


    A bunch of rich jackasses had gathered inside, about twelve of them. They even had a teen child and a few old coots with younger women.


    All of them trembled and screamed inside the ce as they saw us.


    "Fuck!" I screamed as I stepped into the ce.


    "Vincent," the Hero grabbed my shoulder. "Let me talk with them, you don''t have to worry."


    He then raised his hands and spoke to the others.


    "Guys! We knew about this location from a while back, we''re just here to join you in escaping whatever is going on outside."


    "Join? Join you dumbfuck!?"


    I checked the magazine of my gun. Twelve.


    "Are you stupid? I am here to fucking sleep!"


    "Vincent they won''t do anything¡ª"


    "You absolute buffoon! They might just stab you in your sleep. Heck, I bet the colonel there is already fucking that pig''s wife who is cheating on both of them with mister protein there!"


    The old man, the big man, the muscle man, and the clear whore all gasped.


    "I don''t know about you, but I don''t trust any of these twelve sluts with my grandpa''s used condoms let alone my life!"


    "Vincent still¡ª"


    I cut the hero off and pulled my gun up.


    The people inside quaked.


    ¡ªBANG!


    It resounded once.


    ¡ªBANG!


    ¡ªBANG!


    ¡ªBANG!


    And eleven times more.


    The Hero covered his ears and crouched away as I got rid of the trash in the room.


    As soon as thest one groaned and croaked over, I let out a sigh of relief.


    "Finally¡­ some peace of mind."


    "Fuck, man, why did you?!"


    I kicked the hero across his face. He rolled on the ground and fell over.


    "Look, I am very patient with you, so as always, I will fucking exin and forgive you."


    This damned hero.


    He always escaped my anger. Always.


    "You can''t trust the rich! That''s all there is to it. I lived a normal life, but on the richer side, and I can assure you, all of us are scum of the Earth. Grow up already."


    The white ce wasn''t empty, rooms were made inside, and so was a kitchen and other ces that one would need to live.


    I stretched my hands, ignored the bodies, and opened the door to the first room on the path.


    The hero was still on the ground.


    "Go and sleep, fuck. You too, Neo Mack 3."


    "Pipo¡­"


    The slime was stuck to the hero.


    I yawned and stepped inside. Man would I like some music.


    Good first day.

 Chapter 20: Stats are for Losers [Bonus Chapter]

    <h4>Chapter 20: Stats are for Losers [Bonus Chapter]</h4>


    There was no refreshing breeze or any kind of morning thing to wake me up. Heck, I doubted it was even morning now.


    I rolled of the bed and stretched my limbs all around. At the same time, the scenario window popped open in front of my eyes.


    [Scenario 2 - What fun are weaklings?]


    [Condition 1: Form a Party (3/5)]


    [Condition 2: Find a Hideout (Complete)]


    [Condition 3: Level up to Level 10 (Complete)]


    [Condition 4: ?????]


    [Condition 5: ?????]


    Though one more condition had opened, the other two hadn''t.


    There were two theories in my mind for this, one being that we had to fulfill the party requirement.


    Or.


    This was a time triggered scenario. Since it would be stupid to not make people interact with each other, they had already divided them into parties. Until everyone else met the requirements, not opening the others made some sense.


    "Hm, food."


    I was pretty well rested after sleeping for all this time.


    The hero seemed to have gone into a room and was still asleep. As I stepped out of mine, I waved my hands.


    Stinks.


    The bodies were a pain.


    Burning them here would be stupid too. Since I had nothing else to do, I started dragging them all to the lift. It was cramped, so I broke a few of their bones to make them fit inside. Not like it mattered since they were going to be zombie food eventually.


    In two rounds up, I left the dead out in the passageway and returned back down. As I wiped off the blood from my forehead, the lift came to a stop and stood outside the hero.


    "Sup?"


    "Morning¡­"


    His eyes were on the trail of blood the bodies had left. They tended to do that when you shot holes through them.


    "Wanna eat something?" The hero asked. It looked like he had given up on his stupid ideals temporarily.


    "Sure."


    ***


    It was after we had raided the canned rations in the ce that were still more than enough to feed us heartily for a few years.


    With the stat windows open, I, Rfan and Neo Mack 3 sat together on a table.


    "I should be adding the stats now, right?"


    "No," I turned him down right away.


    I was curious more about the skill points, but as far as stats went.


    "They are utterly useless."


    The Hero and the Slime widened their eyes.


    "What do you mean?"


    "Popipo¡­."


    "Don''t you remember what happened with us? No matter how strong we were, it all ended up being useless the moment we came to this world."


    "So stats¡­?"


    "Stats are for losers. Let''s prove the point, raise your strength to fifteen."


    The hero looked at me weirdly before shrugging. It seemed he didn''t think much about my ims.


    "Oh? It''s asking for two stat points to level one up after 10?"


    "Do it anyway."


    It seemed leveling up was''t that easy.


    "Done," he said as he finished assigning the stat points that we both had plenty of.


    "Alright, here," I pointed at the wall to one of the empty rooms. "Punch this wall. All your strength, use your magical power too."


    The hero took in a sharp breath.


    He pulled his hands back. And in the next moment, shot out a punch.


    Like a bullet, it mmed into the white wall and a small, tiny dent formed.


    Magic power was insane, huh?


    "Pretty good, if I say so myself¡­"


    "It is, it is pretty good."


    I nodded.


    But that was the deal with borrowed strength. If you didn''t know the suffering needed to get it.


    The strength would just be useless.


    I took in a breath and took a stance in front of the wall. The hero walked back and watched.


    Then, I punched.


    ¡ªRRRRRRUMBLE!


    The wall bent backward as the mark of my fist stamped itself on it.


    "How¡­"


    "See? When you have what you have from your own growth, you can utilize to thest drop."


    "Ah¡­"


    "And."


    I looked at the Hero and narrowed my eyes.


    "Nothing can take it away if its all yours."


    "Oh¡­"


    "Pipo¡­"


    "Since we have time, we''re going to spend the next of our days getting our stats up."


    That meant intense workout.


    "All the way to the thirties?"

 Chapter 21: Gamer Soul

    <h4>Chapter 21: Gamer Soul</h4>


    Taps rang out continuously followed by the clicking of buttons.


    Inside a dark room, the flickering illumination of the television screen continued.


    "Backroll! Backroll!"


    The voice of a person rang.


    "Almost there¡­ firebomb¡­"


    The screams from the television screen continued.


    The rhythmic cks didn''t seize.


    "Just once more¡­"


    And then¡ª


    ¡ªBzzzt.


    ¡ªThe TV went off.


    "Ah¡­."


    A soft, high-pitched hum rang.


    The room was dark once more, and the controller stopped cking. The electricitying in from the backup generator had finally stopped.


    "This¡­ this fucking shit!!!"


    A thump echoed as the skinny girl got on her feet and mmed the controller.


    "Fucking Iudex Gundyr!!"


    The skinny girl stomped her foot on the ground and hopped on her spot.


    "Almost. I almost killed it fuck!!!"


    How many dangers had she taken up? How much had she suffered?


    The small mess of blood mixed with the trash in her room was more than evident of it all. From killing animals turned weird to pouring diesel in the building''s generators all the while being haunted by zombies out for flesh, she had taken up all kinds of risk.


    For just one goal.


    To power up her TV enough to finish the game she had been ying.


    "JUST WHEN I ALMOST WON!"


    "Ludex is literally the very first boss."


    An intonation that half ate itsst sybles called out to the girl''s tantrum. Hopping up on the messy couch that was mixed with wrappers for food and crumbs of its contents, the small ck cat cleaned the spot with its tail and coiled up.


    "Well, serves you right," the cat continued. "You have been on that boss for two weeks now."


    "Oh shut up! I know this game, I would have finished it all in five minutes after fucking Gundyr!"


    Hair a dark, almost ckish shade of violet continued to flicker as the girl mmed her foot down again. She heaved a giant sigh, fell on her back, and reached under the pillow for a packet of smoke.


    "And now you smoke."


    The girl ignored her cat''s words and pulled the cigarette out. She lightly lodged it in between her lips and then snapped her fingers.


    A very small wisp of ck mes formed on her fingertips and set the cigarette aze.


    "I can''t ept this¡­"


    "Can''t ept what?"


    "You won''t get it, cat. This is a matter of my gamer soul."


    "And how many games have youpleted in your life?"


    "Three¡­"


    "You know you can''tplete pacuman, right? Right?"


    "A gamer''s soul doesn''te from the game they havepleted¡ª"


    "You''ve literally been stuck on the first boss for two weeks! It took you two whole days to create your character!"


    The girl mmed her fist next to her and shook her head.


    "Enough."


    The girl took in a puff of smoke and stood up. Her ckish violet eyes the same shade as her hair glinted with a fierce re.


    "I am not going to ept this. Fucking zombies or not, I''ll be ying this game ahead."


    "Break a leg."


    The girl put on her leather coat, picked up her bag and a crowbar, and decided to head out, high out of her mind.


    Before she left, she didn''t forget to take along her cat.


    "Central Darma¡­ this rich ce should have a lot of fuel."


    No matter what.


    A gamer''s soul couldn''t be quelled.

 Chapter 22: Training

    <h4>Chapter 22: Training</h4>


    "Nine nine seven¡­"


    A grunt rang.


    "Nine nine eight¡­"


    "Kuh!"


    "Nine nine eight."


    "Wait again?!"


    "You messed up your form."


    "It''s fine! Just once!"


    I swirled the wine in my hand and clicked my tongue.


    "No time to ck off, Rfan. This is about your life. Nine nine eight!"


    "You''re doing it agaaain!"


    "This is for being whiny. Come on, nozyzy now."


    "You''rezing around too!"


    The hero snapped as he went down again.


    "You wish, cunt. I have long since hit thirty in all stats."


    "Whak¡ª"


    A strange yelp rang out as he fell face first on the ground, his neck smooching the sweet previously bloodied, and definitely not hygienic ground of the bunker, like a long-separated lover.


    Following him after he copsed was the chair that was being bnced on his feet on just two legs.


    Making him do finger handstand pushups with a chair on his back was the most efficient way to make him start seeing some gains.


    "You still went down so I''ll count that. One thousand."


    The hero slowly separated his lips from his lover (unhygienic and definitely a health hazard) as he turned to face me from the ground.


    "You hit thirty? For reals?"


    "It''s been two weeks, do I look like a you to you?"


    "What does that even mean?"


    "Git gud is what it means."


    It had been two weeks. Of course, I had finished what I set out to achieve. If I couldn''t even do it in two weeks then I would be a loser too, which I wasn''t. Everything was in the thirties except magical power, that is, which had just touched thirty and refused to grow.


    My stat window looked somewhat like this now.


    [Name: Vincent !#@#@$]


    [Age: 18]


    [Level: 21]


    [Title: -]


    [Sponsor: -]


    [Skills:


    Personal Skills:


    Returner (Lv 1)


    Your stats and skills from another world are gone, but knowledge remains.


    Vincent-Lemograss Cirction Technique (Lv 5)


    A unique and highly optimised Magic Power cirction! Allows you to ess all the magic power in your body and send it to every node! The very basics of getting strong!


    Unique Skills:


    Viin (Lv 2)


    No one is as vile as you. For every evil deed performed, whether it is foiled or sessful, you get a 5x Experience Booster. 10x Stat boost against the Hero.


    ]


    [Stigma:


    -


    ]


    [Stats:


    Strength - 32


    Agility - 31


    Constitution: 39


    Magic Power: 30


    -{Unusued Stat Points: 42}


    * The limit of human body at 15 has been removed. Please try your hardest to level up.


    ** Average Olympic Athelete has a stat of 10. Please attribute stat points wisely


    ]


    It wasn''t bad, I would have liked to see more four or five digit numbers though.


    At this point, if I had to guage it, I was roughly 0.00000000001% as strong as I was in the other world. That damned goddess bitch, this time I was going to kill and she could do nothing.


    "Alright, start training again."


    Rfan sighed and tossed the chair up. He immediately got on his hands once more and the chair neatly fell on the ts of his feet, bnced on just two legs.


    With that guy at it, I sipped the wine once more and started circting my Magic Power. The cirction technique made your body''s pores open up and sucked in the magic power from the air.


    "But still¡­ my stats have been stuck for thest three days. How did you even get there?"


    My Magic Power had been stuck too¡ª


    Oh.


    "Neo Mack 3, you know anything about this?" I turned to the other side of the room and red at the slimezing about.


    Neo Mack 3 perked up all of a sudden, and then squirmed around as it dashed toward us.


    It turned at me and squinted its cute line-like eyes into two > < as a blue window popped open in front of me.


    [17) Magic Potion:


    Fills up your Magic Power reserves temporarily!


    ]


    Hm.


    "Do you mean this ce is out of magic power?"


    Neo Mack 3 nodded.


    I smiled and picked it up in my hands.


    "Then say so earlier you fucking slime!"


    And tossed it into the wall. Neo Mack 3 was a slime, so it shouldn''t hurt.


    Sighing, I sat back down.


    "Hero. Get out."


    "What?"


    "Go train outside,e back when your stats are at thirty and we''ll look for ways to clear the second scenario."


    I was getting bored now.


    The hero hesitated a bit.


    "Z-zombies¡­"


    "Out."


    "Yes sir..."

 Chapter 23: Speedrun [Bonus Chapter]

    <h4>Chapter 23: Speedrun [Bonus Chapter]</h4>


    "Final-fucking-ly I am away from that guy!"


    With a hammer in one hand, a cleaver, and a handgun strapped to his belt, the hero, Rfanined sighed a sigh of grand relief as he made his way out of the bunker.


    The elevator going up stopped.


    A damned stench assaulted Rfan''s nose, almost as if he had been hit square by a sucker punch from a damp sock rotting under a shady bed for three years straight.


    Almost puking, Rfan ced a hand on his mouth and covered himself. This was still better than being stuck with that guy down there, at least he was free for now.


    The man tightened his grip on the cleaver.


    Vincent had told him that he had dropped the bodies wherever, so the meat-hungry zombies would likely be around.


    He took a light breath and swung the door wide open, thinking what a drag it was to fight monsters all over again.


    As soon as the gate pulled away.


    "Graaa!"


    "Huh?"


    A monster screamed at him.


    But there was no meat, no blood, no organs or veins like on a zombie.


    Ok, there were a few traces of those things.


    But the monster in front of him.


    "S-skeleton? Undead?"


    The skeleton screamed and tried to attack Rfan, and with a single, surprised, hesitating kick from the hero, it crashed into the walls and broke apart.


    "The fuck?"


    Rfan peered outside.


    All over the ce, through the dirty bloodied, and dusted windows and past the broken and shattered doors and walls.


    Every single zombie had turned into a skeleton, most of them still having bits and pieces of meat and flesh stuck to them.


    Rfan mmed the door shut behind him and walked away from the ce. The stench only increased as the sight of blood sogging into the walls and the ground filled the space. Many intestines were also flung about and rotting with flies having raves over them.


    The mold must have been like their crack.


    As he peered out of the window, Rfan noticed the maggots and worts chomping on the flesh and loosening them up as if it was New years Eve. Crows and vultures had taken over the rest, the flesh around was just so much that even pigeons had started eating it.


    The hero took a step back and started using the mana cirction.


    He had learned it in the old world too and knew that it could help against diseases and boost immunity. Just imagining how many diseases would be fluttering around right now was enough to make him shiver with fear.


    "Well. Training."


    Maybe if he filled a bunch of skeletons it would help with muscle strength.


    Getting away? He wasn''t afraid of that. The Hero was a hero after all.


    Still, he wanted to be as quick as he could.


    So.


    "Here. We. Go~"


    The man raised the hammer up high, filled it with his magic, and mmed it on the walls of the building.


    A crack spread, followed by a crumble, and the entire wall copsed.


    With every breath, the mana in the air came shuffling at him.


    Alerted by the sounds, the skeletons all turned his way.


    "Call a hundred more, you fuckers."


    A grin stered on his face. He was free of the demon, the hero could thrive.


    "Let''s speedrun."

 Chapter 24: If You Don鈥檛 Have Someone to Fight...

    <h4>Chapter 24: If You Don''t Have Someone to Fight...</h4>


    He said speedrun, but.


    "Why¡­"


    Lying alone in the middle of the street with the hammer in his hands, the hero, Rfan, had almost given up.


    "They''re all too easy."


    Littered around him like trash in a downtown garbage dump were heaps of bones. Vertebrae and femurs lined up together while the ribcages all made afy bed.


    No matter how he thought of it.


    "They''re too weak."


    When they were zombies they at least posed a challenge. Cleaving through meat was tough, and attacking people came with different things to worry about. From range to attacking strength, mass factored in all of it! He sure as hell wouldn''t have been thisfortable sleeping on his victims if they were zombies.


    "Boring¡­ useless¡­"


    He was free from Vincent, sure.


    But the Hero was a hero too. He had learned more than enough to not be threatened by not one, but a hundred skeletons. It had barely taken him an hour to get rid of them all.


    Just for the record, he had also had to fight a few of those good old wolves but that was a different matter.


    He needed to do something.


    He wanted to get stronger.


    This wasn''t without results, no. He did see some. He managed to kick a lot of ass for so many hours and his strength and constitution both went up by a jaw-dropping amount of¡­


    One each¡­


    "Hap!"


    The hero sat up.


    This wasn''t going to do.


    He had to do something. Thankfully, he knew what he could do. Though Vincent had been on his own tirade the whole time, going out and killing legendary monsters stronger than the demon king, like the leviathan when he wanted to eat fish and the legendary abyssal me ck dragon when he wanted to eat chicken.


    The hero, though, actually did get to experience some of the hero stuff.


    And one of those hero stuff included having the chance to party up with princesses who could fall for him and knights who could fall for him and adventurers who could fall for him.


    His harem had a necromancer too.


    And he knew some tricks from the necromancer. Though this ''Apocalypse Keeper,'' as Vincent had called it, called mana Magical Power, it was still the same mana he was used to. In that case, even if he couldn''t use magic on his own, things like necromancy or alchemy that required catalysts and circles could be possible.


    It was all knowledge from a different world. But it seemed worth a try.


    If he had no one to fight.


    "I can just make a giant skeleton lord and then kill THAT!"


    The hero smacked his head.


    He was a fucking genius.


    ***


    "Alright, I''lle with."


    The ck cat slowly climbed up the back of the girl with dark hair and slumped itself on her shoulders.


    With the crowbar in hand, the girl gave the cat a side-eye.


    "Really now, what made you so grand and helpful, cat?"


    "Just feel like it. You couldn''t have started the generator without me anyway."


    "Admit I could have won the game."


    The girl demanded and the cat sighed.


    "You¡­ you were still fighting Ludex¡­"


    "Hmm¡­"


    "You know what," the cat slowly slid off. "Immeow just go back."


    The girl held the cat before it could leave.


    "Alright, no need to do anythng. We''ll go together."


    The cat sighed once more and slumped itself on the girls shoulder.


    The duo slowly moved out of the third floor of their apartmentplex and were preparing to go down, when they peered out of the window.


    And saw a blonde man being chased by an army of skeletons.

 Chapter 25: Almighty Bone!

    <h4>Chapter 25: Almighty Bone!</h4>


    "Whatchu lookin at?" I growled at Neo Mack 3 as I sat on the couch and stretched my hands behind me. The poor little slime kept squirming around in worry.


    It suddenly huffed, as if it had made its mind, and came toward me while trembling.


    "Popiiipii¡­"


    The slime grunted.


    I raised my brow at it. This little bastard.


    "You are worried about the hero? Are you insane?"


    The slime''s eyes opened up in torge circles.


    "Why would I be calling him the hero if there was no bone in his back? All hecks are balls, other than that the hero is plenty strong."


    A few zombies would do nothing.


    This was. An important catalyst for his psyche. Would he want to grow or would he want the easy way out? When you just return from a different world, the sense of danger that should apany an apocalypse like this just doesn''t register.


    Even more so when you are the strongest there ever was in said other world.


    The Hero¡­ though I knew his limits, I was still curious.


    "Get here and open that shop thing."


    It was about time to take a look at that too.


    ***


    "Bone! Bone! Bone bone! Bone bone! Bone bone! Bone bone! Boneeeeeee!"


    The hero yed air guitar as he summoned the soul king with his singing. Behind him hordes of bones still followed.


    Femurs, he needed more femurs.


    As he dashed through the streets of the city of Darma, the first thing he did was stop in front of a ss pane and fix his hair.


    "A hero must always look good."


    "Kieee!" A skeleton came charging, and was kicked away.


    Beyond the ss pane was the sight of many canisters of Diesel with the tag of a sale marked on them. It was being guided by a seriously bloated zombie. It seemed this guy was rotting from within.


    The Diesel was good though, he could use it to carry some bones for his grand operation. But it looked like the bloated shop owner would explode with the force of sevenndmines if he even touched it.


    "Oh!"


    The zombies were still krieeing. He ced his fist on his palm and chuckled.


    Slowly, he gathered a few of them and opened the ss door of the shop.


    "Kaa!" A few of them tried to grab him, but he kicked and pushed them all inside, lightly, and then mmed the door shut behind them.


    The zombies tried to m the ss ande out, but bones could only put so much pressure.


    So much pressure was more than enough for thre oting corpse. Attracted by the sounds, the bloater came running toward the bones and the ss door.


    The hero slowly hopped back, and then, started running away. The screech of the skeletons rang as the bloat was poked by one of their bones.


    ¡ªBOOOM!


    He jumped and rolled ahead on the ground as the corpse exploded. All the windows in the shop shot outward.


    "Huh? Was it supposed to be that crazy?"


    Post mortem explosions were usually about high pressure and gas with very ungodly stenches.


    "Whatever."


    Thinking about it was useless. What he wanted was done, there was little chance of the corpse now affecting his Diesel now that he had handled it with a bodily explosion.


    The stench was ungodly still¡­


    Hm¡­.


    He definitely didn''t want to go inside like this.


    "Kieee¡­"


    "Oh?"


    These bones¡­


    He could hook them up and tie them together and then use them to get the canisters out through the windows. These bones¡­


    They seemed to be a holy solve it all! Bones for life! Bones for win!


    He could do anything wiht bones! From training to fighting.


    With the all bone¡­ he might just be able to beat that tyrant too!


    The image of the hero trying to bonk the viin with a bone entered his head. And he immediately sighed.


    That was not happening.


    Well. Bones.


    The man took out the canisters, slung them in a bag, opened one.


    "Map," he muttered and the apocalypse keeper answered in the form of a small window.


    The map was here. Now, he just had to go ahead and run. And run did the hero.


    Leaving behind himself a train of Diesel and further behind a trail of bones.


    ***


    And so, after assembling everything that was needed, the gamer soul finally saw the hero from the window and decided to go down. In his hands thest canister of Diesel.


    Diesel.


    That she really fucking needed to power up her generator and y some more.

 Chapter 26: Gamer Soul Meets Hero

    <h4>Chapter 26: Gamer Soul Meets Hero</h4>


    The hero had almost finished his course around the map and was running with thest canister in hand when his gaze fell on a person not far away. Donning a coat and a crowbar, the girl had deep eye bags and a nasty gaze.


    "A person?"


    The hero muttered. He tried to slow down but the skeletons behind him were still pissy and chased fast.


    The girl raised her crowbar.


    "Hey! It''s dangerous! Get away."


    His screams grew louder and louder the closer he got. And so did her figure.


    "Oh, she''s hot!?"


    The hero had changed his tune.


    So what if his harem was taken away from him? He could just make a new one! He would definitely not wait this time and seal the deal right away, sex was right around the corner, no more virgindom!


    He rushed a notch faster, the skeletons fell back as he finally kicked out of the barriers of human speed and shot straight toward the girl. She seemed surprised at first, but rightly caluted his trajectory.


    "Hand over the fuel!"


    She swung the crowbar straight down at the path he was one. As if it didn''t bother him in the slightest, the hero twisted his body and grabbed her by the waist, avoiding her crowbar.


    "There, there,dy. Such weapons don''t suit a pretty girl¡ªDid you smoke fucking weed?"


    The hero was stumped. The girl reeked of the grass. She grabbed his back tried to swing the crowbar at his head again, but he managed to dodge once more.


    "Like, I keep telling her losing her mind woulde in her way of finding a boyfriend, but she doesn''t listen."


    The hero was shocked even more. He had not just snagged up a girl but also a cat! The cat was even speaking.


    "I don''t need twinks like this guy. Give me your fuel, I need to y some more Darker Souls!"


    "y what?!"


    This conversation was going above his head. He didn''t think he''d be snagging someone high! How did she even survive when she was out to kill the other humans?


    "Darker souls, made by fro¡ª"


    "I know!"


    The cat shot into a spiel on its own. The girl was about to swing the crowbar once more while still hoised up on the hero''s back. He bit her hand and made her drop it.


    "OW!"


    "Shut up for a moment!"


    Why were the pretty ones always crazy?


    He pulled up the canister of diesel and started spilling it again. He was lucky that this thing didn''t evaporate quick at all or he would have been in trouble.


    The hero had left behind most of the skeletons, but the girl in his hands now started screaming.


    "YOU''RE SPILLING IT!!! MY GAMES!!"


    "Yes, yes, I know, it''s all being done for a good reason, alright?"


    He finally located the other end of the diesel spill. His pace kicked up a notch and the falling diesel finally connected with the other end of the great circle.


    "Alright back away."


    "Let me gooo!"


    "Not know."


    The hero grinned and tightened his grip on the girl and the cat as he jumped back. Therge circle epassing about two kilometers was finallypleted. It had taken way too much fuel, but he was done.


    He ensured there were no drops on his clothes. A few of the skeletons walking outside were quickly kicked and dealt with.


    Finally ready.


    He ced his hand near the diesel spill and started using the cirction technique.


    "W-w-woah, what are you doing?"


    The hero was slightly surprised. "Well, magical energy is easily convertible to normal energy. I am just going to circte so much as fast that it will light up."


    "Are you high?"


    "What?"


    "She is asking if you may have indulged yourself in some weed."


    The hero shook his head, his magical energypletely drained out of his body and started seeping into the diesel.


    "Nothing''s happening."


    "Oh, I gotchu," the girl casually reached into her pocket, pulled out a match, lit it aze, and tossed it on the diesel.


    Casually.


    "There you go."


    "HEY!!"


    The hero ran back once more, almost caught in the zing fire that spread all over the circle. The girl fell from his hands in his surprise as he rushed back.


    A sigh left him.


    "Whatever, this should do."


    "Do what, if you don''t mind?" The cat asked.


    But an answer was not needed.


    {Necromancy has been initiated}


    {GRAND SKELETON WARRIOR HAS BEEN BIRTHED}

 Chapter 27: Grand Skeleton Warrior

    <h4>Chapter 27: Grand Skeleton Warrior</h4>


    {GRAND SKELETON WARRIOR HAS BEEN BIRTHED}


    "Woah, I guess this magic works!" The Hero cheered as the spell that he had created risking a lot finally showed its effect. It was a gamble, it was just something he had learned in another world after all.


    "Alright," the girl next to him held her head and spoke to herself. "There is no earthquake. You just smoked too much, we have trained for this."


    "Miss, there''s most definitely an earthquake."


    "There is?"


    "Yup."


    "I wasn''t imagining it, another go won''t hurt."


    She did not get the time to smoke it down, though, as a loud, earth-shattering roar tore the sky.


    In the distance, at the very center of the wide circle the Hero had used to create the spell, a giant bone skeleton stood up high. Though its structure resembled that of a skeleton, the parts holding it up were anything but.


    A mishmash of all kinds of bones had joined together to make the structure for the giant being towering as high as the buildings around. Its ribs wereden with bones of the hands and its spine stuck together with skulls of hundreds.


    The grotesque being''s bones were a grim amalgamation of all the dead that had been resurrected by the Apocalypse Keeper.


    It was a skeleton in spirit, but a demon in form.


    "W-w-what¡­ the fuck¡­ is that High Lord Volnir?"


    "High lord who?" The hero asked, stretching as he spoke.


    "High Lord Volnir, a boss from the third part of the Souls series."


    "Alright, what are you two even on?" Asked the Hero. That the cat was talking was already enough of a shocker, but to think it had read all the wikis up to the threequel was even more disgruntling.


    He didn''t y games, he had no idea.


    But his mind was working in a different direction. Thisdy, she was pretty good-looking, and she was alone too. He had also brought forth a perfect enemy, wasn''t this his chance to be smooth?


    "That thing is inconvenient, I won''t be able to y games or smoke in relief."


    "Maybe not?" The hero wasn''t the type to like crazies that much. She seemed to have more than just a couple screws loose, fixing her was not a challenge on the DIY level.


    It would be best to just train.


    The girl ran a bit ahead to go and get the crowbar before Rfan could say anything. His brows raised in admiration.


    "Look at this, she''s bold."


    She could be useful. He wasn''t going to leave her for the dead, but this gave him a slight incentive to take her along.


    "Alright, let''s fight that thing and rescue my StayStation!"


    Her motives were questionable, but her spirit was firm.


    "Hey miss, step back," said the hero. "I made that thing to train with."


    "Excuse me?"


    "Just step back."


    Now then, thinking about it again, the hero realized that the Grand Skeleton Warrior was a bit more than he could take on.


    It broke the buildings surrounding them with every step it took, its hands waving around haphazardly in rage. The bone sword in its hands was blunt yetpletely shattered concrete blocks with sheer force, and the shield on the other hand was even worse.


    That it was tall enough to oversee the three to four-storey houses surrounding them was the cherry on top.


    "Can you even take that thing on? Let''s just steal some consoles and run away."


    The Hero still was a hero. If there was one thing that he had learned through his years, it was that no amount of friendship or love would give him enough power to stand up against the bastard that was the viin.


    So he always kept a trick up his sleeve.


    "Inventory."


    A window opened in front of him.


    The reward from the first scenario was an item.


    [Sess Reward: Item (Rarity Grade depends on monster), 5 Stat Points, 100 Cash Points]


    And he had killed quite the monster with the viin.

 Chapter 28: Grand Skeleton Warrior (2)

    <h4>Chapter 28: Grand Skeleton Warrior (2)</h4>


    I brought a whole bunch of mana potions and downed them at once as I tried increasing my capacity, it seemed to be working but was very inefficient, to show them. The quantifiers called stats had only increased by 1.


    But improvement was improvement, I had already hit my goal.


    "Popopo¡­"


    The slime sitting next to me whinged.


    "What do you want Neo Mack?"


    "Pipooo¡­."


    "Are you worried about the hero? Are you an idiot?"


    That guy wasn''t a hero for no reason, he was plenty powerful and also plenty crazy. Just going out for a stroll in the middle of a zombie wastnd was nothing worth thinking twice about, it was no different from strolls that old people took in gardens, the only risk was how prone they were to heart attacks.


    Except, in this case, heart attacks were instead getting mauled by zombies.


    Same difference.


    I stretched my hands above my head and suppressed a yawn when the ground started to tremble.


    The couch rocked and the table shook, my expensive mana potions tripped over to the side.


    "What the heck?"


    I dived ahead to grab them, two fell neatly in both my arms but the third fell on the ground and sshed away. The ss vial and the contents turned into dust, announcing their departure from the world.


    "Pipo!"


    I got back on my feet, the ground still trembling. It didn''t seem like an earthquake but more of a continuous crash, much like how we had dropped many buildings t.


    This fucker.


    I had used all of my cash points to buy that shit. And it had fallen.


    My money was wasted, and so was my potion.


    "Hey slime, put this thing back."


    I tossed the potion behind me and Neo Mack 3 rushed to grab it. As the merchant, it could keep it all stored up in its inventory which was much more expansive than what we had received.


    That fucking hero.


    If this was being done by that guy, he deserved to be hit. Couldn''t he train in peace without causing a scene?


    "Map."


    I got into the elevator as the slime followed. A blue window opened in front of my eyes and revealed the structure of the block we were in. Central Darma was pretty expansive, and the map could only show things up to a certain radius.


    It seemed the Hero had not gone too far from us, but his red marker on the map was nearing the edges.


    Alright.


    "Let''s go and teach that fucker a lesson."


    "Pipo¡­?"


    The elevator stopped on the ground level, turning back into a muddled and bloody storage room.


    I kicked the door down and stepped outside of the room, stretching my hands.


    The scent of death and rotting flesh assaulted me at once, but it seemed to be very distant. The ce around was too clean to have the smell anyway, other than the stains that rotting flesh left.


    Wincing, I stepped out of the storage room. All through the walls around me were bone-shaped holes, as if they had been dragged elsewhere.


    It seemed the hero had indeed done something that deserved a hit.


    Leaving the passageway behind, I made my way toward the door and walked out with a casual stride, none of the rows of zombies and hounds from before remained.


    The slime kept hopping behind me as we looked at the clear red skies filled with the ck soot of mes. They seemed to have dissipated.


    As my gaze shifted from the skies to the jungle of concrete in front of me, a giant being filled my sight.


    There it stood, holding a great sword of pure bones, the enormous demon.


    One that I had seen in the other world in the hands of the necromancer from Rfan''s party and had almost died against.


    The Grand Skeleton Warrior.


    Even if Rfan had summoned it, there was no way he was winning. Even I didn''t think I could win against it right now.


    "Well fuck, let''s go back."


    "Pipo?"


    Or wait...


    Maybe I could use it...

 Chapter 29: Dealmaker

    <h4>Chapter 29: Dealmaker</h4>


    It wasn''t difficult to find the Hero. Going through the map and past the stupid giant running around like a lost baby swinging his sword like a lollipop that was just asking to be stolen by an adult, I finally found the Hero''s marker in front of a building that looked slightly badpared to the others in the posh city.


    But.


    Just like GPS, the fucking marker did not make up for elevation. I didn''t know how something could throw the entire world into chaos and bring back the dead to life only to fail in front of the simple shorings of GPS.


    Unless it was done on purpose to make things interesting, or unless all of this originated in worlds where elevation held little importance.


    Sighing, I kicked the slime ahead and started walking up. The dumb slime was too slow to keep up with my pace, so I used it as a recement for a pebble.


    I had kicked it near the canals and was about to walk away like one would from pebbles, but this one had automatic return features stemming from severe separation anxiety.


    "Would you be fucked if your kind find out you teamed with us?"


    I asked.


    "PIPO!!!"


    The slime''s answer seemed to be more along the lines of ''stop kicking me if you want an answer'' but I did not take quips when I asked questions. I would assume that to be a yes.


    "Don''t worry, you won''t have a ''kind'' for long anyway."


    "Piii!?"


    I kicked the slime up the stairwell, humming a song from way back on my way. After crossing a couple of floors, the sounds of footsteps filled my ears.


    Followed by a loud voice.


    "Neon Kaiser Darkest Mackenzie Abarreth Shadow Johannesberg the Third?! Is that you?"


    "Pipip!"


    In front of the stairwell with flickering red emergency lights came the blonde bastard friend of mine, he was peeking outside a house as he looked at us walk up. His face filled with a smile at the sight of the slime, before it scrunched up in horror when he saw me.


    Alright, it was clear who your favorite friend is, motherfucker.


    "S-sir¡­ why are you here?"


    "Hey, who is it?"


    My ears perked. I also heard someone else''s voice.


    Kicking the slime ahead once more, I walked over to the apartment that the Hero was peeking out of.


    The hero smiled at me and then looked back inside.


    I peeked over his shoulders and froze.


    "Oh? Who''s this guy?"


    I was frozen,pletely frozen.


    "Sir¡­?"


    "Pipo?"


    "Wow, do I look that beautiful? I am ttered¡ª"


    "Don''t get on your high horses nya¡­"


    Even though another voice joined in, I still couldn''t move.


    Right below the raven tress, beneath the baggy, soulless eyes, clenched between her pale fingers and studded on her glossy lips.


    Was one of the most beautiful things in the world.


    A fucking joint.


    My mind cooled down at once, if the Hero was hanging around with her then he must have seduced her, he was quick that way. Honestly, someone who looked like a discurd e-girl was definitely not my type. Not someone I wanted in the group either.


    But drugs were a deal-maker.


    "Sir? Is something the matter?"


    I decided to deal with the joint issueter.


    "You," I turned to the Hero. "Did you make that thing out there? The giant skeleton?"


    "Uh¡­"


    Right then, a ck cat jumped atop the Hero''s shoulder and nodded.


    "He did! He totally did. I saw it with my own eyes meow."


    "I-I-I¡­"


    The talking cat said it.


    I raised my hand and patted the Hero''s shoulder. Initially, I wanted to punch him for making me drop my mana potion.


    But this was good enough.


    "Great, we''ll use that to kill the Apocalypse Manager, that giant slime."


    It annoyed me too much. I was looking forward to flipping the apocalypse on its heels anyway.

 Chapter 30: Scenario 2 Main Quest (Bonus Chapter)

    <h4>Chapter 30: Scenario 2 Main Quest (Bonus Chapter)</h4>


    "We''re going to use it to beat the shit out of the Slime."


    The Hero looked at me with widened eyes, and so did the cat sitting on his shoulders.


    Was that a fucking cat speaking English? Three years was way too long a time. It was surprising to see the feline race evolve faster than humans, but I saw iting.


    The dumbest of humans were no smarter than a cat in the first ce.


    "Wow, who is this guy? What slime are you talking about?"


    The girl sitting inside with a crowbar looked at me, the smoke of her joint filling the ce.


    I pushed the hero aside and stepped into the room. The messy ce was filled with trash from front to back, I would probably find a bunch of cockroaches sitting around too if I just moved one of these damned trash bags. But the worst of it all was the smell that filled the room.


    It was the smell of rot that had stuck to the walls instead of spreading out. I had many thoughts about what must have happened, but the most natural one was that someone in one of these rooms was dead and had been killed because of the first scenario.


    None of that mattered to me, though.


    "Do you mind exining¡­ sir?" the hero said. He kicked one of the bags to the side and jumped back when he saw the group of enormous cockroaches running around.


    The cat jumped straight on them to give them a death+funeral package while the Hero breathed out and took a seat.


    "What do you mean by killing the slime?"


    "Who even are you, mister? Can you stop acting like my home is yours?"


    "It became mine from the moment I stepped inside, you''re the guest now bitch. Shut up."


    The girl dropped her joint in shock, but that mattered little.


    "Think of it, hero. Just following the script of the scenario is no different than doing what they want. So, we killed a whole bunch of people and the monster they were keeping around as a natural disaster somehow, all they did was praise us for it and up the difficulty."


    "I see, the eyes that keep peeking at us have also increased."


    I had blocked them before, but it seemed that Rfan had been seeing those observer ''eyes'' more these days. It just meant we were being interesting to them.


    That wasn''t what I wanted. I was pissed about the fact that someone out there would even have the distant thought of using me as entertainment.


    "So, when the next time that guyes up, we''ll send the Giant Skeleton Warrior on it."


    "How will we do that?" asked the Hero. "It''s not like we can control it."


    "You made it very strong, I don''t think I can beat that either."


    "Why is this man talking like he''s some big deal? Hey, even if it''s your home you should treat your guests well."


    The girl now epted this as my home.


    How weird.


    As if a bulb had shed in his head, the hero pped his hands and turned toward me.


    "Sir, if you want to bring the Apocalypse Manager again then you''ll have to clear the scenario."


    "So far so good."


    "And we need five people in our party! Let''s add the girl and the cat."


    I narrowed my eyes.


    I didn''t like the girl, but the cat was ok. That said, the girl was the one who had the weed.


    The hero walked closer to me when I beckoned him over. He leaned closer and I whispered.


    "What''s her name?"


    "I¡­don''t know."


    "You fucker, you came to sleep with someone without asking her name?"


    "I¡­ did note here to do that!"


    With a sigh, I shook my head. Now that I knew they weren''t exactly rted, I had the option to kill her and take the joints, but it was true that I needed five people.


    "Can you hold your own? What are your stats?"


    "Stats¡­?"


    The Hero exined how and the girl showed us her stat window.


    [Name: Alice Davies]


    [Age: 21]


    [Level: 11]


    [Title: -]


    [Sponsor: -]


    [Skills:


    Personal Skills:


    Game View (Lv 1)


    View things in a 3rd Person POV


    Unique Skills:


    Useless Gamer (Lv 1)


    You love games, You suck at games. Hard life. Get skills rted to your passion, which is, unfortunately, pitted against you by fate. Good luck surviving.]


    [Stigma:


    -


    ]


    [Stats:


    Strength - 3


    Agility - 9


    Constitution: 5


    Magic Power: 61 (Dormant)


    {Unusued Stat Points: 22}


    * The limit of the human body at 15 has been removed. Please try your hardest to level up.


    ** The average Olympic athlete has a stat of 10. Please attribute stat points wisely


    ]


    It was time for another secretive meeting.


    The Hero leaned over to me while the slime and the cat listened in.


    "What now? It is pretty crazy, she''s a born mage build."


    "The others will also increase with time," said the cat. "I say you give her a chance, boss."


    Did this thing figure out I was just going to let it in? Cats sure dide a long way in three years.


    The other stats will increase when she learns our breathing technique, and so will the dormant magic stat. I didn''t think it was a bad investment.


    I tapped the screen of the Apocalypse window, since I was now aware of their presence and they were aware of mine, the cat and the girl''s marker appeared on the map.


    With a button, I sent them a request.


    "Oh? A friend request? I never¡­ I never thought I''d be invited to a game party¡ª"


    "Just ept it."


    The girl swallowed at my annoyed voice and tapped the ept button.


    Then, the scenario window opened in front of me again.


    And atst, the two remaining conditions were visible.


    [Scenario 2 - What fun are weaklings?]


    [Condition 1: Form a Party (5/5)]


    [Condition 2: Find a Hideout (Complete)]


    [Condition 3: Level up to Level 10 (Complete)]


    [Condition 4: Develop One Skill]


    [Condition 5: Wait (00:00:34.12)]


    The time of the wait was going down at once.


    In the next moment, a bright sh filled the room and blinded our eyes.


    A ding resounded, and in front of everyone formed yet another window.


    [Scenario 2 Part 2 - Authoritarianism]


    [Fight against the other parties and be the sole leader of your region]


    [Sess Rewards: Leader Title + Items]


    [Failure Rewards: Death or Servitude]


    Well¡­


    It seemed things had be a lot more interesting.

 Chapter 31: Central Darma Supremacy Wars (Bonus Chapter)

    <h4>Chapter 31: Central Darma Supremacy Wars (Bonus Chapter)</h4>


    [Congrattions! You are now one of the parties battling for leadership of Central Darma.]


    One after another, messages started popping up in front of us.


    I had thought up 37 ways to fuck them over.


    [You cannot leave Central Darma Province during the battle.]


    Okay, maybe only thirty now.


    [Battling within your party is forbidden]


    [You can form alliances with other parties and choose a leader to take the top position]


    I still had twenty-five.


    [Enemy parties can be subdued or murdered]


    Not bad, I still had fifteen ways to fuck the apocalypse over.


    [To be the leader, you must hold control over all survivors in Central Darma.]


    I licked my lips, I can kill everyone else but my people.


    [Control can be obtained either through consent or force, people who are dead no longer count as survivors and won''t matter]


    They had gotten rid of my thoughts right away, but I still had seven ways to flip this script.


    [The leader must take responsibility for all survivors or leadership will fail]


    Five.


    [To select the first party leader, please receive the Leadership Marker from the dungeons]


    Two.


    [Try your best to survive~]


    Zero.


    And a new idea popped up.


    With a grin, I turned to the others.


    "What do you guys think?" I asked.


    "Isn''t it too soon?" asked the Hero. "If it is really like this, won''t we just stomp through all of the problems?"


    "Wow, it wasn''t just that mister who was overconfident, you''re pretty shit too, aren''t you manslut?"


    The girl had no chill. At least she had the guts to call out the Hero for what he was, I appreciated that, even if it was just the weed talking.


    The Hero was correct.


    "We would stomp over them all, that is right. So, what do you think?"


    The Hero squirmed at my words, he didn''t seem to like the vibe of me testing him, but he had little choice.


    "That wait thing threw me off," said the Hero. "We already had five people at the very start, I think they didn''t expect us to make a party thiste. The wait must have so small by coincidence."


    I agreed.


    They had turned on hard mode for us.


    It only made sense for others to be just as strong. It would be useless if others were having it rough.


    "So what''s scenario 2 part 2 for us, could be scenario 9 or scenario 2 part 9 for others who had already formed parties."


    We excluded people who weren''t in parties because we had an example right in front of us. The Hero hade a long way from the thoughtless wimp he used to be all those years back.


    "I see, you guys are actually not that bad¡­" said the girl, Alice, her name was.


    "So, what do we do?" asked the Hero. "We''ll find the dungeon and then make the others submit¡ª?"


    "They said enemies can be subdued or murdered," I interrupted the Hero this time. "So we''ll make sure not to kill anyone."


    The hero raised his brow.


    "You¡­ don''t want to kill anyone?"


    "Simply because its better to piss the Apocalypse people over. See thatst line? They want many of them to die. Whatever it takes to not let them have fun, I am willing to do it."


    "Even keeping annoying people alive?!"


    "Alive, I''ll just make sure they can never talk or move again."


    The Hero gulped. Was that worse than killing them? I didn''t think so.


    "We''ll also be the leader, yes, but we won''t be fighting with anyone since that''s what they want to watch."


    Alice tilted her head this time.


    "And how will you avoid fights?"


    "There will be no need to fight if there is no other candidate for a leader."


    I stood up and dusted my clothes.


    "Hero, teach this girl how to use her abilities, I''ll go and get our stuff from the bunker. Emergency food, merchant, follow me."


    The cat and the slime sat up and strolled behind me.


    The way to be a candidate for leadership was through conquering a dungeon that had opened up all over the city with the second scenario.


    "We''ll raid all dungeons in Central Darma before anyone else can¡­"


    "HAH!" The girlughed. "This guy is crazy!"


    "What do you even know? You''ve not even seen dungeons¡­" the Hero muttered. He was not wrong. "He''s not crazy, he''spletely gone from the head."


    I would have punched this fuck if I wasn''t in a good mood or if I had not swiped a joint.


    As I waved my hands and stepped out, I turned back onest time.


    "Also, we''re in an apocalypse. Get her a trench coat."

 Chapter 32: Alice (1)

    <h4>Chapter 32: Alice (1)</h4>


    I lit the joint I had swiped and took in a deep drag as I made my way through the streets of Central Darma. I had brought out the few grenades we were left with alongside the bunch of guns and ammo and dropped it all in the slime''s inventory.


    "Pipo¡­."


    "Don''tin if you don''t wanna die."


    "Po¡­"


    The cat that followed us gently tapped the slime''s back. This guy was pretty interesting.


    I opened the map and looked at the markers, it seemed that both our party members had left that home and were out in another ce to find a trench coat.


    The Grand Skeleton Warrior continued its rampage on the side like a child trying to break a sandcastle, I was going to use it very well very soon.


    "Now that the girl is gone¡­" I muttered and made my way to the apartmentplex we were in. Sorry, but trust someone with my back without knowing anything about them?


    That wasn''t happening.


    Not like she would be able to do anything to me, but if I was to use her then I had to be aware of what she was.


    The cat and the slime followed me wordlessly and we found ourselves in front of the same house as before. We waded through the pile of trash and made our way to the room at the back.


    "Popii!"


    The slime seemed to have smelt it too.


    "Yeah, exactly. It reeks of blood."


    I tried to push the door open, but it was stuck in ce.


    "You''ll have to kick it down¡­" a solemn voice spoke up then. The cat that had been quiet all this time had also started getting gloomy.


    I put some more strength into my hand and broke the door open. Stat 30 strength wasn''t all that weak.


    As the door slid open, a wave of putrid air assaulted me. I blocked my nose and scrunched my brows as I looked ahead.


    Dried blood and scratches filled the walls of the room. Flies and maggots scourged through the bed where two bodiespletely gored awayy.


    It seemed to be the bodies of a man and a woman, but it was hard to identify their species let alone their gender. Lumps of fungus grew on the ckened bloodied dead bodies. Their heads were cracked open, eyes melted away, the white of their eyeballs still lingering around the pool of dried blood.


    "Pi¡­"


    The slime ran away at the sight, but the cat stayed.


    I didn''t find the scene gory, I had seen entire viges left in worse states back in the other world.


    It was something else that left me unsettled.


    Their bodies neither moved nor struggled.


    These guys had not turned into zombies.


    "Who killed them?" I asked. "When."


    The fact that neither of them had been resuscitated could only be possible in two ways. They must be out of the range of the ''hard mode'' that the Apocalypse Manager had made, which was out of the question right away since Central Darma was swarming with zombies.


    Either that.


    Or they had not died during the first scenario.


    "She killed them."

 Chapter 33: Alice (2) (Bonus Chapter)

    <h4>Chapter 33: Alice (2) (Bonus Chapter)</h4>


    "She killed them," the cat said.


    I stepped inside the room and took a look around. The walls were far too bloodied to tell anything, the very air inside felt like a scavenger that would eat away at anybody who stepped inside.


    I could only imagine how many diseases normal people would catch just being around this ce. Thankfully, a good mana cirction was a great immunity booster, and my method was the best.


    "Why?" I asked.


    The cat remained outside, unwilling to step in. But it seemed more scared of the two corpses than of the state of the room.


    "They were drug addicts, petty criminals. The man lived his life thieving and stealing, and the woman whored herself out."


    I raised my brow and looked at the two corpses. Yup, there was no telling anymore.


    "The man always used to beat Alice up, saying he didn''t know which dog she was born from. Well, that was an excuse, he just liked beating her up."


    "How were they living here?"


    "ckmail. She managed tond a businessman as a customer and the man took pictures, he died soon after giving them this ce though."


    I thought they were frauds who imed rtives until they were caught, but they seemed to be worse than that. Unfortunately, they still rang no bells. It had been a long time since I had gone to the other world, but the affairs of this one weren''t that strange to me.


    Like all normal people, I was always updated on the matters of the underworld.


    "Alice brought me in a long time back, she used to keep me hidden. They beat me up a lot too, but Alice did whatever she could to protect me."


    I had a general gist of what happened.


    It wasn''t umon.


    It truly wasn''t.


    "What happened to cause this?"


    "They needed money, the woman''s face was messed up after a fight. So they decided to pimp Alice out."


    "Then?"


    "She killed them when the ''customer'' came around, the customer ran and these two died."


    "When?"


    "About a month before the apocalypse."


    How were the neighbors able to bear the scent? I figured out the reason not long after. That the girl with a strength stat equivalent to a child could survive for so long amidst the zombies was because there were none, to begin with.


    "This cecks neighbors, huh?"


    "Yes. It was set to be demolished very soon. Almost everyone had moved out except a few on the topmost floors."


    A twenty-one-year-old had lived her life this entire time worse than kids would. It was obvious just from a gaze that food was amodity that she couldn''t usually afford and that being without injuries was a miracle that she could only face after she had managed to kill these bastards.


    "I am disappointed¡­"


    "Boss. She''s not a bad girl! She had no choice¡ª"


    The cat was defending her very quickly. Just as I had expected, cats were rather quick to understand where their safety was guaranteed. The cat seemed to have judged the hero and me to be the safest ce for it and its master.


    "You¡­ when you have to be in a simr situation¡­ killing is for the better."


    "Exactly. I am disappointed that she took so long to kill them."


    The cat stared at me with widened eyes.


    "You¡­ don''t mind that she''s a murderer?"


    A chuckle left me.


    "Murderer? This is not the work of a murderer, but a survivor."


    "Huh?"


    "Very well, I am sold." I found a window in the room atst and broke it open. I whistled and the slime ran over like a perfect dog.


    It gave me a grenade in hand and got on my shoulders.


    I stared at the cat, its face turned from confusion to shock, to utter horror as it ran into the room and climbed on me as well.


    I removed the pin of the grenade and dropped it in the room before jumping out the window.


    "I''ll help get your owner to our level, where being called just a murderer would be insulting."

 Chapter 34: Revenge

    <h4>Chapter 34: Revenge</h4>


    A loud explosion spread behind me as I crashed into the ground.


    The cat and the slime screamed while Iughed. Inded neatly on my feet. Without turning back, I dashed to the side as debris from the building fell after the explosion.


    "MEOW! YOU CRAZY!!"


    "HUH?"


    "SORRY! I AM SO SORRY!"


    There we go, how dare this cat.


    The cat heaved heavy sighs as we took a safe distance from the debris. The burning was done perfectly. Now that there was no room left, there was no reason for the girl to return.


    She nned to kill herself in this ce. It was strangely obvious. I had seen many people pushed to the brink, and she was another like them.


    The Hero must have seen something simr. It was our policy to not get involved with people who were suspicious in the slightest way. Being too kind, too cruel, too trusting, or too cautious, in a world where we knew no one and had somehow be hotmodities in the form of heroes, we always had to live on the edge.


    In that sense, though broken, the girl was far more ''real'' than most others.


    It was fine to trust her.


    And even if it wasn''t, I just had to be strong enough to survive without her. Whether it was just one neer or even the hero who had apanied me for years, I was always prepared for a betrayal.


    That was what allowed me to give chances.


    A house that could be a noose, I couldn''t let such a ce exist.


    "Let''s move," I said, ready to go and find the hero and the gamer girl when they appeared running in from the distance.


    The hero''s gray coat and the girl''s white coat fluttered in the wind as they ran with all their might.


    "SIR!? What did you do!?"


    "Did you burn my home!!?"


    "What''s all the shouting for?" I snapped. "I have ears."


    They didn''t have to answer me though, from right behind them came running the giant skeleton warrior in the distance.


    It seemed to have heard the explosion and was following us. Perfect, now I knew exactly how I was to make it kill the Apocalypse Manager for us.


    "Just rx," I said, waving my hands and walking away into the alleyways. The two running over also did the same and followed me into the alleyways peeking at the building I had just bombed.


    They heaved but I shushed them still.


    "That guy is toorge, it follows vibrations. If you''re quiet it won''t follow you."


    Rfan and Alice nodded at my words.


    "Look clearly, Alice. Widen your eyes and look."


    I ced my hands on the girl''s shoulders and leaned closer to her ears.


    "Do you think just killing someone is enough of a revenge?"


    The girl stiffened up.


    "You¡­"


    She was about to turn but I gripped her shoulders tighter, stopping her from moving.


    "Did each moment make you want to die?"


    The giant skeleton warrior raised its sword as it stopped in front of the building.


    Alice nodded.


    "Then you must live."


    I whispered softer, her eyes followed the path of the skeleton warrior''s de.


    "Revenge doesn''t end when you just kill someone, no. With every fiber of your being, you must oppose each and everything they left you with, each and everything they stood for."


    The Grand Skeleton Warrior raised its sword up high and screamed.


    "If they made you want to die, you must live. If they wanted you to suffer, you must be happy. If they wanted you dead, you must live. If they wanted you constricted, you must be free."


    I pressed down on her once again and made her step forward as the sword of the skeleton came hurtling down.


    "Reject them, reject their ideals, reject their thoughts, get rid of every single thing they left you with. Until not a trace of them or what they stood for remains."


    The sword finally crashed into the building, crushing it down. The Skeleton Warrior did not stop as it continually hacked away at the building.


    "That would be revenge."


    To fall with them was just caving in front of the suffering.


    To kill and leave was just surviving.


    To move on¡­


    I let Alice go and stepped behind. I noticed a faint smile on the Hero''s face and kicked his shin.


    Cheeky bastard.


    We both watched as Alice continued gawking at the building.


    "Alright," she said. "I guess I can apany you guys for a bit¡­"


    There we go. Now we truly had a party of five.


    The girl turned to us with slightly reddened eyes. She reached into the pockets of her pants under the coat and tossed away her box of cigarettes and a bag of weed.


    "Since we''ll be fighting, I''ll do it properly."


    She walked past us first while the Hero followed behind.


    "That was a sessful mission," I muttered as I grabbed the cigarette and grass and shoved it in my pockets. She had also dropped rolling and filter papers.


    Perfect.


    Just what I wanted to do. Revenge be damned, who cared about sappy stories?


    Having to be convinced to continue fighting was for losers, I just wanted a teammate and the weed.


    "Sir?"


    "Mister?"


    The two in my party called me out and I followed them through the alleyway leading away from the Skeleton Warrior.


    "Let''s go Dungeon Dive."

 Chapter 35: Darma Dungeon Drama

    <h4>Chapter 35: Darma Dungeon Drama</h4>


    Te was a small country. Being a center of trade and freedom, a symbol of financial growth in the capital Hell City, it attracted a lot of people through its development phase. To meet the housing needs that came along with the mass immigration, urban nning took a slightly unique approach.


    As such, all of Te was without highways or major roads.


    All the space was spent to make the city green and capable enough to meet the housing needs.


    How did travel ur then? While there were multiple train lines overhead following the roads, a much simpler way of transportation was built to connect one part of the grandnd with another.


    Underground tunnels. Instead of making subway lines, they kept those overhead and let the underground tunnels spread all over the country to handle logistic operations. It was possible only in a small yet rich country like Te.


    The geographical and financial conditions couldn''t have been better. It was the gateway to Te''s long-standing as a financial epicenter, a marvel of mankind, the epitome of human engineering.


    And one of the most fucked up gifts to give to the damned Apocalypse bastards.


    "If we go in, there''s no stepping out."


    The group of five sat near the service station before going down the tunnel. The tunnel peeking down had now be a dungeon, and the gas pumps around had all sted away or leaked out.


    One of the many restaurant chains in the service station still had its outdoor tables and chairs intact and without any blood, so we took a seat.


    "I can''t believe you have so much food," Alice stuffed her mouth,pletely ignoring the topic at hand.


    Not like her looking at it would matter. And we had more than enough food tost us for years from the bunker, all of it safe and sound in the slime''s storage. If I hadn''t kidnapped the slime in the beginning, I would have had to buy a storage space and then ce it in my tiny inventory to get more storage.


    "Here, I found this map."


    Rfan spread a map of the underground tunnels on the table. The map showed the figures and marks of all the tunnels connecting to the major cities in Darma from a central point dubbed ''The Hub''


    Te was divided into five provinces, Northern Darma, Southern Darma, Eastern Darma, Western Darma andstly Central Darma.


    The capital, Hell City, was based over at Northern Darma which at the point was the most developed spot of the still poor Darma.


    The Hub that began the start of all the Tunnels, and now, by extension, the dungeons, was based over in the North, right below Hell City.


    While we couldn''t go over to that ce yet, the tunnels in Central Darma were still plenty.


    What was Scenario 2 for us, had likely be a muchter game for the rest. If I assumed the situation was simr back in the Hub, then once we had cleared this, I would probably be open for some fun with Norther Darma and Hell City.


    As was normal. My current n was to keep fucking the Apocalypse over while taking over the entirety of Te.


    "Well then," I said, mming a hand on the map.


    The Hero pulled out a marker and made circles around different underground tunnels moving over to the closest major cities.


    "Let''s divide into two groups?" he asked.


    I nodded.


    "Take the girl and the slime. I''ll take the cat."


    "Oh? I get to go with the boss? I''d prefer Alice¡ªI said nothing."


    Good, this Cat knew when to shut up.


    "The n will remain the same, we take over as many leadership titles as we can while clearing all the ces around. Fast."


    "Yes sir."


    "You got it, mister."


    I was getting slightly pissed by Alice calling me mister. I looked at her and scrunched my brows.


    "You know we''re both much younger than you, right?"


    She looked much younger than her age due to a severeck of nutrients, but it was still obvious that she was older.


    It seemed Alice didn''t buy it though.


    "What do you mean?"


    Even if we had spent more time back in the Other World, only three years had passed here.


    I shrugged.


    "You guys are younger? Mister? Creep?"


    "Hey! Why am I a creep?"


    I agreed with that assessment, even if the Hero did not.


    I nodded once more.


    "How much younger?" She asked. "Legal at least?"


    "Barely legal."


    "I can''t believe it¡­"


    I ignored the shocked Alice this time and turned to the slime. He gave me multiple clips, a handgun and a machete along with some healing potions we used the Hero''s money to buy.


    Healing potions were for losers. Getting injured was for losers. But I was taking the cat along, so I needed it.


    "Alright then, you three set off."


    "Will you be alright with just that much, kid?"


    I red at Alice and she apologized for calling me a kid.


    The Hero nudged her ahead with his elbow and stepped away. "Don''t question the sir."


    They stepped away and rolled the map which I had already memorized. Their steps started moving toward the tunnel where they would take the path to the east and leave the west to me.


    I pulled out the cigarette and the weed and ced it on a paper before setting out.


    "Hey! That''s mine!" Alice noticed before leaving and came walking back.


    "You quit," I said.


    "Just a little bit¡ª"


    Before she could reach out, I pointed my gun toward her without turning toward her and continued rolling.


    Did the trick.


    "Well then, sir! See you soon!"


    I wordlessly waved at them and picked up by joint. It was time to set off for me too.

 Chapter 36: Dungeon Destruction (1)

    <h4>Chapter 36: Dungeon Destruction (1)</h4>


    I stood in front of the path to the west with the Machete in my left hand. The handgun remained firmly gripped in my right as I took in a long deep drag of the joint.


    [Enter (Dungeon - Goblin Highway)?]


    It was then that a familiar window opened in front of my eyes.


    [The Strongest Dragon God System suggests that you do not enter the dungeon alone]


    [The Strongest Dragon God System warns that the dungeon is dangerous and advises you to form a contract to get the required power to raid the dungeon.]


    This bitch was back again? I thought it was gone for good, but it seemed it was not done yet.


    "Why not make a contract with the cat next to me." I realized I had no idea about the cat''s name. I looked at it as I exhaled the smoke of the joint.


    "Hey, what''s your name?"


    "Mine? It''s cat, boss."


    Cat. It was efficient, I liked it.


    I nodded and dismissed the message of the annoying system and looked at the window spread in front of me, asking if I was sure to enter the dungeon.


    "Yes," I said without a trace of hesitation.


    The faint barrier stopping me from stepping into the tunnel disappeared, and I stepped inside, the cat right behind me.


    A bang resounded as the barrier formed again, and from the distance.


    The sound of revving engines filled my ears.


    The escape was blocked.


    "W-what!?" The cat screamed. "Those! Those goblins!!"


    The yellow of a goblin''s disgusting eye shone in the dark of the tunnel as the rattle of bones followed.


    "IT''S ON A BIKE!!"


    "KERURURK!"


    "KEKEKE!"


    Bikes made of bones whirred closer, their engines howling in the tunnel. Three bandana-d goblins raised their clubs as they closed in on me riding on their motorbikes big enough to crush a human under.


    "Perfect. This seems fun."


    I took in another drag of the joint and raised my gun.


    Bangs resounded as bullets shot through the air and mmed straight into the head of two goblins.


    The one at the center screeched, its friends'' bikes exploding.


    The Goblin rushed closer and raised its club even higher.


    "Come, shitty goblin."


    I charged ahead at the same time and swung my machete to the side.


    The goblin narrowly drove by my side and swung its club at my torso. I ducked down low and stabbed the machete in the wheels of its bone bike.


    Strength stat at thirty wasn''t to be underestimated. I knew because I felt it.


    The moment Mana entered this world, I had be the biggest nightmare anyone would face.


    With a grin, I pulled the machete up high and flipped the bike from the back.


    "KRIE!"


    Thest of the goblins flipped over and mmed into the barrier behind, followed by its bike.


    The bike exploded and sent smithereens of the goblin flying around.


    With the Machete on my shoulder, I exhaled the drag of the joint and started walking ahead.


    "Boss, you''re pretty crazy."


    "Really? Cause I swear it looks like these goblins are on bikes."


    "Because they are!?"


    "Huh, so it wasn''t the weed."


    Even better.


    It was time for some dungeon destruction.

 Chapter 37: Dungeon Destruction (2)

    <h4>Chapter 37: Dungeon Destruction (2)</h4>


    An arrow came shooting straight for my head.


    I raised my machete and chopped the arrow from the middle as I gunned down the distant goblin archer.


    "KEIRIRK!"


    "KURURU!"


    Dozens of goblin bikers came rushing at me as I made my way through the highway. Their bikes and weapons only seemed to be upgrading with each wave I killed.


    The front of the goblins came straight at me.


    I swung my Machete at one and cut off its neck, the bike flying past me. Two more were right behind it. I kicked the steering of one and pushed it to the side, taking the momentum to jump up.


    The third of the bikes vroomed below me as I spun and mmed my heel into its face. The bike got up on its back wheel as the head of the goblin was pushed back to the ground.


    Inded neatly on its head and mmed my foot further in, crushing its skull.


    The rest of the goblin bikers used the chance to form a circle around me.


    "Hoh, they have brains."


    "Goblins are typically crafty creatures, boss! They hunt in packs and make good use of traps. They are like ants of the monster world!"


    [The Strongest Dragon God System warns Cat to not take its job away!]


    Not bad.


    I took in thest puff of the joint and tossed it to the sky.


    The goblins continued circling around me. As I let out a puff of smoke, the gongs of battle rang.


    I immediately pivoted to my left and shot two of the seven goblins in the head.


    At the same time, another bike came ready to crash from behind me.


    With a leap, I flipped in the air and mmed my foot in the goblin''s head, but the same trick didn''t work twice.


    The Goblin blocked my kick with its club, that was all I needed.


    I mmed my other foot on the steering and yanked it to the side.


    "KRIE!?"


    The goblin could only scream as I drove the bike toward two more of its allies. Right before crashing into them, I jumped off the bike.


    ¡ªBOOM!


    A thunderous crash resounded as two more were downed. That just left one behind me, and one archer right in front.


    The engine of the goblin behind whirred. If I turned, I would be shot.


    If I dealt with the ranger, I would be trampled.


    Thankfully, I wasn''t alone in the middle of the goblin encirclement.


    I swept my foot ahead and hooked the cat with my leg.


    "MRAOW!?"


    It screamed as Iunched it toward the goblin archer, straight for the face. That was enough distraction.


    In the same moment, I spun on my feet again and swung the machete.The top of the goblin''s head went flying off as its bike passed me by.


    "BOSS! HELP MEW!"


    I spun again and saw the goblin being scratched incessantly by the cat.


    "Move," Imanded.


    The cat immediately jumped off from the Goblin''s hold and I shot my bullets at its head.


    The magazine emptied out as the goblin''s head burst off.


    Just like that, another round was cleared off.


    ***


    We kept progressing through the dungeon at breakneck speed, killing off any and every group of goblins we found.


    And atst, at the end of the highway.


    Standing in front of a giant bike was a goblin twice my size.


    It donned arge white coat that did not hide its muscles, a headband strung over its forehead.


    "HMPH!"


    It growled as I stepped in front of it.


    "KRIRI¡­ You''ve made it far, huma¡ª"


    ¡ªBANG BANG BANG!


    I shot thest of my bullets straight at its head, but they all bounced away.


    The Goblin scowled in deep rage as it learned I had ignored it.


    "KERURUK!"


    And it came charging in.

 Chapter 38: Dungeon Destruction (3)

    <h4>Chapter 38: Dungeon Destruction (3)</h4>


    "Have you been using the breathing method well?"


    "Yes, it now says I can use 12 magic power¡­? The rest is still dormant though."


    Walking through the Eastern Dungeon, Rfan and Alice engaged in small chatter. As was usual, the girl gripped tight a crowbar and a gun she had received from the Hero.


    They strolled through the dungeon at a quick pace. All of it thanks to the Hero alone.


    Since no matter which of the gangster Kobolds in Hawaiian shirts and sunsses came over to him, their hands would be cut without mercy.


    "How did you find a sword in the modern world anyway?" Asked Alice, surprised at the pure white de in Rfan''s hands.


    "I didn''t, it was a reward for the first scenario."


    Rfan lowered his stance as two more of the thug kobolds ran over, swinging broken bottles and battered batons.


    He rushed ahead and kicked the knee of the first kobold before smashing its jaw with the hilt of his sword. The Kobold fell as Rfan spun to the side and swung the sword downward, shing the chest of a Kobold.


    "Brutal. Have you learned using a sword?"


    "Something like that. Now then, take the kills."


    Alice nodded and smashed the heads of the fallen Kobolds in with her crowbar.


    "It is unfortunate that we only level up after a scenario ends, or we could have gotten you some more magic skills."


    "But doesn''t your stat go up? Weren''t you here to train in the first ce?"


    Rfan nodded at her words. The way the Apocalypse operated was quite strangepared to what he was already used to.


    The killing now would level her up, but he had not seen any kinds of skills yet.


    If Vincent was going to be the same way with Alice as he was with Rfan, then there was a high chance that just leveling up wasn''t going to help them at all.


    He could teach her magic¡­


    But he had no idea how. In the first ce, as the Hero, he had only learned very specific light magic and spells that operated on catalysts. Summoning giant fireballs was not in his area of expertise.


    If magic worked by just getting a feel of things or by imagination like in novels, things would have been much more convenient, but all of it needed voluminous, delicate, calctions.


    "Pipo¡­?"


    The slime talked then. Rfan noticed that Alice had already finished disposing of the garbage and was moving ahead.


    "Oh!" A lightbulb shed in Rfan''s mind. "Neo Mack 3, aren''t you a merchant?"


    "Pipoooo?"


    "Do you have any grimoires, or books about magic?"


    The slime nodded fervently. With a wave of its hands, an especially decorated window popped open in front of Rfan.


    Small slimes filled the screen almost aesthetically, written on the top were the words Slimy Store.


    A list of items and tabs reminiscent of shop boards he had seen in multiyer games opened up. With a glint in his eyes, Rfan started scrolling through the shop.


    Though, most of the items were grayed out and locked. The words [Scenario Requirement Not Met] was written next to them.


    Being with Vincent for a long time, Rfan had picked up a few of his habits. It was necessary to survive. And making hypotheses based on avable information was the most necessary.


    Just imagining how many stories would have been less frustrating if main characters could do the same and assume that their harem members had a crush on them made him drool. The words harem made him drool.


    "Pipo?"


    "Sorry. Yes¡­ um, set item ss to magic, specific type to grimoire, and¡­ low level cap."


    At the bottom of the grayed list, Rfan finally found a grimoire that he could use.


    "Basic Dark Magic¡­"


    Every other element was sold out.


    He tapped the information of the basic dark magic grimoire, and the reason why it was the only item not sold out yet made itself clear.


    "User can suffer from severe mental deterioration¡­"


    "What?" Alice muttered. Rfan hadn''t noticed when she crept up to him, but it seemed that she could see the list too. "Hey, I don''t think you should use things that can damage your mind."


    "No, it''s perfect."


    "You''ll lose your mind! It says it right there!"


    "I won''t, you will. You''ll use it."


    Alice reeled back.


    "Me?"


    "Yup."


    Dark Magic on its own was horrible, it was also what the Demon King''s army used in the other world.


    But here stood the natural antithesis of the Demon King. Rfan, the Hero, was a natural master of Light Magic that only people blessed by the gods could use. It was more than possible to cure her of any mental damage.


    "I''ll buy this, Neo Mack 3!"


    "Pipipo!"


    Using thest of his cash points, Rfan purchased the grimoire and handed it to Alice with a bright smile.


    The girl wasn''t ready to take it up, mental deterioration felt quite ominous.


    "I don''t want it¡­"


    "Take it¡­"


    "Um¡­ on second thoughts, how about no?"


    "If you take it you might be able to use spells like Invoker from Doda 2."


    Enough was said. The grimoire was snatched from Rfan''s hands faster than he could keep up with and was already being devoured by Alice.


    Hail Games.


    ***


    The two of them set off again, and after a short walk where Rfan continued battering monsters and Alice kept taking the kill while reading the grimoire, they finally arrived in front of the head honcho of the gangster kobolds.


    Towering over them with a stick stuck in its teeth, the head honcho growled at the challengers.


    "Maybe we should turn back?" Asked Alice.


    "Yeah, no."

 Chapter 39: Dungeon Destruction (4)

    <h4>Chapter 39: Dungeon Destruction (4)</h4>


    The hero raised his sword and charged ahead.


    "Alice, try not to get hurt."


    "You got it."


    Leaving a simple task to his teammate, Rfan charged toward the thug Kobold.


    "GRAA!"


    The Kobold screamed and shed its weapon down at Rfan.


    A sh resounded as he blocked the brunt of the attack with his sword and pushed the club back. The towering Kobold''s hand was more than half of Rfan''s entire body.


    With a grunt, the kobold bnced itself and mmed its hand down in a punch at Rfan.


    Cold and sharp, his eyes tracked the movements down to the minutest twitch as Rfan avoided the attack and stabbed his sword ahead.


    Blood gushed from the shoulder of the Kobold, as it tried to sp its wound.


    But it was against the worst opponent.


    In a single sweep, Rfan twisted his body, leveraging his entire weight to m a kick into the Kobold''s stomach.


    Next, he swung the sword at the Kobold''s neck.


    "GRA!"


    A ng resounded. The sword was blocked. But Rfan wasn''t one to lose his moment from such a minor setback.


    He continued his dance of precise movements, cornering the giant kobold with every swing of his de.


    Where the Kobold blocked, where it COULD block, everything was under Rfan''s control.


    There was no movement happening on this battlefield that did not fall under his calctions.


    A gasp of admiration left Alice.


    And also the slime.


    Even to her untrained eyes, the battle of the Hero from another world was one that was iparable to any else.


    "How¡­ is he doing that?"


    She could tell easily who was the one overwhelming the other.


    That was when she noticed a strange sight.


    Behind the giant Kobold, lying in hiding, was another normal-sized gangster Kobold with a crossbow in its hands.


    Her eyes widened.


    "Shit!"


    The Kobold was already taking aim.


    Clicking her tongue, Alice ran her head in overdrive. Magic was tough, it was pretty tough.


    But it was not as hard as Dark Souls.


    And she was just shy of clearing Dark Souls. What was magic against her?


    Alice raised her hands and recalled all the information she had gained from the grimoire. Step one was to summon the magic power whirling deep within her.


    She had managed to get a sense of it well through the breathing method.


    The next step was to apply the first of the grimoire''s forms¡­


    Arge amount of magical energy seeped outside her and floated in the air, forming a small orb that orbited around her.


    Satel, as the grimoire called it, was the base of all magic spells. The method through which she could materialize her magic spells into the world and apply them against her enemies.


    The more of the Satels she could form, the more spells she could use, their quality and size were a different conversation altogether.


    One was all she could do, but one was all she needed.


    The next step was to infuse the second form, and add the chant to bring the effect she desired.


    Infuse the Satel with malice.


    And then.


    A sharp-edged spike formed from the pitch-ck satel and stabbed the Kobold in its chest.


    A short shriek left the Kobold as Rfan and the giant Kobold turned to their side.


    Not a drop of blood spilled nor did the scent of death emerge.


    Alice smiled a victorious smile. It had worked.


    With madder red eyes, the Kobold turned the crossbow toward itself and pulled the trigger. The arrow shot out of the crossbow and wedged itself into the Kobold''s neck, the final nail in the coffin that its suicide had be.


    "Woah~" Rfan whistled at the sight. "I was nning to handle that, but you were faster."


    "GRAK!!!"


    The Giant Kobold screamed in rage at the sight of its dead subordinate.


    Unfortunately, emotions had no ce in a battle of life and death. With a quick stab of his sword, Rfan made a deep gash into the giant Kobold''s head.


    It could only whimper in pain as the Kobold keeled over, sumbing to its injuries.


    The Hero ignored the Kobold as if its falling was only natural.


    He turned over to Alice, shaking the blood off his sword.


    "Good job! I didn''t think you would be able to pick up magic right away."


    "I thought you were a goner there¡­"


    Rfan tilted his head. He had seen the kobold hiding before he had evenid his eyes on the giant. But maybe saying anything would not do good.


    "I had noticed it but wasn''t sure how to counter it. Thanks for the save."


    "I am alright¡­ but¡­ should we have left the Mister alone?"


    It had all been a smooth ride so far, but Alice was now worried about thest two members of their group. If even someone like her was useful, then wouldn''t it be tough for someone to do this alone?


    The reaction was almost cute in Rfan''s eyes.


    "That guy is finally weak after a long time," he said, staring at the sky. "That means he can enjoy whatever he fights. I pity everything that woulde in his way."


    "What do you mean¡­"


    Right then, a window popped open in front of them.


    [Congrattions. You have cleared a dungeon]


    [Challenger Rfan has received the Leadership Mark]


    [Leadership board:


    1) Vincent


    2) Rfan


    ¡­


    ]


    "See," Rfan shrugged. "He''s already done with his own."


    ***


    Passing by a trail of innards and carcasses from the giant goblin and its fellow goblins, I wiped the blood off my machete.


    I didn''t even have to use my unique weapon.


    "Let''s go get the next one, cat."


    "M¡­meow¡­"


    The cat stepped out of the sea of blood and followed behind.

 Chapter 40: Leadership Lineup

    <h4>Chapter 40: Leadership Lineup</h4>


    [Congrattions. You have cleared a dungeon]


    [Challenger Rfan has received the Leadership Mark]


    [Leadership board:


    1) Vincent


    2) Rfan


    3) Cat


    4) Alice Davies


    5) Caan John Simmons


    6) Nydia


    7) Neon Kaiser Darkest Mackenzie Abarreth Shadow Johannesburg the Third


    8) Aiam Elmost Ded


    9) Phillip Kent


    10) Chloe Bradford


    ]


    As it stood, one person could only take the leadership mark once. In the end, the leadership mark went to the other raider in the dungeon.


    We tried to just clear a dungeon after that as well which somehow seemed to have worked and eliminated the leadership markpletely. We could only get rid of five of the 15 dungeons like that though.


    In the end, five more leadership marks were left astray in the hands of the people who showed up on the system. We couldn''t avoid stopping all dungeons, so now what was left was to subdue them.


    Killing them would have been much easier, but unfortunately, the system hoped to see some blood. I had already tested the murder was considered as something to level a person up by the system, maybe that was what it was after.


    A giant Gu jar, the strongest poison born after all the candidates killed each other. It was quite annoying that someone out there would use me like this.


    "Cat."


    "Me...ow..."


    The cat growled at me when I called it. I had thrown it at my enemies a bit too much I believe.


    "How many of those eyes are still around?"


    "Nya? About ten of them. I remember there being a few more at the start."


    [The Strongest Dragon God System informs that it is always watching over you.]


    Way to go, creep. You are not helping your case at all. What was this, reverse psychology? Was it hoping to make me ept the system by utterly grossing me out?


    That wasn''t going to happen, sorry.


    But that there were just ten left, meant that there was something more interesting happening somewhere out there.


    Of course, seeing someone demolish dungeons one after another got boring for anyone, grinding was for losers anyway.


    We had a problem, that was the fact that there was no way to know where people other than our teammates were. Central Darma was enormous, finding the rest of the leaders here might just end up taking a long time.


    But, fortunately, we had something we could use as trackers.


    After making these ''observers'' have a keen interest in me, I could use them as guides.


    "Oh, there they are!" Cat''s words interrupted my thoughts. In the distance, back at the same service station we had split up at, were the hero, the girl, and the slime.


    Rfan waved at me, a sword on his shoulders.


    This guy... what a weakling. He had to use his main weapon to handle these dungeons.


    I caught up with the rest of them. Rfan raised a fist toward me, asking for a bump.


    I red at him and he pulled it back.


    Dumbfuck.


    "How many did you get! We handled four, and you won''t believe this, but Alice can already use Dark Magic." Rfan started bbering right away.


    "Six. And I only had a cat with me. Get good."


    Alice looked at me next, her eyes slightly sparkling. What the hell, was she expecting praise?


    I reached into my pockets, pulled out some of the weed I had taken from here, and gave it back.


    "Good work."


    "This is mine! Don''t hand it back!"


    See, here was someone who could take a joke.


    Not like the mister who was titled a hero and called a pussy right here.


    "What now?" Asked Alice. "We didn''t get all of them."


    "What else. We find the people who did."


    "And how?" Rfan followed up.


    "Unblock Observers."


    At that moment, the dozen of small eyes that flew around following both me and Rfan revealed themselves.


    I grinned while looking straight at them.


    "They will tell us."


    "Why would they¡ª"


    Before Rfan could finish, I shoved the gun in his mouth and the machete at Alice''s neck.


    "Because they want entertainment, but that''s not all."


    If something could look at us, it probably wanted something from us. People stopped reading the newspaper for knowledge at twenty five and started reading it to find stocks.


    The same was the case with sports and anything else, before entertainment, for the powerful, it was business.


    And these guys must be powerful too.


    "They can either lead us and get their entertainment, or lose whatever they stand to gain from you two."


    [The Strongest Dragon God System believes you are truly capable of doing this!]


    [The Strongest Dragon God System is strongly reconsidering its host!]


    [Ding! The Constetions would like to send you a message!]


    There. We. Go.

 Chapter 41: Polaris

    <h4>Chapter 41: Pris</h4>


    There. We. Go.


    The stupid system was finally considering letting go of me. The message thing? That was just a side note.


    This was way more important.


    Could I finally get my freedom from this weirdo thattched on? I was deeply considering killing the hero and the girl toward that goal, but once again as always.


    The hero won out on my personal scale.


    With a heavy heart, I decided to make the side note the main note.


    "Open Message."


    The Apocalypse Keeper reacted to my words without any dy as the message that the Constetions sent revealed itself.


    [Hed Sthwst. 2 Pris¡ª.]


    The text was barely legible, almost as if they had paged it.


    "Is that all?"


    [The Strongest Dragon God System informs that is all a constetion can tell you currently.]


    It seemed they had a limit on how much they could intervene in the game.


    I pulled the gun and machete back.


    Alice slumped to the ground, heaving heavy sighs.


    "What the hell!" she screamed. "I thought I''d die."


    Rfan, on the other hand, was just as surprised seeing her reaction as I was.


    "Why did you think that?" he said. "Shoving a gun in someone''s mouth is almost like a greeting for him."


    "Are you American, mister?"


    "Not a drop of American blood."


    "You have the spirit. You can probably ask for citizenship."


    With the world gone to shit, even the white house would have a hard time surviving.


    I shrugged while Rfan pulled Alice up. She got used to all this rather quickly.


    "We''re headed Southeast, to some ce called Pris. I don''t remember any locale by that name."


    "Three years is a lot, do you know it, Alice?"


    "I haven''t heard the name, but I am also not familiar with the city."


    We''d find out.


    ***


    The first thing we did after getting away from the service station was to find a local Starducks.


    It had just been a month and some days since the apocalypse began, so we found good enough milk in their still-operating freezers.


    We had to fight out the suit-d zombies though, thankfully most of them were outside Starducks.


    After a good coffee and a meal, we decided to just fuck it and sleep instead.


    Then began our journey over to the bunker once more.


    Not like there was any time limit.


    And now, finally, after handling both food and rest.


    We set out Southeast to the ce we were looking for.


    The heads of the other leaders were going to be ours.


    Or so we had thought...


    "This..." The Hero muttered, the sight of a giant fence blocking out hundreds of zombies and skeletons almost overwhelming.


    Standing atop watchtowers behind the fence were people with a few guns and other makeshift weapons.


    Shining above the fence was a barrier, a kind simr to, but much weaker than the safe zones that we saw in the first scenario.


    Arge, wideplex of buildings stretching to the sky had been cleared out, safe from any threats the outside could throw.


    A great settlement of survivors, likely the first of its kind, and quite possibly the only one in Central Darma.


    This was Pris.

 Chapter 42: Polaris (2)

    <h4>Chapter 42: Pris (2)</h4>


    "Sir, the recent group has returned with enough food for three days. But there was a run-in with the members of that ce."


    Hearing the words of his assistant, the bespectacled young man dropped his leg from the table and sat up straight.


    His light brown hair fluttered in the slight wind seeping in from the windows. It had be a hobby to stare at the open sky as it lost its red hue with each passing day.


    The chair squeaked. The man turned to face his assistant.


    "Damages?"


    "None, it was just a verbal confrontation..."


    The assistant''s words trailed off at the end.


    "But...?"


    "The major said that they wouldn''t have returned if it devolved into a fight. It''s like those brutes have all the ammunition in the world."


    A sigh left the man.


    "Don''t worry much about it," he said. The man stood up from his seat and patted his assistant''s shoulder.


    "Sir Lewis..."


    "It''s not going to be long. We just have to find an opening, soon enough, skills and stats will matter much more than guns ever can."


    Then, the door to the room swung open and ady with wild blue hair stepped in. She carried a giant club on her shoulder and donned a fiery grin on her face.


    "Lewis! You bastard!"


    The assistant immediately bowed as the woman stepped inside Lewis winced in annoyance.


    A gleam flickered in his eyes as a window appeared in front of him.


    [Activating Unique Skill ''Eye of the Sage'']


    [Name: Chloe Bradford]


    [Level: 17]


    [Title: Ruler of Pris]


    [Unique Skills:


    SWORD MASTER


    BLOCKED]


    [Stats:


    Strength - 23


    Agility - 32


    Constitution: 20


    Magic Power: 25


    {Unusued Stat Points:0}]


    [Potential: SS+ Grade]


    All the information about the person in front revealed itself. Even with the low level of his own Unique Skill, he was able to tell a lot more information about someone than anyone else could.


    "Chloe. How can I help you?"


    The new entrant, Chloe Bradford, wrapped her hand around Lewis'' shoulder.


    "That bastard, Philip. He is grating my nerves now."


    Chloe pulled Lewis away from the room. Her eyes swept over the assistant.


    She brought Lewis away, strolling through the streets of Pris.


    Aplex of different buildings and ces, all fenced out from any threats. She had fought tooth and nail to make this ce at the beginning of the Apocalypse and when all the dead woke up again, the battle had just gotten tougher.


    But they had won, Pris was one of its kind. The fact that she had received multiple rewards from the Apocalypse Keeper stating the same was just more proof.


    "Look around," she said. People young and old, survivors of the Apocalypse, walked around. Most of them bowed when Chloe passed by.


    All of them were people she had helped in some way or another.


    "I have been bearing with that bastard because you said so. But not this time. How do you think our people were caught up by those bastards from that settlement?"


    Right then, one of the men standing at the back scoffed at Chloe, spitting on the ground as she passed by.


    "This stuff has just increased after you had both of us take the leadership mark. And that he wants to sell us out is not making things better."


    Lewis sighed.


    "Chloe, just a sword is not enough. We need a shield too, and this entire barrier is held up by Philip Kent. His ideals are different, but you can''t deny that he cares about this ce."


    Chloe sighed.


    "He''s still running out of control. I am not going to see Pris fall because of one man''s stupid ambition." Chloe let go of Lewis and stared at him.


    "Lewis, that bastard listens to you. You know we can''t go under those rats from the other settlement."


    Lewis nodded.


    That the second inmand of this entire ce was in support of giving the settlement up in front of someone with more guns than god was not good. That they were both wild and barbaric like dogs was just as bad.


    "Keep him in control."


    "I''ll talk with him," said Lewis.


    Chloe seemed a little hesitant to leave, but walked away after Lewis walked away to the fence.


    People that had just returned ran into their enemies. Enemies that shouldn''t have known of their movements.


    Someone had to be held responsible for this.


    As Lewis reached closer to the fence where the team should have just re-entered, he heard the sound of a distant scream.


    His eyes widened.


    The screams only grew louder.


    Lewis recognized that voice. He ran ahead and stopped in front of the fence.


    Only to find the second inmand of Pris, Philip Kent, getting choked by a ck-haired man.


    [Activating Unique Skill ''Eye of the Sage'']


    [Name: Vincent]


    A problem unlike any other had made its way toward Pris.

 Chapter 43: Good Boy

    <h4>Chapter 43: Good Boy</h4>


    "The constetions... were all watching this ce..."


    The Hero muttered as our group of five hid behind the remains of a broken establishment, peering at the fence and the barrier that was double reinforced with fresh, walking talking human bone and flesh.


    Also called zombies and undead.


    Of course, with something this amazing going on, anyone would be more interested here. Unlike with me, any ce with more than 2 people thatcked a tyrant was bound for drama.


    And drama sold best.


    "Why are they even called constetions?" asked Alice. "What does that mean?"


    "Constetions. Noun." The cat began its spiel. "An area on the celestial sphere in which a group¡ª"


    [The Strongest Dragon God System informs that it was the closest word in yournguage.]


    "Closest word? Which motherfucker is using constetion to refer to some kind of god? I have never seen it in my life."


    "It was in a lot of novels..."


    [It was in a lot of novels...]


    I red at both the loser system and the loser hero. They both shrunk back.


    God damned novelists at it again. The undisputed scum of society. The Venn diagram between Disc-cord mods and novelists would definitely be a single circle.


    "Enough about that," Alice said. "Aren''t we going to go in and take their necks?"


    "Necks?" The Hero asked, slightly surprised. "Weren''t we nning not to kill anyone?"


    Murder would be helping the Apocalypse Keeper, so I was against it.


    "What do you suggest?"


    "I think we should try to get involved with them like normal people. If we ask for refuge they might help us?"


    I looked back and saw a small pickup along with two other SUVs making their way toward the settlement.


    A weakling cosy. I guess I could give it a try.


    ***


    If I was doing cosy, I was doing it right.


    Weakling cosy, running into a settlement, it had to be done in a very special way.


    So, the first thing to do while the pickup and the cars made their way to the fence was to find an enemy.


    "Mister, there''s a bunch of zombies here."


    "Nope. Zombies are not fun."


    "Sir, I found some skeletons."


    "Not skeletons. They might die while chasing us."


    We were trying to find the perfect enemy to use as a smokescreen when we would rush to the settlement. Just going inside was calling for suspicion, was it not?


    "Pipooo!" The slime called.


    "A hound? From the first scenario?"


    My eyes widened. I thought all of them were already dead, but there were still a few of them left.


    I followed the slime to the side of another building. Standing tall in an alleyway, with dozens of corpses of zombies and skeletons lying all around it, stood a majestic hound.


    Its eyes were gleaming with a murderous intent unlike any other, even the cat trembled as it saw the hound.


    Alice and Rfan, who had caught up, all frowned at the sight of the hound.


    "It reminds me of the Kobold Cartel..." said Alice.


    "I am surprised, you are pretty good at judging your enemies."


    Alice shrugged while Rfan nodded.


    That guy. It was perfect.


    "Wait here," I said as I lunged over the ridge of the building and jumped straight down.


    My feet mmed into the alleyway. A cloud of dust rose.


    The stench was as ungodly as ever.


    "AWOOOGH!!" The hound howled out loud as soon as it saw me. Its eyes red up with great fire.


    It shed its teeth as if asking how I could dare to show myself in front of it.


    The hound was the apex predator that had formed this mountain of corpses. I had no word against it.


    Or so it seemed to be thinking. What a cute puppy.


    The cute puppy lunged at me, yfully trying to lick my bones.


    I smiled and patted its head, asking it who''s a good boy.


    The puppy melted into the ground. When I tickled it with my foot, it started showing its tummy and pranced around. If someone else saw it, they would think it was in great pain.


    They would also think I had smashed its skull and kicked its ribs in.


    But I knew it just wanted some belly rubs.


    "Who''s a good boy? Who is?"


    "AWOOO! AWWOOO!"


    The puppy coughed and caved, tears of joy overflowing from its eyes.


    I raised it up and stared at the rest of them still watching from the building.


    "See? Dogs are smart animals."


    Their eyes seemed to be saying that this was the worst way to interpret the case. But they were just prudes.


    "Isn''t that right, puppy?"


    The puppy excitedly nodded, still crying and howling in joy.


    "Now listen, puppy."


    "Awwoo?"


    "If you don''t want more head pats then, chase us into the fence. Ok?"


    "AWOO!" The puppy nodded with great vigor. What a good boy.


    "Was he always like this?"


    "Take a hike."


    Rfan and Alice continued their misunderstanding. How I pity them, they would soon know the bond between dogs and humans.


    And so began our operation.


    The puppy growled and screamed, its voice more genuine than ever.


    With Rfan, Alice and Cat in the lead and I at the back, we rushed behind the fence that had just opened to let the cars inside while the dog chased us.


    "Help!!" Rfan screamed. "Someone, please! Help!!"

 Chapter 44: [Bonus chapter] Crunch

    <h4>Chapter 44: [Bonus chapter] Crunch</h4>


    "HELP!!"


    Rfan fit the role perfectly. Making that coward scream for help was the right thing to do. If we were cosying as weaklings, then there was no one better than him.


    I still remember how he pretended to be losing against the demon lord who could barely kill a fly. It was quite a funny scene.


    For some reason, though, instead of looking at the puppy and screaming, he was constantly looking at me and screaming.


    What the hell did he want?


    The people beyond the fence noticed us running over and stopped closing it.


    One of them waved his hand, screaming at us to run faster.


    It was perfect. Our cosy was splendid. We could probably go to weaklingcon like this. That must exist considering how many losers the world was filled with.


    "Rush in! Rush in!"


    "Guns! Aim! Kill the fucking hound!"


    As soon as we neared the fence, the screams grew louder. They narrowed the fence down as Rfan and Alice jumped inside.


    The pupper was right behind me, about to scratch.


    I gave it a nce from the back and it stopped mid-hit. Right then, I dived ahead into the fence and rolled on the ground as it closed behind me.


    In the next moment, the lookouts staring at the fence from above shot their few guns and make-shift arrows, piercing the puppy''s back.


    "AWWOO!! AWOOO!" It screamed, its voice full of betrayal and shock. Well, not that I cared.


    Sorry puppy, I am not into cute things. That was as far as our rtionship went.


    The puppy was sent to its parents by the time I stood up and got close to the rest of the group. We had hidden the slime in our trench coat, so that was one less thing to exin.


    "Thank you," said the hero. "Thank you very much. You have helped us a lot. I thought... I thought we were all gonna..."


    The world was one of lookism, and as much as I hated to admit it, the hero had a damn good advantage when it came to that.


    The men and women standing on guard all started wearing warm smiles while the man the Hero held the hand of started embarrassedly blushing.


    Alice too, bowed slightly in gratitude.


    I thought of what I should do and took a look around the ce.


    It seemed a dynamic about the group had been quickly established in the eyes of the people around. Believe it or not, humans were quick to judge.


    If someone saw another smoking a cigarette or wearing a piercing, no matter how good a person they were, they would immediately be written off as a thug or a bad guy. Wear skimpy clothes? You''re a slut.


    If we were going to cosy as weaklings, we had to do it right. That meant it was time for me to get down off the superior ne of processing mental information and start making assumptions about people.


    Yes, indeed. I was already a normal person, it was possible to wear the loser mindset. Definitely.


    As I looked around, I started making assumptions about everyone.


    Brte on the lookout? Weakling. Bruno at the gates? Weakling.


    Tom? Weakling. Dick? Weakling. Harry? Weakling.


    I startedbeling everyone, weaklings from A-Z, the cosy was working. I was about to reach Weakling N when a voice suddenly snapped me out of it.


    "BOSS! Behind you!"


    Cat screamed. I lightly stepped to the side as a dagger passed me by.


    I pivoted my feet and turned back. A man with fiery eyes red at me, the muscles on his arms were tightened to an almost malicious degree.


    "Mr. Philip!?"


    "Philip! What are you doing!?"


    Weaklings around me screamed, while the assant kept his eyes only on me.


    They took a name, but I had already decided a new one.


    "Look here, it''s Average Joe in a sea of weaklings."


    "Don''t be fooled, all of you!" The assant screamed. "This is not a human, he''s a demon!"


    Joe, or if we were being pedantic, Philip, swung the dagger at me again. I stepped back, dodging every swing of the dagger.


    As soon as he stabbed it ahead, I grabbed his wrist and smacked his elbow.


    "Argh!" He dropped the dagger. Without missing a beat, I struck his chin and sent him reeling back.


    Philip spat on the ground as I approached him again, a simple walk.


    The weaklings around, true to their name, were too weak to cover for their leader in such a quick time.


    "You bastard!" Philip screamed. "Barrier!"


    My eyes widened. I noticed the movement of mana in the air change ever so slightly as a brittle, almost ss-like barrier formed around him.


    How did he learn magic? The slimes?


    That didn''t matter yet. Whatever I was curious about, I would find out.


    "You won''t be able to break this, you bastard! I remember, I saw you with my very eyes."


    I stopped in front of the barrier and pulled my hand back. My mana moved into my fist.


    "I was there when you killed so many people afterunching hounds at them in the first scenario. When that other man tried to help us, you even forced him away!"


    "Someone survived?" I muttered. "I thought all of you were too weak."


    "I won''t let everyone die this time, you monster¡ª"


    Iunched my fist ahead and smashed it into the barrier. The brittle ss-like translucent magic shattered into pieces.


    My fist hurled toward his face.


    ¡ªTHWACK!


    And the bastard fell back. I quickly rushed in and grabbed him in a choke hold. I wasn''t nning to kill anyone, some brain damage won''t hurt though.


    "Ack! Stop!!"


    The man tapped at my hand choking him. The ones around finally moved their weapons, ready to attack.


    "Make another barrier¡ª"


    Before my words could reach his ears, though, another loud voice interrupted us.


    "STOP! No one shoot!!"


    Coming into the scene was a guy in sses.


    And everyone lowered their weapons.

 Chapter 45: Eyes of the Sage

    <h4>Chapter 45: Eyes of the Sage</h4>


    Lewis gulped.


    A person was choking the same Philip that had managed to stand toe to toe against the Sword Master Chloe.


    The same Philip that kept up the barrier around the entire Pris was being defeated right now.


    Given, that the barrier was a unique skill, it still amounted to something.


    "Activate Eyes of the Sage."


    [Activating Unique Skill: Eyes of the Sage]


    [Name: Vincent !@@#@!@?]


    [Level: 21]


    [Title: -]


    [Unique Skills:


    Viin]


    [Stats:


    Strength - 32


    Agility - 31


    Constitution: 39


    Magic Power: 31


    {Unusued Stat Points: 42}]


    [Potential: Unmeasureable]


    Lewis gulped. It was the first time he had seen many of these things.


    A title of viin. That was shocking. Unmeasureable potential was just as scary.


    The stats with everything above 30 were yet another insane sight he had not expected ever.


    But what shook him the most.


    It was, without any doubt, the unused stat points that he could still see.


    "Forty fucking two..." he muttered under his breath, nervously watching Vincent as everyone around lowered their weapons.


    Certainly, the other things were scarier, but the fact that the man had just as many points stored as his level allowed him too.


    Meant that he could instantaneously increase his stats by forty-two points. If he was already that strong without those 42, then with them he would be something that one couldn''t hold their own against.


    With heavy breaths, Lewis walked closer. The strain on his eyes increased as he looked at the other two with him.


    The girl named Alice had an even more monstrous amount of magic which gave Lewis a chill. He firmly believed that the time of man-made weaponry was already close to an exit with the onset of the apocalypse, and Alice was a walking monster attuned to that thought process.


    But perhaps, the most intriguing one.


    [Eye of the Sage has been blocked! Trying again!]


    [Eye of the Sage has been blocked! Trying again!]


    [Eye of the Sage has been blocked! Trying again!]


    [Eye of the Sage has been blocked! Trying again!][Eye of the Sage has been blocked! Trying again!][Eye of the Sage has been blocked! Trying again!][Eye of the Sage has been blocked! Trying again!][Eye of the Sage has been blocked! Trying again!][Eye of the Sage has been blocked! Trying again!][Eye of the Sage has been blocked! Trying again!][Eye of the Sage has been blocked! Trying again!]


    [Ding! Sess]


    [Name: Rfan !@@#@!@?]


    [Level: 15]


    [Title: -]


    [Unique Skills:


    Hero


    {L0v3d By Every@ne?//!}BLOCKED!]


    [Stats:


    Strength - 30


    Agility - 39


    Constitution: 32


    Magic Power: 30


    {Unusued Stat Points: 30}]


    [Potential: Unmeasureable]


    It was another monster fresh out of the sea.


    Lewis gulped.


    "Sir... please calm down..." Lewis said, raising his hand in front of Vincent. "The man you hold is one of our strongest. No one would be thinking of attacking you if you have subdued him."


    He took a nce around as if asking everyone watching to follow along.


    Some of them dropped their guns while others raised their hands in a gesture of peace.


    Thend of Pris was ruled by two people. Philip Kent and Chloe Bradford.


    But it was controlled by just one, and that was none other than Lewis.

 Chapter 46: Gamble

    <h4>Chapter 46: Gamble</h4>


    He turned to Rfan. If there was some way to talk sense, it was going to be through that guy.


    Lewis could only bet on the attribute he had seen through the Eye of the Sage. He had no idea if he trusted the man right now due to the effect of that skill or if it was his own rational decision.


    "You too, please. You are likely the ones in the leadership lineup, right? The ones at the top?"


    Vincent hummed.


    "You seem smart, how did you figure?"


    "We know the rest," he said. "You are the only ones we had no idea about. I see three people and a Cat. Is the Neon Darkest thing in your party too?"


    Lewis decided to show his value first. He had no stats, so he had to do it through his wits.


    It seemed to be working.


    The viin let go of Philip and looked at Lewis. From his pockets emerged a slime.


    His eyes strained once more only to see the level and the name of the slime. The true monster was in hiding all this time.


    [Name: Neon Kaiser Darkest Mackenzie Abarreth Shadow Johannesburg the Third]


    [Level: 45]


    [BLOCKED]


    [BLOCKED]


    [BLOCKED]


    Level 45. Was that even possible?


    And he could only see the name and the level. Something like this had never happened before.


    Lewis gulped.


    "You are here with a goal, right? As you can see, Pris is a grand ce." Lewis began. "Please, we''ll treat you like important guests, it is not much, but Pris is likely the best amodation you will find in this world anymore. You can rest and we can all talk this out."


    Inviting them in and diffusing tension was the most important. A dialogue had to be established. They were already at odds with another group, adding these monsters would spell the end for Pris.


    The Hero turned to the Viin. They seemed to be talking their eyes.


    He didn''t know why or how, but it was clear that the Viin respected whatever the Hero had to say. Lewis had never been this terrified of a skill before, but the situation forced him to not think about it.


    He had to prove his worth, constantly. Establish a footing as equals.


    Five people in the same party, working together. They were all on the leadership lineup. That alone made what they were after obvious.


    If he could push the thought that all the five other leaders were in the other settlement, he could y it safe. Even if it was a lie¡ª


    "No."


    The Viin spoke up right then, shattering Lewis'' idea of a conversation. Lewis'' heart sank at the voice.


    "There is no need to y around since it failed right away. It''s simple, bring all the five leaders here and submit, that''ll be enough and we''ll let you go."


    A spark of hope remained yet.


    There was still a chance.


    Gulping, Lewis spoke again.


    "The one you''re holding is Philip Kent, sir." Lewis said.


    The Viin red at him, and Lewis met his gaze head on.


    There was a chance. And he took it.


    A gamble with their lives on the line.


    And as expected¡ª


    "Is that so?" Asked the Viin, Vincent.


    ¡ªLewis had won the gamble.


    This person, Vincent, was not here to take leadership by force. He was here to make them submit.


    If he wanted to, he could have killed Philip Kent right away and taken the Leadership Mark for himself, but that did not happen.


    "Philip Kent and Chloe Bradford, only the two of those leaders are here," Lewis said.


    Just figuring things out wasn''t enough. He had to be brave now.


    So, he was going to handle multiple birds with a single stone.


    "We''ll dly submit, but we have a condition."


    The others gasped, so did the Hero.


    Only the Viin and Lewis were the ones not shocked in the slightest at the turn the fast-paced battle of wits had taken.


    "The other three leaders in the lineup have made a different settlement. They have a lot of criminals that escaped from prisons all over Darma working for them. That group is threatening Pris and the people here as a whole."


    The Viin smirked, and Lewis ced forth his condition.


    "Please handle them, and the entirety of Pris will submit to you."


    "..."


    Silence lingered.


    Not a voice rang.


    "Haha..."


    Except for augh.


    "Hahaha... hahahaha! HAHAHAHA!"


    The viin''s derisiveughter filled the air.


    The fate of Pris rode on a single gamble.


    And...


    "No."


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