*Rumble!*
The grenade of death found its way in that small and insignificant opening that I found after scanning the place.
It wasn’t any hole, it was the one where I used to find the black balls inside after killing the heart.
What did that mean? It meant this hall wasn’t the place of the heart, but only a decoy. A trap laid out from the Curasee Bins, and it seemed that everyone here had fallen for it.
If I was with them, and didn’t see such weird scene, then it wouldn’t be strange for me to fall for it too.
After all, this place was a typical copy of all the heart locations I saw before. Even that beating heart in the middle also looked real.
But the moment the grenade detonated, the ground cracked as if it was made out of glass. A bright light came from below, engulfing all of the races as they fell to the lower level, the level where the real heart was.
“I hope they won’t die of this,” I knew I was bound by the contract with the Selvator to not kill any of them. Luckily they didn’t take the full charge of the grenade, or else their safety would be under question.
*Fwoosh!*
A gush of hot air came out amidst the explosion. It was hot enough to burn the tips of my hair.
And with it, a loud scream came as that Curasee race was hit unguarded by my grenade.
“You won’t live long… My race will take revenge for me!” he roared and then his voice turned hoarse without any meaningful words coming out. He was dying, and even in his death he still held such deep resentment against me.
Dude… You already caused me a lot of sh*t that no one ever did to me before you! And you still feel unsatisfied with that? Humph, you should curse your luck to be born in such a cursed race, not to curse me!
And what was with those kinds of threats anyway? Every time I killed someone from a race, he would go ramping up about how their race would get their revenge against me.
What? Were all these races so poor to have no talent but the ones I killed? Or did they have such free time to spare and come to avenge a nameless dude that fell in the apocalypse?
That was bullshit! Total bullshit! This was the apocalypse guys, not a field trip or something!
“Get down,” as the hot air ended and the rumbling all over calmed down, I let my dragon take me to the lower level.
It was the real hall of the last heart, but the heart was already gone. All I saw was scattered armour-like pieces and a large amount of black fluid, more than any black fluid I found before.
With a simple look, I saw all the races not moving a finger yet. They seemed to be lost in their sleep, and so I started collecting my loot, not waiting for them to wake up.
I gathered everything, even that black ball. Yet unlike all the balls I gathered, this one didn’t add anymore blackness to my already black arms.
“Damn!”
“Watch out!”
“Ooohhhaaa!”
Just as I did so, the races woke up all of sudden while many shouts appeared led by those three ones. I looked at them and they looked at me like they were eyeing a thief.
“You are awake already?” it seemed they woke up while continuing the last thing they were doing before sleeping. It was a funny situation, more so from the dragon leader who jumped, looking around, while his moustache kept shaking up and down.
“Where is it?” he roared while glaring at me as if I took something I shouldn’t.
“It’s already gone,” I snorted, “now as we killed the monster, it’s time for you to go and evacuate the city.”
I looked around while giving them a serious look, “you have one hour since I slain the monster. Five minutes have already passed, so you have fifty-five minutes.”
“I won’t move without taking my share from that heart!” the dragon roared in challenge.
“Did you kill it?” Fang moved and stood by my side.
“Don’t be outrageous, the human race Hye was the one to kill the last heart, not any of us,” the berserker leader stood by my side as well.
“You two… humph,” the dragon leader’s face was all red out of anger, “let’s see how you’ll deal with him after this. Listen kid, we are enemies once we get out of the city. Let’s go boys! We have a human to kill soon.”
“Anytime dude,” I welcomed such hostility and rage with an echoing laugh of mine.
“Sorry my friend,” the berserker leader patted my shoulder before noticing the black covering up both arms, “are you ok?” he asked in a sincere tone and I simply shrugged.
“It’s a small price to pay to kill such a beast,” I said before adding, “if I was you, I’d select the west and go away from here.”
“West?” the berserker eye flashed, “there is a river to the west of it…” he paused and Fang patted on his shoulders as he said:
“It’s called Hackensack river, and if brother Hye said so then you shall follow his advice.”
He even winked to the berserker leader who understood at last what was going on here.
“If you needed any help,” he patted his bare chest firmly with his right fist, “we owe you a debt and we will fight along your side.”
To be honest, I had a very good impression about that dude. He was rash and vulgar at many times, but he was sincere and had a pure heart.
And he loved to fight. In fact if I ever had the chance, I’d gather up warriors from this race. They would make a hell of a melee army, even better than the arrogant dragons or the rightful Selvators.
I was tempted to lure him to my side. But I knew this might be impossible. The deal I had with Fang couldn’t have one more boss in it. Or else our total gains wouldn’t make any difference by that deal.
“Add me as a friend,” I said before adding, “I won’t miss any chance to call you if an opportunity arrives.”
“Isn’t that a good one?” he said while patting my shoulder and I got a message of him adding me as his friend.
His name was Wrayly, a strange name if you asked me. “I got everything under control,” I calmly smiled, “let’s not meet as enemies, ok?”
“That’s something I can promise,” he said before adding, “sigh. I know you had something to do with brother Fang here. If not for the strict orders of my kin to spread over and fight like crazy, I’d abandon everything and follow the two of you.”
“A chance will come soon,” Fang said before Wrayly waved and left with his men. “My race lives by the code of honour, and Berserkers live by the code of war,” Fang explained, “they grow stronger the more fights they survive. So he and others of his race won’t be free to play lord games in the apocalypse.”
“Oh,” I said in understanding, “what about her?”
As two races went outside, that succubus girl came. Fang gave her a cold glance before saying:
“Their race can be considered the closest thing to that parasite.”
“Don’t call us like that,” she seemed to hear his words, and he seemed to be speaking it out loud deliberately.
“You don’t fight by yourselves, only gain strength by cursing the hearts of men of any race and turn him into your love slaves,” Fang seemed to hold a deep grudge against her, and yet her face didn’t show any sign of getting annoyed by what he said.
“If you are envious of our beauty, just say it,” she waved her hair as if what he said was a praise and not an insult.
“Just keep your hands off me,” his eyes flashed in a dangerous light. For some reason, he seemed to hold a grudge against her.
“Anyway,” she ignored him as she seemed like she came here from the start for me, “what are we going to do now? That dragon left while roaring out flames! Hahaha! He looked funny, hahaha!”
“There is no we here,” Fang said in an aggressive tone, “by the rules of the contract, you should be evacuating your forces.”
“Aren’t you also part of that contract or what?” she placed both hands on her waist, before turning to me. “Besides, I’m here for Hye, not for some rude guy like you.”
“Humph, you know already he has that pendant, so stop wasting your breaths and screaming,” Fang said while crossing his arms over his chest.
“Hye,” she ignored him again and gave me such a mesmerising smile from her swollen purple lips, “won’t you need someone to caress your shoulders? I can do it for you.”
She moved without invitation to do that! Damn! I instantly retreated while placing a gap of three metres between the two of us.
“No thanks, I’m fine like this,” I said and she instantly turned to Fang.
“Don’t look at me,” he shrugged.
“You told him about that?” her tone changed as if she was a totally different ruthless person. She tried to touch my body to strengthen her enchantment and turn me into her puppet.
“You got less than forty minutes,” I suddenly said, “if I were you, I should get away now.”
“Humph,” she turned and her hair danced in pink heart sparks, “we’ll meet again, soon,” she said before leading her girls back to the surface.
“Sigh, that was close,” Fang strangely showed a nervous look over his face when she vanished from my sight. He didn’t look like the all tough and strong Fang, but a weak and exhausted one.
“Are you alright?” I asked while he took something out and started to chew it.
“She tried her best to enchant me, damn! I really hate that race!”
For a reason I started to understand the root of such enmity. The all mighty Fang was so weak towards the succubi race’s sexual abilities.
And I couldn’t blame him. If not thanks to my pendant, I’d also face the same struggle.
“You can buy that pendant from the market,” I said while pointing to the heart pendant on my chest.
“I have five of them,” he tiredly said, “but for unknown reasons they aren’t working that good!”
Five! And not working?!! Dude… You seriously got a real problem here with that race!
“What will we do now?” he asked while returning to the old Fang, “what will you do?”
I knew he was asking about that dragon shitty leader. I shrugged as if that dragon’s fate wasn’t related to me.
“You shall leave the city for now,” I said before adding, “take the west route and wait for me to come.”
“And him?” he asked while motioning with his head towards the empty air as if he was referring to someone here, “what will you do with him?”
“I’m not such a bloodthirsty human,” I said with a smile that wasn’t one.
“Yeah, I can tell that,” and he said with a tone that didn’t reflect the meaning of his words.
The two of us just looked at each other for a few seconds before he shook his head. “It’s a good thing we didn’t end up enemies,” he turned and waved his hand, “good luck… Peace lover human Hye. See you later.”
As he vanished, the first thing I did was to open my channel feed. A familiar face attracted my attention and I instantly clicked on the screen with that face.
[Be ready] I said before adding, [A dragon race force is coming towards your direction. I’ll send out all my warriors to help]
[Can we kill them? How many are there?]
I looked at the familiar face of Sara and the forces she led all the way from New York city to here.
They arrived and camped at once in a castle just a mile away from the border of Jersey city.
[They have less than one hundred left] I said , [and they are tired, exhausted, and wounded]
[They won’t live anymore, I give you my word] she smiled and I knew she wasn’t overestimating her abilities.
After all, the total number of forces she led was in thousands! If they couldn’t kill one hundred and fifty, then they wouldn’t deserve to survive this apocalypse.
[My warriors will come to your aid] I said, [Get ready, they will arrive in half an hour maximally one hour]
[I’ll spread my scouts then] she then turned to her men before shouting in a loud tone, [Attention boys, we have a delicious meal coming our way]
And all I heard next was a loud shout coming from the army she brought. It seemed during the past travels and fights, the bonds between her and all of them strengthened.
“Come out,” and as I closed the feed with her, I summoned my brave soulers, “go after the dragons… don’t engage until my army attacks.”
And like this the fate of the remaining dragon forces was sealed by a few words of mine.
“Let’s see what I’ll get from this behemoth.”
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